Archive of Our Own

It’s a disaster in the making, her heart whispers, as Kairi sits down on the only bench in the lab. 

Riku just came in, eyebags as deep as her despair at this point, whole body tense and careful, curled into himself like he doesn’t want to take up too much space. She would have almost felt sorry for him, if not for the small voice in the back of her head.

He let him go and now look at him. He let Sora go to save you and now you lost him both. 

Squashing it down hurts, stabbing through all possible defenses she might have had and she drags what little understanding she can muster up from it’s last hiding hole to beat the voice back with There is no holding Sora back and Sora would have gone to save me anyway and Riku is not at fault in this . 

Still hurts.

She still wants to punch the other boy.

And yet, she doesn’t.

Riku turns to her, after he is done speaking to Ienzo, his eyes asking for permission to come closer, as if he knows just how little she wants to see him right now.

He should blame her back. 

He should.

After all, where he let Sora go, she is the reason he had to leave at all, she and her stupid inability to fight back when it matters, she and her stupid overconfident vow to protect her friend.

Terror in her heart.

Horror drenching her light in frozen silver, aqua blue.

Riku fought back. She did not.

She nods at him, stands up as he comes closer, to look just a little bit taller, to come closer to reaching the same eye level, even though she is still missing a head, maybe a few inches more. 

Quiet and subdued.

Riku has never been quiet and subdued, so very tired and lost in his own skin, his jacket hanging off his shoulders like her heart seeping out of all the cracks in it. They share a glance.

Kairi almost misses him being his old loud and brash and intimidating self, or the confident man standing in her doorway, offering her a way to come closer to the very boy she loves with all that is left of her.

Even though he would be giving himself another handicap.

Instead she gets an overworked, understanding boy, who looks at her like he is missing his other best friend just as much as he does his beloved.

“Did you find something?”, she remembers him saying he wanted to see if Radiant Garden had a way to find Sora, it’s only polite to ask, but he shakes his head and all possible condolences fall off her tongue in tar and wax, “Well, me neither.”

“I didn’t find anything. But… The fairy godmother did. I’ve been having these weird dreams lately and asked if she can help with those. She said… Well, the fairy thinks that my dreams might still be connected to Sora, probably per my dream eater bond with him and we thought, or I thought. If the Data we have is so useless, then I can see if the two of us can work together. My dreams and your memories.”

“You want to help me find Sora in my heart.”, she bites back the blade in her tone, “How? Strengthen my heart with yours, so maybe whatever bond there is shows itself?”

Nevermind her unwillingness to let him anywhere close to her heart, if he sees how dark her thoughts have been lately… She doesn’t want him to see just how much their loss has corrupted her.

“Something like that.”, Riku shakes his hand, grabbing for air, for words, “My thought was rather… more difficult. I want to become your dream eater. Like that I can walk alongside you, keep you safe from whatever is going to stand in your way. If you let me, we can look together, two pairs of eyes see more than one and all that. But I also want… Nevermind.”

Kairi’s heart skips a beat at his face, the way he turns into the boy from back then for just a moment, the boy she called a friend, best friend even. Only anguished and torn and just like her.

Nevermind, he said.

She wants to know now, to soothe the memory of him, of Riku as she knows him, not this stranger right in front of her. Somehow, she wonders when he changed so much, when she changes so much. if they even have the right to call each other friends after all that happened.

“What if we fail?”

“Then we try again. This is kind of… my last hope, Kairi. You are my last hope. You have a connection and I have one, what if we aren’t strong enough on our own and in the end the solution…”

“... Is becoming each other's strength. That’s something Sora would say, right?”, her laugh breaks into shreds from misuse, Riku joins in and she can’t help it.

She knows this laugh, she knows this boy, if only for now until he fades away again.

“Fine. Let’s try this.”, it’s not like she has any other ideas left.

His dreams, her heart.

At least they have that. 

Ansem has been watching them this whole time and she notices how Riku has been inching in front of her to keep the man’s eyes away from herself, protective, never trusting enough to leave her alone with him. She knows that Riku will rather trust Even and Ienzo, before he trusts Ansem and she never gains a reason for that. Only that it has something to do with Namine. Maybe now she can make him talk. 

Both of them find a bed, Kairi gets back on hers, Riku helps ienzo roll another bed in and plug it into the computer. When he takes his place, their eyes meet and he offers an encouraging smile, one she answers with a careful grimace she hopes resembles an appropriate answer. If his facial expression is to be believed in, it looks terrible. 

She sticks her tongue out at him when no one’s looking and turns her gaze towards the ceiling, closes her eyes.

Let’s do this… Again. Hopefully this works and doesn’t break us even more…

Beside her, Riku’s breathing slows down into something resembling sleep and as she closes her eyes, she automatically concentrates on that. After all, years of sleepovers, both at their respective places and on the beach, taught her that it’s far easier to fall asleep to her friend’s breathing than to silence. Conditioned to that as she is, she falls asleep almost instantly, sparing barely a thought, that maybe, she shouldn’t anymore.

Guilt and rage and that love she still holds in her hands.

What a terrible combination.

This time, her dreams shift and change, she is falling, deep and deeper, everything dark around her until something shoots past her, bright and radiant and furious. 

Kairi recognizes her friend, or, his back rather, right there, illuminating their path into her heart with glorious fire and the determination of a man at war. 

He will probably never lose that, his determination in the face of adversity. She can appreciate that, if nothing else.

Riku’s keyblade, ridiculous thing that it is, opens up the gates to her heart and they fall through, his fingers closing around her arm, pulling her closer to his chest until he manages to curl himself around her body and land on both his feet, Kairi in his arms like the princess she doesn’t feel like anymore. He lets go of her the second he is given the chance and she steps away, one step, two, steeling her expression into neutral calm instead of the quiet impressed intimidation digging itself under her skin. Riku grins over at her, before he takes a battle ready stance and they both look around. Destiny’s Embrace sings in her hand as she summons it, heart beating far more steady than she anticipated.

She knows this place, Kairi knows this place, she has been here before, in both dreams and back then, with Sora. 

Endless sky, endless ocean. Clouds like vanilla cotton candy, silver streaks through eternal blue. everything should be the same, but it’s different now. As they dare their first steps forward, both mindful of their surroundings and each other, their steps sound like raindrops in the dark, faint bells behind a window. 

It would be peaceful if it wasn’t for Kairi’s mind whispering He is not welcome here, not anymore.

“Riku, there are buildings over there.”, Kairi interrupts that voice in her head, resolution in her blood, determined to give this at least a chance. she tugs on Riku’s sleeve and he turns her way, eyes following her outstretched hand and when he walks in front of her, that’s when she notices it. His jacket has changed. Not quite completely, but enough to accomodate the strange sigil on his back, the very same as…

“Riku, on your back. Is this…?”

“The Dream Eater emblem, yes.”

“Does it hurt?”, she can’t really stop herself from touching the borders of the mark and rips it away the very second he gasps in pain and slumps forward enough for her to see the strain this pain put on him, “Jacket. Off.”

Riku doesn’t stop her from pulling it off, taking in the raised flesh underneath his shirt, fingers dancing just short of it, “This is what being a Dream Eater does to you?”

How did he do this for Sora? Oh right, it was for Sora. Riku is a very ridiculous man when their friend is involved, they both are. 

“It doesn’t hurt as much after a while, and only if touched, so please don’t do that again.”, is the answer wheezed in between grit teeth as he stands up and grabs his clothing again, putting it back on. Once the jacket is back in place, the mark flares pink for a second and Riku casts a Cure around them, “Now, let me check if I can call on Komory at least so we have someone else to work with.”

He closes his eyes, giving Kairi pretty much full permission to look at him and it’s unfair how pretty he is, absolutely unfair . Not cool at all. 

And he still manages that while looking like death personified, hair dull and skin pale, even paler around his eyes. He is still tall and broad as she knows him, but his posture is collapsed into himself, just upright enough so she can hide behind him.

She almost reaches out to smooth her finger over that one wrinkle in between his eyebrows, but a screech and confetti exploding to her right drag her away from Riku and Destiny’s Embrace right in front of her, her reflexes finally honed into something passable. At least she won’t get caught off guard anymore.

In front of her, Kairi wants a gummi phone to appear right in her hand so she can take a picture, is a tiny bat, a honest to Kingdom Hearts rainbow bat, with the happiest smile she has seen in the last few months. It reminds her of sora, with the way it flutters around both her and Riku, screeching a greeting as it dives into Riku's face.

He laughs.

