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Visiting Halloween Town was an extremely exciting idea to Sora, it had been a long time since he last saw his friends and he was excited to know how Jack, Sally, the Mayor and even how Dr. Finkelstein was doing. He giggled excitedly as he ran closer to the pilot seat of the Gummi ship, taking a hold of the backrest as he kept his gaze fixated on the galaxy in front of him, his blue eyes eyes twinkling in delight at the sight of Halloween town just ahead.
“Calm down, will you? Once I finish this part of the report, I’ll land us there”
The brunet almost immediately turned his gaze towards the pilot, taking sight of his short silver hair, the paleness of his skin, his Aqua-Marine eyes fixated entirely on the notebook he was holding, as he placed the back of his black inked pen by his chin, tapping it a few times in concentration; This was a habit that Sora knew all to well and that went way back to their childhood, it made the shorter male’s smile brighter. How could he not? Riku hadn’t changed that much.
“I’m sorry, I’m just really excited-!” Sora exclaimed happily as he walked back towards his seat, feet dangling as he excitedly kicked his feet in delight; Every possibility of a fun time running in his head like a demon tide rushing in and carrying every little wish and idea in his head.
There was brief silence within the main cabin of the ship for at least another fifteen minutes, or at least, some semblance of silence ignoring the occasional little hum from Sora to distract himself; Thankfully this never bothered Riku, having been around the brunet for practically his entire life… Well, ignoring his year long sleep and disappearance and him being stuck in the realm of darkness and— it didn’t matter anymore, what mattered was that they still knew each other far too well, and that was enough for them both.
“Hey, Sora,” The keyblade master began, making the brunet look up at him with bright blue eyes and Riku almost flinched at how dazzling he was, “I finished the report on the world barrier and magic, I think we’re ready to land now.”
“Awesome!” Sora happily stood up from his seat, quickly rushing to the pilot’s to excitedly jump up and down, holding one of his best friend’s arms as he tried to coax him to land the ship faster, “Come on! Let’s land soon! Aren’t you excited about which form you will take?”
“Oh, I almost forgot about that.”
In truth, Riku had never been witness to Donald’s world order magic, he was aware it existed and that Sora, Donald and Goofy had used it countless times to blend in and keep the rules within worlds stable, but he never had a single chance to use it himself. Sora had let him known once they boarded the ship on this particular mission to check up on how this world was doing, that Donald had sprinkled some of his magic upon Sora’s clothes and that they would need to be relatively close, probably hold hands, to be able to share said magic so he’d transform too.
The only problem being, his only knowledge of this world was that it was… Halloween themed?
Sora had explained that Halloween Town existed within some sort of realm that carried every holiday along with it, so there was one for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s, you name it, and their goal was to visit Halloween and make sure that the brunet’s old friends were safe and heartless weren’t wandering about causing trouble as usual, which meant chatting, which meant that he had to introduce himself.
There was no time for him to worry any longer as the brunet happily held his hand as the ship began descending into the world, Sora couldn’t contain his excitement any longer, they’ll finally visit a world he considered extremely fun and he’d get to see his friends (has he thought of it yet? He’s probably said it 5 times to himself by now), and the absolute best part— he’d get to share it with his very best friend! What could be even better than this?
As the Gummi ship finally landed, the shorter out of the two ran outside dragging the silver haired boy behind him, laughing as they finally stepped into Halloween town, making both of them glow for a second before their disguises took place. Sora laughed excitedly, back into his usual vampire get-up he so adored, already adjusting his mask and flapping his small wings to get a feel for them once more; Adjusting to new worlds wasn’t a problem for the brunet as he had done it countless times and to be honest? This was one of his favorite ones, he got cool dark clothes and he got to be a cool vampire! Not even a moment later, his gaze turned to his best friend to make sure his disguise had actually worked too,
“Riku! What about you?! What did you turn… into-“ The now vampire had to stop himself mid sentence as his eyes stared in awe at his best friend.
