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Way to the Dawn fits his hand perfectly. It's almost funny how easily Riku gets used to its weight, the way it cuts through the air, neat and precise. His steps flow like a dance, his heart's weapon an extension of his arm. In his own body, it's perfect in a way it wasn't before.
All his jealousy, all his fear of rejection…
All of it disappears when he offers the handle to Sora. In that split-second decision, giving Way to the Dawn to Sora is the easiest thing he's ever done.
His side throbs in time with his heart, blood drenching his vest. Riku knows he's out of the fight. Sora has to win.
And he does. Sora wields both Keyblades like he was always meant to wield his own and Riku's, swinging them in counterpart, giving all he's got to bring Xemnas down.
It's still a shock when he lands next to Riku, sweaty and glorious, his blue eyes brighter than the sky. He holds out his own Keyblade, fearless. "Come on, Riku. Let's finish this." He's still gripping Way to the Dawn in his other hand, held to the side in readiness. Like he's forgotten it's not his own.
Riku lays a hand over the blade he once stole and channels his remaining power through it.
It's like his heart sings in his chest, a counterpoint to Sora's; not working against him, but in tandem. A melody bursting to life.
Their power combined is too much for Xemnas, shredding through the darkness of his being and obliterating his form. He disappears, the weight of the air shifting, growing lighter.
Riku lets out a breath and his knees give up the fight to keep him upright.
"Riku!" Sora's there, then, slinging Riku's arm around his own shoulders and pulling him up. "Are you— are you alright?" He's panicking, the thrill of victory dissolving as soon as he sees how badly Riku's injured.
"I'm fine," Riku lies through his teeth. He thinks he might be dangerously close to passing out from blood loss, if he's honest, but they're out of everything. He'd poured all his magic into shielding Sora from harm, and when that ran out, had sheltered him with his body.
Xemnas' angry red swords hurt. The heat had blistered through his side, burning him alive. Even now, the hungry ache lingers, his side one big knot of pain.
He raises his head enough to take in the emptiness around. "Sora? You lead," he says, letting himself lean into Sora's hold. If it's the last thing he knows, he'll take it. In Sora's supportive embrace, knowing the boy he loves is alive and well.
That's a good enough death for him.
His pained dreams of a noble sacrifice are put to rest when Sora somehow drags him to the margin between worlds.
Riku has almost forgotten what it looks like. Yet, there's the soft waves, like a quiet version of home. He sits on the water's edge and tells Sora his horrible truths. His jealousy, his fears. All so stupid and petty now that he's come so close to losing Sora for good.
It lifts a weight off his shoulders, oddly enough. Since he's somehow still breathing and conscious, he supposes he'll live. Clearing the air is the one thing he'd wished he could do the entire year Sora slept. He owes it to Sora to say it now.
And then there's a door to light appearing in front of him, and suddenly, blissfully, he's home.
"An exam?" Sora's not impressed, as allergic to anything resembling schooling as always. "I think we've got better things to do, don't we, Riku?" He turns a knowing smirk Riku's way.
Riku hesitates. He can see what Sora means, but at the same time… "I… uhh…"
He summons Way to the Dawn, as perfectly fitted to his hand as always. "There's still darkness in my heart," he reminds them, his gaze meeting Sora's. "I think it sounds nice to show that I've really overcome it." Riku gives a weak smile. "You know?" he tacks onto the end, willing Sora to understand where he's coming from.
Sora's smirk falls away, face open and honest as always. He does, he always does. He's been able to read Riku like a book since they were small.
Something about Riku's eyes and their inability to lie, perhaps.
"Oh, Riku that's good, yeah…" Sora nods once, decisive. His usual enthusiasm kicks in. "Well, then we'll crush this exam! With both of us working together, we can't lose!" From not wanting to do it at all, to fully supporting Riku in his proof of growth, Sora's on board.
Riku can't help the small, fond smile lifting his lips. "Damn right," he agrees.
While he doesn't know much about the exam, Yen Sid explains they need to master a new power of waking, stating it will be important for their mission to defeat Xehanort. To do that, they're going to return to a point in their history via a dreamstate, allowing them to fight with their current knowledge, but in their younger bodies.
