Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Hey, what’s that?” Riku wondered aloud, spotting a strange glint of light on the ground a slight ways ahead.

“Be careful,” Mickey warned. “You never know what sort of things you’ll find here.”

By “here”, Mickey meant the Realm of Darkness, where Riku and Mickey were currently scouting in hopes of finding clues to Aqua’s wearabouts. Riku hated this place, but unfortunately that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. As a Keyblade Master and someone who could withstand darkness, he was one of the few who could do this. It was his responsibility.

“Riku?” Mickey said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Riku realized that he had been subconsciously walking towards the object, which appeared to be shaped like a multi-faceted metallic purple polyhedron just a tad smaller than the size of his hand, although the number of sides somehow seemed to be fluctuating. Riku wondered if maybe he needed glasses. The polyhedron was streaked with strange patterns and symbols in a color that Riku couldn’t describe… no, it wasn’t that he couldn’t describe the color. The color didn’t exist. Or rather, it clearly did if he could see it, but there were no human words for it. Maybe a combination of orange and blue, yet not combined in any way that science said it should? That was the closest Riku could get to a description with the language available to him. Riku reached down to pick up the object.

“Wait, Riku, it could be dangerous!” Mickey yelled in warning, but Riku already palmed it in his hand. He turned the object over, fascinated by it. The polyhedron was actually semi-translucent despite clearly being metal; Riku held it up to the moonlight for a closer look…

The strange color glowed, and the object literally flew into Riku, vanishing right where his heart was. Everything turned the strange color.

Riku was no longer in the Dark Realm. He froze, then looked around in surprise, taking in his surroundings. He appeared to be on some sort of mountain, on a grassy plateau by a waterfall… and being attacked by Heartless, one which he’d apparently just hit with some sort of slashing attack. The water-sphere things, ugh. They were so annoying.

Riku tried using a Dark Firaga spell. Nothing happened. He looked at his keyblade to find… the Kingdom Key? This was Sora’s now, not his. Riku shrugged before running forward and jumping to use a physical strike…

And flew right over the heartless and into the pool below the waterfall. He got up, tripped, and then noticed his outfit had changed. And his height and weight. And, reaching up… yup, spiky hair. Pulling some down he noted it was brown.

Somehow, Riku had ended up in Sora’s body. “Fuck,” he said loudly.

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“I’ve got this!” Sora called, rushing the water heartless, leaping forwards to use a slashing attack...

Suddenly, he was standing instead, in a strange dark place full of blue rock covered in patches of glowing blue moss and a huge moon in the sky. The Realm of Darkness? Sora blinked, highly confused, trying to process what exactly had just happened.

“Riku, you okay?” Asked a squeaky voice, and Sora turned excitedly. Riku was here?! So yes, this must be the Realm of Darkness, as that’s where Riku was, on a mission.

But no, only Mickey was there. Sora looked down at him from much higher than usual. Had Mickey shrunk? Wait, no… Sora looked down at his hands, bigger than they should be. And he felt really tense. His hair had flopped into his eyes a bit, and Sora realized it was silver.

“Oh… Am I Riku?” he asked, confused. Was this a dream?

“What! Of course! Riku, did that object do something strange to you?”

“Uh… you can say that…” Sora said, rubbing the back of his head with a hand and nervously chuckling. “Um. I’m Sora…”

“Sora!” Mickey exclaimed. “What do you mean?”

“I think… I think maybe we switched bodies? I dunno. I was running towards a heartless, and then was here… and am apparently in Riku’s body… oh! Do you think Riku is in mine? I hope he’s okay!” Sora began getting more nervous the more he thought about it, thoughts racing and he began to ramble. “Oh crap, I was in the middle of a battle! In the middle of an attack! What if he got hurt because of that? He probably was surprised at first too. And he’d be right in the middle of them after the attack! He could be injured or worse! What do we do, Mickey? I can’t lose him! Riku!” Sora was near tears as he sat on the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs. He couldn’t speak anymore, shaking and breathing shallowly, trying not to cry.

“Sora, hey, Riku will be fine!” Mickey promised, putting his hand on Sora’s shoulder. “He’s not going to lose, and he isn’t alone; Donald and Goofy are there, remember?”

Sora barely heard Mickey amongst his racing thoughts. Vaguely he noticed some wisps of darkness beginning to swirl around him.

“Okay, Sora, can you look at me?” Mickey said, voice calm and firm. Sora complied. “Great. Now, just focus on my voice.” Mickey smiled. “Everything is going to be fine, promise. Come on, deep breaths now…”

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“Sora, what are you doing?” Donald yelled, as he, Goofy, and a really large and buff man in sleeveless greek armor fought the heartless.

“Sorry!” Riku called, surprised when his voice came out much higher than usual. Right, Sora’s voice.

Riku stumbled through the battle, and immediately upon finishing he pulled out Sora’s GummiPhone. Thank the gods for water-proof magical pockets. Donald was yelling something at him about needing to get his act together, but Riku wasn’t paying attention, focusing on finding his contact information to call… himself? Sora? Hopefully it was Sora.

Donald whacked Riku on the head with his staff, hard. “Pay attention!”

“Oww!” Riku said, clutching his head with the hand not holding the phone. That’d definitely leave a bruise. Was this how Donald treated Sora all the time? Riku would have to ask Sora about that later. He pressed the call button.

It took two rings before someone answered.

“Sora?!” Riku asked anxiously into the phone, upon seeing his own face staring back at him. So weird.

“What?” Donald and Goofy asked together, clearly confused.

“Riku!” Said Sora in Riku’s voice, which was shaking. He appeared nearly in tears, which was an odd expression to see on Riku’s face. “Y-you ARE Riku, right?”

Riku laughed. “Who else would I be?”

“I don’t know! Maybe multiple people magically switched bodies or something! I don’t know how this works! Do you?” Sora seemed incredibly anxious.

Riku shook his head. “Not a clue, sorry… hey, are you okay?”

Sora took a deep breath and nodded. “Y-yeah, sorry. It just was a shock, that’s all,” he said, his voice sounding more stable. “Do you know how this happened?”

“Uh. Well…” RIku shifted uncomfortably.

Mickey said something off-screen to Sora that Riku didn’t quite catch.

Sora looked at Riku with a sly toothy grin that seemed entirely wrong on Riku’s face. “Mickey says you picked up some strange object he told you not to pick up…”

Riku blushed in response.

“Ha! I’m actually not the one who messed up this time!” Sora cheered.

Riku rolled his eyes. “Yeah, rub it in.”

“But it’s nice not to be the screw-up for once!”

Riku frowned. “You’re not a screw-up, Sora. Who told you that?”

Sora shrugged and changed the subject. “Oh! Did you get a photo of those water heartless I was fighting?”

Riku’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Uh. Why do you need a photo of a heartless in the middle of battle?”

“The moogles want photos of specific heartless. It’s some sort of challenge to earn prizes?”

Riku blinked. “That’s really dangerous.” Donald and Goofy allowed Sora to do that?

Sora shrugged. “I only get hit sometimes.”

“Yeah. Well, I’m not doing that. And neither are you once we sort this out!”

“But Riii-kuuu…”

“No. That’s final.”

Sora pouted. It looked downright strange on Riku’s face. “Fine.”

After a brief pause, Sora asked, “Soooo… what do we do about this? Where’d the object go?”

“Uh. It turned into a strange-colored light and flew into me. Then I was you.”

Sora blinked, processing that.

Mickey appeared on the screen. “We’ll reconvene at Yen Sid’s. He might know something about it.”

“Wait!” Sora said. “Riku, you have to finish helping Herc thwart Hades’ plan!”

“We’re doing what?” Riku asked emotionlessly, not quite believing his ears.

“Helping Herc thwart Hades’ plan!” Sora repeated. “There’s these giant Titan monsters that we’re going to help him fight, and then save his father, who’s King of the Gods! Hades is trying to ursoup him!”

Riku raised an eyebrow. “You mean usurp?”

“Yeah, that. So you gotta do it in my place!”

Riku looked at Sora in disbelief.

“Pleaaaa-ssssse!” Sora pulled out his best puppy-dog face. It did not have nearly the same effect as usual.

