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It had been a normal day.
Riku was out doing his morning sparring with Sora as Kairi watched them, taking notes of their movements. She would be going away for her training soon and what better way to learn the way of the Keyblade than from her two best friends who have been wielding the keyblade for a few years now? Surely they had some tricks that they wouldn’t mind her borrowing during her training with Lea. She smiled and watched as the competitive natures of both boys had them trying to outdo each other. A leap from Sora with a parry from Riku with the keyblades gleaming in sunlight. Sora had yet to best the elder, but it was all in good fun. She knew Riku was simply trying to help Sora seeing as how Sora would have to relearn the power of waking again while Riku would be sent on a mission to find the other Guardians of Light. They would be separated yet again, but at least they wouldn’t be on the search for each other, wondering if the other was safe. Kairi sighed as she set her notepad down, wanting to enjoy the sun and wanting to spend as much time with her friends before they all went their separate ways, however it seemed that said friends were set on nothing but training. She had to remind them to take a break and seeing Riku best Sora was a good time to do so. She got up and walked over to them, noticing Riku and Sora’s keyblades disappear. Maybe this will work after all seeing as it seemed they were too tired to do anything otherwise.
“Hey! You two should take a break. Seeing as we’ll be leaving soon to go our separate ways, maybe we should spend time together. We haven’t done that in ages,” she said as Sora took Riku’s offered hand and got up as he looked at Kairi and smiled.
“Oh hey Kairi!” he exclaimed happily before practically bouncing at the idea. “Hey, you know what, we should! I mean, we haven’t really hung out properly since before the Mark of Mastery exam and we’ll all be leaving soon,” he said as Riku chuckled, shaking his head. If Sora agreed, Riku would have to eventually give in. After all, he can’t possibly win two against one, especially if Sora is one of the party in agreement to the plan.
“Are you just trying to get out of training since you can’t beat me Sora?” Riku asked teasingly as Sora flushed and hit Riku’s arm, earning a giggle from Kairi.
“What?! No way! I could totally beat you Riku! I was just going easy on you as a warm up!” he exclaimed as Kairi giggled even more at that before taking Sora’s hand and Riku’s hand in her own.
“Alright alright, you two can spar more later, can we just do something else? I heard about this cute cafe that I really want to try with you two goobers before I have to leave,” she said as Riku smiled softly at her antics to distract Sora. To no one’s surprise the mention of cafe did not go unmissed by Sora as he perked up and squeezed Kairi’s hand gently.
“What are we waiting for then?! Let’s go!” he exclaimed as Kairi laughed and happily led them to town, happily falling into chatter with her best friends in tow, talking about what they have learned in their separate sessions with Master Yen Sid and Sora talking about his adventures before their eventual reunion. Kairi listened to him, wishing that she had been there throughout his travels and was slightly jealous that Riku, though in an alternate form, had been there to watch Sora. Though it warmed her heart that even though Riku had been in a different form, he had still been looking out over Sora. She knew Sora could handle it, but he still needed someone. The discussion eventually stopped as she appreciated the silence, stealing a glance over at Riku to see how the elder was doing. She noticed that he was trying to sneak glances at the very oblivious brunette beside her as she smiled slightly and gave his hand a light squeeze. He blinked and eventually looked at her, a slight tinge of pink blooming on his face as she tried not to laugh at how obvious he was being. That is, if the person of interest wasn’t so blind to the going ons in the group.
She smiled when she saw the cafe as Sora lit up again and let go of Kairi’s hand to run up ahead, earning a chuckle from Riku as he watched the younger of the trio bounce excitedly at the door, looking at the menu posted on the window. Kairi took note of the fond look that crossed Riku’s face as they continued walking. He seemed to notice how close they were getting to their eventual destination as he started to compose himself before ruffling Sora’s hair once they got to the cafe.
“Hey, how could you leave Kairi behind when she was the one that invited us to the cafe?” he asked as Sora batted his hands away and looked apologetically at Kairi. Riku chuckled at that and stopped what he was doing as he took a glance at the menu posted on the window before heading toward the door.
