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HIS DAYS WERE FILLED WITH ENDLESS WAITING.
Maybe he should feel a bit more grateful that he isn’t stuck in Destiny Islands anymore, that he is finally able to experience a different world, different from the shores of the islands and warm, salty air.
Hollow Bastion feels wrong, no matter how much Aerith and everyone else tries to make it feel like home. Riku thinks that wrapping a nice, red bow on a crumbling building won’t all of the sudden make it a beautiful place.
Once upon a time, Hollow Bastion had been beautiful. Radiant Garden, he remembered Aerith saying wistfully, where the most precious flowers bloomed, and there was green everywhere. Radiant Garden would’ve been a world he would pay to see (not that he had much munny on hand anyway), but alas, Hollow Bastion is what stands in place now.
Riku let out an annoyed sigh, dropping his head to rest his chin on his hand, his elbows on his knees. Sitting on the stairs to Aerith’s house wasn’t helping his restless mind. All he’s doing is shying away from what he’s actually waiting for.
For all that he wants to leave and explore other worlds, he knows that the person he’s actually waiting for is Sora. After losing his heart and getting it back (who helped with that?), after finding out that it was Sora who plunged the islands into darkness, he has been waiting for that knucklehead to come back. He just knows that somewhere out there, he’s blaming himself for what he did, unnecessarily might he add.
Riku may not have been able to say goodbye to Sora (there was someone else there, who is he forgetting?), but considering everything that had happened, he thinks it can be excused. The next time Sora shows up, he’ll scold him just as he used to do, and probably fold when Sora inevitably turns those puppy eyes at him when getting too mean.
Barely able to comfort himself with that thought, Riku turns to look at the sky, letting out a sigh of discontent.
“Waiting has never felt so annoying before…”
.
.
.
All that talk about waiting until Sora came back? Went right out of the window.
Riku ended up screwing that plan right out once his memories of Kairi kicked in. He knew there was something he was missing, someone, and every time he tried to clutch onto something, the only thing he had been able to recall was red hair.
He had been so determined, getting dressed in the clothes Tifa had bought him, ready to drag Sora and Kairi back to Hollow Bastion.
Until some guy with red hair kidnapped him. In hindsight, it hadn’t been his proudest moment. Suddenly, all the techniques Tifa had been teaching him about hand-to-hand combat left his mind, which ended up with Riku biting the guy (Axel) on the hand when he tried to grab him, and then kick him on the shin for good measure.
His troubles ended up landing him into a prison cell, his only company being a playful dog who tried his best to comfort him. Then, after some asshole with a scar left him with only a cryptic sentence, “you’re the fire that feeds Kairi’s anger,” a boy who looks exactly like him, but with platinum blonde hair, saves him.
Rikuto, as he introduced himself, had been leading him somewhere, only for them to be intercepted by the scar guy. Truly, he’s getting sick of these people who think he can be so easily kidnapped. He didn’t spend all those years in the islands sparring with the other kids, and learning martial arts from Tifa to be treated like he needed someone to rescue him.
“Riku. I’m afraid leaving is not an option. I’ll take you to see Kairi.”
Riku recoiled from his outstretched hand, a sneer on his face. “Do you think I’m that stupid? No way am I trusting someone like you.”
At this, the man got a curious look on his face, that felt painfully fake. “You don’t want to see her then?”
Riku scoffed, “don’t put words in my mouth. I’m going to see Sora and Kairi, but I’ll do it my way.”
Both Riku and Rikuto got into their stances, showing they were not afraid to do whatever they needed to do in order to get rid of him.
“If I had a heart, this would be where I die of laughter.” It really did feel as if he had no heart, the words were delivered emotionlessly, nothing coating them. Before anyone could do anything, one of the monsters fell over, a person in a black coat standing behind it.
The monster disappeared, and the person stood to their full height, a keyblade with a devil wing and an angel wing in their hand.
“You… Didn’t Naminé take care of you?” For the first time, some sort of emotion could be heard from the Scar guy, as detached as he still sounded. Riku wondered whether this guy was a robot of some sort.
Beside him, Rikuto relaxed from his stance, “you can take it from here, Sora.”
Riku stiffened, turned to look at Rikuto sharply.