Actually laughs and Kairi’s heart melts at the sight, a boy cuddling his partner, adoration in his face. until she remembers just who it is that’s cuddling an oversized, not straight bat and her better mood dampens again.

“Right, hi, Komory, I missed you too. Yes, I’m sorry I haven’t been visiting. Yes, how dare I.”, Riku grabs the creature and pulls it away from his face, a new scratch now lining his jaw, one he doesn’t even react to as he holds Komory even further away, “sorry, sorry. I promise I’ll try not to let you wait another month. Sorry.”

Komory gives a tiny while, heart wrenching and terrible and high enough that only dogs should be able to hear it and the teenagers both wince.

Once the boy let's go, his furry friend falls a few inches and flutters back up, settles down on Riku’s shoulder and gives her a curious glance. One Riku catches, “right, Komory, this is Kairi. Kairi, this is my partner, Komory Bat, but I call him Komory most of the time.”

“Wow, your naming skills actually got worse, Mister Moo the cow plushie.”, a thousand answers and she chooses teasing, figures. Some habits die hard, it seems.

Riku snorts and shoves her shoulder, “Shut up, Lady Princess the princess doll. Sora named every single one of his Dream Eaters after food. Cookie being Meow wow and so on. It was hell keeping a straight face when we shared our Dream Eaters. Nevermind that Shiki stopped taking me seriously after our Necho Cat climbed on a tree of all things and would not get down until I called it by its name. Which is Lemon Tart, by the way. Do you have any idea how many coolness points I lost with that?”, his dry tone almost convinces her that he is serious until she notices the mirth in his eyes and the hopeful spark inside them. 

“Considering how much of a dork you are, none.”

Riku kicks at her and starts walking towards the structures and Kairi smirks as she follows him, running until they are walking side by side. Riku is not looking at her, keeping an eye out once again and she wants to tell him to stop being so tense, it’s bad for his face. He will get early wrinkles like that and his back will hate him with his terrible posture and maybe he should see if he can sleep an hour or eight, because those dark circles under his eyes are not healthy. She doesn’t.

She has no right to do this anymore. Not after all that’s happened. 

And yet, their arms brush, when they get too close and they both jump apart until Komory dives in between the two of them, if only to keep the awkward air around them somewhat calm.

Words escape the girl, as she wrecks her head how to break this oppressing silence, pushing down on her harder than their responsibility. Riku should still be her friend, in a way, he wants to keep her safe here, so why is it so hard? Does she really have nothing to say to him anymore?

The first structure they see is barely a boulder, one Kairi can comfortably sit on while Riku checks their closer surroundings, other buildings rise, far taller and as white as the clouds above and below them. Ivory and silver, Riku’s hair almost melts into them, if it wasn’t as shiny. And he wasn’t close enough to differentiate between stone and hair.

“There is nothing here but stones and water and sky.”, Riku grumbles once he comes back, Komory a steady presence to his right, “No opponents, no strange figures, nothing. Why here?”

“I was here before. When Sora got me back. He called this Where Hearts Go.”, finally, Kairi offers, “He said this is where hearts wait for their time to come after they die.”

“Like a pit stop?”

“I guess. Maybe it’s in my heart now because we died, or it’s like an impression? I don’t know…”, she stands back up and starts walking towards the structures, “I always came back here before, when we were looking through my memories, but this is the first time that I see something but sky and water. So that’s a start at least.”

Maybe they are onto something after all.

With this working together thing. 

Riku catches up to her in no time, Braveheart in his hand and a lot more tense than before, “You mean, you both died.”

“Yes.”, she whispers, “I guess. Or Sora is just that different and managed to bring me back without sacrificing himself in return.”

They share a glance. 

“As if.”, they say in unison, Riku snorts, Kairi dares a laugh. Buildings slowly rise around them, tall, imposing, no doors, no windows. only strange mirrors reaching up high and around the white marble.

As they walk past one, instead of their reflections, they see the secret place, it’s insides stretched to accommodate the image, Kairi and Sora’s portraits of each other bright against the dark surface. Riku stops right in front of it, smile wistful and gentle and so very broken, Kairi’s heart goes out to him. Thi is no moment shared between the three of them, only her and Sora, a few minutes of boredom as they waited for Riku to find them. He never did. 

“Back then, I noticed.”, Riku’s hand reaches out and falls against the surface, fingers tracing, “What you guys felt for each other. Or, you for him, Sora has always been free with his love. He loved me all my life after all. Just… never quite like I wanted him to.”

“Idiot.”, she whispers, doesn’t elaborate and stalks past him, to the next building, the next mirror, her feet splash against a darker spot in the water, just on the outside, barely half a foot in, but for a second, just a few blinks the world seems to shift and change.

Kairi pushes the feeling of vertigo aside as she comes to a stand in front of another memory, this one precious and terrible, resonating in her chest the same way it did back then. Sora’s smile, bright and powerful enough to light up not just a room but the whole beach, their little moment on the bridge, just before their home fell apart for the first time. When she steps around the building, it's Sora running, probably one of their races when they were kids. Another building shows Sora falling on his face, another is sora just before he falls in Hollow Bastion, another mirror depicts nothing but vibrant blue and stars settling back into their place.

They notice the trend.

Of course they do, as they explore the hollow city build of memories, of her thoughts of Sora, both good… and bad.

Nightmares flood some mirrors, turn the silver into black, moments horrible enough to scar, Sora falling, Sora getting hurt, Sora dying. Their reunion in the World That Never Was, when he did not hug her back and then proceeded to cry over Riku right in front of her. and Riku says that he has no chance.

Asshole.

Kairi keeps that memory away from him, dragging the boy further down the road, their only clear path paved by smaller boulders and surrounded by vibrant blue.

It’s too bright, her heart whispers, too quiet, too dead. 

Dead like her world since Sora disappeared in a cloud of colour, dust and light. 

They both freeze at the memory of Sora reaching out to Kairi, after their first journey, as she was transported back to the islands and Sora pulled away, his lips forming a promise she remembers with striking clarity. Riku makes a noise that is vaguely anguished and partly torn, something yearning and tragic in his eyes, a punch in her face, har enough to make the girl recoil, guilt and rage stuck in her throat.

You let him go, you have no right to look like this. and Stop being the same as me, I can’t hate you like this. and I miss you. I miss him, I miss what we had and we can’t rebuild this and you will abandon me once again anyway. Once you find him, you will both leave me behind again. Right?

Her feet find another dark spot and this time she steps right in and once again, the world shifts, only this time she is falling. Riku gives a startled shout and grabs her arm and suddenly there are shooting stars behind her eyelids and the feeling of vertigo again. This time it’s her pulling Riku closer, afraid to be separated if they let go for even a moment. They can manage alone, Kairi knows this, but she is still terrified to carry on by herself, unsure in the new environment in her heart. She can be brave with him by her side, Komori a call away, but alone? It’s terrifying enough that she’d rather stay with him. He holds on just as tight, one hand just above her waist, the other in her hair at the back of her neck, tucking her face into his shoulder. Comfortable, safe.

They crash to the ground, water splashing all over the place and their limbs tangled in a mass of hands, feet, elbows and pain when Riku shoves his knee into Kairi’s back and she accidentally slaps him across the face with her hair. 

A lot of yelping and a few choice words from Kairi later they are splayed side by side on the floor, heaving and staring up at a night sky and black buildings.

Night sky. Black buildings.

“Where did the clouds go?”, Riku groans beside her, “Ow, your hair is a menace, Kai.”

“Our whole surroundings changed and your only comment is that the clouds are gone? Ri-ku.”, she whines, honest to god whines and tries to reach out to her friend to slap his shoulder. Riku just rolls away and gets back up, slips on the water and crashes face first back into the ground.

“Not a word.”, a muffled growl and Kairi bursts into laughter, loud and wild and free.

This is what she missed, Riku being anything but a poised, calm man, just the boy she still might know, who has his bouts of clumsiness when startled or faced with his crush being the endearing dumbass that Sora is. This is the boy she wanted to have adventures with and who she wanted to be her rival for the affections of the same boy.

This is her friend, this right here and he will disappear the second he gets back to his feet and manages to get his dignity back. After all, they can’t afford this right now. Laughter and jokes and friendship, not when everything else is at stake.

How she hates it.

Riku does scramble back up and offers her a hand she takes gladly, pulling her up until she stands note to chest in front of him. They are both drenched to the bone, a feeling that disappears with a well placed Fire spell from the young keyblade master. 

The buildings are still black, still dreary and the mirrors on them fundamentally different. Kairi’s back still hurts, a burning sensation dancing up and down her skin whenever her clothes shift. Riku turns towards her, “You okay?”