“I’m sorry Kairi, it’s just the cafe smells so good. How did you even find this place?” he asked as Kairi smiled softly before going in when Riku opened the door, thanking him on the way as he gave a small nod. Sora followed after her, looking around the cafe in awe as they entered. It seemed that Sora didn't really change as he was still the excitable boy he had been before the islands fell.
“Olette suggested I try this place out before we left again,” she said, as the host led them to an empty table by the window, giving them a good view of Twilight Town as she took her seat in the booth, noticing that Sora sat by her as Riku sat across from them.
“Well, if Olette suggested this place, then the food is bound to be good,” Sora said as he looked through the menu. Both Kairi and Riku looked at each other before smiling at each other then looking back at Sora. Still thinking with his stomach it seems, but if it kept Sora distracted from the fact that he didn’t pass the Mark of Mastery, it didn’t matter. He thought they wouldn’t notice his more subdued nature since the exam. He thought they didn’t hear his sudden yelp in the night. There had been instances in which she opened her door to see Riku already in front of Sora’s door, debating on whether or not to knock on the door before eventually deciding against it and resting his forehead against the door, praying for sleep to stop evading the younger. Kairi knew then that something had happened to Sora during the Mark of Mastery. This was something that Kairi couldn’t help him with seeing as he wouldn’t talk about it and Riku, the only other person who may know what happened, didn’t want to tell her to keep her from worrying. Why couldn’t they just let her help them? Was it because she wasn’t strong enough? Was it because they thought she wouldn’t know what they were talking about? She looked back at the menu and shook her head. Well, if she couldn’t help him in any other way aside from distracting him with food or through other means, then she would certainly do her best to keep that smile on his face while Riku continued brooding on how to help the younger through his own ways. It seemed that the daily sparring helped tire out Sora enough that he was able to start sleeping through the night. It probably helped that Riku had moved his room to be right next to Sora’s instead of being across. When Sora had asked why the sudden move, Riku had casually said it was due to the view being better than his previous room. Kairi thought it strange but thought nothing of it.
She found what she wanted and leaned back against her chair, humming slightly as she noticed Riku was also finished. She blinked as she took in his appearance for the first time since the Mark of Mastery. Were his eyes always green? She had thought that they were more blue; not quite as blue as Sora’s, but more on the icy side. They had been icy blue right, or was she just imagining things? She was about to ask him, but was interrupted by the waiter coming to their table.
“Are you ready to order?” he asked as Sora nodded happily and gave his order to the waiter. Leave it to Sora to order something on the sweeter side and Kairi was glad that they had a healthy breakfast prior to the sparring match, otherwise she would have to force him to order something healthier. Once Sora had finished ordering, she gave her order to the waiter with Riku soon following suit. Kairi then waited for the waiter to leave to see if she could ask Riku what had been on her mind. However, any hopes of that were dashed as Sora turned to look at Kairi and smiled.
“So, you’ll be starting your keyblade training soon huh?” he asked as she blinked and nodded a bit.
“Yeah, you two sparring is helping me learn a bit about the basics of wielding,” she said as Riku hummed.
“Hm, well, so long as you don’t learn Sora’s bad habits on the keyblade, you should be fine,” he teased as Sora looked offended.
“Riku! It’s not my fault I didn’t have training with the keyblade!” the younger exclaimed, pouting slightly as Riku chuckled and rested his cheek in his hand, looking at the younger.
“Yeah? I didn’t either and yet I’m still kicking your butt at sparring. I thought you were better than that Sora,” he teased as Kairi noted that Riku was deliberately trying to avoid the mention of the Mark of Mastery. The younger Riku would have taken any opportunity to show how much better he was at the blade and while the elder continued his teasing, it wasn’t the same as it had been before the worlds fell. It was more subdued teasing and he never went pushed the boundaries past the slight teasing.
“You’re just too good at everything Riku. But! One day, I will beat you and then we’ll see who’s a better Keyblade wielder then!” Sora exclaimed as Kairi hummed and looked at Sora, a smile on her face.
“Oh, you mean me right?” she asked, poking his cheek teasingly as Sora looked at her and gasped.
“Kairi! Why are you teaming up with Riku? I thought you were on my side,” he said, pouting slightly as Kairi giggled and shook her head.