Riku was now standing there, looking at himself both in surprise and slight embarrassment as he was now the proud owner of two big fluffy dark wolf ears, along with paws and claws for hands, bandages surrounding his arms and even on his feet more paws. His tail was big and fluffy going from gray to a darker tone, his hair longer resembling his old hair when he was about sixteen right after returning to the islands and they had just reunited again, oh and let’s not forget the fact that he was now wearing a huge black collar and black harness that made an X across his chest, tied neatly around a round hoop and… was that the same crown pendant that Sora wore all the time? His pants baggy and dark gray-ish blue, his shirt sleeveless black. And Sora blinked once, twice, three times and found himself blushing, the bat wings at his back fluttering in response to his emotions and he had to urge them back to rest as he happily approached his friend excitedly.
“Look at you! A werewolf! You look awesome!!” The brunet spoke up, smile bright as he showed his small fangs with said grin.
“Ya really think so?” Riku simply asked, turning to look at Sora and seemingly stopping as he took notice of his change, mouth opening to speak but closing immediately.
“I look great, don’t I?” Sora simply teased, his little wings moving to make him float for a few seconds and do a little twirl in the air, trying to somehow show off to his childhood idol.
“… Yeah, it does look cool.”
The brunet wondered if he had somehow upset the other, but as he looked away he could see the smile on the silver haired teen’s features and he eased down almost instantly. Returning to their mission, Sora guided the Keyblade Master around Halloween Town, making sure to teach him about the graveyard and the sneaky tombs that would fall on people (one almost crushed Riku and as scary as it was, the way Riku’s tail puffed up was adorable.), the gate that pointed to Spiral Hill was also of important note according to Sora, explaining how significant that place seemed to Jack and Sally; Riku simply took note of that and they both went on their merry way towards Halloween Town, a little bounce in the keyblade wielder’s step as they reached the town square.
“Sora! It’s you!” A tall skeleton man in a dark suit ran towards the brunette in clear excitement, for a moment Riku almost called Braveheart in retaliation, until he saw how Sora reached up to run towards the man, wings fluttering behind him.
“Jack!! It’s been so long, how have you been? We came to check on Halloween Town. Just- you know, gotta make sure everything’s fine.” The much smaller vampire replied with a chirp to his voice, gasping as he turned back towards his best friend, “That’s right, Jack! This is my best friend, Riku! Remember I was looking for him last time? I found him!”
“Oh, that’s delightful.” A softer voice replied, coming closer towards the fountain in the middle of the town, coming closer to where they all stood, her long hair and frail frame making Sora smile brighter than before.
“Sally!”
“Ah, there you are Sally!” Jack turned towards the much smaller woman, gently taking her hand as he turned towards the vampire and his wolf friend, making them both bow politely not long after making a scary face, “I am glad to make your acquaintance, Riku! I am Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king” he proudly exclaimed, turning suddenly towards the Ragdoll woman beside him, “And this lovely lady is Sally, my-“
“I’m his wife.” Sally replied softly, with a smile.
And the brunet couldn’t help the excited smile and jump he made, turning towards his best friend who was trying to be polite towards the strangers, only to be suddenly grabbed by the arm by Sora who was happily jumping for them, excited that the king now had a queen by his side.
“Oh-! Jack, Sally I’m so happy for you two!”
There was a small shy cough that interrupted Sora and all of a sudden, he was much too aware of the fact he was holding Riku by his arm, and suddenly, he found himself flushing to his cheeks, making his freckles stand out against his olive skin even in the darkness of the night. He had been doing this lately, any time he found himself too close to his best friend, he’d blush and push away, unable to deal with the way his heart had decided to start pounding against his chest, as if wanting to escape, perhaps go towards the Keyblade Master. But what was he to do? It was confusing and strange and goodness why was his heart behaving like this lately?
“Anyway,” Riku began calmly, breaking Sora out of his thoughts, “it’s nice to meet you, but we really do need to make sure everything’s fine so… have heartless wandered in here?” He spoke up in urgency, returning quickly to their main mission, which prompted Sally to speak up, her voice soft and thoughtful.
