Chapter Text
The boy with silver hair stood leaning against the bent-over paopu tree, staring at the distant horizon just past the slowly rippling ocean. The sun had long since set, but he remained outside in the darkness of the island. It was an oddly comforting darkness, even for all that he had gone through.
Hands folded behind his head, he let out a sigh, and then a shiver, as a cool breeze rushed through his body.
Then, as he heard a familiar and beloved voice from behind him, he was filled with a sudden warmth.
"Riku!"
Although faraway, it resonated within his chest like the cordial and beautiful song of a piano. Riku turned to see the similarly beautiful figure just a few feet away now.
His hair the color of wood in a dense forest. His eyes as blue as the sky and the sea. Those same eyes that the older boy remembered so painfully well: Filled with tears, below him crying out, I looked everywhere for you!
A bittersweet resplendence that could hardly be defined. And the way he smiled at Riku now, oh, Riku could melt right then.
"Sora. What-..." Riku could barely speak; he wanted to grin like an idiot and run up and hug Sora right there. But, no. He had to keep his composure.
"What's up?" He managed to get the words out, despite his mind rushing with things he longed to say and do. To give all his affection to the brunet in front of him, their bodies and hearts intertwining…
“Kairi and the others and I wanted to play hide-and-seek-tag, are you up for that?” That voice again broke Riku out of his thoughts.
“Hide-and-seek-tag? What are you, eight again?” Riku muttered, but as Sora clearly didn’t hear him, he just shook his head and took a tentative step closer. “And in the dark, outside? Is that really safe, Sora?”
Sora just shot him a wide grin. “Well, we have flashlights! That’s part of the game, don’t you remember?”
But he didn’t remember, not quite. Using the darkness came at many prices; one of them being some of his earliest, most treasured memories of him and Sora’s time together. His heart always twisted every time he thought about that. That he will never fully remember his dearly beloved. Sora.
Sora. Sora, Sora, Sora. All that ever went through his head was Sora.
“Well, sure.” Riku responded, although somewhat reluctantly. He didn’t want anyone else spending time with his Sora. And, though he knew he sounded selfish, he wanted just the two of them to go back to that time when Kairi was sleeping, and he didn’t have to worry about losing Sora to her. But, the boy seemed to be more himself with all his other friends around, so… Riku really had no right to complain like this.
Sora’s entire body seemed to glow, as he excitedly ran off, gesturing for the Keyblade master to follow. Riku hated when he ran off suddenly like that. He hated when he even turned his back to him. Every second he lived and Sora wasn’t there with him, he didn’t feel real. He yearned to know that his beloved cared for him, even after everything. He wanted to deserve someone like Sora, and likewise, he needed Sora to deserve him.
We’re all a little insane, Riku thought as he swiftly followed close behind to the rest of the group.