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The explosion happens before Sora has a chance to react. One moment Ansem the Wise is speaking with Xehanort’s Nobody, and the next the machine and the man controlling it are both engulfed in a horrible burst of light. Sora can only jump forwards to help on pure instinct, but he’s stopped by Riku shielding them all from the blast. His heart sinks in his chest and he reaches out towards Riku desperately when all goes black.
Sora comes to a little later. In a panic, his eyes fly open and he looks for silver hair, for any sign that Riku survived that blast. He finds it a little ways away from him, but the person lying on the ground isn’t Ansem. There, clad in all black and collapsed on the floor is Riku- actual teenaged Riku- not the one trapped in Ansem’s body. Sora’s heart swells and without missing a beat, he rushes over to Riku’s side, nearly stumbling over himself in his haste.
“Riku!”
Riku gets to his knees, a little wobbly, but otherwise no worse for wear. Sora quickly checks behind him for his other friends, and finds them alright and starting to stir as well. He breathes a sigh of relief.
“Riku, are you okay? You look like yourself again!”
Riku rises from the floor and Sora is struck at just how tall he is. With Ansem’s body, Sora hadn’t been surprised at how large he was, but this matured, taller version of Riku comes as a shock. At this, Sora immediately pouts. No fair, I can’t believe he’s still so much taller! He’d been so happy with his growth spurt after being in the pod for so long, and couldn’t wait to show off to Kairi and Riku, but here Riku is outshining him yet again. Figures. His heart does this weird fluttering as he looks his friend over, his eyes particularly lingering on the sharp cut of his jaw, but he chalks that feeling up to jealousy. That has to be why he feels so restless, right?
Riku blankly touches his face, and even though his eyes are hidden, Sora can easily tell his friend is shocked as his fingers trace over the contours of his face. Sora, on the other hand, can’t stop smiling. It’s him! It’s really Riku! He had fallen to his knees and cried when he’d touched Riku’s hand and finally, finally had confirmation he was okay, but now that Riku has his body back the reality really sinks in that Sora’s search has come to an end. He can be with his best friend again, and after all this is over they can go home together.
“Riku!” Overjoyed, Sora flings his arms up around Riku’s broad shoulders. He’s warm and solid beneath him, and Sora is overwhelmed by how happy he is that he can simply hold his best friend again. All those hopeless nights clutching his pillow to his chest in the Gummi bunk fade into memory now, having the real Riku in his arms safe and alive makes all the loneliness he felt seem worth it.
Sora pulls back from his hug, but he notices that Riku still has the blindfold on. “Hey, are you gonna take that off?” Sora asks, tugging gently at the cloth around Riku’s eyes.
Riku doesn’t resist, nodding once to let Sora do as he likes. Slowly, the black cloth falls away to show Riku’s eyes to the world. Riku blinks a few times, clearly not used to the light, and Sora is struck by just how green his eyes are, bright and beautiful like the sea glass they would collect back home. It’s been so long since he’s looked at his best friend up close that he had almost forgotten what he’d really looked like. The last time he’d been close, without them in the midst of fighting each other, had been when they’d closed The Door, leaving Riku to fend for himself in the Realm of Darkness. The thought makes Sora’s heart ache terribly, and he feels a stinging in his eyes at the memory of Riku’s resigned face disappearing behind those heavy doors.
Take care of her. Riku had said, but how could Sora just leave his best friend behind? How could he ever go home only to forget about him? His eyes burn at the memory of that heartache, and he blinks back the tears. Before he can turn away to compose himself, Riku leans down close to his face.
“Sora, you-” Riku’s hand comes up to cradle Sora’s cheek, his thumb gently wipes a stray tear away.
“Riku.” Sora’s voice sounds wrecked even to his own ears. All he can focus on is how happy he is to have him back. Riku is here. Riku’s here and Sora won’t ever let him go again. He clenches his fingers in against the collar of Riku’s cloak, pulling him closer still so that he’s nearly flush against him. From here Sora can feel his body warmth, can see every shade of blue and green clashing in his eyes and each pale eyelash casting shadows on his face. They both really have grown so much in their year apart, and the way this older Riku is looking at him, hand on his cheek like he’s something precious, sends his heart racing. Riku’s eyes are so fond, soft and affectionate in a way Sora has never seen Riku look, and Sora can’t keep himself from staring right back, feeling a bit bashful.
