Game Over

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the franchise that is Kingdom Hearts. I am merely a fan who wishes to write RikuxOC fanfiction. That is all.

"Sora!"

The boy with the spiky brown hair glanced up, distracted from the sunset he was watching by the sound of his name. A young man was approaching the tree upon which Sora sat, his long silver hair fanning out behind him as he strode onto the tiny platform that harbored their favorite paopu tree. Sora grinned at his friend's arrival.

"Riku!" he greeted in return. He watched as Riku stopped a distance away, his ice blue eyes on the sunset. Out of the corner of his eye, Riku could see the bottle and letter bearing King Mickey's seal was still clutched in Sora's hand.

"Your mind's made up?"

Sora turned towards the sunset as well, a nod in affirmation. "Yeah."

There was silence between the boys—each consumed in their own thoughts of what this decision meant for the both of them—until another figure approached, a girl with dark red hair that flowed gently in the breeze. She came to a stop beside Riku and turned a gentle smile towards the Keybearer.

"Sora," she called, her eyes warming as she gazed at him.

"Kairi!" Sora yelped, hopping off the tree. He stared down at his shoes, as if unsure of what to say to the girl before him. "I…"

Kairi just smiled and nodded, encouraging Sora. He returned the smile and moved closer to the girl, squaring his shoulders. "It's just…they really need me," he explained, a sense of purpose in his words. "I have to go. I am…who I am, because of them."

Riku let out a short chuckle, as did Kairi. 'Typical Sora.'

Reaching into her pocket, Kairi pulled out a pink, star-shaped charm—the one she had lent to Sora what seemed like a lifetime ago—and placed it into his hand. She glanced up, deep blue eyes smiling into Sora's.

"See you soon."

Abruptly, the moment was shattered by a streak across the sky. The three friends watched the streak, confused.

"Isn't it too early for shooting stars…?" Sora wondered out loud, crossing his hands behind his head. But Riku knew better.

"That's not a star," he refuted, starting forward as the streak shot into the ocean below. "It's a girl!"

Sora stumbled backwards, unbalanced by the news. "Whaaat?"

"What is it with people falling out of the sky here?" Kairi wanted to know, more concerned than exasperated. She and Sora edged forward to where Riku stood, three pairs of anxious blue eyes scanning the ocean.

"Do you see her?" Sora asked the other two after a moment, shooting the other two a hopeful look.

"No," Riku replied shortly. Without warning, he pitched himself into the ocean. Sora followed suit while Kairi hung back, deciding to be a look-out from above. This decision paid off about a minute later, when a head bobbed to the surface.

"There!" Kairi shouted, pointing to where the girl floated. Riku, who was closest, began powerful strokes at once to reach her. Once he had a hold of her, Riku swam as fast as he could back to shore, the unknown girl on his back. Sora had already gone back to shore, and was standing with Kairi when Riku finally reached them. As Riku set the girl down on the sand, Sora began to pelt him with questions.

"Who is she? Is she all right? Where do you think she came from? Have you ever seen her before? Is she gonna be okay?" Sora asked question after question, annoying Riku.

"Sora, hush for a moment," Kairi urged him, playing peacemaker to avoid a needless squabble. She leaned over to look at the girl, hands on her knees. "Is she breathing?"

Riku leaned over, his ear at the strange girl's lips. After a moment, he frowned and straightened up. "No," he answered Kairi's question, causing her and Sora to frown as well. Just as Sora was about to suggest that they call for help, he saw Riku lean over the girl once more. He slid a hand beneath the girl's neck, gently lifting her head and, before Sora knew what was happening, Riku pressed his lips to the girl's.

"Riku!" Sora yelped, his face exploding into a shade of red that rivaled that of the sunset. "What are you doing?!"

"Sora, it's just CPR," Kairi explained patiently, looking rather amused as Sora's expression turned from scandalized to embarrassed.

"Oh, uh, right!" he replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I knew that! Eh heh heh…"

The two were distracted by a sputtering cough behind them, and Sora and Kairi turned to find the mysterious girl conscious, coughing up a lungful of sea water. As she drew ragged breaths in between her retching, Riku placed a hand on her back, patting it every now and then to help her get all of the water out of her lungs.

"Are you all right?" he asked after the girl's coughing had decreased. The girl stiffened, appearing startled that she was not alone. Slowly, she turned, tucking raven locks behind her ear to reveal confused violet eyes. As soon as she and Riku made eye contact, the girl gave a squeak and scuttled backwards, staring incredulously at the silver haired boy.

"R-Riku?" she sputtered, blinking hard several times only to find that he was still there. Riku, for his part, merely quirked an eyebrow at the strange girl.

"Do I know you?" he asked, although he was certain that he had never come across this girl before. She did not respond—she just continued to stare at Riku in muted shock.

