Chapter Text
When he woke up, he was all over Riku.
Legitimately all over him. His left leg had thrown itself over his best friend’s slim hips, his arms tucked between him and Riku’s warm side. The taller boy’s shirt had ridden up at some point in the night, baring his abdomen to the morning light. His breathing was soft and slow. Sora hummed in contentment. He liked it when he got to see Riku sleep. It was rare to see him so peaceful. And here Sora was demonstrating what it was like to be a dusk, apparently.
Mentally chiding himself for checking Riku out, Sora set out to untangle himself from his best friend. Thank god Riku slept on his back. He breathed a sigh in relief when there was a good couple inches space between them, ignoring the way his body screamed to return to the warmth. No trouble for him this morning, thank you very much.
“Going somewhere?” Riku asked, eyes still closed.
Sora froze, hoping if he stayed still long enough Riku would think he went back to sleep. Before he could close his eyes to pretend, Riku turned his head and locked him into place with cerulean eyes, smiling knowingly. “Good morning, Sora.”
And maybe it was Riku’s voice, sleep-deep and heavy, that made him falter. Or maybe it was his bedhead, which was endearing with his new haircut. Or maybe it was the fact that Riku had dove into his heart for the second time and seen even more personal, soul-bearing stuff that Sora would never openly show anyone else. In any case, he felt a well of embarrassment overcome him and turned to face the other wall to avoid showing his definitely now-red face.
“Sora?” Riku called, chuckling lightly. “You know I know you’re awake, right?”
“No, I’m not,” Sora responded, clutching the plush pillow under him closer. He yelped as the world suddenly shifted to Riku’s face and batted away his best friend’s hands playfully. “Hey! Stop manhandling me!”
Riku smirked at him. “No.”
Sora huffed, blowing air in his face so he’d close his eyes and then open them slowly. “You suck.”
Riku blinked at him, not taking the bait. They stared at each other long enough that Sora’s smile fell from his face, and his eyes narrowed on Riku’s pink lips - so very close. It had been so easy to lean in with Ryder, who he barely liked. This was magnetic, Sora realized, this was inevitable. He’d complained about how bogus destiny was to Riku the night before, but here it was, staring at him in the grey morning light. He wanted it more than anything.
“Sora,” Riku whispered, eyes shifting back and forth to each of his.
“Yeah,” Sora answered distractedly, watching the distance close slowly.
“What are you doing?” Riku asked, tone unchanging.
Sora stopped, reality clicking firmly into his brain. Don’t make a scene, he told himself as he casually leaned back, back, back to his part of the bed.
“Whoa!” Riku laughed, tugging him close again. “You’re gonna fall off.”
Sora laughed shakily, not able to think of a response because he almost kissed Riku and Riku saw it . There was no way he didn’t know what Sora was trying to do.
“Hey,” Riku insisted, brushing Sora’s bangs back to see his face. Sora whined, blushy and awkward, and shoved his hand away to secure his safe hair cover. Riku laughed fondly. “What’s gotten into you?”
Sora whined again into Riku’s chest, at a loss over how to behave, what to do, and what to say.
“I haven’t seen you this shy since the day we met,” Riku said teasingly.
Sora huffed at the reference. He’d been playing on a jungle gym near their library, mom sitting and reading on a nearby bench. He was trying to master everything on the play structure, working his way up to the monkey bars. But this time around his hands had been a little too sweaty, and he freaked out about that a little too much. He was falling before he knew it, braced for impact on tanbark. It never came. He’d peeked his eyes downward to see a silver-haired boy holding his legs up by the back of his thighs. The boy - Riku - was obviously older than him, but not by much. Enough to make a substantial difference in height and strength though. Riku secured their friendship with only three simple statements.
“Come on! Try again! I’ll follow you down here in case you fall.” And that was the first day Sora ever successfully crossed the monkey bars. The day he met Riku.
“You’re lucky I was there,” Riku teased him, poking at his sides. “You might’ve broken something. Shame, I could’ve avoided meeting you if I hadn’t stepped in.”
Sora jolted, ticklish, before retorting, “Please, you’d have been bored without me by your side.”
