Everyone enjoyed a deep relaxing slumber that night. Dreams were pleasant and carried their minds to peaceful places. Breakfast the next morning was a tower of steaming French toast with pieces about an inch thick. With breakfast digesting the quintet got on board the Sky King and sailed across the stars to the Destiny Islands. It was still very early in the morning on the islands. The sky still basked under the playful blanket of oranges and pinks.
They sat on the rail of the King until the colors stopped looking interesting. The hours of the morning were passed doing many of the same things they had done when Rachel and Bryan first came to the Destiny Islands. Swimming, flying and talking. Sora, Kairi and Rachel managed to convince Bryan and Riku to play a few games like red-light-green-light or island-wide hide and seek.
Then Sora paired up with Rachel and Riku with Bryan for a short sparring session. The boys and the girls split for a short time after. Of course everyone had words about Riku and Rachel's new relationship they didn't want to say with the other sex present.
"So now that you're Riku's girlfriend, what will you miss most about him when you're apart?" Was one of the many questions Kairi asked Rachel.
"That's a little cruel to ask for just one." Rachel said. "I think listening to him talk."
"Oh? Riku never struck me as the kind to talk sweet nothings."
"That's not what I meant."
"What then?"
"Just hearing him speak. The guy's got a voice like Christmas pudding."
Kairi thought that was immensely amusing.
On the testosterone beach, Sora was the first to bring up something that no one had thought of yet. IF all went well with Rachel and Riku's relationship, they may very well get married one day. If that happened, that would make Bryan and Riku brothers. That also begged another question, who would be the best man? The brides' brother or the grooms best friend? Both Riku and Bryan were eager for Sora to shut up on the subject. They hadn't even been in an official relationship for a full twenty four hours yet, thinking that big just yet was still very awkward.
They reconvened at a tide pool and spent a bit of time scaring crabs and poking anemones with sticks and watch them curl up. After that stopped being fun, they discussed what might be in store for them as key bearers. The Organization had crumbled. Every no-gooder on every world they'd been to had been put in their place. Maybe that was why Master Yen Sid had gone to see the king about. Maybe he sensed a new threat and was discussing how to proceed. Maybe they were going to be sent on a secret mission. That would be cool if they could go together. And maybe Kairi could learn how she was able to wield a Keyblade. Now THAT would be cool. Five friends traversing the cosmos as Masters of the Keyblade. No power in the verse would be able to defeat or break up that team (Rachel had actually used that phrase as they talked about it and it was agreed on the spot 'No power in the 'Verse can stop us' would be their team battle cry).
Sora played the part of a random bad guy and what might be said to break the group apart. Everyone pitched in and playfully played out what would make the friend unit crumble. Their acting was deliberately bad and there was as much giggling and trying to keep a straight face and there was plenty of bad guy monologue. They even used their Keyblades to improve the story. Kairi ended up being driven away. Sora had been taken over by his dark side and struck Bryan down. Rachel and Riku broke off to find a world they could claim as their kingdom and rule as the evil overlords of all darkness.
"This land is where we shall build up our legions of darkness." Rachel spread her arms out wide to present an imaginary place "And we shall call it…This Land!"
"No, I think we should call it your grave!" Riku said, drawing SoulEater and thrusting it forward in a stabbing motion.
Rachel caught the blade under her arm and held it there, giving a profile view that she'd been run through."Ahhh!" She fell to her knees dramatically and reached for him with her other hand. "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
Riku broke character and started laughing. So did everyone else. That of course broke the mood so they never found out what would happen when Psycho Riku confronted Corrupted Sora.
"We so need to have evil alter egos." Bryan said when they were done laughing.
"Absolutely." Sora agreed. "That was too much fun not to do again."
So the friends spent a bit of time discussing what they might be like if they were villains with evil motives, playing as characters they could go on wacky adventures to the dark side with. Of course they also had to have really cool names.