He isn’t sure who moved first, or if it was a mutual step towards each other, but before he knows it, their faces are drifting closer together. He has an idea what’s happening here and has plenty of time to pull away, but everything inside him urges him to close that gap. He closes his eyes at the last moment, and their lips meet in a chaste kiss.
Sora had thought the moment would feel different, like everything would change, but all that goes through his head is a chorus of finally, finally, finally. The last puzzle piece of their relationship slips into place and everything that’s happened in the past year suddenly makes sense.
This is why he couldn’t rest until he knew Riku was alive. This is why the ache in his chest only grew every time he saw his friends get together in all these worlds. Why he felt so alone and confused about what love even was, when all he ever saw was men and women fall in love, but never two boys like him and Riku. His heart is practically singing, he knows this must be love, because everything inside him feels warm and perfect and magical. It’s just as his friends had described- he feels invincible and terribly vulnerable all at once. It’s no wonder this feeling has the power to break curses and transcend worlds.
In the back of his mind, he wishes they could have been this close from the start, that he somehow could have known that this was an option for them, but now that the moment is here, he doesn’t waste any more time. He presses himself in closer, rising to the tips of his toes and tilting his head to the side to fit them together. Riku makes the smallest noise, and pulls Sora closer still, resting his hand at the small of Sora’s back. Flush together like this, Riku’s long hair is like a curtain shielding them from the rest of the world. One of Sora’s hands finds its way to tangle in the long strands, while the other moves from its place gripping at Riku’s collar to rest gently at his collarbone, rubbing a thumb gently over the skin there. The kiss is soft and it’s tender, and again Sora’s eyes burn at just how much he feels. After the past year of heartache and fighting, Sora never imagined he could ever be this gentle with Riku. At least not since the playful banter of their childhood had turned more competitive in the last few years.
It had hurt so much to see Riku distance himself, to see him run away and not understand why he was in so much pain. After having Riku by his side his entire life, to have him ripped away by an ocean of misunderstanding was torture beyond anything Sora’s ever known. He may not understand completely what drove that gap in their relationship, but Sora won’t ever let Riku feel alone again, not if he has anything to say about it.
After a moment- or an eternity, Sora can’t really care to tell time any more- they separate. Sora opens his eyes and looks up to find Riku’s eyes are glassy, and his hand at Sora’s cheek trembles.
“Riku-”
“Sora...”
And Riku crumples into him, like a puppet whose strings have been cut. He hides his face in the crook of Sora’s neck and his arms come around his waist to squeeze tight, as if Sora would disappear if he let go. Sora’s arms come up around Riku’s shoulders, holding him just as tightly against him. He can feel how hard Riku is trembling, shaky like he’ll completely fall apart at any moment.
“You can’t- I don’t deserve this. Not after what I’ve done.” Riku’s voice sounds absolutely wrecked, like his entire world has come crashing down around him. Leave it to Riku to blame himself instead of enjoying a happy moment like this.
Sora gently pets Riku’s hair, running his fingers through the strands in a soothing pattern. It had always helped calm him down when they were younger, and Sora hopes it’s still true for this older Riku. “It’s not about deserving- it never was and never will be. All I wanted was to be by your side again.” And it’s the truth. He’s already heard about some of the things Riku had done to ensure he would wake up from the pod, but never once in his search had that mattered to him. Ever since Sora was little all he’d ever wanted was to be with his best friend. He’d do anything for that.
“It can’t be that simple. You don’t know-”
“It can be. Won’t you at least try?”