"Um, excuse me," Kairi interjected, approaching the girl with an offered canteen, "would you like something to drink? You must be thirsty after coughing up all of that salt water."

This only made the girl stare more. "Kairi? And Sora too," she mused, spotting the spiky haired boy just over Kairi's shoulder. Slowly, the girl shook her head, as if trying to shake away what she was seeing. "What is going on here…?"

"Good question," Sora replied to the girl's rhetorical question, looking just as lost as she appeared to be. "How do you know all our names, anyway? I don't think we've ever seen you before."

Sora was ignored, however, for the girl seemed to think of something, and was laughing faintly at herself. Laughing irritated her already sore throat, however, so she stopped soon after. "I get it," she said out loud to herself with a weak smile, "I'm dreaming. That explains everything."

A bit of sea water from her bangs dripped onto the girl's forehead, and she absent-mindedly gathered her hair together to wring it out, still musing to herself. "It's a pretty vivid dream, though…one of the most realistic ones that I've ever had…"

The girl smirked, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I guess this is what I get for playing Kingdom Hearts with Zephyr before bed."

That caught Sora and Riku's attention. "Kingdom Hearts? Did you just say Kingdom Hearts?" Sora parroted her, growing more confused by the second. Riku stared at the mysterious girl, his ice blue eyes intense.

"What do you know about Kingdom Hearts?" he demanded to know. His tone gave the girl pause, and she covered her mouth with a guilty expression.

"Oops—this would be what they call 'breaking the fourth wall', huh?" she teased, flashing a grin. "All right then, better get out of here before I do any more damage."

The girl raised an arm, her free hand grasping at her forearm with two fingers and a thumb, appearing as if she meant to pinch herself. She paused for a moment, however, her violet eyes drifting over to where Riku still sat. A small smile tugged at her lips as she gazed at him.

"It's too bad…it would have been nice to stay for a while," she said, winking at the silver haired boy, who just stared back in total confusion. With a small giggle, the girl shut her eyes and tightly squeezed the skin in between her fingers…

…An action she regretted almost immediately.

"OW!" she shouted, her eyes flying open as she rubbed her forearm to soothe it. "Man, that hurt!"

A moment later, realization hit. "Oh crap, that hurt…" she repeated, her eyes widening with the weight of this awareness. Sora, Kairi, and Riku could do nothing but stare at this strange girl as she scrambled to her feet and whirled around, as if she was looking for something.

"…I can feel it," the girl whispered, staring all around at her surroundings. "I can see it, I can hear it, I can feel it…but it makes no sense! Why am I on Destiny Islands?"

"You fell out of the sky," Sora informed the confused girl, earning her attention. "We saw you fall into the ocean, and Riku saved you."

"I fell…out of the sky…?" The girl repeated, looking up towards the heavens in bewilderment. "That's impossible…I shouldn't have survived a fall that high."

"Well, you did," Riku rebuffed, getting to his feet and crossing his arms. "Barely."

Kairi approached the girl then—she was about three inches taller than Kairi—and gently placed a hand on her forehead. "Maybe you should lie back down," the red head suggested, her pretty features marred by her concern for a stranger. "You don't seem like you're well at all."

"I…" the girl began, looking distressed. But she inhaled and exhaled slowly, feeling a bit more composed after a deep breath. "I'm just a little lost is all. I don't exactly know what I'm doing here…"

Kairi smiled her kind smile. "It's okay. We'll help you figure out where you belong," she promised. The girl smiled faintly in return, but she shook her head.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," she replied sadly.

"Hey, don't go underestimating us already!" Sora chided with a grin. "Don't worry! We always keep our promises! Right, Kairi?"

"Right," Kairi affirmed, nodding and smiling with Sora. At this exchange, the girl giggled.

"You two are so cute," she gushed, causing the pair to blush without fully knowing why. Riku chose that moment to speak.

"Well, before we can help anyone out, we need to be properly acquainted," he pointed out, and chose to do the introductions himself. "I'm Riku, that's Sora, and she's Kairi," the silver haired boy introduced, gesturing to himself, Sora and Kairi in turn. "But, you somehow knew that already…"

Riku folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Which leads me to my next question: who are you and how do you know us?"

"That's two questions," the girl pointed out before she answered, "I'm Ava. As for how I know you three…well, it's kind of a long story."

Riku was about to answer that they had time to listen when Sora butted in. "Hey, it's getting dark," he noted, his eyes on the sky. "We should head back to the main island soon."

Riku, Kairi and Ava glanced up to see that the sky was indeed darkening, the sun already set. Ava could already see the early stars emerging, entranced by the view. 'It's so beautiful here…'

Riku sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Fine. We'll head back for today." His ice blue eyes cut over to Ava, curious if not a little suspicious. "But I'm expecting an explanation tomorrow," he forewarned her. At this, Ava became thoughtful.