Bryan would be The Silencer. With his power over music, his dark self could strip away all sound from a heart, leaving it to go mad in the silence. Similarly Rachel would be the Dark Siren, using her songs to lure, enchant and enslave whom she wished. Sora would be The Deceiver, using his carefree and trustworthy demeanor to draw others in with hopes and promises only to gleefully watch them break when they realized it all to be a lie. They had a bit of a harder time thinking up something good for Kairi and Riku, Kairi especially, even for fun. Even if they couldn't figure it out just then, they wouldn't give up on ideas yet.
As much fun as it was a play around with, none of them could imagine a force powerful enough to drive them apart, let alone actually become their imagined dark alter egos.
"Wouldn't it be cool if our inner shadows manifested as our alter egos?" Rachel said. "Minus the evil and world domination mentality."
""What do you mean by that?" Kairi asked.
"Well every heart casts a shadow. Even the purest hearts are balanced by a drop of darkness, even if it's just a tiny one. It's as natural as having fingers and toes. Page twelve, by the way." Rachel directed at Riku. No one else knew what she meant by that and she continued before they could ask. "The shadow we're all born with is neutral. It may be darkness but it's not evil. I believe it can be used with the same ease as using your feet and even manifest itself. It could be its own entity and yet still be a part of you."
Sora thought back to the dark version of himself Riku summoned years ago on Captain Hook's pirate ship. Was that the true manifestation of the darkness within his own heart he was forced to fight? Or was it just pure darkness designed to look like him to freak him out? That time it had attacked him, but what if Rachel was right? His Light had been his strength in the past…could his Darkness be used as a weapon to work with him without being bad?
The group continued discussing the topic during a beachside stroll. Rachel and Bryan never tired of walking the beach. Back home all they had were stone streets and cobblestone. Radiant Garden looked better than it had in a long time but the clicking of shoes on stone still wasn't the same as the gentle grunt of shifting sand as they walked.
"But Kairi is supposed to have one of the purest hearts, would her shadow even be able to manifest at all?" Bryan asked.
"Would make sense that it wouldn't." Sora said. "Or at least might be hard to do."
"That might be interesting though." Kairi said. "Can you imagine? Surprising an enemy by screaming 'Shadow! Sick 'em!' and the next thing they know their under attack like a mad dog by a big black thing they never saw coming."
"Like being attacked by a sheet ghost only black." Sora said smiling. "And actually scary."
"But as exciting as this is to talk about, wouldn't it be risky to actually act on it? I can see what you're saying but I can see that kind of plan going really wrong if you're not careful - and what are you doing!" Riku snapped at Rachel, more sharply than he meant to.
"Nothing."
"Well then what are you looking at? You've been staring at my chin like a cat about to pounce and it's weird."
"I wasn't staring at your chin."
"Then what are you looking at?"
"I just find it weirdly fascinating how your Adam's apple bobs when you talk."
Riku gaped at her, slowly registering what she had just said and looking for some confirmation if she was serious.
Sora snorted loudly. He tried to keep his laugh to himself and failed. Kairi broke down too. Anyone could tell Bryan, too, was laughing but he succeeded in keeping his lips pressed together tightly so only his shoulders shook and his face looked like it might break from the suppressed smile.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Dead serious."
"Why would-?" He couldn't even think of a proper way to end the sentence. That had to be hands-down the bread winner of all the odd things he'd ever heard.
"And just think, Riku!" Sora managed to laugh. "She's all yours!"
"Here, here!" Rachel cupped her hand against Riku's throat. "Say something!"
Riku stared at her. He could feel the hard cartilage beneath her hand. It was odd to find himself thinking how he could never actually feel his Adam's apple when he talked at the same time as thinking Rachel was out of her mind. "You are completely insa-."
"Gy-eyyee! Yie yie yie yie yie!" Rachel squealed. She pulled her hand away like she'd been electrocuted and started flailing her hand around like she was trying to shake off a spider. "That is so weird!"