“My back feels weird, but that’s fine.”, it’s not, the burning sensation is uncomfortable and not letting up, but she will manage, she has to manage, “It just burns a little.”

“Turn around.”, Riku is already moving, grabbing her shoulder and ignoring her protests at being manhandled like this. 

Riku sucks in a sharp breath and that does not bode well, “Riku? What’s wrong? It’s just a little bit…”

“Please don’t lie to me. I know what a Dream Eater mark feels like, so please don’t play it down, Kai.”

Wait a second.

“Dream Eater mark? Why would I have a…?”, Riku lets go of her and she feels a healing spell wash over her arms, back, whatever aching she still notices until it fades, “Thanks. But that still doesn’t explain why I would have a mark when you’re the Dream Eater.”

“Can you check my back? I might have an idea.”, he turns around and the missing mark is what clues her in.

“We switched. Dreams or hearts, I don’t know, but I’m your Dream Eater now... That dark spot, I stepped into one before but I thought that it was just a dream thing.”, she traces the fabric, right over the place where the mark should be.

“That’s what I feared. Thought. Nevermind. So we will have to look for more ways to get back to your dream?”, she watches Riku ruffle up the hair on the back of his head, the very same gesture he always tended to make whenever he was at a loss, “Does the Cure help?” 

“Yeah, thanks. I guess you’re right. Or maybe we can check out your side of this?”, Kairi points at the mirror images behind her with a thumb, “Maybe we can find out more out here. What do you say? Ready for a walk down memory lane?”

“No.”, he grins, “Not really. But I think we don't have much choice, if we want to find the next spot. Can we please find another word for spot? That sounds uncool and I have an image to uphold.”

“What image?”

“Hey!”

Kairi laughs in his face and pulls him with her, only just realizing that she never let go of his hand. She keeps holding on. It doesn’t feel wrong.

When she looks back at him, when she hears a familiar snort, that’s when she realizes just what it is that bothered her back on her side of this dream. it was too bright, for Riku, his best features illuminated here by the faint starlight around them. No moon shines down and yet his hair gleams almost white in the faint light, a glorious flicker of ice and snow in the dark around them, softening him into something gentle, good. 

Concentrated as she is on him, Kairi almost runs into a building, but Riku tugs her back just before she does.

His eyes are wide, ripped open, face crumbling at the seams into an expression of terror and guilt and something achingly painful. Kairi turns around, looks up.

Oh. 

That’s why.

It’s their island, cast in darkness, the day they lost their innocence. sora is staring up at a hand outstretched, his blue eyes a beautiful midnight blue in the night hours, but it’s that expression, the desperation of a boy lost, of a boy who is witnessing his life fall apart, his home disappear and someone important to him fade right before his eyes. He is reaching out and the image freezes once the black tendrils of darkness close around Memory-Riku and Kairi turns around, “He didn’t take your hand.”

“He wanted to, but he was too slow. Thank all the stars out there, he was too slow.”, Riku’s smile is wistful, an apology in his eyes, “Our story would have been so much more bleak.” 

“Or we would not be standing here, because you would have gotten over your edge phase so much sooner.” Riku kicks at her again and she dodges him with practiced ease, grinning at him, “Come on, our memories are waiting.”

His unwilling mumbling and half hearted protests follow her along the path of this city made of stones, mirroring her own side exactly. this time, it’s her keeping an eye out, keyblade in hand and softly glowing, illuminating their path forward. Behind her, Riku calls for Komory and once it does not appear, he calls her back, “Kairi, wait. You… We might have to create you a partner while we’re here.”

What, like the Komory Bat?

“What, like Komory?”, she asks and dances back to his side, “Why can’t I just use komory’s help?”

“Because he and I have a different connection than the one you would have with him. Also, Komory is dark based and, as much of a brat as you can be, darkness is not your element. I still have a few materials in my inventory, so we can see if we can use some of those to make you one.”, she can see him blush, “And i want you to have one of them for your own. They are… handy when fighting off nightmares.”

She can accept that.

Riku summons a bunch of shiny, glowing spheres into his hands that take on funny shapes of wings, horns, charms in different colours, all over the place, like someone who threw up a rainbow all over his hands. Kairi lifts an eyebrow at him and Riku turns an absolutely hilarious shade of scarlet. how anyone managed to think that this boy is anything but gay or at least not fully straight is her guess.

“Just choose and please stop giving me the knowing eyebrow. Please.”

“Keep begging, I’m enjoying this.”, she focuses back on the spheres, shifting them around, some falling to their feet and disappearing again, probably back into Riku’s pockets, until her eyes catch onto something resembling a floaty, swirly snowman and another shape resembling a star, “Those. I like those.”

“Okay. Here, hold them, think of something you like and let’s hope that it takes a form on its own. Otherwise, mash it together until they do something they probably should not. that’s how I got some of the rarer ones…”

Kairi tries as instructed, holding the squishy things in her hands and praying for something to happen, her fingers closing around them until she is pressing them together into one small, malleable mass against her chest, lipf forming a faint please under her breath.

Something glows and the material disappears in a poof and sparks of light and the very same confetti Komory seems to train everywhere and Kairi only looks down when she feels a rough tongue slobbering at her feet.

“Okay, this is adorable.” And it is . It's a bean of a mix between a cat and a dog, chubby and short legged and terribly adorkable. Bright pink as well and that’s always a win in her book. And the flower tail is absolutely precious. 

Riku laughs, “Of course it’s a Flowbermeow. I was thinking it would be one of the flowers, maybe a rabbit, but of course you have Sora’s mirror.” His smile is beautiful even in this exhausted face and she grins back as she gets down on her knees and the creature jumps in her face, now covering her face in saliva. A warm hand settles on her shoulder, Riku’s voice warm above her and she feels safe here, it feels right leaning against her friend’s leg and letting a dream spirit ruin her clothes once again.

She wipes her face on Riku’s pants and he screeches as he leaps away, cursing her out with all the finesse of a man who was never taught to mind his language.

Kairi offers him her middle finger when he glares at her.

The boy huffs, whirls around and proceeds to ignore her for all of three minutes, before he looks back to make sure that she is still with him, “Give it a name and come on.”

What do you call an adorable cat dog mix that deserves the world and annoy your childhood friend at the same time? Floofers sounds good. 

Riku’s incredulous face when she presents him with Floofers’ name is absolutely worth it, as is her tripping over his foot and slamming into his back in retaliation. Their scuffle doesn’t go on for very long, soon they get back to their distance of a few feet, but the air feels somewhat lighter around them, they needed this, this reminder that maybe they can still be something good.

Maybe it’s just work what they need.

Maybe they can be friends without Sora, like they managed to be as kids, before puberty hit and ruined everything. 

Maybe.

Or maybe it’s not worth it, because this is temporary and he is just using you.

“Shut up.”

“What?”

“Not you.”, she takes his hand, twines her little finger around his and he doesn’t keep asking, thankfully, just plucks at her hair with his free hand to get the worst of the kinks out, “Thanks”

At this point, they are both a mess, but she likes this, it’s like old times, ruining their clothes and hair on the beach and grooming each other afterwards to avoid punishment. 

This time, there is no hike to the buildings, they are in the middle of it and Kairi might be intruding into Riku’s memories, but fair’s fair, the snooped around hers.

The tallest building belongs to a memory of Sora inside a flower and a battle against a black suit of armor, both memories something Riku never mentioned. And probably thought too much about.

“What’s this?”, she nods towards the flower memory and Riku pulls a face.

“That’s where he slept for the year it took Namine to get his memories back into place. I… I spent a lot of time there, watching him.”, He touches the surface gingerly, with a weary set of his jaw, “I feared for so long that he would never wake again.”

“You should have come home, back then.”, it bursts out of her, “At least so I could know. I mean, I know that everyone forgot about him and they always thought that you ran away from home, but I remembered and I waited and you… you never came. None of you, no letter, no sign, nothing. You just… It felt like you abandoned me. It felt like you finally got to go on that adventure just by yourself.”

“What? No!”, Riku is back in her face in a second, “That, fuck, this is what you thought? Why didn’t you say something when we got back, this was never our… my intention. I… I was afraid to face you. I mean, all this talk back then about being the oldest and wisest and I was the first to fall to my hubris. How could I look into your or Sora’s eyes? I failed both of you, I just wanted to make things right and get him back to you, whole.”

“But I wanted both of you back.”, she whispers, “It’s never been just Sora, Riku, you were my friend too. I’m just not sure you still are.”

She shoves him away and turns to another structurer, away from him, the hurt in his face. Her hand feels cold without him. Floofers nudges her leg and she scratches his head with a sad smile.