'Will I even be here tomorrow?' she wondered to herself, gripping her chin and frowning as she speculated. 'If this isn't a dream, why am I here? How did I get here? If I go to sleep here, will I wake up in my own bed, in the real world?'

Kairi cut into Ava's musings then. "Ava, you can come home with me," she offered, smiling as sweetly as always. "My parents won't mind, and I can give you something to change into so you don't have to wear those wet clothes."

"Oh, thanks, I—huh?" Ava began absentmindedly before she looked down at herself and realized that she was not wearing the pajamas she had gone to bed in.

Instead, her outfit now looked as if it was designed by the makers of Kingdom Hearts themselves: she wore a purple short-sleeved form-fitting spandex top that exposed her midriff, coupled with a slightly longer black vest that zipped up starting from the left side. Two straps criss-crossed across her chest, with a sharply-angled silver heart acting as buckle hooking them together. Long, purple, fingerless gloves covered her arms, with straps at the top that were silver on the right arm, and black on the left arm. This color scheme transferred over to the tight skirt she wore, except the skirt was black and the criss-crossing straps on the sides were silver on the top and purple on the bottom on the right side, and then purple on the top and silver on the bottom on the left side. Her outfit was completed by the knee high black boots she now wore, purple straps criss-crossing across the top with silver buckles that matched the silver belt around her skirt. Ava stared, turning in a slow circle as she inspected her outfit, completely dumbfounded.

'What the—I look like a human Heartless!' she thought, gawking at herself. 'Whose weird joke is THIS?'

"Um, Ava?"

Ava paused her inner freak-out to notice that the three Destiny Island dwellers were staring at her strangely. In response, she quickly composed herself, coughing sheepishly.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm still trying to adjust, I guess." As Sora, Riku and Kairi exchanged glances, Ava raised her right hand to rub the back of her neck in embarrassment when a flash of silver caught her eye. She was pleasantly surprised to find that a piece of her own wardrobe still remained: a bracelet Zephyr had given her for her 16th birthday. It was a simple charm bracelet: a thin chain circling her wrist with a silver plate attached, black stylized curly lines framing the word "Believe" on the plate. It was a simple little trinket, and yet Ava cherished it all the same—just as much as she cherished Zephyr's friendship.

…Speaking of Zephyr…

"Hey, did you guys see anyone else…um, fall out of the sky?" Ava made a face, still having trouble coming to terms with such an event. Sure, it was believable for actual video game characters to do it, but for her? "Maybe, a boy with blonde hair? About ye high?" To illustrate, Ava stretched an arm up to hold her hand level to Riku's height, looking hopefully at Sora and Kairi. They glanced at each other before shaking their heads at Ava.

"There was no one like that," Sora regretfully informed Ava, "it was just you."

"Oh…" Ava sighed, visibly deflating. "I see. Thanks anyway."

"Is this boy a friend of yours?" Kairi asked. Ava nodded while subconsciously gripping her bracelet.

"He's my best friend." 'If Zephyr isn't here…am I stuck in this 'dream' by myself?'

Sora and Kairi exchanged one more look before Kairi took pity on the poor, strange girl in their midst. "Here, just come home with me, Ava. We'll help you figure out where you belong tomorrow. For now, you should rest."

"Rest…right," Ava repeated, rather dubious at the thought. Technically, she was already asleep, wasn't she? What good would dreaming about sleep do her? Would she wake up as soon as her head hit the pillow in this world just to wake up back in her world—the real world? As she silently contemplated the strangeness of her situation, Kairi gently took Ava's arm and led her away across the beach, towards the docks.

"Let's go. We should get back before it gets dark. You too, Sora, Riku!"

"Coming!" Sora immediately replied, and Ava turned to watch him dash across the beach to catch up to the girls before following behind them with his hands behind his head. But it was Riku who, once again, claimed and held her attention.

The silver-haired teen had not moved at all, and he was gazing at Ava with the same intensity he had been ever since she revealed her knowledge of Kingdom Hearts. Ava hurriedly turned to face forward, but she could still feel Riku's gaze on her back, and it slightly unnerved her.

Riku was definitely suspicious of her, and while Ava could not blame him, she wished he wouldn't stare at her as if she were a ticking time bomb. It wasn't like she was here by choice…although it wasn't at all unpleasant. Even so, it was really confusing—was this all real? Or not?

Ava didn't know. For now, all she could do was go along with the 'dream', and hope that she could find her answers soon. The world of Kingdom Hearts was epic, to be sure…but it was fiction, wasn't it? And Ava did not belong in a fictional world…even if that fictional world happened to have devastatingly handsome silver-haired men.

A/N: ...Yeah, I know the first scene is actually from Birth By Sleep, but...let's just ignore that and pretend it's in Kingdom Hearts 2, 'kay? Anyway, hope you enjoy~

~Reyna