“Well, there has been some by Spiral Hill but they shouldn’t be there anymore, but if there are-“
“Then that means we bash them with a fright! Come on, Riku!”
Riku could barely even say goodbye as he was dragged by an overly enthusiastic vampire, rushing ahead at the thrill of beating some bad guys even if they were mostly harmless shadows. In truth, since Sora had returned from Quadratum he had been prohibited from going on missions for months, the scars on his heart from unreality had run so deep that he couldn’t hold a keyblade or stand to fight before he cowered in fear or froze in disbelief. It took a while, but with Riku’s gentle words and his coaxing, Sora had healed enough that he had begun taking in missions, gentle and as miniscule as possible, that is, not without his best friend’s company. To keep him safe and be a security blanket of sorts.
When they finally reached Spiral Hill, they both took in the sight of that tall imposing hill, the giant moon making it seem ethereal and magical, as it curved into a majestic spiral, right at the center of the moon. If he was honest, the brunet always thought that this location was particularly romantic and always wondered what it would feel like to hold someone’s hands on top of the hill, to look into their eyes and drown in their love and the importance of their bond. He blinked once, realizing he had thought of his best friend, of holding his hands and looking deep into his eyes, and he flustered again, mentally cursing himself; Thankfully his thoughts were interrupted as a few shadow heartless spawned from the darkness areas of the hill and both boys looked at one another, back to back as Kingdom Key and Braveheart appeared within their hands, their hearts synchronizing as they both began gracefully attacking just in time to protect one another, always making sure to get the other’s blind spot.
One last time they passed each other’s keyblades and in a big swoop, they both attacked at the same time, holding both their keyblades in their hands, as they did with Mirage Split and Nightmare’s End, their combined keyblade. It was natural and effortless and they found themselves high fiving each other for a job well done, the brunet found himself panting ever so slightly wanting to catch his breath, looking towards his best friend who had begun climbing the hill, looking towards the moon in awe and Sora could think of nothing but stare as the wolf was illuminated by the moonlight, gasping in awe at the way his hair shone under the moon, and he felt breathless. Riku had truly begun taking all of his thoughts and he didn’t know whether he should be scared or welcome this new change.
Almost like it was instinct, the vampire began slowly flying towards his canine friend, landing right beside him and making Riku turn towards him as he noticed his arrival and then, they both stared. Sora found himself lost in Riku’s glowing Aqua-marine eyes, his breath catching in his throat as he began noticing how fair his skin was, how devilishly handsome he really was. Has Riku always been this attractive? Yes, he was and just now Sora was entranced with his beauty and he oh so wanted to- And then the brunet felt it, a little snowflake landing on his nose and both of them found themselves smiling at the sight of the snow, the keyblade wielder smiling as his hands reached for the flakes.
“We sure are really far from home, it never really snowed back at the islands, huh.” Sora commented, delighted at the snowflake he caught, trying to memorize the feeling, the way it looked.
“Maybe so, but it’s not so bad when you have someone who reminds you of home around.” There was a quiet pause after the master’s words, taking a hesitant step closer to his friend and Sora turned to him, frowning as he sensed something was on the silver haired teen’s mind, “I’m sorry, that I dragged you into this.”
“What? What do you-“
“The keyblade never chose you, I did.” Sora was left speechless, and Riku didn’t look his way and the brunet wanted to reach out, to hold him and tell his best friend it was okay, that he didn’t regret anything, “But I was a fool, I plunged the islands into darkness, all because I-“
“Enough, Riku.” Sora spoke gently, careful to not be too harsh or imposing as he reached a clawed gloved hand towards his friend’s cheek, smiling as he held it, giving him the softest most sincere smile he could muster, “I don’t regret any of this, I forgave you years ago. Please stop it, stop blaming your heart.”