“It’s fun teasing you Sora,” she replied as Sora crossed his arms over his chest.
“Some friends you two are,” he said as Riku chuckled before relaxing in his chair.
“Aw, come now. You mean to tell me you don’t miss this?” he asked as their drinks were brought to the table. Sora took a sip of his hot chocolate before smiling at Riku.
“Of course I missed you two. Someday, we should all go on an adventure together. There’s so many worlds I want to show you two,” he said as Kairi smiled softly and took a sip of her strawberry lemonade.
“Once we beat Xehanort, we should go on a trip. Just the three of us,” she said as Riku looked at his lemonade thoughtfully.
“Hm, that sounds nice...but we should probably stop by the Islands when this is all over,” he said as Sora nodded, practically bouncing in his seat.
“Yeah! Of course we’ll stop by the Islands first then we’ll see all the other worlds! Oh I can’t wait for you two to meet some of the friends I made. This is going to be awesome!” he exclaimed as Kairi giggled slightly, glad to see Sora happy again. A few minutes passed in silence as Kairi waited to see if there would be any more interruptions. Seeing none within vicinity, she looked at Riku.
“Hey Riku? I was wondering something that I noticed just recently,” she said as Riku blinked, looking at her, slightly nervous. She tried not to laugh at his reaction as she knew that he probably thought she would mention what she noticed during their walk.
“What’s up Kairi?” he asked, trying to pretend as if all was well as she wished she could take a picture of a nervous Riku. Who knew calm and collected Riku even had the ability to be nervous? She hummed and took a sip of her drink.
“Well, it’s about your eyes actually. Have they always been green or are you wearing contacts? I thought they were always icy blue, but I just noticed today they’re green,” she said as Riku visibly relaxed when the question was not what he thought it would be. He was however caught off guard at the mention of the eye color change as he paid no mind to it when he noticed his reflection one day to show just that; his eyes were no longer icy blue but were instead a bright green. Not as green as Lea’s but still green.
“Hey, I was actually wondering about that too. Actually have been wondering about it since we finished the Mark of Mastery exam, but I thought it was just me that noticed the change in eye color. Glad to see it’s not just me then,” Sora said as Kairi blinked. So Sora noticed? Of course he'd notice, this was pertaining to Riku and the younger would notice just about anything when it involved him. Her too, but just not as early or as often as he would with Riku.
Riku sighed slightly, running a hand through his hair, unsure of how to bring it up with the two before him without sounding like a lunatic. Sora might be able to understand but Kairi? She'd deem him insane probably and laugh at how stupid it sounded. Why didn't he just buy the damn contacts when he had a chance? He looked around to see that the immediate space for their table was empty and it didn't seem that the waiter was going to come back anytime soon. Might as well get this over with.
“Well, Kairi, erm…our Mark of Mastery exam was to dive into the World of Sleep and work on waking seven worlds. During our exam, we would be fighting these Dream Eaters known as Nightmares while recruiting good Dream Eaters known as Spirits,” he started as Sora beamed at the memory.
“Oh Kairi you should have seen the Spirits! I know you'd like them. They're all so adorable and just so much fun to be with and are really good company to have when you're alone taking this exam,” he said as Kairi blinked.
“Wait, I thought you took the exam together?” she asked as Riku nodded.
“We did, but we were split off in parallel worlds. Anyways, so the goal was to work with the Spirits to take Nightmares down and wake the sleeping world. Sometime during the exam, Xehanort had interfered and had taken Sora with the intention of….” he couldn't bring himself to think of what could have been possible. What if he didn't get to Sora in time? Had he failed in finding Sora's heart, could he have lived with that? Kairi took notice and reached to hold his hand, squeezing it gently as Sora fidgeted in his seat.
“I don't remember much, but I know darkness was creeping to try and take me away, but Riku, you saved me,” he said as he looked at the elder, smiling a bit, reaching to take Riku's free hand in his. “And I thank you for that.”