“Okay, firstly, that expression on my face doesn’t work at all,” Riku informed Sora. “Secondly, I have no idea how to work your body or fight in it. I tripped about a dozen times during that fight, overshot half the attacks, and have no clue as to most of the magic and techniques you have, let alone how to perform them.”

“So? I’m sure you’ll figure it out!”

“Sora…”

“Sora, we gotta go!” Mickey said, looking somewhere off-screen.

“What? Why—ah, crap. Riku, there’s heartless, I’ll call you later, bye!” The call ended.

“Uh. Bye…” Riku said weakly, suddenly immensely worried. Riku couldn’t feel his darkness at the moment, meaning his own body had kept it. Which was weird, as darkness supposedly resided in one’s heart, so should move with such. Regardless, Sora would need to fight in Riku’s body. Would Sora be able to handle that darkness? Riku wasn’t sure. Sora was fairly susceptible to darkness, especially now. Unlike most people, Riku knew Sora had a lot of insecurities, which is undoubtedly what Xehanort had preyed on during their disaster of a Mark of Mastery exam to drag Sora into the abyss; after the exam, Sora’s self-esteem had fallen significantly, even though Sora avoided showing it. Riku could tell though, thanks to over a decade of best-friendship.

Although on the flip size, could Riku handle so much light? Sora’s magic was like a sun in its intensity… wait. Riku frowned. There was something else there. He focused on it to find a wall of light, blocking off whatever it was. Riku concentrated, trying to see what lurked behind that wall...

Donald bonked Riku on the head with his staff, again.

“Ow!” Riku put his hands on his head, dropping his phone in the process; he hadn’t realized he had it in his hand still. “What the flying fuck was that for!”

“Language,” Goofy chided.

“You weren’t paying attention,” Donald said simply, as though it was justified.

“Yeah but that’s no reason to nearly knock me out!” Riku argued. “How often do you hit Sora like that?!”

Donald scoffed and walked up the mountain path. “Let’s go. We have a realm to save!”

“Yeah!” said Goofy, heading after Donald.

“So… from what I caught of that, you’re not Sora anymore?” the large Greek person asked.

Riku shook his head. “No, sorry. Somehow we switched bodies.”

The man nodded, easily accepting that. “Well, in that case, I’m Hercules! I’m an officially recognized Hero, and my father is the King of the Gods!” he held out his hand. “You can call me Herc for short, it’s what Sora does.”

Riku shook it. “Riku. I’m Sora’s best friend. I helped him save the worlds before.” Normally Riku wouldn’t add that last part, but considering Hercules had said flashy things too, he figured he might as well.

Hercules smiled broadly. “Well, nice to meet you, Riku! Sora talks about you a lot, you know.”

Riku blushed. “He does?”

“What’s the hold-up!” Donald yelled from up the mountain, before Hercules could respond.

“Oh, right! We need to stop Uncle!” Hercules dashed up the mountain. Riku blinked. Uncle? Wait… Hades was the King of the Gods’ brother? No wonder he was so bitter, being stuck in the Underworld while his brother got all the glory.

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“You can do it, Sora!” Mickey encouraged, as Sora tried to fight the wave of heartless that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Sora wasn’t sure he could though. Being in the Realm of Darkness, the heartless were more powerful than usual, and Sora was fighting in an unfamiliar body with an unfamiliar keyblade and strange magic and techniques. Mickey was definitely doing the majority of the work; he’d taken out at least two dozen of the shadows, whereas Sora had defeated a grand total of five, sustaining significant damage in the process. Mickey had to frequently use cure spells on him, because Sora couldn’t figure out how to cast Riku’s, and had to step in to block many attacks for Sora too.

Finally all the heartless were gone, and Sora fell to the ground to sit, legs crossed, breathing heavily. “Man, that was difficult!”

“But you did it!” Mickey said, beaming.

“Yeah, I guess,” Sora said halfheartedly, feeling like he was more of a burden than a help. “But I hope we don’t run into any more…”

Mickey nodded. “I agree. We should leave asap.”

“Yeah. Sorry I’m such a hindrance; I know this mission is important.”

Mickey blinked in surprise, staring at Sora for a moment before smiling gently. “Sora, you suddenly were thrown into a completely new body, with completely new skills and magic; no one would do well after that. I bet Riku’s struggling too.”

Sora’s stomach flopped with a shot of panic. That’s right, Riku was in the same position! He bit his bottom lip, trying to hold the panic in.

Mickey noticed. “Oh, but you actually did really well fighting! These heartless, though they look weak, are at least triple the strength as the ones you’re used to, so if Riku is adjusting as well as you, he should be completely fine! Plus, he has Donald and Goofy and Hercules to help him out!”

Sora smiled, feeling better about that. Yes, his friends would help. “True. Those three are a lot stronger than me.”

Mickey frowned again. “Sora, you’re strong too, you know.”

“I know.” Sora figured it wasn’t worth arguing. He changed the subject. “So, how do we get out of here?”

“Oh! Since my keyblade is technically one of darkness, it can open a portal! It can’t just anywhere though; we’ll have to find a place where the border between the realms is weak.”

“And how do we find that?”

“My keyblade can detect it. But there's one over that way we used before.” He pointed towards a cliff in the distance.

Sora nodded. “Right. Let’s go!”

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Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules exited the cave to unexpectedly find themselves on a cliff in the pouring rain. It was fairly dark, although flashes of lightning lit the area intermittently. It was also filled with heartless, most of them the annoying flying elemental ones they’d have to use mostly physical attacks on. Riku was suddenly terrified; he’d been constantly overshooting his jumps and tripping in dry areas! What if he flew off the cliff, or tripped and slid in the rain over it? He knew Sora had air abilities that made falling off cliffs a non-issue, but Riku had no clue how to use those.

Miraculously, they were able to defeat the heartless with minimal damage, mostly thanks to Hercules and Goofy (Donald kept shooting the wrong types of magic at the heartless, dealing either very little or no damage; Riku was pretty sure he even healed some of them a couple time. Meanwhile, he barely bothered to heal his own comrades. What. The. Fuck.); Riku managed to take down only a handful of the heartless, not daring to jump or run rather defending and waiting for them to come close to him before attacking.

The four continued on, eventually coming to a wall. A huge rock Titan was at the top, tossing down boulders.

“Well? Go ahead, run up it!” Donald said.

Riku stared at the duck blankly. “What?”

“Run up it!” Goofy said happily.

“Sora can… run up this?” Riku looked up at the cliff, slick with water and rocks tumbling down. “I have to run up a vertical cliff face, which I’ve never done before, while dodging giant rocks?”

Donald bonked Riku on the head. “You heard what we said!”

“Right…” Riku rubbed his head. That was the third time within a few hours Donald had done that; it was downright abuse at this point. Riku then realized another issue. “Uh, what about you guys, though? How will you get up?”

“I’ll carry them up once the rock guy is taken care of,” Hercules said. “I’ve climbed up this wall countless times before. But I can’t scale it with rocks being thrown, so you’ll have to take care of that guy first.”

“Me. Alone.”

“You can do it, Riku!” Donald said.

“Yeah!” Goofy agreed.

Riku sighed and put his head in his hand. “You want me to fight a giant rock monster while running up a cliff.”

“I could throw you if you’d prefer,” Hercules suggested.

“No!” Riku said immediately. He didn’t know any air skills yet to break his fall! “I’ll do it. So how do I… run up the wall?” It still sounded ridiculous to him.

“Just be confident!” Donald suggested.

“Yeah,” Goofy agreed. “Even if your mind doesn’t know, Sora’s body must.”

“Yeah, like muscle memory!” Donald said.

Riku shifted nervously. “Well, if you say so...” he cautiously put a foot on the wall.

“No, you gotta run!” Donald said. “It doesn’t work unless you run.”

Oh, for goodness sake. Riku backed up, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He had to stay calm, had to believe… like flying in Neverland. Okay, he could do this. Riku opened his eyes, determined. He could do this! Riku ran towards the wall, practically flying. Sora was fast! He could probably beat Riku in a race now. Wait, focus… Riku jumped at the wall, putting a foot on it, then the next foot; his body was completely horizontal now, and he was running up the wall! Actually running!