“True,” Riku hummed. “So, should we get up and get something to eat? I’m assuming Cinderella has something out for all of us.”
“Yeah,” Sora agreed, yawning and pushing himself to his feet. Grateful that his unfortunate almost-kiss-attempt wasn’t being addressed further. “Let’s go.”
They left the room and walked down the hallways in tandem. Sora liked that, how they seemed to link up to each other automatically. He stopped at the end of the path, realizing he didn’t remember getting to his room at all last night. Riku grabbed his wrist and dragged them down the stairs.
“Ven said you passed out while he was getting you to the castle. He got you to your room before his gravity spell wore off. Gave everyone a scare,” Riku said, answering the question he hadn’t voiced.
“Do you think they’ll be mad at me?” Sora wondered aloud.
Riku looked at him over his shoulder in disbelief. “Sora, I think they should worry about that, not you.”
Sora huffed and admired the elaborate wreaths on the doors they passed by, slapping at some tinsel on an archway for good measure. “But I lied to them. I lied to everyone.”
Riku snorted. “So? At the end of the day, they should have believed in your judgement instead of fighting you. I learned that lesson a long time ago.”
The hallway opened up to a grand lobby, filled with bustling servants carrying unlit candles and silverware and flowers. It reminded Sora a whole lot of Arendelle’s pre-Yule antics. Riku smiled at him and arched a brow, thinking the same thing. The breakfast room was easy enough to find by Ven’s loud voice commenting on the french toast. Just as they were about to step in, Sora spotted Cinderella hanging ornaments next to the dining room. He paused, silently telling Riku to go ahead, and approached the princess of heart.
She turned to greet him, smiling happily. “Sora! I’m so relieved to see you’re alright.”
He stepped forward and accepted her hug, admiring the homespun, embroidered apron she was wearing. “Yeah, thanks. I’m sorry for worrying you. It was a little harder out there than expected.”
She nodded. “Your teammates told me. We’re all so grateful that you came along. I’m not sure what we would have done otherwise. The Christmas celebration is tonight, after all!” She jingled a bell ornament to accent her statement.
“It’s our job! Don’t worry about it." Sora picked up a glass bell, helping her decorate. “So, have you done this every year?”
“No,” Cinderella admitted, smoothing down a branch. “Just for the last five. Before that, I wasn’t allowed to do much of anything here. It was infuriating.”
Sora tilted his head in confusion. “Really? How come?”
Cinderella hummed, fixing her hair in the reflection of a blue ornament. “When I first came to the castle, people thought I couldn’t handle royal responsibilities like event planning or charity events. They thought since I didn’t have a grand education, I couldn’t manage the normal duties of a princess.”
“What’d you do?” Sora asked curiously, admiring a teddy bear he’d just placed on the tree.
“I proved them wrong,” she said proudly. “I rolled up my sleeves, worked hard, and showed them I could do it. That may have involved lying to a couple of people to make them give me a chance, but I refuse to be one of those rulers who didn’t make a difference.”
Sora nodded. “Yeah, doesn’t sound like you at all. Still sucks that you had to resort to that, though.”
Cinderella fiddled with the blue Christmas lights and sighed. “But it’s okay. Now I’ve proven that I can lead. I’ve even made a few charities of my own, you know, for girls here that need good educations.”
“That’s amazing,” Sora said, proud of the princess. “I wish I could do something like that.”
Cinderella turned to consider him. “Why don’t you? You’d be great at it!” Sora scoffed, prompting Cinderella to put her hands on her hips in mock anger. “Sora, really. You’re a hero but you’re also a good friend to all of us royals. I’m certain we’d all help you get something off the ground. We don’t have any programs that span across any of our worlds.”
Sora licked his lips nervously. “Yeah, I’ve kinda thought about that before.”
Cinderella clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh! I hope you’ll give it a try!”