Riku scowls at that. Since they're going back to Destiny Island before it fell, he's about to lose a head's worth of height and all the muscle he gained from his battles for a year straight.
Ugh.
Wonderful, he gets a handicap. Sora probably won't notice a difference.
He will still have Way to the Dawn though, Yen Sid assures him. Even if his body changes again, his heart is still his own, and his Keyblade resonates through him.
Riku clings to that knowledge. He may be a creature of light and darkness, choosing to walk the fine line between, but he isn't lost — he's found himself now. Embodied by the Keyblade his heart had chosen to manifest.
He and Sora go to sleep and immediately everything goes wrong.
Everything's slightly off. Riku picks it up in pieces: he and Sora were separated, he frantically dove after Sora, they run in parallel instead of together like they were supposed to.
But all the while his back itches, a throbbing in his chest that hums a different beat to his own, a calling rhythm beckoning him to find the other half.
It culminates in Yen Sid's Tower of all places, a young, dreaming Mickey trapped in a mess of his own making ordering him to go and find a Sound Idea.
The music Riku's been following this whole time, a heartbeat divided — it all comes pouring out into the most beautiful melody he's ever heard in his life. It's his — and Sora's.
Because where the gaps in Riku's Sound Idea — the song of his heart — echo, Sora's fills in effortlessly, sliding his notes in between Riku's to form something that moves Riku to actual tears. They prick at his eyes, well in his throat. Something this incredible, this perfect can't have come from him.
But then, he and Sora have always been better together. Two hands laid over the same Keyblade's hilt, heart's weapons swapped freely. An unbreakable bond.
It fill him with warmth that lingers even after he leaves the Tower, as strong as his resolution to walk the road to dawn, the sheer knowledge that Sora understands him in a way nobody else ever has.
Riku gathers his courage and flings himself headlong into the World That Never Was for the second time. He can feel Sora so close, like a whisper of his name or a brush against his bare arm.
He summons a Keyblade split in half and knows instinctively that the other half belongs to Sora. They fight in tandem, drawing upon each other's power to fight their battles.
Until Sora falls deeper and deeper, unable to hear his voice anymore.
No matter how much Riku calls, Sora doesn't answer.
Not until a last, panicked cry of his name echoes through the dream, thundering through Riku's chest with something he doesn't have a name for.
Protect.
It flares to life within him, burning through his veins. Something new, something feral curls through him. He fights harder, bonds with his Dream Eaters with more ease than ever before.
If he hadn't been so caught up swallowing the darkness threatening the boy he loves, he might have realised what he'd done to himself sooner.
Riku doesn't have time to reflect on becoming a Dream Eater. Somehow. Sora's Dream Eater. Nightmare-hunter. Protect.
There's hunting to be done.
Nightmare's End hums in his hand, half-blade seeking it's other half.
Battle after battle until Riku lands in the very heart of the boy he adores.
It's time to wake up, Sora.
Way to the Dawn bursts to glorious light and gleefully shines all the radiance Riku has within him onto Sora's precious stained glass, pouring all of Riku's love into waking him up.
And in the aftermath, when Riku wakes to Sora throwing his arms around him and beaming, he tucks that shimmering, bright warmth deep inside and promises to wield it for Sora no matter the cost.
The Realm of Darkness soon puts paid to his confidence.
He's barely been named Master over Sora — unfair; Sora deserved it more than he did — before he's thrown back into the dark realm and told to retrieve the wielder who'd sacrificed herself to save his miserable ass.
Riku grips Way to the Dawn, hating the way his nerves ratchet up being back here. His first trip to the realm had been his own stupid fault, the result of his actions. Aqua hadn't deserved to suffer because of him, yet here they were.
He owes it to her to bring her home.
If only his heart would stop racing. Everything is more intense than he remembers. His nose is thick with the stench of darkness. There's no markers to tell him who it belongs to, it's just all around him and filling his lungs with it. Whispers hum in his ears, luring him back to the power he'd tamed, urging him to throw away his caution and dive headfirst into the darkness.