Riku made the mistake of looking down, which led him to think too much about holy-crap-he-was-on-the-side-of-a-cliff-how-was-this-possible, and slipped. He panicked briefly as he fell, but then took a deep breath, allowing Sora’s muscle memory to take over again. He spread his arms out and flipped so he faced downwards. The ground flew up at him, but Riku rolled, softening the landing with a burst of air and landing on his feet. Whoa. That was… wow. He’d have to see if Sora could teach him how to do that, too, once he was back in his own body! Although he’d have to improve his air magic, first.

Donald and Goofy cheered, and Hercules looked impressed.

Riku grinned, then turned to run up the cliff again, fully confident. He had this. He dashed upwards and then to the side, and the boulders began to fall. He expertly dodged them all—okay, maybe there were a few close calls—and then reached the Rock Titan. Letting Sora’s muscle memory do the job again, Riku hopped up the Titan, automatically finding the best footholds and jumping higher than he ever had between each, although it felt natural. Avoiding attacks was no problem as the thing was super slow. The Titan might be huge, but if he could disable it and knock it down the cliff…

It took a while, but Riku had soon weakened the giant enough, and with a well-placed strike it stumbled over the cliff. Riku watched it fall, noting how high he was—he’d really run up that? The Titan landed with a humongous crash, falling down past the others in his group and down the cliffside Riku’d been worried about before. There was a humongous “thud”, but it had fallen so far Riku couldn’t see it. Defeated fully or not, it wouldn’t be returning to fight them anytime soon.

As the storm miraculously vanished, Riku couldn’t help but call Sora as he waited for the others to get up the cliff.

“Riku!” Sora said cheerfully, though he looked pretty banged up, a cut on his cheek and hair ruffled. “I was so worried! Fighting in a different body is tough, isn’t it?”

Riku grinned in return. “At first, but I found a secret!”

Sora looked curious. “A secret?”

“Yup! Muscle memory!”

“What’s that?”

“Well, you know how you don’t really have to think much when you do things like walking and running? It’s because your muscles remember how to. Herc suggested it. You just have to stop thinking about it and be confident, letting the muscles remember. I ran up a cliff, Sora! And then I overthought and fell, but your body just did this air cushion fall thing from at least thirty feet up! You just have to trust the muscles and believe you can do it—kinda like flying in Neverland!”

Sora’s eyes grew wide. “Wow! That’s awesome! Belief, huh…”

“Yup! Just, remember that I can’t do half the awesome movement techniques you can do, particularly anything involving air. So don’t go falling off any cliffs in my body.”

Sora chuckled at that. “Gotcha. Riku, I haven’t seen you this excited in a while!”

“I ran up a fifty-foot cliff, Sora!”

“So you said! Uh, Mickey’s signalling me to get moving. Congrats again!” Sora hung up.

Hercules appeared at the cliff’s edge, Donald and Goofy under one of his arms. It appeared he had scaled the cliff using just one hand; he was definitely the son of a god.

“Nice job!” Hercules said as he reached the top and set down Donald and Goofy, clearly impressed.

“We knew you could do it!” Goofy cheered, and Donald nodded in agreement.

Despite their situation, Riku grinned broadly; this was the happiest he’d been without Sora there in a long while, and he was immensely proud of himself.

“Wak!” Donald exclaimed. “That looks like Sora’s grin!”

Riku looked at them in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah! You must be really happy!” Goofy said.

Riku smiled more gently. “I am,” he admitted. “I didn’t think I could do it…”

“But you did!” Hercules said, smiling as well. Now, let’s go; the gates to the Realm of the Gods is nearby!”

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Shortly after Riku had called Sora, Sora and Mickey found themselves in the middle of another swarm of heartless.

“Okay, you can do this,” Sora whispered to himself. “Remember, muscle memory…”

Sora closed his eyes, relaxing his mind, focusing on his body. Riku’s body. He felt a small jolt at that thought. Wait, focus. Riku claimed the muscles would know what to do… Sora took a stance that felt right, different from the one he was used to but Riku’s body knew it. Sora opened his eyes, staring down a heartless, and sprung forwards, executing a perfect slash that took the heartless out in one blow. Sora felt excitement rising; he was doing it! He could fight! Sora took a deep breath. Okay, no overthinking.

Soon, all the heartless were defeated, much quicker than the first batch. Sora had sustained some damage, but not enough to warrant in-battle healing.

“Wow! That was so much better!” Mickey praised. “Figured something out?”

Sora nodded excitedly. “Yeah! Riku said that the secret was to stop thinking and rely on muscle memory instead, and it worked! My mind might not know what to do, but the muscles do.”

“That’s excellent!” Mickey said.

“Yup!” Sora was genuinely happy now. “I was so surprised it worked so well! Riku was practically in shock when he called—he ran up a cliff! I forgot how exciting that felt the first few times I did that.”

Mickey chucked. “You certainly have some unique abilities,” he said. “You’re the only person I know who can do that; it really is impressive!”

Sora beamed. “Thanks!” He hadn’t gotten praise like that in a long time, not without a slightly condescending tone or with a follow-up that diminished it; it felt really good to just be told the good part only. He liked fighting with Mickey.

“Oh! We’ve nearly reached the weak spot. But... well, now that you’ve figured out how to fight, do you want to complete the mission instead?”

Sora smiled again. Mickey thought he was good enough to work on Riku’s mission? But… Sora shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can do the physical things, but can’t quite do the magic yet. I’ll need to work on that first, although hopefully I’ll be back in my own body before that’s necessary.”

Mickey nodded. “Well, it’s up to you—oh gosh!”

A giant heartless appeared in front of them, blocking the way to the weak spot. A Darkside. It was five time’s Sora’s—or rather, Riku’s—height, darkness flowing off it, a giant heart-shaped hole in its chest. The wisps of darkness on its head resembled hair, and its eyes glowed a bright yellow.

Sora’s eyes widened in horror. If the little shadows had been so strong, this one would be… Sora didn’t have much time to think as it lashed out at him. Sora barely dodged in time; the creature sunk its fist into the ground, and a group of smaller heartless emerged from the pool of darkness that surrounded it.

“I’ll fight the bigger one, you get the smaller ones!” Mickey said.

“Right!”

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Sora had almost defeated all the smaller heartless when the big one lashed its fist out, knocking Sora to the side. Sora tried a recovery move, but Riku didn’t know it, so he tumbled to the ground; he heard a crack, and felt extreme pain pulse through his arm. Riku’s keyblade had snapped, too. Sora cried out in pain.

“Sora!” Mickey called, trying to reach him, but the Darkside intercepted him.

Sora began to panic, then felt an immense power well up from inside him. What was this? Should he use it? He had a feeling it could heal him… Sora let it. Suddenly, his arm was back to normal, and his energy returned. Sora stood up, slightly shaky. What was this—oh, crap. He recognized the feel. This was darkness. No, no, no. Sora couldn’t use the darkness! He tried to clamp down on it, wrap it in light, but this wasn’t his body; Riku used the dark in him, didn’t hide it like Sora did. Could Sora use Riku’s darkness, too? He knew Riku had to maintain tight control over it, only releasing it in small amounts, or it would cause issues. Was this a small amount of it filling him, or too much? He looked down, seeing waves of darkness flowing over his skin. He’d never seen Riku covered in so much since Ansem! Oh, no. No no no. Sora again tried clamping down on it, closing his eyes and willing it to go back in…

“Sora!” Mickey called again, and Sora looked up as Mickey slammed his keyblade into the Darkside’s head, finally felling the beast. Mickey ran over to Sora.

“I… I can’t… control it…” Sora said in a panic, his hands clutching his heart; it took an immense effort just to say those words. Sora felt his vision receding, consciousness falling into darkness, though he tried to hold on the best he could.

“Sora, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to knock you out,” Mickey said. Sora nodded, maybe, or at least he tried to. He prepared for a bonk to the head like Donald would do, but instead Mickey used a sleep spell.

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They were fighting a sand worm (why those appeared on stone floors in the sky were beyond Riku) when it happened. He was running low on stamina, getting fairly frustrated because it was at least the tenth one they’d been fighting and it was So. Freaking. Annoying. He felt a dark energy slipping through the wall. Forgetting this was Sora’s body, not his, Riku pulled on it. The reaction was not that of the quiet, crawling darkness he was used to, but a fierce rage. His body erupted with it, cloaking him, and Riku’s vision went red. Before he could process what had happened, he was flying at the worm, slashing with claws of darkness and letting out a feral growl. He had no control, the darkness providing only one line of thought: rip, tear, kill; thankfully only towards things attacking him, which was a small relief. Riku desperately tried reigning it in; the sandworm was defeated, and there were no more heartless. But it didn’t help. Riku was trapped. His body paced around on all fours, looking for more heartless, more attackers; after a minute of that it finally wore off, the darkness dissipating (not receding?). Riku collapsed, body feeling like jelly.

