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“Riku, do you ever think I’ll become a keyblade master?” Sora asked while he stared into his lap, his thumbs circling around each other in a nervous, but almost soothing way.
Riku’s eyes moved towards Sora’s empty expression and he said, “Of course I do.”
“I’m glad someone does,” Sora said with a swift snap of his tone that it made Riku’s shoulders jump a little.
“What’s this about, Sora?” Riku leaned forward, trying to make contact with Sora’s deep blue eyes, but he was avoiding Riku’s gaze at all costs.
“Nothing.” Sora threw a rock off the edge of the floating island that held the Mysterious Tower as he dangled his legs off the side.
Riku opened his mouth, sucking in a gasp of air to prepare the statement he was about to give to his friend, but Sora immediately cut him off as if he knew it was coming.
“You know, I felt like I have never accomplished something on my own?”
“That’s not true—”
“No. There was always someone there. Right by side or even in my heart. Giving me the strength. Even now.” Sora threw another rock and Riku watched it fall into the endless void of stars that painted the sky below them a sharp collage of blues and greens.
Riku noticed the tremble that Sora was desperately trying to hide in his fingertips. “Are you mad?”
“Yeah.”
“At me?”
Sora’s head quickly turned and for the first time, he looked Riku in the eyes. “N-no! I didn’t mean for it to come off that way… I’m really happy for you, I am.”
“It’s okay… if it stings a little, you know?”
“It does, but the joy I feel for you is much stronger than any pinch to my heart.” Sora lifted his head and gave a pained grin before continuing, “I am mad at myself…”
“Sora,” Riku said, covering his hand over Sora’s and curling his fingers into Sora’s palm, “You’re the strongest person I have ever met! I have seen what you are capable of and—”
Sora shook his head. “No, no. I meant I am mad for listening to what others say about me.”
“What do you mean?” Riku raised a brow and tilted his head slightly.
Riku watched Sora’s chest rise as he took in a deep breath before releasing it in a sigh like a gentle tea kettle that’s just the right heated temperature. “Everyone teases me for being stupid or the fact that I can’t do anything on my own, but if I am being honest, I always feel that I am doing most of the work. I have convinced myself through their words that I really don’t do much to help out…”
Riku then felt a shift in weight land on his shoulder and without looking up at him, Sora had found himself a place nuzzled into Riku’s shoulder. Sora’s eyes were focused out on the endless night sky before them, his eyes reflecting the lights that looked down on their hearts. Riku wrapped his arm around Sora’s shoulder and held him tightly.
“There’s this voice in the back of my head that the only way I can convince myself that they’re wrong is to become a master? If I can pass that test, all on my own, that would be proof enough for my heart to know their words truly are just teasing.”
“Words leave stains in hearts,” Riku started, closing his eyes and letting the breeze kiss his skin, “I would know… I think I forgot what the color of my heart looks with all the stains others have left on it. But I became a master because I knew what the colors looked like. I stopped running away from it and I learned that some of the mismatched colors on it were quite beautiful.”
“Yeah? I wonder what colors have been left on mine?”
“I wouldn’t know, but I am certain they are all the different shades that make up a sunset reflecting on the ocean’s surface.”
“You say that as if you do know, Riku,” Sora said with a chuckle which Riku felt against his own chest.
“Maybe, but it’s mostly speculation from my beliefs.”
“Which are?”
“That I believe in you with my entire stained glass heart.”