He sticks close to Mickey, drawing strength from the light his presence radiates.
They walk for an indeterminate amount of time. That's the thing about the Dark Realm. Time flows strangely. There's no cycle to tell him when a new day dawns. There's no way of knowing how much time passes.
What if something goes wrong, and he and Mickey are left to rot like they'd done to Aqua?
His heart lurches at that. He'll be leaving Sora to face this alone if he does.
Riku licks his lips and gathers his shaking resolve. No, they can do this. Find Aqua, use the King's light to get through the door and back out again. Easy.
No matter how much he tells himself that, his heart won't believe it.
It culminates in disaster.
Mickey goes flying, down and out, lost under a wave of Heartless.
They're way out of their depth. Panic flares to life, robbing him of his strength. His movements slow, sapped by the cold chill that ices his veins.
He's afraid.
So, so afraid. It echoes in the too-rapid beat of his heart, in the terror that roots him to the spot under the advancing darkness.
He's going to die and leave his mission undone. There's too many things he wants to do. He's not ready, he's not proven himself, he hasn't repaid his debt to Sora—
The darkness crashes over him like a wave, and the blade in his hand — his own, dawn risen, perfect and lovely — snaps.
Riku feels it in his heart. The connection breaks, reverberating through him.
It hurts.
It aches.
He falls into darkness and thinks this is the end.
You're here again?
Looks like you could use some help.
Even in the darkness, impossible lights shine.
Riku comes to, gasping for air, drowning in darkness just like before. Only this time, he claws at the ground and fights back, clinging to the light he's fought for all this time.
He holds out his hand and summons Way to the Dawn.
It sends a sharp pain through his chest. His heart spasms.
Way to the Dawn, beautiful, glorious, his… is no longer whole. The bottom half, the winged teeth, have snapped clean off, leaving a precise sharp ending where once his blade lay.
Mickey puts a hand to his mouth in horror. "Oh, Riku, your Keyblade… We can fix it, don't worry. It'll be okay."
"No need." Riku knew as soon as it snapped, as soon as a voice echoed in his heart, that it had served its time with him perfectly.
It was time for another to step out of the darkness and into the dawn.
"Leave it here for the other me," he murmurs, planting the broken shaft into the dark, sandy ground. A beacon for another who would walk his path. He hopes.
Mickey's Keyblade is damaged as well, and with Riku's broken, they're forced to retreat from the dark realm.
Mickey gives him the keychain, shaped like his ears. "I can't really forge it for you, Riku. You're just gonna have to figure it out on your own." His tail droops, expression falling. "I'm sorry. I wish I knew how, but I never made one of my own."
First he'd borrowed Yen Sid's, then he'd retrieved the Keyblade from the dark realm. He'd never forged one.
Fortunately, Riku had already figured it out along the way.
He'd forged Kairi's after all, using his power and his memories of her to manifest it. He'd forged his own, his heart answering his desire for growth and turning his weapon into one — by sheer force of will.
So Riku will figure this out.
…
Riku is not figuring this out.
"Ugh," he complains to the sky, groaning. The keychain sits in his hands, as plain and unenthused as it has been since Mickey gave it to him.
His thumb brushes the smooth, silver metal. It's the same as Sora's.
He scoffs to himself. To think he'd fought so damn hard for Sora's Keyblade, only to be given the key himself.
Above, the endless stars glitter. A billion different worlds, waiting to be explored.
Closing his eyes, he breathes in the quiet night, Yen Sid's tower drifting through the stars bringing a sense of peace and serenity.
He must drift off somewhere along the line.
Who are you?
Riku hovers in the darkness, forcing himself to calm down. This isn't the overwhelming darkness, threatening to drag him down. This is known. Oddly… gentle. I'm Riku, he answers, or thinks he does.
Do you know who you are?
He's falling down then, down into the darkness. It doesn't scare him like it used to.
Funnily enough, it feels like a dream dive—
Riku grins. He knows that.
It's easy enough to angle himself, to trust himself and let the exhilaration rush through him. He's a Dream Eater; this is his playground.
Snatches of memory fly past.
