Their feet hit the ground rhythmically together. Thud, thud, thud. Sora ran his hands through his hair, unsure of Riku's reactions to Ansem laying there. He wouldn't forget Riku's face- overjoyed. Free. Happy. Crazed with glee.
But there was a darkness inside that look- and deep and power hunger. Sora wasn't sure what it would develop into, and he wasn't sure he could stop it either.
The things that haunt you will always come back. You may forget them in the light of day, but when the sun settles back into the night and the moon glows, they will come back.
Can you walk away, with the moon burning into your back with the echoes of sunlight?
But don't be afraid. While the sun may leave, the moon will be there to guide you through the darkness. No matter how dark the night gets, there will always be a light somewhere. You just have to search for it- but it's worth it.
The smallest of lights look the most beautiful when surrounded by the darkest of night.
"Remember what Kairi said before, when the milk spilled all over your shirt?" Riku walked side by side with Sora, heading home. "Tell me what you guys had done at the treehouse when you were little." His voice filled the silence between them- separating Sora and Riku from their secluded worlds and bringing them into back to the physical realm.
"We climbed all the way to the top and I pulled her up into the house. She had put flowers all around, and I picked up a couple scented candles. I lit them and the place smelled great. I... I asked her to marry me. I told her that when we were older, we would be together, forever." Sora laughed. "I remember those carefree days..." Sora frowned. "But I had left one of the candles burning. After we left, the tree burned down. It nearly caused a forest fire, but someone caught it in time. The tree house didn't survive..."
Bastard. You were never supposed to exist. No one will ever, ever love a monster like you.
Sora gazed at the sky. He wondered if life would ever change. He wondered if he would be stuck in that hellhole for the rest of his life, wasting away with the cruel words and biting fists.
If there was another path for him out there, did it lie within that slip of paper he held in his hands, dictating that his parents decide his future? Parents that were simply the people that created him, and nothing more?
Did it lie within Riku? The Riku that thought he was better than everyone else, that believed in his friends, the Riku that had brought him back to life?
Because he did owe it all to Riku. Watching the older boy branch out without him when they were children, talking with other people after Sora had left... it had given Sora hope. If Riku could get over anything, even his best friend leaving him, so could Sora.
So Sora began to smile for the first time since his father had begun to hit him. It was hard at first- but the more he began to smile, the easier it was to mask the pain within. The pain all over his body. The pain in his heart.
He couldn't allow himself to become friends with Riku again- not without the boy beginning to suspect things and bringing up painful memories. Sora was satisfied with watching him from afar, watching Riku grow and mature with a playful glint in his eye.
Until that glint had left him.
If Sora stared deeply into Riku's eyes, he could see it burning now- 5 years after his 10th birthday and months after school started. Months since Ansem. Hours since revenge.
He stopped walking. The sun was so pretty, and it was almost twilight. He stared mesmerized by the beautiful colors. He couldn't think. "Hey Riku... what would you say if I told you that my parents abused me?" The words slipped out as his eyes traced over the clouds and his fingers itched.
A gusty wind broke through Sora's senses. After all these years... why now? Why had he finally given in to temptation? Not to the counselor when she pressed, not to comforting Kairi, but to the boy he had spent 5 years away from.
Riku paused a few feet in front of Sora, and he couldn't see Riku's face. "I'd ask if you wanted to sleep over this weekend."
"...Oh." Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey Riku?" Sora caught up with the older boy and continued walking.
"Yeah?"
"Are you doing anything this weekend?"
...
I've defeated Ansem! I've defeated all of Organization X111! So when I say review, you ask "how much?"
And the answer is, of course, as much as you possibly can.
Because I wield the Keyblade.