“We are all a mess, aren’t we?”, her lips tremble and she bites the tears back. not here, not now. Sora is waiting.

Riku is right there behind her.

Sora is waiting.

Riku is right there.

They should make things right and salvage what they can, but she can't , fury blazing through her veins still, mellowed out into a steady stream of guilt and resentment, because after all this, nothing that happens out here can erase two years alone on a beach and watching the boy she loves disappear right before her eyes.

Nothing erases the beginnings of training and them being flung into battle overconfident and unprepared.

She hates herself for being a dumb idiot and she still hates Riku for letting Sora go.

No matter how much she still loves and misses her friend being that. Her friend.

She still wants to be his.

But if they are to leave her alone again, once they find Sora, then maybe this distance is the right thing, the right path to walk. 

After all, no one can break your heart if it’s not in it in the first place.

Liar.

Shut up.

You have been too far gone from the start.

Kairi stomps off to another memory, this one she remembers, a race they had ages ago, followed by Riku throwing Sora a paopu fruit. Her heart stops and bleeds when Sora throws it away and Riku’s eyes swim for a faint moment, before the boy smiles up at him and grabs Riku’s arm, tugging him away.

Free to love and casual in his dismissal. Too oblivious to notice just how much pain both of them are in.

“I wanted him to share that paopu with you. There is no sound in these, so I thought I’d explain.”

“What?”

“The race was about who gets to share a paopu with you. I knew that Sora wanted to, everyone knew, but he never did. I mean, Selphie would not shut up about it.”, Riku glanced down at her, “He cast it aside. I still don’t know if I should be…”

“Relieved or sad? Yeah. Same. You were always his first choice. If he had one and we didn’t just do everything together. He would always go to you first. I was… an afterthought.”

“And you were all he talked about.”, Riku pulls at a strand of hair, pushing it out of her face, “I don’t think this was ever a competition. And if it ever was one, I was never an option.”

“You actually are an idiot, wow.”, she hisses, indignant and speechless, actually, “You never noticed? How Sora always kept looking at you? He even tried to go to you while we were having a moment, Riku! Look!” She points an accusatory finger to another memory cast in gold and red, Riku watching the two of them from afar, the Kairi in the memory offering sora a paopu and him turning around to Riku.

“And if you start discussing this with me, then please let me remind you that you and Sora are probably the only decent guys on our island. Tidus did a deep dive down the rabbit hole and don’t ask what happened, I still need to murder him for that thing with Selphie and Wakka is a doormat, if anything. And don’t get me started on everyone else back home. You always were an option. Everyone had a crush on you, everyone.” Even me, she thinks, but does not say that out loud, he doesn’t need that much of a confidence boost. She hopes, because her embarrassment is still a bit stronger than her need to cheer up the man beside her.

Riku ignores that completely and goes in for the kill, “What did Tidus do? Do you need me to hold him down so you can get a punch in?”

“He was being a boy. The rest is up to Selphie to tell.”, all the compliments and this asshole wants to help her commit murder, “And while I don’t need help, you are free to come with me and teach him a lesson when we get back.”

She might actually still like him after all. So she smiles up and walks past him, off to the next memory. Riku is right behind her, while they explore, Sora as a kid, dancing in circles around the mushrooms he found, Sora down with a cold, feverish and clinging onto a pale hand. Sora, smiling up at him shortly before he leaves to get Kairi. A man cast in sepia, reaching out with a keyblade, and a small boyish hand taking it.

“In your hand, take this key.”, Riku whispers beside her at this one, “This was the day when Terra gave me the keyblade. It was… a few weeks before you came to the islands?”

“Why does he look surprised?”

“He asked what I would want the power for. I was an idiot for Sora back them already, so take a guess.”, he laughs. Kairi snorts. “To protect the things that matter most.”, they say in unison, glance at each other and Kairi pokes his side, sending the young man jumping over a softly glowing spot, right into another wall, “Careful, you might fall again and i don’t want you to lose your pretty face after you sacrificed your last few remaining brain cells for Sora.”

“Hey!”

“Oh, look. Do you think this will take us to my side again?”, she crouches down in front of it, fingers sinking into the brighter water and they watch the world shift again.

Just for a second, long enough to see a bright cerulean sky, long enough to feel the fall back but once she pulls her hand back, it’s dark again and Riku is staring at her with wide eyes, almost glowing in the dim light of memories and stars.

“I guess we found our way back.”, he breathes and lets go of the stone wall he was holding, he looks up, at two pairs of small hands right in the vision of Memory-Riku and grins, “This one has you in it.”

“Aw, so I do exist for you.”

“Shut up. Let’s go back.”, he pulls her into his side and raises his eyebrows, a silent question of whether she’s ready or not. Kairi nods.

He steps in and the first thing they do is scream and cover their eyes the very moment they manage to land on their feet and their brains register the bright light around them.

“My eyes.”, Kairi whines, “Next time, would my dream please at least give us a warning? Or just a gradual transport, transfer, whatever?? Owie.”

She looks up, right at a memory they witnessed only a little while ago, the very same race, only this time, it’s all three of them, Riku still a blurry image in the back, but she recognizes the bright hair and hideous yellow clothes they all thought were cool back then.

“You okay?”, a shadow falls over her, soothing the glaring pain in her eyes and she takes Riku’s offered hand without hesitation, “Yeah. Look. You’re coming back.”

He turns around, “I was there before?”

“You always were there, you ass, but I… Focused on Sora more. Sorry.”, she steps close enough so their shoulders touch, arms, hands, his fingers intertwining with hers, “I guess… I just forgot, with time, that we were friends too, not just rivals.” 

Thanks, for this. Please don’t leave me behind anymore.

“I understand that, Kai, I felt the same, for a while. I was jealous of you, for being the better choice, for loving Sora the way I do, for… being an option.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, anyway, me being an option? Just because I’m a girl?”, Kairi lets go of his hand and pinches his side, “You are just as precious to him, you dork. And if we’re airing out our old dirty laundry, fine, i hated you for letting Sorta go to save me. And I still don’t like it. Because you could have had him at least. If not me, then you. But you had to go and be noble. At least you didn't leave me behind again…” She scuffles at the water at their feet, splashes it up her legs, leaving them cold. “At least that, i guess.”

“Is this what you thought happened?”

“You were always off on your adventures and I was left as your damsel to be saved. Your prize or whatever, I mean, you admitted to that with this race thing. The winner shares a Paopu with Kairi, right?”, her teeth ache from all the gritting, “I hated that. And I was happy when you got me to train to help you fight in the war and in the end, was useless even then. I hate it. I hate being this worthless little girl who talks big and in the end just… does nothing.”

“I’m sorry.”, raw and terrible, both of their voices, Riku croaks his words out, reaches out, but in the end, he gives her the last few inches into his embrace and she falls. He is safe. 

“I’m sorry.”, he presses into her hair, an imprint of regret, like the one in her heart, drumming her pain into her bones, now a little bit less. It’s enough of a relief that she doesn’t want to let go, but their duty still calls and she can see her memory self giving Sora her good luck charm just under his arm.

Still, Sora has waited all this time for them, he can wait a little bit longer.

“For what?”

“Making you feel like this. Not thinking of you when I waited for Sora to wake up… You… I should have visited during that time, checked up on you. I should have…”

“You should have talked to me and I should have talked to you. We were both bad friends when it comes to each other.”, Kairi squeezes him, close and closer, “So… I’m sorry myself. For blaming you and…”

Komory smashes into her back and screeches. Riku lets go of her instantly and shoves Kairi behind himself, scanning around for something suspicious. Something dark scurries behind a corner and Riku is after it faster than she can realize that her arms are going cold.
Then, she just summons Destiny’s Embrace and goes after Riku.

They look like floofers, only darn, malevolence dripping off them in small, viscous clouds, teeth seemingly sharper, eyes a glowing metallic red. They reek of terror and black and Kairi wants to step back and rum, every single cell in her body screams for her to run, but her arm swings her keyblade and the first of the creatures fade. Then more and more and more. Black and purple, leaving the scent fear and despair behind. Regret as well,maybe, if Kairi focuses on the stench enough. Riku is going through these things like a storm, furious and fast, wings on his back, his Dark Firagas blazing through thorny flowers while Kairi spears them with rays of light. It’s a fight over too fast for comfort, a first taste gone in a second and Kairi stops right in front of her friend, like a dance ending at the last note. Steps like a melody. Movement like a memory.

“I’m teaching you Reflect.”, Riku murmurs and cures a small cut on her cheek, “Might come in handy.”