Seeing her so excited about it made him excited too. He felt a cautious sprig of optimism sprout inside of him and sighed. The question wasn’t if he was capable, it was how he’d achieve such a feat and how he’d explain it to Master Yen Sid. The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint someone, or even worse, make everyone else’s job harder.
xXx
“Sora, these are so pretty!” Xion gushed, poking excitedly at the ornaments above them in the gummiship. Elsa’s ice ornament was holding up to her word, being made from the same unmeltable substance of Ahtollahan’s caves. Elegant curves of blue wrapped around in a spiral held up by a golden ribbon. Anna had included it for hanging before asking Elsa to make exactly 16 more. Next to it was a strange grey and black fabergé egg that came in the gift basket Jack had given him, dotted with pink specks. And next to that one was a gleaming, glittery key with jingle bells that Xion had pointed out to him in Christmas town.
“I know!” Sora smiled, fiddling with the new blue ornament Cinderella had gifted him. “I’m trying to get one in every world we visit.” He stretched his arms up and attached the reflective ball onto the velcro handle with the others, smiling at the embossed carriage silhouette that shone back at him. “Maybe we’ll find something in Radiant Garden!”
Riku had left their party shortly after a very tense, silent breakfast. His assignment was all the way in Wonderland, but he insisted on pulling Sora aside to discuss their heart-diving project.
“So,” he breathed. “That last fracture in your heart. Want to fix it tonight?”
Sora made an unsure noise. “I don’t think either of us will be finished with patrol in time to meet up.”
Riku smirked at him as if he’d thought of something Sora hadn’t yet. “We don’t need to. Now that I’ve unlocked your heart to mine again, I can dive in from anywhere during your dreams. Game to try?”
Sora perked up, happy knowing his and Riku’s connection was stronger. “Oh! Yeah, good plan! I’ll see you tonight, then.”
His best friend ruffled his hair fondly and chuckled. “Yeah, tonight.”
When it was just him and his companions once more, Xion had immediately thrown herself into apologizing for what had happened. Sora had accepted it with a sigh, glancing at the mute twins next to them and shaking his head in dismay. It’d been a full twenty minutes since they’d taken off and still neither of them said a word. Sora bit his lip and continued steering toward Radiant Garden, listening to Xion talk about how excited she was for the King’s ball tomorrow. “But what are we going to tell Master Yen Sid?” she abruptly asked.
“What do you mean?” Sora frowned, looking from the stars to her concerned face.
“Well, if we tell him Vanitas is back, he might call in Aqua and Terra to go...you know,” Xion murmured, gaze downcast. “But if we don’t tell him, we’ll get in trouble, won’t we?”
Sora heard Roxas shift on his left, a clear sign that his Other had an opinion that he was withholding. Ventus gave no reaction to her statement at all. Sora wanted to say he was torn, but he wasn’t. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. “We don’t tell him,” Sora said firmly, clutching the wheel as if it could steel his resolve. If he learned anything from his forced psychotherapy last night, it was that his very soul was exhausted from playing by other people’s rules. This felt right to him, and so it had to be worth fighting for. “Emphasis on the we,” he added.
Xion seemed taken aback, turning to the twins in shock. From his rearview mirrors, Sora saw Ventus’s and Roxas’s attention finally snap to him. “Wait, really?” Roxas asked.
“Yeah, really,” Sora affirmed.
“What if we don’t agree?” Ventus asked politely, but directly.
“Then you’ll deal with the outcome, not me,” Sora said lightly. “But if you go after him, I can’t guarantee that you won’t have to fight me too.”
“You never did tell us,” Xion pointed out carefully. “Why you care about him so much? Or why he’s here?”
Sora sighed, pulling them into the last warp. It would only be 10 minutes till they landed. Maybe that was enough time to come clean. “He was in my heart with you guys; you knew that. Originally, I thought he was why I went into antiform every so often. I was wrong. He was the reason I could pull back from it easily every time. He was helping me, in his own way.”
Ventus made a strange noise, like he wanted to say something but stopped. Sora took that as a sign to continue. “When he disappeared, he didn’t really die. I found him like I found Kairi, and took him back into my heart. I couldn’t just leave him there, you know?” Sora sighed. “ When I left to the Final World, he came with me. We separated in Shibuya, this huge city that was kind of like limbo. There’s this trial there. If you win, you come back to life. Otherwise, you stay dead. Vanitas and I automatically separated because bodies are irrelevant, and the realm registered two souls, not one.”