Donald rushed over, quickly using a “curaga” spell to heal him. “You okay?”

Riku sat up, heart racing, though thankfully had regained his strength.”Wh-what w-was th-that?” he asked shakily.

“Oh, that just happens sometimes,” Goofy said casually.

“What?” Riku hissed. They knew, and hadn’t said anything? And what was with that casual attitude? This thing, this darkness, that had engulfed him, that had been hiding behind that wall, had been pure emotion. Rage. Sadness. Anxiety. Stress. Hurt… Oh. That’s what caused it, Riku realized. Sora had been hiding his negative emotions, shoving them away, feeding his darkness until it burst out with a vengeance.

Donald nodded. “If Sora gets very stressed in battle, or very hurt, that happens sometimes.”

“It’s a little scary,” Goofy added, “but he doesn’t attack any of us, and he’s fine after a cure spell.”

Riku stared at them, trying to hold in his anger. “Sora periodically gets cloaked in a darkness that causes him to fight like an angry animal—actually, no, more like a heartless than anything—and you didn’t think to tell anyone?!”

Donald shrugged. “Nothing bad has come of it. “

“It’s actually a big help sometimes,” Goofy added.

“Even so!” he then noticed Hercules didn’t look surprised either. “How long has this been going on?” Riku asked suspiciously.

Goofy put his hand on his chin, thinking. “Hmm. I think the first time was shortly after we left those pod things.”

Riku nearly choked. “That long?” How hadn’t he seen it? He’d been checking up on Sora frequently during the months he’d been in Ansem’s body. It must have been a coincidence that he hadn’t seen it… wait. Didn’t something like that happen briefly during the Xemnas battle? But it’d been quick, and when he called Sora’s name he’d come out of it… Riku had forgotten all about that, since the fight had been so long. They should have investigated that then, but instead Riku had forgotten all about it. He was such an idiot! And why had Sora been hiding it from him? Or did he think it something too insignificant to mention? That must be it; considering Donald and Goofy’s attitude towards it, Sora probably assumed it wasn’t a big deal either…

+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Riku, Donald, and Goofy entered Yen Sid’s office; they had successfully thwarted Hades’ plans, defeating three more Titans in the process. Riku looked around the office, hoping Sora would be there, but instead only saw Mickey. Riku’s eyes grew wide, and he felt panic rising.

“Don’t worry, Sora’s fine!” Mickey said quickly, predicting Riku’s line of thought. “He’s just resting; the Tower created a bedroom for him.” That was a neat part of the tower; it magically created rooms as needed.

Riku took a deep breath. “Right.” He turned to Yen Sid. “I assume Mickey has explained things to you?”

Yen Sid nodded. “That was extremely irresponsible of you.”

Riku bowed his head. “I know, Master. I take full responsibility.” He lifted his head to see Yen Sid staring at him oddly.

“Even though I know it’s you, Riku, it is quite strange to see what appears to visually be Sora behaving so responsibly and calmly,” the elderly wizard noted.

Riku chuckled. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

“Oh, but his personality in your body is even odder, though!” Mickey chimed in.

Riku nodded. He could see that. “So, why’s Sora need to rest?” Riku asked, realizing they hadn’t actually said.

Mickey looked down. “I had to use a sleep spell on him; a Darkside appeared, and while we were fighting it Sora got injured. Because of that, the darkness started to come out, and Sora couldn’t control it well.”

Riku sighed. He’d actually expected something like that would happen, especially upon learning that Sora apparently used his own in a very unorthodox manner. He was thankful that Mickey had managed to handle it well. “Yeah, about that… Did you know that apparently Sora has this darkness cloak thing that appears when he’s especially stressed or severely injured in battle?”

Yen Sid and Mickey both looked surprised; clearly they had not known.

“Explain.” Yen Sid demanded, narrowing his eyes. Riku did.

“That’s extremely worrisome,” Mickey concluded. “Donald, Goofy, you should have told us about that!” he chided.

“But it didn’t seem like a problem!” Goofy argued.

Riku glared at him. “It’s a cloak of darkness that’s basically a manifestation of rage! Even I couldn’t get control over it!”

“But it only attacks heartless and nobodies,” Donald pointed out.

“No. It attacks whatever it deems an enemy,” Riku clarified. “If you had ever targeted him while he was in that, I’m positive you’d be dead.”

“Wak!” Donald squawked. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I was in it; it was pretty much all anger and murderous intent, and it had full control. I could only watch helplessly as I literally tore heartless apart with my hands! It was absolutely terrifying! I wouldn’t be surprised if Sora has nightmares about it.”

The door opened, and in walked Sora in Riku’s body. It had been odd seeing it on the phone, but even odder to see it in person. Was that what Riku looked like to others? He’d have to get more sleep, judging by the baggy eyes. Maybe he should cut his hair too.

Sora yawned, still sleepy, then his eyes lit up in excitement. “Riku!!” he yelled, running over.

“Ack!” Riku said as he was barrelled over when Sora tried to hug him. Sora was used to jumping into Riku’s arms with Riku catching him, his larger size easily absorbing the momentum. But their bodies were swapped, so Riku instead found himself on the floor, Sora-in-his-body practically crushing his smaller frame.

“Oh, sorry!” Sora said, jumping up. He grabbed Riku’s hand to assist him, using the momentum to draw Riku into a tight hug. Too tight.

“Sora, I’m glad to see you too, but I can’t breathe,” Riku managed to gasp out. Other than that, though, Riku had to admit it was nice being hugged like this. He was used to being the one wrapping around the other, not the one being snuggled in. It was a pleasant change of pace, except for the being crushed part.

Sora laughed wildly as he released Riku; whereas the laugh would have sounded sweet in Sora’s own voice, it sounded rather maniacal in Riku’s. “Guess I don’t know my own—or rather, your—strength!”

Riku grinned and leapt at Sora, landing with his arms straight vertical on his shoulders and legs wrapped around his chest (barely! Was Riku’s body seriously that large? Or was Sora’s just abnormally small? Probably a combination). Sora laughed, catching him around the waist and pulling him down to a more comfortable position; Riku slung his arms around Sora’s shoulders. “And I don’t know my own—or rather, your—jumping ability,” Riku said, laughing. “Seriously. That was a big issue fighting heartless! I kept leaping right over them.”

“He jumped right into a waterfall,” Donald said helpfully, subtly reminding the two that they weren’t alone.

Yen Sid was less subtle, clearing his throat loudly. “If you two are done sharing your affections,”—Riku and Sora both blushed at that phrasing as Sora lowered Riku back to the floor—“might we get back to more pressing matters?”

“Oh! Right!” Sora jumped excitedly, a movement which looked completely foreign on Riku’s body. “Do you know a way to switch us back?”

“I’d like to know that too,” Riku said, standing straight, hands behind his back—a posture which didn’t fit well with Sora’s body.

A knock sounded on the door, and everyone but Yen Sid jumped in surprise. Lea entered along with Kairi. “You wanted to see us, sir?” the latter asked.

“Ah, yes, I did—”

“Kairi!” Sora yelled, tackling her, though he managed not to knock her over. “I missed you!”

Kairi blinked in confusion, clearly not sure what to make of the surprise hug from someone not known to be so affectionate. “Riku?” she asked tepidly. Sora released her, beaming, and she peered at him curiously. “Wait… Sora?!”

“We accidentally switched bodies,” Riku explained, pulling Sora away from her by the collar as best he could, so Kairi could actually enter the room and they could focus on the conversation about changing them back.

“Hey! Riii-kuuuu!” Sora whined.

“We were having a discussion. Pay attention.”

Lea looked at the two in wonder. “Whoa. You two seriously did switch bodies.”

Yen Sid cleared his throat again loudly and everyone quieted. “Kairi, Lea, I summoned you here for an update on your training, but then this situation with Riku and Sora occurred, as well as another issue. I apologize, but the other matters come first, so you’ll need to wait. Now, Sora—”

“Do you know how to change us back?” Sora interrupted eagerly. “Because I’m really sick of being so big!”

