It never connected.
...
Actions. The ones we take, the ones we should have. The ones that kill us everyday because we took a risk and it backfired.
The ones that we remember.
The ones that haunt our soul.
The ones that will never, ever go away.
...
It never connected.
Riku was foolish. He had tried to take fate into his own hands. He had tried to control destiny.
But he didn't have enough power to do it.
His fist was in Ansem's hand. It had never connected, it had been deflected. Captured.
The warm, human skin held Riku.
Pinned him down.
It held him there.
Ansem stroked Riku's hair. His own hair caressed the boy's cheek as it flowed down on top of him.
Riku's heart clenched. He wouldn't survive it, not this time. Not again. His heart was a shattered mess and nothing could ever fix it if this happened again.
...
"I still want to talk to your parents. Your grades have improved drastically, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm worried about you."
Sora had a choice to make. He couldn't give up his personal life. He could beg, he could plead. If the school found out about his parents, it would be over.
They would send him away to a foster home. He would receive endless pity. Sora wouldn't be able to take that. Not again.
But as he considered these things, seconds ticked down. Seconds of Riku alone with Ansem.
Sora pulled the slip out of Cid's hand and rushed to the gym.
He hoped he wouldn't be too late.
He hoped that time would slow down, just for him. That he could magically stop Ansem in his tracks.
But he had no magic here.
No power.
Nothing but his will.
...
He heard Riku's voice burning it's way angrily through the doors. Sora pulled them open, straining against their weight. They yanked open with a final tug, thumping against the wall.
Sora rushed to the door, sealing his fate. Sealing the fates of all those connected to his heart. One sky, one destiny.
"I will fight, and I may fall- but I will not give in. Don't think for an instance that I would ever give in. I have spent too much of my life already on the likes of you- and I won't spend another instant." Riku was giving up his sanctuary. He was going to leave his shell. He wouldn't be held back by his past and all the things he should've done.
Knees smashing. Blood spurting out.
Freedom.
He wouldn't give in. Not after all this time with Sora- learning what it was like to be human again. To love, and be loved. To be happy.
To be strong again.
He could feel the power running through his veins. He could feel the energy coursing through his entire body as Ansem lay there.
The power of seeing the man that had made him scream and beg now at HIS feet.
His arms stretched out, reaching toward the sky.
Sora's feet thumped rhythmically toward Riku.
"Riku...?"
Riku faced the younger boy and grinned slyly, winking. "Giving up already?" He put his outstretched arms on Sora's chest, rubbing his fingers through the thin fabric and stroking the scars underneath. "Can you feel it?" He leaned in close, his head by Sora's ear. "You're alive." He whispered.
The ability to protect the ones we love. The ability to understand that they can no longer be protected- that they don't need your protection.
To understand that one day, they will need you again.
Ansem groaned. Sora placed his arm around Riku's shoulder, and pulled him to the door.
Ansem simply grinned as the boys left. It took real talent to lay there, pretending to have been beaten by a single strong-hearted blow. Did they think it was that easy?
Assuming victory too early is a fatal flaw.
Fatal, indeed.
...
So, tell me about yourself. It doesn't even have to be a review- you can certainly review, but I'd like to know who YOU are- the things you like, the things you do.
Who are you?
And if you'd rather PM me, I'm fine with that as well.