“Is this the same place Riku went to?” Xion asked.
“Yeah,” Sora confirmed. “But by the time he’d gotten there, things had changed. It’s a long story, but some old friends and I stopped the moderators from ruling over the city. When we did, we realized there was a way to bring everyone back, so we did it. Riku showed up just before that happened. Then got sent back in the same day.” Sora laughed. “He’s so impatient.”
“And so Vanitas came back too,” Ventus surmised. “As his own person this time.”
Sora nodded, seeing Radiant Garden pull up on his screens. “But he’s different now. He helped me out when he didn’t have to over there. And now, I think he’s just upset about how everything turned out. If I were him, I’d be acting out too.”
“You’re just saying that because he looks like you,” Roxas frowned. “You’d never do the things he’s done.”
Sora selected their landing location and turned to consider Roxas. “That kind of thinking stops you from caring about people, Roxas. We all do unimaginable things when we’re in pain. Doesn’t mean any of us are better than him.”
The gummiship was silent as he landed. Xion sighed for him, getting up and walking into the cold grey morning. Sora followed, not bothering to spare a glance at his other two companions.
“So, where do we check first?” Xion asked him, walking steadily toward the main market square.
Sora hummed. “Maybe let’s go see Leon and the others first. They’ll know if anything weird has been going on.”
Xion agreed, looking up at the large orbs of christmas lights that lined the causeway. The square itself was busy, and if he squinted, Sora could just make out Scrooge selling his ice cream in the distance. Surprisingly, there was a line for it that circled around the shop. “How could people want ice cream in this weather?” he asked rhetorically.
“How dare you,” Xion accused, hitting his arm. “Ice cream is worth freezing over, especially if it’s sea salt.”
Sora laughed, rubbing his arm in mock hurt as they walked over to Scrooge’s. “Oh, Xi look!” he commented, pointing at a hanging sign the said HOLIDAY SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION. “They’re selling sea salt peppermint ice cream! We gotta get it now!” Sora’s mouth watered as he watched a man carefully walk by them with a stick of it, blue as usual but with a strip of white swirling up and around it. Small candy sprinkles that were red, white, and green poked out of it.
“I thought you said it was too cold,” Xion teased, dragging him into line. “If only the other two were here with us,” she sighed, looking back in hopes that Ventus and Roxas would suddenly appear.
“Was I too mean?” Sora asked her, shoulders dropping. “I just wanted to stand up for myself-”
“No, Sora,” Xion told him, eyes genuine. “That was amazing. You’re right, you know. They just have their tails between their legs. It’ll take them a while to get over it.” They moved up in the line as she sent him a smile. “Besides, when do we ever get to hang out, just you and me?”
“You’ve got a point there.” Sora grinned, hands behind his head. “I can’t wait for this ice cream!”
“This is weird,” a man with blond hair complained next to them, ice cream in hand. “Why is it salty?”
His friend, a tall man with glasses, scoffed. “Prompt, the sign says it was sea salt ice cream. What did you expect?”
The younger man whined. “I thought it was just a name. I don’t like it Iggy, you take it.”
“Fine,” the man with glasses chuckled, licking it experimentally. “What in gods name are you complaining about? The tension between sweet and salty is perfect and drives the flavors out-”
“Ugh,” ‘Prompt’ spat, throwing his hands in the air. “I just want normal ice cream in between hunting for this stupid guy. Is that too much to ask for?”
‘Iggy’ shrugged. “Perhaps. But lucky for you, I think I’ve just come up with a new recipe.”
“If it is exactly this I will hit you,” Prompt threatened. “Now let’s go find the others. They should be finished talking to the committee by now.”
Sora and Xion turned to each other. “The committee?” they mouthed to one another in unison.
“Gotta be Leon,” Sora affirmed, walking up to the front of the line and smiling widely at Scrooge. “Hey Scrooge! Can we have two of the holiday specials?”
“Ah! Sora my boy! Of course,” he exchanged their munny for treats. “And, ah, Donald told me what happened to ye. He was beside himself with grief when ye disappeared.”
Sora frowned. “Oh, really? He told me he didn’t worry at all because he knew I was coming back.”