And Riku flinched at those words, eyes uncertain as Sora kept the same gentle gaze on him. The brunet swore, that far off in the distance he could hear a familiar song take form, but at that moment he was focused on Riku, on holding his cheeks and making him look his way, and he opened his mouth again, speaking ever so softly, just for his best friend to hear, so quiet it could melt with the snow.
“I wouldn’t give up this moment with you, for anyone or anything. If we had the chance, I wouldn’t change things. I want it all, because this means we get to be here, just the two of us.” Riku’s eyes widened slightly and immediately softened, his gaze turning a gentle pink, a remnant and reminder of being Sora’s dream eater.
“Sora… I-“
He felt the way Riku held him by the waist, making his heart react almost instantly, pounding away against his ribcage as his best friend slowly pulled him closer, the distance between them growing smaller; And then Riku dipped himself lower and oh, he could feel his breath against his lips, and Sora could melt, melt away in his arms and turn one with the snow, feel his heart running with a million ideas, not sure how to properly articulate it all. He knew Riku had become the most precious and important person in his life, hell, for all he knew his best friend had always been that important person, but at that time he wanted nothing more but to focus on the moment. He felt Riku’s lips ghost his own and he sighed shakily, feeling like he would faint at any moment.
Then their lips pressed together, sweet as candy and gentle as a spring breeze and the brunet swore he could hear it louder now, that familiar tune coming back to haunt him, full force as his heart raced in his chest. Not a few moments later it clicked for him, that was his sound idea, no, their sound ideas. Sora had vaguely remembered something about them symbolizing their hearts? Maybe their minds? He couldn’t remember, but the melody was familiar, embracing and gentle, warm and beautiful. And if it was true then perhaps their hearts had always meant to sing this tune together. Maybe they always did and he never noticed, had Riku noticed? Or perhaps this was the first time it ever happened, he wasn’t sure but the moment they pulled away and Riku looked breathless and in love, Sora felt like he could just faint.
Their hearts still sung in tune to another, yet Sora noticed the slight change in one of the melodies, suddenly it didn’t match quite as well and he noticed right away the reason why: Riku looked nervous, bright pink eyes looking at the brunet as if in fear of their reaction, watching him swallow as he spoke again,
“Sora I- there’s something I’ve been meaning to say- for so many years I-“ Even after their kiss, what came next shook Sora to his very core, his heart singing the same tune as his best friend’s immediately after, “I’m… in love with you”
“Riku…” it came out breathless, as if dreaming, his heart was proudly singing along with the other teen’s and the mere thought of it was making him dizzy with the idea that they were… meant to be, somehow, “ I think I’m in love with you too. To be honest? I think I have— for a long time. It was never anyone else, it was always you, Riku.”
They both laugh, relief in both of their faces as they hold each other with love and warmth, their feelings pouring out from their hearts as their melody continues to fill Spiral Hill with a song that means true love. Their hearts finally, allowed to be together and connect to the other, or maybe they had done that years ago, and finally they were allowed to reunite, to be unashamedly close until the end of time, and Sora can’t contain his happiness as he drags his best friend, no, the love of his life closer to nuzzle their noses together making Riku chuckle in delight.
It was so obvious and crystal clear now and Sora was all too aware. His heart had chosen Riku years ago, perhaps as soon as they met, and finally he had allowed his heart to love its beloved, his dearly beloved. There was never anyone else that could have taken that spot in any reasonable way, no, it had always been his best friend. He wished their hearts could become one, join and never separate, to bask in Riku’s gentle darkness and warmth forever and for eternity, to listen to this shared melody until it lulled him to sleep every night.
It was all too much at once, but Sora knew now, their hearts had chosen each other so long ago, perhaps joined before both even realized and now they sang a melody of love, for eternity and he was happy with that, especially if that eternity meant he’d be allowed to love Riku until the end of times. Sharing a heart, didn’t sound so bad, maybe he’s been doing that for years. But now he was aware, it was all meant to be, and he’d proudly allow it all.
For his dearly beloved was finally home, in his arms.