Riku smiled a bit at that. “It's just as you say. I came back to see Sora was still asleep and I went into his dreams to get him to wake up,” he said as Kairi blinked. So if she had been following along correctly, in theory, Riku was Sora's Dream Eater. This explains why Riku had suddenly moved his room to be closer to Sora and explained why since then she hasn't heard so much as a peep from Sora. But that didn't explain the eye color change.
“So, if I'm understanding properly, Riku, you're a dream eater on top of being a Keyblade Master? But what does that have to do with the eye color change?” she asked, as Sora looked at her then at Riku, waiting for answer. Riku sighed as he let go of both their hands, looking away.
“It sounds crazy, but yes…I'm a Dream Eater. I thought it was just a little mishap due to the exams, but seeing as my eye colors have changed and Sora finally being able to sleep through the night after I moved rooms seem to be a good indicator that it wasn't a fluke. Another thing about Dream Eaters is that their appearances can change based on their disposition,” he said, looking anywhere else than the two before him, waiting for them to point out he was crazy.
“Aw. Don't get me wrong, I like green on you, but I preferred the icy blue,” Kairi said as Riku chuckled at that.
“Well, I can't really do much to change it Kairi,” he said as he took another sip of his lemonade. Only Sora would be able to change his disposition at this point.
“I think green suits you more.” Sora murmured before eventually sighing as he leaned back in his chair and continued, ”Even in my sleep you're protecting me. Riku, how am I going to surpass you now? I haven't been completely honest with you two either.” He stopped as the waiter brought them their orders. Kairi blinked and looked at Sora, curious to see if the younger was going to finally talk about what had been bothering him seeing as Riku had opened up to them. Though his comment did not go unmissed either. She wondered if Riku's sudden eye change was due to Sora's curiosity of seeing a Riku with green eyes? She'd have to ask later seeing as Sora needed to be comforted now.
“Sora, you're doing fine on your own. Don't ever think you're any less than Riku. You two are strong on your own with admirable qualities without comparing yourself to the other,” she said as Sora looked at her and smiled a bit, though the smile didn't reach his eyes.
“That's the thing Kairi, I'm not sure if I am. I came close to being overtaken by Xehanort in a time where we need as much Guardians of Light to keep him from fulfilling his plans. Ever since the exam, I've been having nightmares. Well, until recently anyways. I just feel like I let everyone down because I didn't pass. I mean, I'm glad you passed the Mark of Mastery Riku! You really do deserve it and it wasn't really a surprise seeing as you were supposed to wield the Keyblade in the first place and….” was all Sora could say before Kairi hugged him with Riku grabbing hold of his hand.
“Don't say that! Sora, you've done more than enough to prove your own worth to be a Keyblade wielder too. I'm sure if the exam wasn't tampered with, you would have passed too. You saved so many worlds and you kept me safe. You went after Riku and saved him too,” Kairi said as she felt tears run down her cheeks. To think Sora would be this shaken up about it? Why didn't they bug him sooner? To think this had been plaguing him for what may have been months. She heard a sniff from Sora as she looked up to see tears in his eyes too. Riku frowned and wished more than anything that there wasn't a table blocking him to try and comfort the younger, but he knew Kairi would be plenty enough on comfort. He would have to be the voice of reason to reassure Sora that he was fine as he was.
“Sora, you're not weak. You're capable of befriending just about everyone and you do everything you can to save those that are in need of saving. It's just as Kairi said, you kept her safe, albeit unknowingly when Maleficent wanted the Seven Princesses of Heart. You chased after me trying to bring me back to the Realm of Light, regardless of my own mistakes by falling to darkness. Sure, you may not have been chosen by the Keyblade, but when I had taken the Keyblade from you at Hollow Bastion, the Keyblade chose you over me. You are the rightful wielder and I couldn't be prouder to call you my best friend. Seeing as you're busy protecting everyone but yourself, then let me be the one to protect you,” he said, with firm resolution that yes, he may be a Keyblade Master and he will probably be assigned missions that Sora can't take, but if it means he can keep Sora happy and away from darkness, he'll take on any quest. Let Sora continue being his light while he lurked in darkness to protect him.