“Ah,” Scrooge laughed, tilting his glasses back to his eyes. “My nephew has trouble expressing himself adequately. Just know he loves ye dearly. We’re happy to have you back, son.”
Sora chuckled, a little more emotional from the conversation than he wanted to be. “Yeah, thanks. It’s good to be back.” And really, it was. He and Xion ambled to the restoration committee's house, commenting on the ice cream and talking about holiday treats.
“The peppermint flavor was better in Christmas Town,” Xion said, frowning.
“Well I hope so,” Sora replied. “They’re expected to do it best.”
“Hey Sora?” she asked when they’d finished their ice cream. “Do you think we can go again next year? Like the four of us?”
Sora looked at her in surprise. “Oh, yeah. If you wanted to. It could be like a tradition or something, if they ever talk to me again.”
Xion sighed. “It’s hard on all of us, I think, having to communicate with thoughts instead of feelings or dreams. It was easier when we shared a heart with you.” She looked at him calculatingly. “You know that they both love you, right?”
Sora blinked at her. “Uh, they do?”
Xion mock-glared. “Seriously, Sora? We were inside your heart and you fought tooth and nail to one, protect us, and two, get us out when we could have our own bodies. You saved us. How could we not love you?”
“I dunno,” Sora said offhandedly, kicking a loose pebble down the road. “I always wondered if you thought of my heart as a prison.”
“A prison?” Xion laughed. “No, Sora, in the end it was a sanctuary. For all of us. I think they’re having a hard time figuring out when to get involved in your life and when to stay out of it. We were observers for so long. Now that we’re here with you, some of us are feeling a little overprotective,” she sheepishly confessed.
“Overprotective?” he repeated. “What do you mean?”
“Sora, I can guarantee you the reason Roxas was hell-bent on getting to Vanitas was because he was worried about you. Ventus too, though he seems to have a more level head about it than Roxas and I,” she explained. “Still, for what it’s worth. I’m sorry, again.” She lowered her head before popping it back up in excitement. “Hey! Maybe if we get Vanitas to be less violent, he could come with us to Christmas town next year!”
“What?” he yelled comically. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, why not?” she yelled back, hands on her hips. “He just needs to mellow out a little bit.”
“A little?!” Sora laughed, pushing open the door to the restoration committee’s office. “I think more than a little. Can you imagine him in one of those outfits?”
The room was exactly the same as he’d left it. The large computer directly in front of him was being manned by a grumbling Cid, whose back was turned to them. Aerith spotted them first, book poised to be put away on the far shelf. “Oh, Sora!” she called, drawing the attention of the rest of the occupants in the room. “What a surprise!”
Sora met her halfway, hugging hello. “Yeah, it’s been a while. This is Xion. I think Kairi told you about her?”
“Yes, she has,” Aerith commented, extending her hand cheerfully. “Nice to meet you, Xion. I’m Aerith.”
Xion shyly shook her hand, pushing a bang back over her ear. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Sora,” Leon said curtly from the large table, map of Radiant Garden on display. Cloud raised a hand in greeting next to him. At the same table were two men that Sora did not recognize.
“Hey,” the big, muscular man said. “Name’s Gladio.”
The smaller man blinked at him, and Sora blinked back, feeling the floaty sensation of deja vu run between them. “I’m Noctis,” the man finally said.
“Sora, and whoever you are,” Leon called out. “Could you come here for a second?”
They looked at each other and walked over, taking in the marked locations atop the map curiously. “What’s up?” Sora asked casually.
“We have a situation,” Leon replied bluntly. “These two here have reason to believe that a very dangerous man is walking around Radiant Garden. He has high levels of magic and is prone to attack at random.”
Sora stared at Cloud. “And it isn’t Sephiroth?”
Cloud shook his head. “Nope.”
“His name is Arydn,” Noctis said, eyes focused on the map. “And it’s my fault he’s here. I need to track him down before he does any damage to your world.”
“It’s all hands on deck,” Leon commented. “Yuffie is already out there with Dilan and Aeleus. If you could investigate The Great Maw, that’d narrow down our search considerably.”
