Chapter Text
From his bedroom window, Riku could hear the waves lapping gently against the shore. At night, the tide was calm, steady. He lay still in his bed, eyes closed, trying to focus on nothing but the rhythmic sound of the water, listening as the tide came in and out. He tried to picture the ebb and flow, tried to match his breath to the movement, tried to clear his mind of the thoughts that threatened to keep him up all night.
He was not successful.
Riku couldn’t ignore the heavy weight that sat in his chest and the way air felt constricted around it. It was no use; the thoughts weren’t going to go away with the waves. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling above him. Or, well, staring up at where the ceiling should be — it was nearly too dark to see anything.
Normally, the moonlight shone into his room, filling it with enough dim light that Riku could tell for certain that the shadows did not actually creep across the floor or crawl up his bed posts with the promise to pull him into the darkness. That night, though, the moon was new, a circle of black among a splatter of frighteningly dim stars. The last new moon, Riku had lain awake for hours, panic spiking his heart rate until it hammered nails into his chest. He had eventually succumbed to sleep out of sheer exhaustion, but it was no respite; he had a horrific nightmare, one he knew he’d had before.
In it, he was running up a flight of impossibly incandescent stairs that seemed to be connected to nothing, only floating in a deep abyss. He could see the landing in the distance, the closest thing to solid ground he could think of, and was trying desperately to reach it as steps collapsed into nothingness behind him. It was eerily silent except for the sound of his breath, rough and ragged as he ran faster and harder than he ever had before. The platform was just out of reach, and he was almost there, and if he kept going he could make it —
He was not successful.
Riku felt the sharp stab of terror jolt through him before he even registered that his foot had missed the next step, sinking through the air. He threw his hand out, desperately reaching for the edge of the platform as he fell, but it was inches away. His fingers, grasping, just barely missed it, and he was lost. The darkness swallowed him whole, and he swore he could hear laughter.
He had awoken in a cold sweat, the sunlight beaming through his window mocking the fear that still lingered, curled around and inside him like smoke in his lungs. Even remembering the nightmare was enough to make him anxious, now; he was certain it would happen again, but that this time, he wouldn’t wake up. The darkness would have him, forever.
He sat up, goosebumps rising along his skin and shame sinking in his stomach. Nearly seventeen, he knew he was too old to be afraid of the dark. But unease prickled at the edge of his mind even as he avoided glancing around the room on his way to the window.
The moon was nothing but a black hole floating in the sky, and Riku looked away quickly, his mouth suddenly dry. The stars kept the island from being pitch dark, but it wasn’t enough to make Riku feel safe. He kept his gaze steady on them anyway, though, clinging desperately to whatever light he could. As he stared, a movement flickered at the corner of his vision, and he turned his head quickly to catch a flash speeding across the night. Leaning as far as he could out of his window without falling, he gripped the wood of the window frame as he watched a star shoot across the dark horizon, lighting it up as bright as day. Without really thinking about it, he found himself wishing please, keep me safe from the darkness. The star seemed to wink as it began its descent to the bottom of the sky, and it disappeared right over the small island.
Riku stared out across the dark water for one long moment before he started moving. He knew everyone else was asleep, and distantly hoped he wasn’t making enough noise to wake anyone up, but he didn’t really care. He had seen the star fall, and he knew it was on the island, and he knew he had to find it. If he found it, his wish would come true. If he found it, he’d be safe from the darkness, forever.
Riku barely registered the sand sliding beneath his feet as he ran to the dock. He reasoned that it would be fine to borrow someone’s boat because he’d be back before the sun even thought about rising. The small island was, well, small . How hard could it be to find where the star fell? His heart beat heavily, this time with excitement and exertion, as he rowed across the stretch of ocean between the islands. He ignored the darkness that surrounded him, focusing on his goal. He would get there. He would find what he was looking for. After what seemed like years, he hit the edge of the dock gently. He took a moment to secure the boat before setting out. But where to start?
He didn’t see any immediately obvious places that the star could have fallen, but as he scanned this side of the island, he stopped, startled. A silhouette stood on the tiny piece of rock and sand connected to the island. As he grew closer, Riku could see that it was another boy about his age.
“Hey!” he called before he could really process what he was doing.
The boy turned his head and all Riku could see in the low light was a wide grin and poofy hair. The boy jumped down and met Riku under the bridge.
“Hi! I’m Sora. What’s your name?” He bounced on his heels as he spoke.
This close, Riku noted the warm brown skin, the dark hair, the light eyes. His heart fluttered, and he shook his head. Remnants of the panic, no doubt.
“I’m Riku. Are you from the island? I’ve never seen you before.”
“I just got here!” Sora smiled again, teeth sticking out over his bottom lip a little.
“What are you doing over here , at night?”
“Hm…” Sora’s eyebrows scrunched together as he thought for a moment, and then relaxed as he shrugged. “I don’t know, exploring, I guess. What are you doing here?”
Well, that was a fair question. Riku looked up at the sky, chest tight again; he didn’t want to admit he was doing something as childish as looking for a falling star, but when he looked back at Sora, eyes wide and curious, he couldn’t help but want to confide in him. He swallowed the feeling and answered anyway.
“I saw a shooting star and it looked like it landed over here.” He hoped he didn’t sound as defensive as he felt. Shifting his weight in the sand, he forced himself not to cross his arms in front of his chest. “So I thought I would come find it.”
Kairi would have teased him unless she'd thought of it first, but Sora looked thoughtful, turning his head up to the night.
“A shooting star, huh…”
“Do you want to look for it with me?”
If Sora looked surprised, it was nothing compared to how Riku felt as the words left his mouth. He stared at Sora for a long second before, once again, a grin that had no business being that bright in the darkness lit up the other boy’s face.
“Yeah! Let’s go find the star!”
“I think it fell on the other side of the island,” Riku said, leading the way so he didn’t have to look at Sora. “At least, I don’t see it on this side of the island.”
“What makes you so sure? How do you know what a fallen star looks like? Have you ever seen one?”
“Well, no,” Riku admitted, “but the only new thing on this side of the island is you.”
“How do you know I’m not the star?”
Riku stopped, his hand on the handle of the door that separated one side of the small island from the other. He turned his head to see Sora looking at him expectantly, almost somberly, as if he expected a genuine answer. As if it had been a serious question.
“I…”
“Just kidding! You should have seen your face. Let’s go, Riku.”
Sora pushed past him and went through the door, Riku staring after him. He tried not to let the brightness of Sora’s smile in the dark linger in his mind.
He was not successful.