“I thought you always wanted to be tall,” Riku teased.

“Yeah, well, I changed my mind! There’s such a thing as too big!”

“Boys!” Yen Sid raised his voice, and the two cringed. He returned his voice to a normal tone. “Now, back to business. We’ll need to do research about how to switch you back, but I’m sure there’s a solution. The more pressing matter is that of the inner darkness you’ve been hiding, Sora.”

Lea’s eyes grew wide, Kairi gasped, and Sora looked confused. “What do you mean?” Sora asked.

“That cloak,” Riku explained. “Which apparently you, Donald, and Goofy never thought to mention to anyone.”

Sora looked at the floor. “Oh. That. Yeah, that exists. I guess you, er, accidentally slipped into it?”

Riku crossed his arms. “Yup. Donald and Goofy said they thought it was benign—”

“Exactly!” Sora jumped on that. “It’s no big deal! Only ever attacks heartless and nobodies. And it only lasts like three minutes. That’s why I never thought to say anything!”

Riku looked at Sora, completely unamused. “Sora, stop lying. I felt it. That was anything but benign.”

“What do you mean?” Sora tried to act innocent, but he rocked back and forth slightly on his feat and his eyes looked everywhere but at Riku.

“You know what I mean. You didn’t forget to mention it; you’ve intentionally been avoiding it, and convinced Donald and Goofy it was fine so they wouldn’t say anything either.”

Sora winced; he had no reply to that.

“Sora, is this true?” Yen Sid asked sharply. “You knew it was dangerous?”

Sora looked away. “I have it under control,” he muttered with a growl.

Riku raised an eyebrow, voice gradually raising as he spoke. “Under control? Shoving all your negative emotions behind a wall, slowly allowing them to build up until they form a mass of darkness that shatters the wall and turns you into some sort of beast, is having it under control?”

Sora turned to glare at Riku (ouch. Riku hadn’t realized how scary his face could look); his eyes were beginning to turn gold. “I have it. Under. Control.” he said darkly. Literally; darkness had begun to gather along his skin.

Riku held out his hands, lowering his voice, trying to present an air of calmness as he slowly approached Sora. “Whoa. Sora, hey, calm down; remember, you’re in my body, the darkness is not locked behind a wall. You have to control it, control the anger…”

Sora froze, holding his arms out slightly, watching the darkness snake around them. His eyes, however, were still angry; the darkness was trying to feed the anger, keep it strong so it could feed in turn.

Riku gently took Sora’s wrists in his hands, looking up at Sora. “Come on, you can do it. Take control. Deep breaths, now… very good…” Riku continued whispering similarly, Sora closing his eyes as he focused on breathing.

Finally, Sora began breathing normally, opening his eyes to reveal Riku’s vibrant green. Tears began to form in the corners of them, and he shook slightly. “I’m sorry, Riku,” he said in a whisper.

Riku pulled Sora into a hug, rubbing his back soothingly. “It’s okay, Sora. I know, it’s difficult. You did well.”

Sora returned the hug, trying to hold back the tears, though RIku felt a few escape to land on his hair.

“Maybe we should discuss things later,” Mickey suggested to Yen Sid. “Everyone seems a little high-strung right now; might be best to let everyone calm down.”

Yen Sid sighed. “I suppose you’re right. We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning. The tower will provide rooms for those who need one.”

“Thank you, Master,” Riku said, leading Sora out of the room by the hand, conscious of everyone’s eyes on them.

“Talk about an emotional roller coaster,” Lea said once he’d thought the two had left; Riku hoped Sora hadn’t heard.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Sora screamed into his pillow. It must have been well past midnight, but he couldn’t sleep at all! His thoughts still raced, recounting all the events of the day. He just couldn’t handle it; normally he’d shove the emotions back, put a smile on his face, but apparently that was bad to do because it fed inner darkness or something, and he definitely did not want to feed Riku’s darkness. And now they’d found out about his own darkness… he knew Riku had told because he was worried, but it still was upsetting. He was handling it fine! Yeah, it indiscriminately killed anything that tried attacking, but as long as his friends didn’t attack it was fine, Donald and Goofy knew that (although they actually hadn’t known Sora had absolutely no control, a small voice of guilt said). So he could shove his emotions away, and periodically release them that way, that was fine. Except it really wasn’t; that hadn’t been news to him. But how else could he deal with all his emotions? Everyone expected him to be a happy light to support them! He wasn’t useful for anything else. His strength mostly came from his friends (although a tiny voice in the back of his mind reminded him that Mickey had complimented him genuinely about his wall-running ability. But that was just one thing, and not something anyone actually needed him for). He was nothing on his own, less than worthless. He’d nearly fallen to Xehanort because of it. If he were stronger, that wouldn’t have happened. If his friends were with him, that wouldn’t have happened. But he wasn’t strong, and they weren’t with him. He fell right into the trap. Wasn’t that proof enough he wasn’t worthy of anything? Yet they insisted, always insisted, that he keep going. Couldn’t they see that he was only a hindrance? He had to regain his lost strength, again. What was the point in getting stronger if he just lost it every time? Maybe it’d be better if he just left. Once he was in his own body, of course. Yeah, he could do that. He could run away; they wouldn’t miss him. They’d be better off, not having to deal with all his shit, his deadweight. After all, now they knew he wasn’t the happy light they all said they supposedly relied on. Which, come to think of it, probably was just BS to make him feel better, anyway. They didn’t actually need him. Maybe running wouldn’t work though; they might decide to pity him more and come find him. Maybe he’d have to go further than that. Sinking into the darkness started to sound really good.

The door creaked, and the light turned on. Sora froze briefly, then sighed, recognizing the presence. “What do you want, Riku?” he mumbled into the pillow.

The bed dipped next to him as Riku sat down. He put a hand on Sora’s back. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?” he asked gently.

“Who says anything’s wrong?”

“The darkness seeping off of you says so; it was leaking out from under the door.”

Sora lifted up onto his elbows and turned to see that the entire floor was covered in dark clouds. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Want to talk about it?”

Sora flopped down, burying his face in the pillow again. “Not really.” He put his hands under the pillow, pulling it up to wrap around him more.

“Stop that, you’ll suffocate,” Riku said, trying and failing to pull Sora away. He made a frustrated sound.

Sora grinned. “Not so fun being small and weak, is it?” He had been aiming for joking, but it just sounded bitter.

Riku paused. “Sora, you’re not weak.” He pulled at Sora’s shoulder. “Come on, sit up. Let’s take a walk, okay?”

Sora didn’t move nor reply. His anger and sadness had progressed to an empty feeling, his prior emotions fading away; the darkness went away with them. Huh. So apathy could control darkness. Made sense; dark emotions fed darkness, so no emotion meant no food for it.

“Sora?”

“...Fine,” Sora grumbled, reluctantly getting up and off the bed. Riku already had Sora’s shoes in his hand; Sora took them and slowly put them on.

Riku frowned. “You never changed into pajamas,” he commented. “Didn’t the Tower provide you with any?” Riku was dressed in plain blue pajamas, consisting of dark blue cotton pants and a long-sleeve lighter-blue cotton v-neck with a pattern of multicolored shooting stars diagonally crossing the front. The Tower liked stars quite a bit it seemed, considering it put them everywhere.

“Didn’t feel like putting them on,” Sora said emotionlessly.

“Sora,” Riku said, voice sad. “Hey, walk with me.” He held out his hand, and Sora took it.

Riku led Sora outside, keeping his hold on Sora’s hand. Sora could easily have pulled away, but he didn’t. He liked Riku’s hand in his. Or, his own hand in his? His hand in Riku’s? Too confusing. Regardless, their hands fit together perfectly.

Riku led him to the magical tram stop, and a tram automatically appeared, which Riku led Sora onto. They sat down side-by-side, hands still clasped together, and the tram took off.

“Where are you taking me?” Sora finally asked.

Riku chuckled. “Isn’t that something you should ask before getting on the train with someone?”

Sora shrugged. “You’re Riku. I trust you.”

“Well, it’s a secret.”

“Okay.”

Riku frowned, turning towards Sora. “‘Okay’? You’re not going to try to get me to tell you?”

Sora shrugged.