“Master Riku found his calling?”, she grins, up high and higher, “You have no right to be this tall. I can see up your nose.”

“Brat.”

“Jerk.”

They step away, Komory sinks to Riku’s shoulder and the boy offers it a treat, smiling softly as he buries his nose in its fur, “Well done, Komory.”

Really, he is soft, gentle and careful as he checks over his Dream Eater, making sure it didn’t get hurt. Komory revels in the pets it gets and pushes into the much bigger hands and Riku laughs, that small, disbelieving one, that makes him look fourteen again and light, the bad boy with a heart of gold. Only, Riku has never been a bad boy. 

Just one of her dorks.

One of her boys. Huh. Where did that come from?

It’s true, now more the longer they spend in this dream, but still. It came out of nowhere.

Aqua eyes catch hers and the boy blushes scarlet, shoving his indignant pet behind him, “You saw nothing.”

“Only a loving dork being cute. I’m highly disappointed that I don’t have my phone in here. This would have been a good picture to blackmail Sora.”, she grins and waves him over, “We should get back on track. I think we haven’t checked out that corner of this city and I want to find a clue already.”

Some memories feel like they are played on repeat with changing clothes here and there, as they watch days bleed into each other, kids grow up into what they became later. Riku finds a memory of Kairi training with Lea, her first fire spell setting half the forest on fire and Lea’s hair afterwards when she caught him laughing. Lea on the other hand, finds himself drenched with water magic and later up in a tree from a wayward Aero. Riku swears that he will use that against the taller man forever.

They walk around the corner, and Kairi’s keyblade crashes into the water, disappearing into golden sparks and petals. 

She knows this scene. And yet, she doesn’t. It’s a sequence of running, shadows at her heels and a gate right in front of her.

They should not be closed, those games. They have always been open for everyone.

“What…”

They watch as buildings are overwhelmed by heartless, as soldiers grab for townspeople, their hearts fading into the sky, as the ground gives under her feet and a man grabs her as her consciousness fades.

“That was Xehanorth.”, words barely audible, pressed in between his teeth, Riku clenches his hands and punches the wall, “this… what is this?”

“The day Radiant Garden fell.”, Kairi breathes. She can feel her eyes burn, tears ready to spill over, but she bites them back. she bites them back.

A jacket flies her way and she pulls it to her face, burying it in the warm fabric as she cries, full body sobs shaking her bones, shoulders trembling hard enough to make her teeth clash.

She forgot this day, buried it and all that came before deep inside her heart, if only to be able to handle the loss. 

“I had a grandmother.”, her voice breaks, “I had a past out there, I had a home… And I forgot it…”

“You still have a home, Kairi.”, warm and safe. Warm arms, safe chest.

Riku.

“Destiny Islands is still your home. But if you want to, when we’ve found Sora, we can see if we can find something in Radiant Garden or if anyone remembers anything from the people there. Aerith, maybe, or Leon. Sora, you and I, we will look for your past until you have all the pieces.”, she presses her face up into his throat, fells his voice vibrate against her forehead, “The three of us, no one will be left behind anymore.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

It takes them a while to separate and she watches him don his calm facade, his soft smile and tries to grin at him, but it fails. The first few times, it fails.

When she manages, it’s with tears drying on her cheeks and her lippf tearing here and there, but she manages. They press on, deeper into the cityscape, until they are stuck in front of a wall, one they can’t get past and again. It's Kairi who stumbles over the dark space that takes them to Riku’s side of their dreams.

They gather around it, and she asks the one question running through both of their heads, “Do you think we can get through over there?”

“We can try.”

“Then… hand?”, she reaches out and he curls his palm around hers, encompassing it fully and once she catches his nod, she steps in.

A shift and a fall.

Floofers greets them with a vibrant yip and her wagging tail, dancing around them in a circle. Kairi’s back burns with the brand and she hisses a curse until she remembers the healing spell.

The wall, as expected, is gone. 

“Well, this is unfortunate.”, Riku growls behind her, “I had hoped we wouldn’t have to go back here.” His face, hilarious enough, is a mix between disgust and indignance, as they walk past a Memory-Riku picking up Memory-Kairi and setting her aside to get to Memory-Sora and slap him upside the head.

“Cookie incident?”, she asks.

Riku nods, “Cookie incident. Why you tried to protect him, I will never understand.”

“He left my pink ones. I know why I love him.”, fake swooning, Kairi catches up and points out more memories, where she appeared, the same way Riku appeared back in hers, “there! I'm back on your view of the race. and i think that’s that one pillow fort we made where we stole all pillows from all our houses and got grounded for weeks for that. I think Mom’s favourite pillow is still missing. The blue one? Or was it green?”

“A blue feather, i think. Your dad gave it to her for their anniversary. I think it was the one the neighbour’s dog stole when we were carrying everything to my place…”, he is snickering into his hand, “Sora lost half of his stuff on the way there and when we regathered everything it was all sandy and dirty and we got hell from his mom.”

“Grounded for weeks. it was horrible. Mom made me watch her shows with her, it was torture. The only thing worse was the fact that I wasn’t allowed to play with you guys. Was it you or Sora I tackled when we were allowed back out?”

“Me. I fell over. You were heavy.”

“Hey!”, she snaps her teeth at him and Riku pinches her side, they break out into laughter, loud and free, until they are holding themselves upright on the walls, wheezing and gasping for breath.

“I missed this.”, Kairi gets out before she bursts into another fit of laughter, “I missed you.”

Riku falls against her and they both crash into the water again, “I missed you too. Even if you’re evil. And now we are both wet again.”

Getting back up while still laughing here and there proves to be a challenge, especially since they are both terrible and try to sabotage each other, pulling at clothes or tripping each other up. Flowbermeow jumps in at some point and barks at them, almost like it’s telling them to get their shit back together and keep going and then in warning when they notice another few nightmares approaching.

That so´bers the two up in no time and soon Kairi is discovering accidental Flow Motion that Riku may or may not have completely forgotten. 

Enemies dispatched, they finally manage to speed their journey up a bit, racing through the buildings, up the walls and over hindrances.

Parcouring through this empty city filled with memories. Some memories still make them pause, the one in hollow Bastion that Riku will never forgive himself, a white flower in a white room once again, Namine sitting in front of it.

Xion.

Roxas, the fight against the blond boy and what it cost Riku.

The Demon Tower that almost took them away and the final fight. The final fights.

Terra, again, his kind eyes and the light reflecting off him in a rainbow of emotions. 

Everything that is slowly being reclaimed and rebuilt after the war and Kairi wants Sora to see this, all of this, desperately.

A memory of Kairi during her first few tries at looking for Sora in her dreams, fast asleep and face carved into stone.

Kairi awake when he offers his idea, disdain and pain lining her face in an obvious lie of civility.

She wants to apologize for that.

He did not deserve that. He let Sora go, but he did not deserve this. We both lost him. We both love him and we both lost him.

Floofers tries to run Riku over and to slobber his face off and the words die in her throat as he tries to save himself from her new friend and glares up at her, “Get your little monster away from me. It’s almost as bad as Cookie.”

“Leave Sora’s Dream Eater out of this. And Floofers loves you!”, she kicks his shin, Riku yelps and they turn away from the memory, leaving it behind. 

“You two really are made for each other.”, he groches, “Matching attitude, matching Dream Eaters.”

“Says the guy who spent a year taking care of Sora while that idiot took a nap.”, she swings at him with her keyblade and Riku abuses his right of longer legs to get away from her, throwing a “You shared a Paopu with him!” over his shoulder.

Fine, then she will get out the big guns, if he wants to start this, “And you are still sharing yours!”

Score, Riku stumbles over his feet and almost lets go of Braveheart, whirls back, “Wait, what?”

“Are you serious? Your combined keyblade? That rainbow of affection? Forged from Mirage’s Split and Nightmare’s End? It has a Paopu as its keychain. You never noticed?”, speechless, she is speechless, this is incredible, “You really never noticed?”

“Are we seriously discussing who loves Sora more and that the wrong way?”

“Stop deflecting, answer the question.”

He throws his hands up, “No, I did not. Happy? Wait, how do you even know that?”

“My secret to know and yours to never find out.”, Roxas told her.

“Roxas told you.”

“Crap.”

“Language.”

“Fuck you.”, she lifts another middle finger behind him and he sends a thunder spell back, one she dodges with surprising ease, “Hey!”

And promptly finds another wall with her face.