“Sora?! That’s Sora?!”
He refused to believe it, that person in the hooded coat couldn’t be Sora. In no world would Sora ever be taller than him, or look that buff. Seriously, his arms looked big even with the coat, his chest looked as thick as a log, and why the hell is he noticing these things about his best friend?!
Priorities, Riku silently scolded himself. Now wasn’t the time for noticing things about Sora that he had never noticed before (that he never looked too far into before). Right now, he needed to focus on helping Sora defeat this man in order to get out of here and find Kairi.
In the end, his help wasn’t needed, not when Sora ended up shooting some sort of magic ball, and then slammed the guy onto the wall roughly. Riku would never admit to anyone, even under the pain of death, that he gulped at seeing that.
He had never seen Sora act that rough before, not even when their spars would get a bit more heated than usual.
The Scar guy ended up running away through the same portal Rikuto had used, and when it looked like Sora would follow, Riku snapped into action.
“Hold on!”
Sora stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn around. He only did so when the dog following Riku and Rikuto around barked at him, getting closer and leading Sora to turn and face Riku. With that stupid hood still on, concealing his face.
The sight of that hood filled him with irritation, why was he hiding from him? Marching towards him, Riku took off the hood, stepping back in shock at the sight that greeted him.
It wasn’t Sora’s face staring back at him, it was that asshole, Ansem. Sora looked down, shamefully avoiding his gaze, like he couldn’t bear to look at Riku.
And that just wouldn’t do.
Arching an eyebrow, he put a hand on his hip, “and since when did you dye your hair? I get that you admire me Sora, but don’t you think the white hair is going a little too far?”
At that, Sora’s inner fire sparked and he snapped his eyes to Riku’s, golden clashing with sea green. “Don’t you start with that! Who would dye their hair old man gray anyway?”
Riku’s offended face and sputtering lead to Sora letting out a laugh, deep and unfamiliar to the one he was used to.
The teasing came out just like before, and it felt like they were still the same kids on that same beach, declaring races and gazing at shooting stars.
“Did you take something to grow that height then? I know that there’s no way you’re taller than me.”
Sora’s face darkened, once again pulling his eyes away from Riku. Ignoring the tiny voice in his head, keep your eyes on me!, Riku finally let the concern bleed onto his face. It was just as he feared, Sora still blames himself for everything that had happened.
He didn’t have the time to say everything he wanted to say, and being vaguely aware of Rikuto still behind, Riku decided that it was best to use actions. Digging into his pocket, Riku took out a charm made of thalassa shells.
“Here.”
His hand outstretched, the charm featured Sora’s brown hair, complete with eyes and a smile, and even the crown necklace that Riku himself had gifted to him back when they were kids during a meteor shower.
Sora stared at the thalassa shell charm, lost for words. “Riku, I… I don’t deserve this.”
Rolling his eyes, Riku took one of Sora’s hand and laid it on top of the charm. “It’s not about deserving, I’m choosing to give this to you. This is the second charm I’ve given to you, you’re way behind on the score.”
Sora pouted, “behind? And what about my score against you in races? I’m way ahead of you there.”
“Don’t bring up races, we’re talking about charms here,” Riku sniffed, haughtily turning his nose up. Sora growled, he has always been easy to rile up, and Riku never got sick of doing it.
“Now, c’mon. Take it.” Riku pushed the charm more into his hand, and Sora finally accepted it. He stared at the charm intently, as if noticing something about it.
“What’s wrong?” Riku asked, distantly wondering if they should be moving along in order to find Kairi.
The charm glowed in Sora’s hand, turning into a keyblade, the keychain being the same thalassa shell charm that Riku had just given him.
Staring at the keyblade with his mouth gaping, Riku startled when Sora turned it towards him.
“I think this belongs to you.”
After only pausing for a moment, Riku took the keyblade from the hilt, staring at it in amazement. He never thought that he would ever be able to wield a keyblade.
Oathkeeper…
“Oathkeeper…” Riku whispered, caressing the wings before turning to stare at Sora determinedly.
“Alright, let’s go find Kairi and get out of this place. I still need to yell at you for disappearing on me for a whole year.”
“Ri-ku, –”
“Don’t you Ri-ku me.”