Riku presses his face further into Sora’s neck and clenches the fabric of his jacket in his fists. He’s silent for a long moment, and Sora can’t help but shiver at the feeling of Riku’s breath ghosting against his skin. “I ... ”
Sora tugs at his shoulders to get him to show his face. Riku’s not quite crying, but his teal eyes are red-rimmed and so guilt-stricken that all Sora wants to do is hold him close to take all that pain and lock it away.
“You messed up. We all do, but that’s okay. I’m not exactly innocent either, y’know. But everything you ever did was for me, wasn’t it?”
Riku’s expression steels, and Sora can almost feel the determination radiating off him. “Always. It was always for you.”
To have that intense dedication directed at him of all people is a bit overwhelming, but he’ll process that later. Riku needs to know he’s wanted, and that takes precedence for Sora. His own problems can wait. “I’m not going to say what happened doesn’t matter, and I won’t tell you how to feel, but I will never, ever stop caring about you. Nothing you do can ever change that. No matter what happens, you’ll always be Riku.”
“Sora, I-”
“Now tell me you’ll try to allow yourself this happiness. Be selfish, I’m giving you permission!” Sora pokes Riku’s chest aggressively and flashes him the biggest smile he can muster.
“I...” Riku clenches his fist once more, then relaxes, bringing his hand up to lace his fingers with Sora’s instead. His face softens, his eyes crinkling with affection that Sora never dreamed would be directed at him, and again Sora is starstruck that Riku of all people could feel this way about him. “Yeah, I’ll try. Anything for you, Sora.”
Sora’s heart feels heavy, but so full of warmth and happiness, spilling over like the rich sweetness of honey. He knows he’s probably blushing like a fool, so he turns the attention off of himself. “Great! You’ve really gotta stop doing all this stuff on your own, man. You have friends!” Sora exclaims, gesturing over at the rest of his friends behind them.
Wrapped up in their moment, Riku must have completely forgotten that they weren’t alone, because he freezes up and his face turns completely red once he sees all their friends staring at them. The peanut gallery behind them looks absolutely pleased with themselves, and Sora’s sure they’ll tease them for this, but he’s far too happy to be with Riku again to even pay it any mind.
Riku clears his throat loudly. “I’ll tell you why, Sora. Did you forget?” He leans in closer to Sora’s face, and Sora’s hoping for another kiss, but instead all he gets is: “I’m not a total sap like you.”
“Hey, that’s harsh!” Sora whines, but he can see by the flush on Riku’s face that he’s barely keeping his “cool guy” composure together.
Their friends all laugh, but they all seem to be glowing with how they’re looking at the two of them. Just as Sora’s starting to feel relaxed for the first time since they entered this castle, a booming explosion sounds off behind them where Kingdom Hearts looms, shocking everyone to silence and breaking the moment of peace. Sora wheels around to check, and what looks like millions of tiny glowing hearts are floating out from the ruined Kingdom Hearts.
Donald waddles over to the edge of the railing to survey the area below. “Wak! There’s Heartless everywhere!”
Sora rolls his eyes. Figures. We never get a break for very long. Riku squeezes Sora’s hand where they’re still clasped together, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“So what do we do now, Riku?” Sora says, facing his friend- or, maybe his boyfriend now? They’ll have to talk this whole thing out when they have time. It’s really getting old to have everything put off until later, to never have any time to think or feel, just to keep on fighting. He didn’t even get to relax when he literally slept for a year!
“We have to beat Xemnas. He’s the last one standing.” Riku says. With his eyes set on the moon in the sky, he throws off his cloak and materializes his Keyblade.
“Right. Let’s go!” Sora nods. No need to worry or dwell right now. Once they beat Xemnas, they’ll be able to go home, and then they can talk about feelings and how to move forward from here.
For now, Sora gives Riku’s hand one last squeeze and he impulsively jumps up to peck him on the cheek before running off ahead to tackle the next wave of Nobodies Xemnas sends their way. He turns back just to see Riku smiling after him, hand on his cheek with the most adoring look he’s ever seen on him.
Sora can’t help his smile. With Keyblade in hand, he rushes into the fray, and all he can think is Yeah, everything will be alright, as long as Riku and I are together.