“You deserved that.”, the boy is already walking around the structure rising up, “Flow motion won’t be possible here, let's go look for another gate back to your side. I have the feeling that we’ll have to switch around here and there to get deeper into the city… or through. I don’t even know where we’re going…”

They do find it, the next gate, surrounded by enough enemies to make them pause, not enough to overwhelm them. A few Thundagas do the trick, a Waterga floods the rest away and Kairi kicks one away from the gateway and watches it disappear.

This time, switching back is easier, the light greeting them not as bright as it was before, a few stars greeting them with a faint twinkle.

“Either we have a day and night cycle out here or… my dream is changing.”, Kairi looks up into the sky, “Or my heart, wherever we are here. Wait, that’s not my memory. the rest is, but I definitely didn’t know sora at that age.”

Four years old and absolutely adorable, with his chubby cheeks and sunny toothy smile.

Riku freezes at this, stares with eyes ripped open. He squeals.

Honest to god squeals.

Kairi tries to prompt him again, “Yours?”

“Yes. Our dreams are bleeding together. Hearts. I don't know either, but let’s say  dreams because our hearts bleeding together is a little bit terrifying.. Connecting, yes please, I’m all for it, but no fusions.”

“I’d accept it if our bodies bleed together as well. Our hair would be fabulous and we wouldn’t have to keep fighting over Sora.”, she thinks about it, “Nevermind, we never fought over Sora. Only stewed in our jealousy instead of talking it out like adults.”

“We were fourteen, Kairi, we were no adults. We still aren’t.”, Riku pulls a face, “And can we please keep not talking about this before we try to argue in that aggressively helpful way we did earlier?”

“But it’s fun!”

Their banter shifts to teasing, Kairi poking Riku and Riku threatening to leave her behind. Komory, who reappeared the second they got back, flutters around their heads and demands his treats once in a while. The rest of the time he keeps an eye out for Nightmares.

Who by the way become more and stronger the closer they get to the city centre, everything around them growing higher and higher and higher, closer, until they can barely see the sky. Sometimes, when they reach an obstacle, they switch sides and the more they switch, the more they witness and fight side by side, the more their worlds fuse together, buildings black and white and grey, memories intertwining into one big collection of moments in between the three of them. Until they reach one wall, that is the perfect blend of grey. a wall with a doorway, its colours mixed in between blue skies and night lights. 

“Is this… it?”, Kairi whispers. Floofers is crouched by her leg, it’s tiny eyes glowing pink after it switched dispositions, wary after the last fight, “This looks like the end.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Kairi reaches out towards the gateway, fingers freezing right before touching, “Riku? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, it’s not quite asking… When we find Sora. We will both confess, okay?”, she grabs his sleeve, “I just… I want to tell him. That him leaving hurt us. That I love him and I want him to know that you do, too. He deserves to know.” Her hands find his collar and she presses her forehead against his chest. 

Riku breathes in, a shaky sound like waves against the shore, “I can’t promise you that.”

“We have time, it doesn’t have to be the second we find him. He might be hurt or out of it, we don’t know yet, but I want him to know. He needs to and we need the closure.”, she whispers it the same way she would say a prayer, soft and reverent, pleading for him to agree.

He does, of course Riku does.

“Fine. Fine, when we find Sora and when he’s alright and we are all safe, we will tell him that we love him. Okay, just, please don’t cry.”

She bumps his chest with her nose and pulls him down, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “Good.”

Closure.

Riku blushes and flicks her temple in retaliation, “Did you just trick me?”

“No, I actually mean it.”, she sticks her tongue out, “But if I don’t trick you, you will never tell him and… After all this? I think we need to talk more.”

His face practically melts into something resembling adoration, the dork, “Right. Okay. You’re right. Let’s go.”

Finally, they turn back to the gate, it’s swirling colours coiling tighter as they hold onto each other. Kairi’s hand feels sweaty, Riku’s grip steely and snug against her skin, one step forward. 

Another.

They step through the door and the world doesn’t change at all, they just finally see it, because the buildings disappear the second they get through the door, leaving a split sky behind. Sky and sea and nothing else, only clouds and stars and water.

“Beautiful.”, they breathe, Kairi reaches out with her free hand and follows the line in between the two skies, “We’ve been lining our memories up for this, yours and mine. We were both the key, both of us.”

“We are standing in the middle of nowhere, Kairi, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t you see it? Look! All this time we’ve been going mostly the same way and the further we went, the more our skies merged, right?”, she points at the horizon, “But one thing never changed, as far as I can see it. One place. And that’s the light in front of us.”

“Like a rising or a setting sun.”, Riku follows her finger, “a light showing us the way home.”

They stare at each other, “Sora.”

Once they realize this, everything falls into place, both of them jerk into a sprint, rushing forward towards the light, fast, faster. Their feet splash water all over the place, less and less until the sound changes to shrill clinking against glass. With every step the sky darkens until they are surrounded by black and finally, Riku looks down, “This is… a heart station.”

“Seriously, I know that we are technically dreaming, but all these scene changes are confusing… Whose is it?”, Kairi evades a vibrant yellow spot blinking up at her, “Nevermind, Nightmares!”

Riku sends an Aero her way and Kairi flies up, takes aim and blasts the first few nightmares out of the way, using the momentum right before the fall to check where they are.

It’s… Sora. Sitting on their Paopu Tree, alone and pale blue, reminiscent of a crystal. 

Cracks spread through the picture, all over the place like scars, raised against the ground and glowing yellow gold wherever she sees pieces missing. She traces the borders of the station, desperately hoping for a clue, just one.

Please. 

Nothing, just Nightmares galore and Floofers is attacking them with a vigor she is not sure she approves of. 

Although…

“Fira!”, she screams and torches several bunny shaped nightmares, grinning when she lands on her feet and slashes at another sheep trying to hit Riku. He sends a Reflect her way and Kairi skids aside to let him take on the big pandas, concentrating on keeping the small fry away, gritting her teeth as more and more nightmares crawl over the edge of the platform, “Where did they come from?!”

“No idea! But they are not getting any less and I don’t like this!”, Riku answers as he blocks a swipe to his side and parries with a flurry of strikes that sends the creatures flying off the platform, only to be replaced by the next wave.

Kairi curses.

Another few nightmares fall and Kairi looks down at her spirit, who is growling from behind her, until it’s bright spots glow and the platform is suddenly drenched in light, spanning over the edges and spilling over in a waterfall of light, off into the dark until there is not a single Nightmare remains.

“I… did not expect that.”, Riku sinks backwards to the floor and Kairi trips over her feet trying to reach him, crashes into his lap with not a single care given. Floofers hobbles to them and burrows under her arm, demanding pats and praise, yipping when hse can only give her friend a faint smile. 

The young man catches her and Komory lands on his arm as he spreads it out, chirping and slapping with its wings at Riku’s jacket, until Kairi digs a treat out and offers it to both spirits.

“What just happened?”

“Flowbermeow has exactly one light based spell and that’s Faith. Guess it unlocked level forty during the fight and saved our asses with it.”, Riku spreads out on the floor, “Did you see what the station depicts?”

“Yeah. Sora in our usual spot, only he looked weird, somewhat see through, like a crystal or something. And this whole thing is all beaten up. Breaking apart.”, she taps her chin with a finger and arches up so she can see Riku upside down, “Any ideas what that might mean?”

“No. Sorry. But I have a bad feeling.”, Riku slaps a wayward wing sneaking towards his pockets away and tries to stand up. Kairi rolls off him and follows his example, until they are both standing on the station again, anchored and somewhat rested from their impromptu break. Floofers rams into Kairi’s legs and almost sends her flying again, but she catches herself just in time and flicks its forehead, “Careful Floofers. I literally just got up.”

“Let your weird cat dog love you, Kairi, it’s not like you will ever have another pet after the incident with the spider.”

“Miss Eight was adorable, do you want to start a fight with me?”

“She was also bigger than my palm now and creepy as hell, so… yes.”, Riku pushes her shoulder, “That was probably the first time your mom and I were on the same page.”

 “Oh shut up, you jerk. I’m still sad that I had to bring her back to the islands. She would have loved my room. Especially the mosquitoes in summer.”, Kairi gives a fake sniff and turns her head away, grins and jumps on Riku’s back, “Carry me.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”, her arms wind tighter around him and she buries her face in his neck, “You are warm.”

Silver hair tickles her nose as he huffs, “Don’t fall asleep.”

“I am asleep, you dork, you are too.”, still, the motion of him checking the borders of the station, walking in circles and looking for another way are repetitive and nice, she could have dozed off if they were in the real world, but as it is, she can just cuddle up to him and help Riku look around. It’s still a round station, still built like they are standing on the windows of a church, nothing new since their fight and just the faint outline of a door to their right….