A flash of himself, younger, carrying a wooden sword and swearing to protect his best friend. There, a leap into the fray, knowing it would bring pain but choosing to save another. A kind stranger who's face is lost to time, laying his hand on a giant key and promising the strength to protect.
They're all him. Every little facet of his life, the things that made him him.
Riku sees himself in all of them. The tiny pieces forming an ever-shifting puzzle; a growth that has allowed him to find the dawn he sought.
He has fought and suffered for the right to let his heart lead at last. And his heart has always led in one direction.
Riku knows himself now.
A guardian. A protector.
Someone who won't back down from fear.
Riku grips the keychain in his hand and lets everything in his heart out.
In a burst of gleaming light, his Keyblade forges itself anew, answering his call and reflecting how his heart has grown and changed.
Riku lifts it up, noting how much heavier it is.
No longer wicked and curved, his new blade is a straight line of broad silver, indented along the edges. There's no decoration and no teeth — this is a blade designed purely to strike and defend. He's not the jealous, bitter boy he was, and his Keyblade is no longer so sharp, so poisonous in looks.
It's the weapon of a hero: a great, glittering greatsword he'll wield to protect those he cares for.
Riku smiles softly, his heart pounding in his chest. It's his. His Keyblade. No one else's opinions or machinations imprinted on his heart, no more being manipulated and led astray. No more fighting a war within himself trying to find a balance between his darkness and his light.
If the silver blade is light, then the hilt is darkness. Wide in the guard, it fits his hand with plenty of room, the no-nonsense dark metal reflecting the silver gleam from above. The simple mouse-earned keychain dangles from the end, reminding him that he isn't carrying his burdens alone.
Riku twists the angle slightly, his reflection staring back from the silver. Green eyes sharp and fierce see through him. Honest eyes. Eyes that couldn't lie.
He knows himself.
"Braveheart," he whispers to the Keyblade, feeling its true name thrum through every fibre of his being.
Braveheart, for one who had fought in spite of his fear, who would continue to fight to protect what mattered most.
No matter the cost.
Riku will never forget all the pain he'd caused in the past, but no longer will he be ruled by his fears of repeating it. He strides into the future with courage.
When he wakes, the silver blade comes eagerly to his hand, singing through his chest with a bright new song.
Sora stares at his new Keyblade, brows furrowed and ocean eyes glittering. "It's kinda… simple, isn't it?" he says finally.
Riku can't stop the hurt that flickers through him. Sure, it isn't the most detailed Keyblade, but that's fine. He doesn't need the bells and whistles anymore. "It's a modern key," he mutters, letting his arm drop and his eyes fall away from Sora.
His ever-bright sun always sees too much in his eyes.
He must have given himself away regardless, because Sora comes closer. "Riku?" His voice is gentle, his head tilting to peer up at Riku. "Hey, I didn't mean it's bad or anything! It's… I was expecting something else I guess, and I was surprised by the real one."
Slowly, his hand wraps around Riku's wrist, encouraging him to lift Braveheart once more. "So… tell me about it?" Sora asks, still with that soft tone. "A modern key…?"
Unfortunately, Riku still hasn't figured out how to say no to Sora's pleading face, so he sighs. "Because I want to look to the future, not the past." The reasoning he'd come to while figuring out how to reforge his blade — reforge his heart.
Or, perhaps, he already reforged it, and this is merely the way he announces it to the world. This is who he is.
Guardian. Protector. Newly-fledged Master.
And, at his core, at the part of him that becomes a Dream Eater and throws himself in the way of oncoming death: Sora's best friend.
He doesn't have time to react before Braveheart is yanked from his hands. "Wh—"
Sora clutches it to his chest, eyes bright under his frown. "That's perfect and great and cool, Riku!"
"Why are you glaring at me?" Riku shakes his head in fond exasperation. "I don't care if it looks simple, I care that it does the job of protecting those I care about." He holds out a hand.
Sora holds it tighter, one hand gripping the hilt, the other curled around the silver protectively. "I like it," he says quietly, rubbing his thumb over the blade. "It's nice. Silver like your hair." His grip changes, softening, until…
He hugs Braveheart to his chest, eyes falling closed. "You'll protect Riku when I'm not there, won't you?" he whispers to it, low enough that he doesn't mean to be heard.