“And two of ours are out patrolling too,” Gladio added. “Ignis and Prompto.”
Xion and Sora shared a brief look at that statement. Patrol didn’t traditionally mean getting ice cream, did it? “Alright,” Sora said. “Xion and I’ll text Ven and Roxas - they’re here too. We’ll contact you if we see or hear anything.”
They broke the meeting, Xion texting rapidly as they ran to their destination. “Well,” she said after they sent the messages. “This isn’t exactly what we were looking for, but we are helping, I guess.”
“A hero’s work is never done,” Sora said, turning the corner. “This guy can’t be as much of a pain as Sephiroth.”
Famous last words.
Arydn hit them fast and out of nowhere. There was nowhere to hide in The Great Maw, so they were left with no choice but to dodge roll and block attacks.
“What is with this guy?” Sora asked Xion as they evaded another set of lasers. “Hey, stop attacking us!” he called to Ardyn.
“How about no,” Ardyn drawled. “I don’t need you telling Noct where I am.” He sent a blast Xion’s way, knocking her out cold. “There’s some similarity between you two, but I can’t put my finger on it. How meddlesome.”
“Xion!” Sora called, torn between an opening and curing her. He hesitated for a half a second too long, he realized, when a kick to his abdomen sent in crashing into the mountainside. Sora pried his eyes open as Ardyn made his way to Xion, blade flaring red. He panicked, trying to pick himself up but failing to. There’s no way he’d get there in time.
Sora grasped his heart and tugged, accessing Riku’s D-Link. He briefly felt Riku’s surprise, followed by extreme concern, before being flooded with strength. Ardyn was flying through the air before he knew it, and Sora hastily cast curaga to wake Xion. “Xion! Hey, wake up!” he called to her. She didn’t stir. Ardyn’s laughter jolted him back to standing, taking a defensive position to protect his friend.
“Goodness,” the man drawled, brushing pebbles off his shoulders casually. “I suppose I underestimated you.” He set his fedora back atop his head and narrowed his eyes. “We really can’t have you running around with that kind of power, can we?”
Ardyn was on him in a second, relentlessly striking Ultima over and over. Sora gasped at the force of it, drawing on the power of the D-link to shove him bodily back. Ardyn’s eyes locked onto the glowing spot atop his heart, a visible manifestation of his connection to Riku, and stared at it. “You possess some kind of crystal, don’t you?” Arydn breathed. “It doesn’t belong to you. Give it to me!”
Sora yelped, flipping into aerial recovery after the man had landed a good hit to his side. It wasn’t good enough, he realized as Ardyn met him in the air with laser swords - eerily similar to Xemnas’s. He felt one, two, five, seven, combo hits before slamming painfully into the ground.
The D-link abruptly vanished, his body physically unable to keep the magic running. Sora groaned, getting to his feet and bouncing back in time to avoid a swipe.
Arydn laughed. “See! You aren’t strong enough to possess what you do. Surrender the crystal!”
Sora gagged as a blue light wrapped around his neck and tugged, disabling him long enough for Ardyn to get a critical hit. He was dangerously low on HP and unable to get a break to heal. Was he really going to go like this? Back to the Final World, with no hope of coming back this time? He closed his eyes, expecting a finishing blow to come down. A jarring clank of metal on metal stirred him to open his eyes.
“Who the fuck are you,” Vanitas demanded, poised in front of him.
Ardyn smirked. “I could ask you the very same question. Are you two brothers? I can see the resemblance. Ask nicely and I’ll let you keep his corpse.”
Vantias roared a battle cry and flew at him.
Sora panted, shaking hands reaching into his pocket to grab a hi-elixir. His vision was blurring so badly that he couldn’t get his hand to uncork the bottle. He wanted to cry after the fourth attempt, but stopped when another hand grasped it tightly, tilting his head up and having him drink. When Sora opened his eyes again, he was met with the most worried look he’d ever seen on Roxas’s face.
“Sora, please tell me you’re okay,” he said, eyes darting over him. “Does your head hurt?”
Sora groaned. “I think I’m okay. But Xion-”
“Is with Ven,” Roxas finished. “We just texted Leon and the others. They’re on their way.”