Sora blinked and wiped his tears away at Riku's speech and shook his head, smiling a bit as he squeezed Riku's hand and hugged Kairi close. “Then, I'll work even harder to get the power of waking back so I can continue to protect my friends,” he said as Kairi smiled softly.
“And I'll train hard so I'll stop worrying you two from your own missions. One day, we'll all travel together and protect each other properly so that Sora doesn't carry the burden alone,” she said as Riku chuckled.
“Save it for when you both become Masters. For now I'll do the protecting of you two,” he said as Sora laughed, feeling relief he hasn't felt in a long while.
“Well, you won't have to be waiting for very long. I'll be a Keyblade Master soon!” he exclaimed, earning a chuckle from Riku and giggling from Kairi.
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After brunch was over, Sora had to run back to the Tower for more lessons on magic, leaving Riku and Kairi alone to walk back, sea salt ice cream in hand. The silence was appreciated, but it was all the more apparent that their group was not complete unless Sora was there to be the bundle of energy. That didn't mean they couldn't take this opportunity to enjoy the company of each other in the shared silence.
“So, you're Sora's Dream Eater huh?” Kairi asked as Riku choked in his ice cream, coughing slighty as his face flushed pink.
“Y-yeah. It seems that I can only take away his nightmares. I tried to see if I can do the same for others, but seeing as I dove into his heart, it only makes sense that he's the only one I can sense. Thanks for not phrasing it that way earlier though,” he said as she giggled a bit.
“Thought I'd do you a favor. So, does being a Dream Eater give you the ability to give him suggestive dreams or…?” she asked as Riku blushed even darker. There was no way he'd try that. He didn't even know if he could do that. Why would Kairi suggest such a thing? Was she spending too much time with Lea? He always knew Lea was a bad influence on Kairi and this was further proof.
“Wha-?! No! I don't have a say in what type of dreams he should have! I just take the nightmares away I swear! Why would you even say something like that Kairi? Do I need to set Lea straight so that he doesn't become a bad influence on you?” he asked, earning giggles from Kairi.
“Relax Riku, I was only teasing you!" She exclaimed as she noticed Riku relax slightly as she continued, "Looks like you can't show him your feelings through dreams after all and you'll just have to man up and confess to him~” she teased as Riku sputtered at that, his face turning redder at that.
“I-I don't know what you're talking about,” he said as she giggled even more.
“Oh really? Because I'd say it's pretty obvious as to how you feel for Sora. A prince in shining armor protecting his sleeping prince~” she teased as Riku looked away, blushing even more.
“Kairi, please it's not like that. I know what Darkness does to someone and Sora doesn't need to go through that. It's my mission to keep you two safe from the reach of Darkness in hopes of atoning for my own mistake of succumbing to darkness when we were younger,” he said, finishing his ice cream as Kairi sighed.
“Don't you start moping on me Riku. You already atoned for it and then some. Sora didn't blame you for what happened and I don't either,” she said as he smiled slightly.
“I'm not moping, just telling you the truth. Besides, why would you be encouraging me to confess to him? Shouldn't you be confessing to him?” he asked as Kairi shook her head.
“Hm, no. When we were younger maybe, but I noticed things that apparently you two goobers aren't noticing. I'm not the person that's most important in his heart anymore, and I'm okay with that,” she said as she soon finished her ice cream. Riku blinked at that, unsure of what she was talking about. HE wouldn't entertain the thought, not when so much was still at stake. They had to focus on keeping Kingdom Hearts safe first and any feelings he had for Sora would just have to wait, if he even stood a chance to tell the other how he felt.
“Well, we shouldn't really be focusing on that. We'll be going our separate ways soon and feelings can be discussed later,” he said as Kairi hummed. Riku had a point in that maybe now wasn't the best time. Not when they would be split off again to go their separate ways. Any distractions from their own missions would not be ideal. She just hated the fact that it had to be this way.
“You should still think about it Riku~ I'm sure you can figure out his feelings, what with being Sora's Dream Eater and all. And seeing as he now knows what you do, maybe it'll be more obvious for his subconscious,” she said before running to the tower. Riku blinked, shocked at that as he shook his head and chuckled slightly before following after her.
It was definitely a thought that stayed on his mind for the rest of his travels.