A faint outline of a door to their right.

“Riku! Over there!”, she almost falls off when she jerks her friend towards the door, not letting it out of her sight, almost afraid to blink, “A door! Wait, I’ll just…”

Destiny’s Embrace lands in her hand and she points it to where the keyhole should be and until Riku finally realizes just what it is she’s talking about, she has already unlocked the keyhole and the door appears. It’s made of glass and metal, in a way, crafted of angles and points, a crystal flower, maybe, surrounding the heavy square in its middle. It kind of looks like a door to another world.

If only to seem more poised, Kairi jumps off Riku’s back again and pulls him with her to it, reaching out and opening the door.

Once again, their split sky greets them, this time with a small bridge spanning over empty space. A figure is sitting on the railing, someone clad in dark colours,w ith silver hair.

“Riku?”, she turns around, no her idiot is still with her, but the one in front of them still looks just like her Riku, still too far away to really recognize him. So maybe he’s someone different?

Her idiot in question steps in front of her and this time it’s him leading the way, holding her hand as she tries to make sense of what this dreamscape is trying to achieve.

The bridge comes closer, rd bricks and warm wood, a few shades darker from the water running over it. The boy, and it is a boy, seems to be their age. If he’s older, then just by a year or two at most, silver hair framing a perpetual frown that could have been Riku at age fourteen. Seriously, even their clothes are similar.

She eyes her friend, “Do you have a brother we don’t know about?”

“No.”, Riku squeezes her hand and keeps his position in front of her, shoulders once again, “At least none that I know of and I’m quite sure that if my parents had another kid before me, I would not be here.”

“Right.”, she pets Floofers as it falls in line with her and as they get closer to the boy, who looks up at them and eradicates all missing brother jokes she’s been planning to unleash on Riku. His eyes, one red, one a bright, almost grey blue, zero in on her and then on Riku, until his lips curl up in a smirk, “You two sure took your time.”

He jumps off the railing and turns to them, right in the middle of the bridge, “You’re here for Sora, right?”

They nod, Riku summons Braveheart, but keeps it pointing to the floor, Kairi calls her own blade to her hand, readying herself for another fight.

The boy shakes his head, “Don’t. I’m not here to fight.”

“Who are you?”, the hand around Braveheart twitches, “What are you doing here?”

“The same as you, I guess. Protecting Sora.”, the boy lifts his hands, no weapons in sight, face calm, controlled and yet still kind of open, at least open enough to be trustworthy, if he wasn’t a stranger in their dreams, “We’ve… talked. Sora told me about the two of you. Riku and Kairi, right?”

“How?”, Kairi interjects, “We can barely find a connection and you can just… Talk to him?”

“Yes and no. I can’t talk to him per se, it’s more of a sharing thing? He sees what I see and I see what he dreams about and mostly it’s about the two of you. The dreams changed here and there lately, they got more focused, so I thought that I might want to keep a look out for you guys. After all it's you two who he dreams about the most. mAnd here we are. Past this bridge, it’s his dream. And if you find that, you will find me. And Quadratum. In the real world. My real world?”, the boy shrugs, “It’s complicated. And confusing.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”, Riku’s voice darkens, caution in line with worry and Kairi feels the same, she feels it dripping off her back and ready to pounce into action.

Just past this bridge.

They just have to get past this bridge.

“My name is Yozora”, he steps aside, “Go ahead. See you out there.”

He fades.

Riku snorts, “This is kind of the easiest thing we’ve done yet. Who was that guy?”

“No idea, but his name rings a bell?”, Kairi walks up to the bridge. Not stone. No wood, just glass made to look like it, “I think I heard that name before, but please don’t ask where. So… we are almost there. What now?”

“We cross this bridge, figure out where to go and I steal a gummi ship to get us there. Deal?”, Riku shrugs, “Or…”

“Deal. Otherwise we might have to threaten Ven into teaching us to glide on our keyblades or something, but we are getting him back.”

“Why Ven? Terra is much easier, we’d just have to ask and get out the puppy eyes. I’m out, my face isn’t cute anymore, but you have him wrapped around your little finger.”

“Because threatening Ven is funny. The faces he makes are just like Sora’s when I drag him shopping or when you sit him down to do homework.”, she grins, steps onto the bridge, “Come on! Sora’s waiting for us!”

The walk over the bridge is easy, stepping off on the other side on the other hand is just like another fall, clouds materializing and casting their world into grey. Once again, nothing but sky and sea in front of them, clouds painted in steel and stone and when they start their track across Sora’s dreams, they watch once again buildings rise from the ground.

Faster than in their dreams, much faster, and much more city-like, only a bright crystal blue, see through and with no memories on their walls. 

Sora’s dream is, his heart is surprisingly empty, at first, wide open and clear, but…

something feels horribly wrong.

Riku is holding onto Kairi, Kairi is holding onto Riku as they keep walking through a place even more desolate than what they’ve seen before, the air around them charged with tension, a barrel filled with water, ready to spill over.

When the first building crashes over them, a horrible noise of something cracking and breaking, it’s almost a relief. And when they have to start running because those crystal structures are threatening to fall on their heads, well. something has to happen. Nothing has been truly easy during this journey.

Kairi rushes up a wall and behind it, Riku dashing to the other side, their Dream Eaters scurrying after them, as they try to find a safe space from the falling crystals. shelter is hard to come by and she can hear her friend scream “Reflect!” here and there while she uses most of her speed and momentum to try to reach him. Riku really needs to teach her Reflect at some point. 

Now would be a good start.

They manage to get past the ruined city, closer to its centre and this is where they see something alive for the first time. 

Ivy.

Growing up the buildings, through cracks and crawling over the floor, as iridescent blue gives way to stone and steel, almost merging the buildings with the sky, if not for the plant weaving itself around them.

“What happened here?”, Kairi whispers as she pulls a bit of ivy aside to get a look underneath. Her face, the secret place stares back, “This is… Riku, check the walls, there are memories under them.”

The good man does as told and soon they are ripping away the green to get at the scenes buried under it, slowly unearthing a canvas of… All that they’ve seen before, only from Sora’s side.

Sora’s point of view.

Sora’s memories of them. And not just them, everyone is here, Donald, Goofy, his mother, the fight against Aqua, saving Ven, battles over battles over battles, all the myriads of worlds Sora visited.

Sora running off to save her. Riku letting him go.

Catching up to Riku is easy, even easier the grin she sends him as she grabs his arm and hangs onto it.

He calls her a monkey in the most loving way possible. After he chides her for being ridiculous and “please mind the skirt”.

Ruins spread out in front of them, crystals hidden in every crack in the buildings, leaves rustle under their feet instead of water and when they finally reach the middle. Well.

Sora looks good as a crystal.

Yozora is sitting in front of him and waves them closer, knocking on Sora's legs floating right above his head, “Told you they’re here.”

Riku is the first to reach their friend, the first to reach up and grab his hand and the sheer longing in his face, in the way he almost claws into the crystal surrounding Sora, frantic in his desperation to get him out, it breaks Kairi’s heart. 

She comes to a stand beside the other boy, “What now?”

“You have found him here. Now you find him out there.”, is her answer, Yozora spreads his arms, “Things have been getting worse. I don’t think I can keep him contained any longer. This power of waking of yours is… it’s killing him. I froze him to save him and yet… His heart is deteriorating. He took on too much too soon and now he is slowly falling apart at the seams. If you don’t get her ein time… I’m not sure what might happen.”

“No pressure.”, Kairi growls, “Where do we go?”

“Quadratum. He told me you know already. He showed you.”, Yozora taps his hip, “I saw pictures.”

Pictures.

Photos.

Kairi whirls around, “You are a video game character! That Yozora! The one from Toy Box, that’s why I thought I knew your name!”

She is staring at him now, speechless, until she almost teleports to Riku and pulls him from their crystallized friend, “I know where to go.”

Riku blinks at her, eyes glinting suspiciously and she pulls him into a hug.

“I know where to go.”, she repeats and recounts what she remembered, “So now we have to hurry.”

“And what do we do then?”

“What we always do, we wing it and hope for the best. Works every time, like a charm.”, be positive, stay strong. You will figure this out, both of you, “Yozora said his heart is breaking apart, maybe we can, I don’t know, glue it together with ours?”

“Like he did with Ven? We can always try. So… time to wake up?”

“Yeah.”

They share a glance, sigh and close their eyes.

Kairi is the first to open them again and she almost falls off the bed in her hurry to get to Riku. He is still lying motionless on his own bed, and she manhandles even side to grab him by his arm, 2Come on, you ass, we have to go.”