Sora nodded, turning his attention to the clash of black and red in front of them. “That’s Vanitas,” Sora said lamely. “He saved us.”
Roxas frowned, looking at the blur. “I know. We saw him step in just as we got over the hill. But he’s getting slower. I think even Vanitas can’t match this guy.”
Roxas was right. Sora noticed it too, the lag between combos that shouldn’t be there. “Roxas,” he asked, prompting his Other to look at him again. “Roxas, can you please do something for me?”
Roxas’ eyes widened. “Yeah, name it.”
Sora exhaled. “Help him.”
A flurry of emotions played across his Other’s eyes, ending with determination. “Alright, stay here.” Sora nodded, watching him summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion before jumping in. He couldn’t say what happened next, as the battle was a little too fast for his maybe-concussed head to follow. All he knew was, eventually, when they’d settled back on the ground, Roxas and Vanitas were winded on one side and Ardyn was wiping a trail of blood from his mouth on the other.
“If you touch either of them again,” Roxas threatened, “I’ll kill you!”
“And when he fails,” Vanitas yelled. “I’ll actually kill you!”
“Excuse me?” Roxas threw at Vanitas. “Fuck you!”
Before Vanitas could answer, a blur of purple and black rippled out from Arydn. Maniacal laughter permeated Sora’s very bones as the surrounding air crackled dangerously. Large plates of red energy circled their enemy and glowed in his eyes. Sora didn’t see him move. One moment he was standing yards away from Roxas and Vanitas, the next he had barrelled into them, doing an insane amount of damage in one hit. They were both tossed a sizable distance away and laid there, unmoving.
“Roxas! Vanitas!” Sora called to them, wishing he had enough magic to cast curaga.
“Now then," Arydn purred, sauntering his way to Sora. “Let’s see what that crystal of yours looks like."
Sora gasped, ignoring the searing pain in his back as he stood, struggling to put distance between them. “I don’t have a crystal!” He barely dodged a warp strike before switching out Ultima for Ever After. Healing was his problem during their first round. No way was he going to make that mistake again.
“Liar!” Ardyn accused, unleashing a flurry of attacks and ending with a dark fire spell. “That power was not your own!”
Sora grimaced at the strength behind both his magic and physical attacks. There was no way he was going to beat this guy, injured and alone. Arydn flew at him again, this time successfully landing a barrage of warp strikes and a dark thunder spell. This was bad, Sora realized while healing, looking at Roxas and Vanitas still unconscious in the distance. What happened to Noctis and Leon? When were the others going to get here?
The air began to crackle again, and Sora desperately wished he’d had enough power to cast more than a measly cura. The panels of red energy surrounded Ardyn once more, and as if sensing Sora’s distress, he smiled ferociously. “Are you worried, little boy? No more friends to come to your aid? Aw, too bad.”
Friends, Sora thought, grasping his heart once more. He was so weak and had already accessed Riku’s link, but he needed him. Sora looked at Arydn helplessly and called to Riku, trying his best to communicate the situation without words. Nothing came back from the other side.
Ardyn flew at him, dust whirling around his feet from where he’d taken off. Sora sharply inhaled and held it, expecting the worst of all pains to come over him again. But a spark from above caught his attention, and he had exactly two seconds to process that Riku had fallen out of the sky before his companion shoved him out of harm's way, blocking the strike in one fluid motion.
Sora groaned, rolling over to keep his eyes on the battle.
He’d seen the evolution of Riku’s fighting technique over the years, how it changed from all physical attacks to a healthy mixture of magic and martial, and now to special attacks that incorporated both. He sparred with Riku frequently and watched him go up against Aqua and Terra often, holding nothing back.
But Sora had never seen him fight like this before.
Dark barrier was almost constantly in play, with thunderaga relentlessly emerging to blind and incapacitate Ardyn. Their foe was legitimately stumbling to keep up, growling with rage and warp striking messily. Sora wanted desperately to cheer Riku on, but feared that he’d only distract him.