Riku let go of Sora’s hand and brought his hands up to Sora’s cheeks, turning him towards him and searching his eyes. “Sora, please talk to me,” he whispered.

Sora moved one of his hands on top of Riku’s, just resting on it. He turned his eyes downwards, unsure what to say. “Riku…”

The tram jerked to a stop with a sudden release of air. Riku quickly grabbed Sora’s hand again and they hurried out.

“Is this… a beach?” Sora asked, stopping in surprise. “I thought this went to Twilight Town?”

“It does,” Riku explained. “But it goes to the beach, too. Trams can have multiple stops, you know.”

“I know! I just didn’t realize this tram did.”

“Come on,” Riku led Sora onto the beach; the familiarity of it was comforting, reminding Sora of when they were kids and would travel the beach, hand-in-hand, talking about everything and anything.

“Wait a second,” Sora said, noticing Riku’s attire as they walked. “You’re still wearing pajamas! And no shoes!”

Riku shrugged. “Your clothes are too complicated to get on. Didn’t want you to back out while I was tangled in them. Besides, these pajamas look adorable on you.” He grinned slyly.

Sora blushed. “Hey!” He hit Riku playfully, or at least thought he did, but Riku nearly toppled over; Sora pulled his hand to keep him upright.

Riku returned the hit, though he was laughing. “Watch it! You’re a lot stronger than you’re used to.”

Sora’s shoulders slumped slightly and he sighed. “I know,” he mumbled.

Riku frowned and squeezed Sora’s hand. “Is that what this is about? The strength Xehanort took?”

Sora looked towards the horizon. “I dunno. Yeah, I guess.”

“Sora…” Riku shook his head. “No, that’s not it, isn’t it? Not only that. Sora, talk to me.”

Sora frowned, looking down and stopping, forcing Riku to stop as well. “Why do you even care?”

Riku took a second to respond, only saying, “What?”

“Why do you even care?” Sora repeated louder, starting to get angry, turning towards Riku, who had a look of total shock on his face. “All I do is hold you—and everyone else—back. Why do you care about me when you’d be better off if I were gone?!”

“Sora, that’s not true,” Riku said adamantly, and he sounded like he meant it. “You’re one of the strongest people I know!”

“It is true!” Sora protested. “No matter what I do, people always have to save me! Kairi had to bring me back when I became a heartless; Namine had to after I fell into the Organization’s trap—after which I slept for a full year, wasting your time while you guarded me; you nearly got killed taking that hit from Xemnas to protect me; you had to pull me out from the darkness because of another trap that I stupidly ran into…” Sora felt tears running down his cheeks. “And then during this body switch thing, I had to be saved twice from the darkness, because I clearly can’t handle it, as you found out from that stupid rage-form thing, although that was probably obvious anyway after Xehanort came close to making me his vessel, which he said he only did because you could now block him, so like the keyblade did he moved to the second, less desirable choice—the keyblade isn’t even supposed to be mine, it was yours first! I stole it, it didn’t choose me.” Sora could feel tears forming in his eyes.

Riku shook his head. “It did choose you though. I failed, and because of that, it found someone better who could command it. And then it stayed with you. If it didn’t want to choose you, it wouldn’t have stayed with you while I got a different one. And you’re not the only one who has fallen into traps and into the darkness. I have plenty of times, too. Everyone has issues with it; it’s not hard to fall into its lure. No one blames you for that. We’ll gladly save you when you need it, just like you would save us—and have, many many times.”

Sora shuffled uncomfortably as he looked at the sand. That was all… technically true. However… “My friends were with me all those times. That’s the only reason why. If I weren’t there, they’d have been fine. But if they weren’t there, I’d just have lost. It’s why I lost at the end of the Mark of Mastery. I was alone.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m worthless alone.” His friends were his power; he’d said that so many times, and everyone had agreed.

“Sora!” Riku reached up and grabbed his shoulders, turning Sora to look him in the eyes. “That’s not true! Not at all!” Riku had tears forming in his eyes too. “How could you even think such a thing?”

“Because it’s true!” Sora argued, pulling away. “I’m a hindrance! I can’t do anything alone. I keep losing my power as soon as I get any, while you all just keep growing stronger. All Yen Sid needs me for is that stupid power of waking, which I’m pretty sure I don’t have nor will ever, and to be one of those light guardians because there’s noone else. But I’m just a placeholder. As soon as the three missing guardians are found, I’ll be kicked off, because there will be eight and you only need seven.” Sora laughed once. Why was he spilling all this out? “It'd probably be better if I just leave as soon as I get my body back. You’d all be better off.”

Riku gasped. “Sora! No, we wouldn’t be! I wouldn’t be! Do you really believe that?”

Sora crossed his arm and turned away. “Stop it. You know you would be. No one would miss me. I’m nothing. You should have just left me in the darkness; I wasn’t worth pulling out. I was fine staying there. I—”

Riku grabbed Sora from behind, wrapping one arm around his stomach and putting a hand over his mouth. “You stop it.” Riku’s voice cracked. “None of that’s true. None of it. Sora, I would miss you, more than anything. If you left, I’d just find you, like you searched for me. If you were lost in darkness, I’d do whatever I could to get you out, like you did for me, like I’ve done before. And if I couldn’t, I’d stay there with you, like you stayed with me on that beach. Because without you… without you, I wouldn’t have a reason to resist the darkness. I wouldn’t have a reason to fight. I’d... You’re my world, Sora. You are one of the strongest people I know. You’re… you’re my light, Sora. My reason to live. You mean more to me than even life itself.”

Sora froze, processing this. Riku’s feelings were genuine; Sora could feel it. Could Sora really mean that much to Riku? To anyone?

Riku turned Sora around to hug him more properly, crying into his chest. “Sora, without you… without you, I… I can’t even begin to think about it. You’re my everything. You really, truly are. Please, you can’t think those things about yourself. They’re just not true.”

Sora’s knees suddenly felt weak; he slid to the ground, clutching onto Riku’s shirt and pressing his head into his chest, sobbing. “You really mean that?” he choked out.

“I do,” Riku said gently as he stroked Sora’s hair. It felt odd, being silvery straight instead of spiky brown.

“I-I’m sorry,” Sora mumbled after a while, still sobbing, soaking Riku’s shirt, not actually sure what he was apologizing for.

“Shhhh, it’s okay,” Riku whispered gently. “It’s okay. It’s good to let things out. Cry as much as you need.”

After what must have been nearly an hour, Sora was all cried out—and feeling much better. The things he’d said earlier felt trivial; the thoughts were still there, but they were muted, overshadowed by Riku’s words, and the feeling of being pressed against Riku. The thoughts weren’t being pushed behind a wall, either, not nearly strong enough to warrant that, as they usually would be.

“Feeling better?” Riku asked quietly.

Sora nodded. “Yeah, actually, I am.”

“Good… hey, Sora? Could you promise me something?” Riku asked, voice quiet.

Sora tilted his head to look up at Riku, who was still standing while Sora knelt. “What is it?”

“Promise you won’t ever run away, or intentionally give into the darkness, or… or do anything else along those lines. Please.” Riku’s eyes were sincere, searching Sora’s eyes. “Promise you won’t leave me.”

Sora nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I promise,” he said truthfully.

“Also, please, if you ever feel like this, come to me. I don’t want you holding things back anymore.”

Sora looked down, and was quiet for a moment. “Okay,” he finally decided, looking back up at Riku. “But only if you promise to do the same.”

Riku nodded, and with a gentle smile said, “Promise.”

They stayed like that for a bit longer, then Riku suggested they walk along the water for a bit. Sora took off his shoes and socks while Riku—who hadn’t worn any shoes—rolled up the legs of his pajama pants. Riku took Sora’s hand in his, and the two waded ankle-deep into the water—Sora shivered briefly at the chill before his feet adjusted—as they walked down the shore in companionable silence.

“Hey, Riku?” Sora asked, after a long while. He definitely felt much better now.

“Mhmm?” Riku appeared to be feeling calm too, a small smile on his face as he slightly squeezed Sora’s hand.

“You know the actual reason I didn’t change into pajamas?”

RIku looked at Sora curiously. “It wasn’t because you were too tired?”

“Well, that was part of it,” Sora admitted. “But the other reason…” Sora blushed. “Well, it was a little embarrassing, thinking about taking your clothes off.”

