Eternity
"If Light and Darkness are eternal, then surely we nothings are the same... Eternal."
Riku has to admit that what Xemnas said is right—light and darkness are eternal, and nothing probably goes on forever, too.
They're not the only things that last that long.
Light and Darkness, Yin and Yang, Push and Pull—what does that remind him of?
The sound rings faintly in his ears.
After they defeat Xemnas, and find the dark beach waiting for them, it's finally too much for Riku.
He collapses, one thought prominent in his mind—
He could listen to the tide for eternity.
Author: Xemnas kind of creeps me out, but I still enjoyed writing this drabble. (And I tried not to have it turn out creepy despite quoting Xemnas at the start of it.) I love the ending scenes of KHII, and I'm happy I could work a RikuShi drabble into them. :D
The eternal sound of the tide is not just a reference to Xion in this chapter. It has a second meaning, but one that might not be obvious, so I'll point it out... In a draft of this drabble, I listed Love as the true eternal power, the force that drives everything: every conflict, truly, comes down to love in some form. Hate's just the flip side of that passion. So... The sound of the tide, in this version, symbolizes both Xion and Riku's love for her (though he's not aware of that yet.)
Now it's time for shout-outs! :D
Thanks x4 to MonMonCandie for the reviews! Cool, you got what I was going for with "unbreakable." Riku just can't stop going back to the beach cause that's where the memories are the closest. And yes, he'll remember eventually. :) (And neat, I look forward to seeing some stuff from you there, too. :D) With "obsession," I had to re-listen to the scene a few times before deciding that. He seems pretty regretful with the "fair enough, you could say I am the biggest nobody of them all," line. The scene "the man in black reflects" seems to show him feeling... something. I just took it that way. He seems to say things in anger sometimes that he regrets later (and sometimes right away) but he's too stubborn to admit it in the open. And lol, yeah. I guess so. But I think in this case they only hated each other because they had a lot in common. With "light," I was a bit torn on that, too... Both are cute. And I know Hikari's a bit of a cliche name now, but sometimes when a name idea comes to me I can't get rid of it no matter how common it is. Let's just say she's an uncommon Hikari. Lol. So I'm glad you still think it fits here. :) And finally... yep. Sometimes I feel like slapping him, too. He runs away so much he ends up running all the way into what he was running from in the first place. (Lol.) Reminds me of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle a bit, there. And don't worry about that. I like getting reviews (who doesn't?) but I don't mind not getting them, either. :) Good luck with the rest of your exams!
Another thanks to Espionage247! It took me a while to get the wording right, but I'm glad it turned out that way. :)
And finally, thanks to Sakura Scout for reviewing this as well! Yeah, Riku runs away all the time... And even when he doesn't, you get the feeling that he wants to. But the thing is, he's there when it counts, right? I can't figure it out, either... Cause I really don't get the feeling that he's a coward, either. But my belief there is that if you face your fears, that's real courage. And it's fine that it took you a while-I'm just glad to hear you like it. :)
See you next time! :)