Ansem lifts an eyebrow at her and she smiles up at the elder man, “We found him.”

And then she promptly ingnores all further questions, because Riku is waking up and she needs to get him out of here ASAP, before someone tries to stop them from doing something stupid.

Teal meets blue.

A grin.

And they are out the door faster than anyone has a chance to react. Riku is going through his pockets and takes out a key, swings it around his finger, “I forgot I still have Sora’s ship. Let’s go. Toy Box, right?”

“Right!”, she laughs when they reach the ship and hop in, is still laughing when they fall into the seats and buckle up, once she sees everyone's faces outside. She waves at them. Riku punches her shoulder and well. 

Toy Box is surprisingly close to them, their ship has all teleport points unlocked, so the only thing left to do is… finding Sora.

Which is easy.

Not.

They get hopelessly lost in the gigantic mall, though Riku looks adorable as an action figure. Thankfully, the locals are friendly enough once the tyrannosaur stops gushing about Riku being Yozora and oh my god, this is amazing, please sign his tail. The helpless gaze her way is hilarious and she ignores Riku completely in favour of explaining that they are looking for Quadratum and want to bring Sora home.

Woody and Buzz point her to the video games section and she finally rescues her best friend, whose eyes are slowly starting to twitch in annoyance.

“Don’t kill them, they are Sora’s friends.”, she reminds him, “And you can’t fault him for mistaking you two, did you see Yozora? You look almost exactly alike.”

“We don’t.”

“You do.”

“We don’t.”

“Oh, you so do. Riku, I can do this all day until we reach Sora, do you want to start this? I am younger, I have more annoyance points.”, Kairi doesn’t let go until they are standing in front of the promotional poster of Verum Rex, “See? Now, I can see the TV with the advertisement over there, we might use that to enter Quadratum.”

Riku gives her a confused glance and shakes his head, “How do you know that?”

“Just a hunch, to be honest. Can’t you feel it? This weird pull in your chest?”

“So I’m not hallucinating.”, he sighs, “Okay, at least that. Then… let’s finish this.”

This sense of urgency propels them to the display, Yozora staring down at them from several game covers, advertisement posters, the screen above them.

Riku lifts his hand, Kairi follows the gesture and they combine their keyblade’s light to open the gateway. Just a spark, that’s all they need, just one spark and they get it, when their light crosses and shines into the screen, ripples on a water's surface.

Kairi breathes in, Riku breathes out.

Climb up.

Jump.

Just a little bit longer.

A tug and a pull and something tearing at her chest, the softest please let him be okay still and please, we just need a little bit more time and please just let us save him. Her hand clutches at her chest, tears into the fabric of her dress as they end up in a city made of skyscrapers, almost the same as their respective cities, only this time, they have doors and lights and windows. Not just stone structures in a dream, a living, breathing city.

Iron and steel and light.

“It’s the same… we’ve been searching the same city all the time…”, Riku whispers beside her, breathless, eyes shining with determination and certainty, not the fragile hope they started with. Kairi nods, “Yeah. And we always found something in its middle, so… Race you?”

“Sure.”, and off they go, Riku jumping over the edge of the building they landed on, Kairi right after him. They notice the traffic below fast enough, the mechanical suits and the cars and stay away from them, their direction a steady power showing them the way. Kairi almost falls once, but catches herself just in time with an Aero, one that propels her higher than intended so she floats over a few roofs, pushing forward with smaller bursts of wind. Riku switches to Flow Motion halfway through and then the race is truly on, Riku with his wall jumping skills and Kairi with her magic. 

They laugh. 

They banter, call each other slowpoke and cheater and dork. 

They glow, their light, their reforged connection strong enough to ground Kairi before her thoughts spiral down again, Riku now a steady presence in her heart, lifting her up instead of dragging her down.

No matter whose fault it might have been, they still have each other and they will always have at least each other. That’s worth… the world, actually.

Since Kairi is the one positioned higher, she is also the one to see the crystal statue on top of the tower, still a good ways away but sparkling enough to be recognized and she shouts her newfound discovery down to Riku, who gets even faster, making her hurry up as well. Making them reach this tower faster, it’s neon sign blinding them for a second after rushing around dark rooftops for all this time.

Riku grabs the ledge and pulls himself up just as Kairi lands beside him, both grinning, flushed red from exhaustion, both physical and magical.

Kairi desperately hopes that there is no further fight ahead of them, since she is not sure she thought to bring any Ethers with her. 

Nothing attacks them. There is just the crystal sculpture she and Riku have been searching for and they both run up to it, reaching out and…

Nothing happens.

At first, at least. 

Riku tries to climb up, slides right off and the only place where they can touch Sora is his leg.

“What now?”, Kairi whispers, “How do we help him now?”

“Wasn’t the idea to glue his heart together with ours?”, Riku heaves a broken laugh, his grip tightening on the leg, “I could see if I can dive in.”

“I’m coming with you.”, no room for argument, “We stayed together all this time, you are not finishing this without me.”

He grins at her, “Right. One sky, one destiny, right?”

“Fuck destiny, I want my best frined back. You and him both and since i have you back already… Let’s go wake this idiot up. Hop hop, Sora, nap time’s over.”, Kairi grabs his hand, “How does it work?”

“Easy, take your keyblade and aim for his heart… I’ll lead the way, so hold on tight.”, squeezing her hand, Riku reaches out, Braveheart in hand and is that not a fitting name now.

They take aim together, as they did with the entrance. 

Diving is like falling, the same vertigo as it was with their dream when they had to switch over, a free fall with no security aside from two hands holding on tight and a faint thread of light settling into place.

Sora’s heart station unfolds underneath them, the same picture as before, only this time, Kairi sees two other figures beside him and the portraits, or what she thought were just patterns of the frame, are filled with everyone Sora cherishes. Still, she and Riku are sitting beside him on the tree now, Sora not crystallized anymore. The station is still cracked, horribly so, maybe more than before. In all the fighting, Kairi never got the best impression of it. 

Apropos Sora, when they land, he is floating right in front of them, faintly glowing in the dim atmosphere, pulsating like a firefly’s last stand. He is just an arm’s reach away and they pull him down into their arms and just as he lands, the glow disappears and they both hear the voice.

A power given, a power lost, a choice made.

The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Who are you?

“Guardian.”, Riku whispers into sora’s hair, eyes pressed shut, curled around the smaller body like the foolish lovesick fool that he is.

“Mystic.”, Kairi breathes as she holds both of their hands, wishing she could give them both even the last ounce of her strength.

A power given, a power lost. Waking for sleep, life for death. A price maned, a price paid. What do you want?

Where is this voice even coming from?

“We want to save him.”, she grits out, venom in her voice, “He’s done enough, he deserves peace. We want to bring him home. We want him safe and happy. We want to save him.”

“We want him to know that he is loved above all else.”, Riku adds with a faint smile as he catches her eyes, “We want him to heal. We want to see him smile.”

At least one more time. , is left unsaid.

His burden is too heavy for one to carry. Are you willing to share his plight? His eternal battle? Alone, he will fall, two will carry on, three will beat all odds, more will withstand time. What will you do?

They don’t even try to communicate that one, their answer a chorus echoing in the dark, “Just let us share this.”

Fine. As you wish.

A weight settles over Kairi’s shoulders, a blanket of regret and remorse and when she looks up at Riku, his face tells her that he feels the same, their eyes fall onto Sora, onto the station below and it seems lighter at least, as if the mountain lightened into just a few stones.

A few thinner cracks heal right before their eyes and they both heave a sigh, relief weary in their eyes, in Kairi’s bones. 

Wake up.

Come back.

Kairi stúmbles back and catches herself in time to catch Riku’s shoulder as he jerks back into the real world. Sora’s crystal skin peels away in bright blue sparks off his body, leaving his familiar angelic face in its wake. And the more the crystal disappears, the lower he floats down until he is right back in their arms at last, this time real, this time right where he belongs, with them. 

Home.

Riku… He breaks down in his own way, no tears, only a tortured expression breaking into absolute adoration and devotion, a face Kairi knows she missed even if she can barely remember seeing it. His hands cup sora’s face, fragile and careful and in the most loving way, like you would touch something treasured all your life. 

A touch like a kiss like a promise. 

She can only stare at their lost friend, commit him to memory, replace the sunset and the dust with grime and neon and reality. 

They have him back. They brought Sora back and when he wakes up she will rip him a new one and she will make both of them confess and they will bring him home to heal and laugh and live.

There will be no more Sora and Kairi and Sora and Riku anymore. 

Only Sora, Kairi and Riku.