Riku blushed too. “And it wasn’t embarrassing going to the bathroom and seeing—”

“That was different! And unavoidable!”

Riku chuckled, moving his arm towards Sora—probably to pat Sora on the head—then he stopped. Sora chuckled too; Riku probably had remembered he was a little short to do that effectively right now.

Sora tilted his head, examining Riku in the pajamas. “Wasn’t it awkward for you, too?” he asked.

Riku blushed. “W-well, it was necessary! I wasn’t going to sleep in those clothes the fairies gave you!”

“Hey, they’re not so bad,” Sora defended.

“For battle, they’re great, but for sleep? Pajamas are definitely way more comfortable. Especially with all those pockets.”

Sora frowned. “What’s wrong with pockets?”

“They get in the way!” Riku complained. “You only actually need two, one per side.”

Sora pondered that. It was true; their magical clothing had some sort of connection to a pocket dimension that everything they put in there went to. All the pockets led to the same one, and you just had to think of an object in it to pull it out.

Suddenly, a streak of reddish-yellow light moved over the beach; looking towards the horizon, they could see a sliver of sun peeking over the water. Sora moved out of the water and up to the sand, where he sat down, tugging Riku with him; their hands were still linked. It reminded Sora of the other beach they’d sat on only a few months prior, although it felt like much longer.

RIku seemed to read his mind as the sun crept up. “This reminds me of when we were on the Dark Beach.”

Sora nodded. “Yeah. Except it’s a sun rather than the moon.”

“Mhmm. Much better this way.”

“Yeah,” Sora agreed, then quieted for a moment, thinking. There had been something on his mind for a long while; now seemed like a good time to say it. “You know, there actually was something else I’d wanted to say there, but then the bottle appeared...”

There was a slight pause, then Riku replied, “Same here, actually.”

“Really? What did you want to say?”

Riku smiled gently. “You first.”

“Okay.” Sora smiled; he was oddly calm despite how nervous he’d previously become whenever he thought of saying it. “I love you,” Sora sighed, leaning against Riku as he continued watching the sunrise. He let out a yawn, realizing how tired he was. It had been a long night.

“I love you too,” Riku mumbled in return, followed by the contagious yawn, also still looking out at the sunrise.

“I want to kiss you,” Sora added, turning to Riku, not quite sure if Riku realized the context Sora had meant; Sora actually often said that to all his friends, including Riku, just not in the way he meant it now. “I have for a while.”

“Me, too,” Riku said, turning towards Sora; their eyes locked together, Sora staring into his own brilliant blue instead of Riku’s emerald green. Riku frowned. “Right now would be the perfect moment, but it’s a little weird, being in each others’ bodies…”

Sora frowned too for a moment, then grinned. “Ah, screw that! I’ve always wondered what kissing myself would be like anyway.”

Riku raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Sora laughed. “No, but now I actually am curious…” he leaned forwards; it definitely was strange, staring at his own face while about to kiss it, but behind the blue eyes was all Riku. Sora lifted a hand to rest behind Riku’s head, and pulled him forwards slightly so their lips met.

Electricity moved between them; it was perfect, everything Sora dreamed their first kiss would be (minus the body-switch). Their lips slotted together as though they had been destined for each other. Sora slid his hand onto Riku’s thigh just to have a place to put it, and Riku moved his hand from Sora’s head, trailing it down his side to lay on his hip… wait.

Sora broke the kiss and opened his eyes, looking into bright pools of green. “Riku?” he asked, breathless, at the same time Riku asked “Sora?”

“Riku!” Sora yelled, springing forwards, letting go of Riku’s hand to throw his arms around the silverette’s neck. He buried his head in Riku’s chest as Riku wrapped his own heavily-muscled arms around Sora. Sora never felt more relieved to be small.

“So a kiss was all it took, huh?” Riku said in surprise.

Sora laughed. “Man, how are we going to explain that one to everyone?” His eyes drifted to a glint of metal nearby in the sand. “Hey, what’s that?” he scrunched his forehead and reached for the object. “What a strange color…”

“Don’t!” Riku said, grabbing Sora’s wrist. “That’s the thing that caused this in the first place! It didn’t activate until I held it up to the moonlight, but just in case, don’t touch it.” He took his jacket off, wrapping the object carefully in it, making sure not to touch it. “We’ll see what Yen Sid says later.”

“Sounds good,” Sora agreed, slightly shaken at how close they’d been to yet another body-swapping incident.

Riku placed the coat-wrapped object to the side, and his eyes brushed over Sora, causing Sora’s stomach to do a little flip. “You really do look adorable in those pajamas,” Riku practically purred.

Sora met Riku’s eyes, sure his face was bright red. “You always look cute,” Sora said. He squeaked as Riku grabbed him by the waist, pulling Sora close. Their lips were barely an inch apart; Sora glanced down at Riku’s briefly, noting Riku’s eyes had flickered towards his lips too.

“How about another kiss, now that we’re in the right bodies?” Riku asked in a whisper, leaning forwards as Sora tilted his head up, their lips fitting together like they were meant for this.

But that wasn’t enough for Sora. Placing his hands on Riku’s shoulders, he pushed, until Riku lay in the sand with Sora half on top of him, maintaining the kiss the entire way. Riku let out a quiet gasp, parting his lips slightly, and Sora took the opportunity to slide his tongue slightly between them. Riku opened his lips wider so he could return the gesture, and then Sora plunged his tongue into Riku’s mouth with a small moan accompanying it.

The two made out for quite some time, until their lack of sleep finally caught up with them.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Lea and Kairi found the two boys on the beach later that same morning, Riku on his back and Sora collapsed on top of him, head buried in Riku’s shoulder and hand on his heart, one of Riku’s arms slung over Sora’s back. Each of their other hands were intertwined as they lay asleep. A large purple mark decorated Riku’s neck.

“Well, that definitely clarifies their relationship status,” Lea said jokingly. “Only took them switching bodies to figure it out.”

Kairi looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”

Lea raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You never noticed how intense their affection is—Sora literally jumps into Riku’s arms whenever they see each other—and the feeling in the air when they’re near each other? You’re supposed to know them best.”

“Oh, that.” Kairi shrugged. “They’ve always been like that.”

Riku yawned, his eyes blinking open to look at the two standing over him. “Oh, hi, Kairi. Lea.” He looked down at the weight on his chest. “Guess this confirms all those jokes of yours, Lea.”

Lea grinned. “You’re right about that!” he then looked surprised. “Wait, you understood them?”

Riku frowned. “Of course.”

Lea blinked, then narrowed his eyes. “Riku?”

Riku nodded in confirmation.

Kairi’s face shone with a wide smile. “So I guess true love’s kiss really does break curses!”

Riku felt his face heat up. “W-what?”

Kairi giggled. “It’s in all the stories, silly. And it actually did happen for some of the real-life princesses, too!” She shrugged. “Those were all sleeping spells, but it must work for other things, too.”

“But how did you know we—”

“You have a hickey,” Lea pointed out. “Those rarely come about without kissing involved.” Riku blinked, processing, before his face heated up like a furnace.

“Mmmm,” Sora mumbled, blinking his eyes open and looking at Riku. “G’morning, Riku.” he leaned forwards to press a chaste kiss to Riku’s mouth.

“We, er, have an audience,” Riku mumbled, still blushing slightly.

Sora frowned. “An audience?” he pushed himself up onto Riku’s chest a little to look to the side, then his mouth transformed into a brilliant smile. “Kairi! Lea!” He leapt up, pushing off of Riku’s chest, causing the wind to be briefly knocked out of Riku before Sora pulled Kairi and Lea into a group hug.

“Why am I included in this?” Lea wondered.

“Because you're my friend too!” Sora said happily.

“Just go with it,” Kairi suggested.

Riku stood up too, laughing. “Sora’s not the best at asking permission.” He put a hand to his neck and winced slightly, though didn’t bother healing it.

Sora withdrew from the two. “So what brings you here?”

Lea looked unimpressed, saying snarkily, “Hmm, let’s see, two people disappear in the middle of the night after being involved in significant incidents involving darkness while in bodies they're not familiar with…”

“Oooooh, right,” Sora said sheepishly, then defended, “Well, we didn’t mean to fall asleep!”

Kairi crossed her arms and sighed. “Even so, you could at the very least have left a note.”