Riku's heart thuds painfully in his chest.
Every now and then, he dares to think that maybe Sora shares the same feelings that bubble up inside him. Feelings that steal his words and take his breath away.
But then his hope is shattered, and he reminds himself that it isn't his place to dream.
His role is to be Sora's guardian, and that's what Riku will be.
Until the day Sora doesn't need him anymore.
Riku swallows the love choking him. "Hey." Once he has Sora's attention, Riku lets his old, familiar smirk cross his face. "Wanna go fight with it?"
Sora lights up immediately, a huge grin crossing his face. "Yes!"
If anyone tries to tell them off, he'll insist it was to get used to the weight of his new Keyblade.
The weight is different, forcing him to adjust his stance. His arm no longer hovers overhead, but near his eyes, ready to strike at his foes. He no longer beckons opponents to try their luck, but shields his friends from harm.
Riku grins and brings his Keyblade down on Sora's with the satisfying clang of metal on metal.
This is what he fights for, and always will.
"You don't believe that. I know you don't." It's an impossibility. Sora, giving up. Sora, not believing.
That's fine. Riku has enough belief for them both.
It's the most sure of himself he's ever felt. He sees the path before him, and he walks it.
Riku turns and strides towards the tower of infinite darkness ahead. Conviction fills him. He is, without a doubt, making the right choice.
He takes the light, that shimmering, bright warmth he'd tucked inside himself for Sora and channels it.
He lifts Braveheart and swings it forward, a battle cry tearing itself from his throat. He pours everything he has through the blade — his heart's weapon, his truth made manifest — and stands against the Tide with all the force of a boy who will forever walk bravely towards the dawn.
For an endless moment, he burns with the light, his very heart singing in his chest.
Then, the darkness cracks through his defences. It tears at him, rips his body to shreds, pierces his chest and sends ink through his heart.
Riku closes his eyes and counts the last beats of his faltering, brave heart.
Every single beat is buying Sora the time he needs, and that's enough for Riku.
He's content to go out like this. It doesn't matter that there were things he never did, or that he never got the chance to prove himself worthy of repentance. Giving his life to save Sora's is the easiest trade in the world.
Riku reforged himself into a protector, and that's what he'll do.
There's a wind rushing in his ears. He can't feel his body anymore. Even Braveheart stops singing in his hand.
End of the line.
Alright Sora. It's up to you.
I leave it in your hands. I know you can do it.
Go save the worlds.
And quietly, selfishly…
You're always in my heart.
The darkness overcomes the light, and Riku is gone.
But that isn't the end. Not for him.
He lands in a foreign reality.
Hope burns so fiercely in his chest that it threatens to overwhelm him.
A year. A whole, agonising year with no trace of Sora. Sora, his guiding star, his sun, the reason he breathes at all—
Riku forces in a breath of smoggy air and gathers his wits.
He might only get one shot at this.
Find Sora. And bring him home.
May your heart be your guiding key.
Well, his heart is brave, so…
As soon as the Heartless show up, Riku launches into action. It's just another fight. Just more opponents to get through before he can find Sora.
In the end, that's exactly what happens.
His heart yanks, pulling him down a street and summoning Braveheart before Riku can even think.
There.
Roughed up, tired, but alive.
Riku's heart might actually stop at the sight. Until he sees the three Heartless looming and it kicks into double-time instead.
He lands in front of Sora, protecting him, finally fulfilling the role he'd taken for himself long ago.
"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you." Riku grins over his shoulder, before throwing himself into the fight.
Despite it all, his heart sings to be reunited at last. There's Sora.
All he has to do is get rid of these Heartless.
When the battle is over, Riku huffs for breath, turning to find his guiding star in the darkness of the city.
Sora's already staring at him, awe and wonder in his eyes. He's running towards Riku a moment later, stumbling and almost falling more than once.
In the end, it's as simple as breathing.
Riku holds out a hand and catches Sora, pulling him in and not letting go.