Arydn landed a few hits, drawing Riku into critical health, and Sora saw he was having the same problem he had - healing time. He grinned, grasping his keyblade and using the dregs of his magic to drench them both in a curaga. Sora breathed a sigh of relief as Riku gained the advantage once more, inclining his head to Sora in a spare moment as thanks for the backup.
Then Arydn smirked and his body flickered, changing abruptly in height and shape until Sora was in front of Riku, eyes gleaming red and long sword poised to attack. Riku flinched in shock, eyes wide, and had no time to recover from the distraction before a powerful blizzard spell engulfed him.
“Riku!” Sora called, panicked. “Riku, hang on!” He rose and stubbornly activated Mirage Staff, knowing he needed to keep off his feet.
He and Riku had to fight versions of themselves far too often, he mused as he swung accurately and critically into his double’s back. Aryn stumbled, deactivating the blizzard spell and giving Riku a much-needed break.
“I’m getting tired of you,” his evil twin said, shooting off multiple dark firagas in anger. Sora aerial dodged and shot locked, cheering in accomplishment when they all hit. But Arydn laughed, staring at him as a multitude of weapons appeared next to his body. “You have earned divine judgement,” his own voice said to him. “Let’s see you writhe.”
Sora frowned, wanting to finish with Mirage Tower but seeing tendrils of a magic barrier snake over Ardyn’s form. Magic wouldn’t do him any good now, and the collection of weaponry guarded any physical attacks. As he considered what to do, Ardyn performed the most disabling set of warp strikes yet. Sora gasped, slammed again and again by a trident, sliced by scythe and bruised by hammer.
“Sora!“ he heard Riku call as he crashed into the ground once more. Oh, that definitely broke some bones. He looked up to see Arydn’s cruel smirk and crazed eyes as he descended from an aerial attack, sword pointed downward his way. As he looked at his imminent demise, Sora wanted to laugh at the notion of his own double killing him.
A second before their collision, a blur of white, black and yellow slammed into Ardyn, pushing him to the left and out of Sora’s view. He could hear grunts and metal clanging, saw the light of spells flash and fade. Time slowed and he struggled to stay present, twitching his fingers and digging them into his palm to force himself into action.
It took a tiny thunder spell to his body to get him out of that self-made crater. He had to crawl painfully out of it, but there was no way he was going to leave Riku alone. A quick glance to the left confirmed that Riku was the one who’d slammed into Ardyn, but it wasn’t normal Riku.
Sora’s jaw dropped as he realized the tendrils of darkness were not from Ardyn. His best friend was ferocious. Dark firagas honed in on their enemy and burst, doing critical damage, but Sora worried about keeping Riku in that state. He needed to get him out -
Another form joined the fray, launching combos until Ardyn hesitated to get up off the ground. Vanitas hovered next to him, Void Gear pointed threateningly. “That face you wear,” Vanitas seethed. “You don’t deserve it.”
Ardyn laughed. “How pompous. Does it bother you? To see your brother corrupted and mangled-” he taunted until Oathkeeper slammed into his back.
“Hands off my friends,” he spat, mirroring Vanitas’s pose.
Ardyn sneered, morphing back to his original form. "You have no idea who I am, do you children? I’m a king. A god.” He rose to his knees, paying no heed to the weapons in his face. The wind swirled around them and the sky became dark, clouds making way for a portal to emerge. “I can summon the beasts at the edges of life.”
Sora’s breath caught, knowing he couldn’t fight another battle. But right as Roxas raised his keyblade in warning, Noctis appeared next to them and grabbed Ardyn by the collar, launching an attack and taking the battle to the air.
“Sora, are you okay?” a voice called from a distance. Sora turned his head, seeing Leon, Cloud, and Gladio.
“Leon! I’m okay I think,” Sora answered. “But that guy-”
“Not your problem,” Cloud asserted, dragging him up and holding his weight. “We gotta get you out of here.”
“Xion and Ven-” he began before Cloud cut him off.
“Are already on their way to Aerith. Let’s go,” he prompted, making Sora half-jog with him out of the battlefield.
“I’ll get the others,” Leon told him as Sora saw Gladio leap into the fray.
He hoped Riku had calmed down enough to return to himself, and he wished he’d been strong enough to keep him from having to do it in the first place.