Lea actually chuckled at that. “Kairi, Sora is still in pajamas and they’re both shoeless.” He turned to Riku, more serious. “I assume there was another incident that had to be mitigated?”

Riku cringed, then looked at Sora, who was looking down guiltily.

Lea sighed. “Well, everything seems fine now, so let’s all head back to the tower, okay?”

Riku nodded. “Okay. I just gotta find where I left my shoes; we were wading in the water,” he explained.

“We’ll help. Did you two leave them in the same place?” Kairi asked.

Sora laughed nervously. “Actually, mine are back at the Tower…”

“I’ll carry you,” Riku offered, causing Sora to squeak as he was swept up bridal-style. Sora instinctually put his arms around Riku’s neck and Riku nuzzled his hair slightly.

Lea chuckled, but Kairi didn’t comment; she’d seen it so many times before it didn’t even register as now being a romantic display. Or maybe it always had been such. The only actual difference between now and before was that Riku and Sora both now knew what it showed. Riku couldn’t help but peck Sora on the lips.

That got a reaction from Kairi. “Aww, you two are so adorable!” she cooed, eliciting a blush from both boys.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Everyone immediately gathered in Yen Sid’s office upon returning, Sora still shoeless and in pajamas. After the two boys apologized profusely for vanishing, and explained vaguely what happened (leaving out the specifics of their long discussion), Kairi—she’d been carrying the object as Riku had been carrying Sora in his arms—brought the strange polyhedron to the desk, carefully unwrapping it while making sure not to touch it.

“This is…” Yeah Sid appeared to be speechless as he examined the polyhedron on the desk, also avoiding touching it. “I’ve heard of this, but thought it was mere legend…” He drifted into thought, looking at the thing like it was some sort of puzzle.

“What’s the legend?” Mickey prodded

“It’s a Pnakotic artifact called the ‘Iungo Animus’ and will switch your mind with someone deeply connected to you.”

“Connected how?” Sora asked, then mentally berated himself for the stupid question.

Yen Sid actually smiled slightly at that. “You should know, considering it happened to you.”

Sora blushed. “Right.” He’d walked right into that one.

“‘Love heals all wounds’, isn’t that the saying?” Lea said jokingly.

Riku blushed too, then seemed to realize something. “Oh, do you mind if I take my coat back?” Upon no protest, Riku gently withdrew his coat from under the object—unfortunately, despite his efforts, the thing still rolled off of the desk.

Lea caught it instinctually. As he stood up, the object caught the light streaking through the window. “Aww, crap.” Lea said, glowing slightly as the object dissolved into him.

Sora gasped, clutching his chest. There was a sharp tug; it felt like something… transferred? Had the object done that? But he was still in his own body...

“What. The. Fuck.” Lea said, looking himself over, appearing angry. “I mean, I guess it’s nice having a body, but seriously?!”

Everyone looked confused except for Riku, who stared at Lea in complete shock. “Roxas?”

“Wait, what?” Sora said, then became immensely confused. “So where’s Lea?”

Roxas (in Lea’s body? Wtf? Sora didn’t know those two… wow) turned his glare to Sora. “I dunno, dumbass, maybe inside you? It does switch people after all, right?”

“What?” Sora squeaked. “You knew? Do you watch everything!?”

Roxas rolled his eyes. “Not really. I tune it out most the time. But I could definitely tell when the body suddenly had Riku’s heart instead of yours! Ugh. Why’d you have to fall in love with him, of all people?”

“Love?!” Sora said. “How’d you know—”

Roxas gave him a flat look. “Dude, your heart basically screams it whenever you’re near him, and you get sickenly affectionate. It’s impossible for me not to know. Or anyone really, inside or outside your heart.”

Riku still looked quite angry—Roxas seemed to have that effect on him—so Sora slid over to grab Riku’s hand.

Roxas rolled his eyes again and crossed his arms. “See? Painfully obvious.” He grinned mischievously at Riku. “Nice hickey.”

Riku sighed, arms crossed too and tapping his foot. “How do we put him back?”

“Well, how did you put each other back?” Roxas quipped.

“You didn’t see?” Sora asked. He still was confused about how the whole being-inside-his-heart thing worked.

“Like I said, I often tune it out. Especially with Riku being the one in control. Ugh, that was… yeah. So how’d you fix it?”

“True love’s kiss!” Kairi interjected. Both Sora and Riku blushed.

Roxas stared at her blankly. “You gotta be kidding.”

“Nope! The thing switches people who love each other, and if they kiss they go back.”

Roxas turned to Sora, narrowing his eyes. “Axel’s definitely in there?”

Sora frowned, concentrating on his heart… Sora nodded in confirmation. Yes, he could feel Lea there. A very confused Lea.

Roxas shrugged. “Fine.” He stomped over to Sora, grabbed his face, and pressed their lips together, hard, holding them there a second before he let go and stepped back.

Sora stood in shock as Riku yelled something incredibly rude.

Whoever was in Lea’s body frowned. “Huh. Could have sworn that would work.” Still Roxas.

“Perhaps Lea has to be at the forefront,” Mickey suggested. “You’ve done it before, right?”

“What?” Riku hissed, still upset and clearly taken by surprise by this new information.

Sora regained his senses. “But that’s usually impossible.”

“Yeah,” Roxas agreed. “It only happens for maybe a second at a time every so often. Enough to angrily yell something or give a glare.” He stretched his arms. “Well, I guess I can get used to this body.” He grinned slyly at Sora. “At least I won’t have to deal with all the pining over Riku.”

“Roxas!” Sora complained with a laugh. Then he said, “I’ve been thinking of looking into how to find you your own body, anyway. So I guess we just have to do that for Lea, now, instead. Then you can kiss and be happy together forever!”

Roxas blushed, which looked extremely odd on Lea’s face. “W-what?”

Sora was the one to grin slyly now. “Well, if you get to tease me about Riku, then I get to tease you about Lea, right?”

“...Fair enough.”

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The next day, after everyone received their assignments (Sora, Donald, and Goofy would be doing their own thing, and the rest would be going to Merlin’s. Kairi would be returning to the forest to train along with a very pissed-off Roxas; he claimed he could fight fine, but Yen Sid insisted as Roxas was not only in a new body—the head of which he kept smacking on every door frame—but would also be using one keyblade instead of two and controlling completely different magic, so basically had to relearn everything. Riku and Mickey needed help reforming and repairing their keyblades, respectively), Riku pulled Sora into a kiss and made him promise to call him as soon as he felt any of those negative thoughts. Sora agreed, kissed Riku again, then ran off into his GummiShip, which Goofy had already started up, Donald following him.

“Oh, no you don't!” Riku said, grabbing the scruff of Donald’s collar as the duck ran by.

Donald squawked and started to complain, but Riku turned him around and clasped Donald’s beak to shut him up as his other hand switched to tightly clutch the front collar of the mage’s shirt. Donald struggled a little, then stopped when he realized he wasn’t escaping, choosing to glare at Riku instead.

“If you ever hit Sora with that staff again,” Riku threatened with his best glare and the darkest voice he could manage, “especially on the head, I will strangle you to within an inch of your life, or worse.” He squeezed Donald’s collar tightly in emphasis, causing the duck to gag slightly, before abruptly releasing him as Riku added, “That’s a promise.” Donald fell onto his butt, eyes wide, and scrambled up to run towards the GummiShip without looking back.

“Was that really necessary?” someone asked, and Riku spun around.

“Mickey!” Riku gasped, stiffening. Had the King seen everything? But Riku’s sudden tension relaxed when he saw that Mickey had an eyebrow raised and was smiling. “You’re not mad?” Riku asked, confused.

Mickey chuckled. “Nah. It was a bit, hmm, forceful, but if you didn’t say something I would have. Donald can go a bit overboard.” Riku had mentioned Donald’s treatment of Sora to the mouse earlier.

“You’ve got that right,” Riku mumbled.

“Well, ready to head out?” Mickey asked, changing subjects. “Kairi and Lea—I mean, Roxas—are already waiting in the ship.”

Riku shook his head in exasperation. “I still can’t believe Sora broke my keyblade…”

“But you love him anyway,” Mickey pointed out jovially.

“Yeah,” Riku sighed, watching Sora's GummiShip depart. “I love him anyway.”