Floating, drifting, drowning in darkness…
As Riku sunk deeper into the abyss he lost all sense of time. It wasn’t as if it mattered; he was lost, forever to sink into the ocean of darkness in his heart. It was his own fault, Riku knew; his fault that their world had been lost; his fault that Kairi had lost her heart; his fault that so many lives had been lost, so many Heartless created. And then the King…
Pushing the thoughts away Riku willed himself deeper, taking comfort in the darkness’ cool embrace.
“Hey.”
No one will suffer by my hand any longer, the silver-haired teen thought, feeling the dark tendrils sliding over his closed eyelids.
“Hey!”
Sora and Kairi can have a life together, like they were supposed to. The thought didn’t bring as much bitterness as it would have before. Just a mild pang of understanding. They’ve lost their third wheel-
“HEY!”
“Bwha?!” Startled out of his drifting Riku blinked his eyes open, looking around. Not that there was anything to see; just vast, all-consuming darkness. “He - hello?”
“Whew, finally reached you!” Blinking at the faint voice Riku craned his neck more, doing a 360-degree turn. There was nothing and no one around that he could see and the silver-haired teen was starting to think he was loosing his mind. “Nah kid, not around! Look up!”
Frowning Riku did just that, green orbs flickering about. “I don’t see anything.”
“Well, that’s because you’re so far down!” The voice was entirely too chipper for the ages of silence that Riku had gone through and he started to tune it out. “Wait, hey! Don’t zone out on me! You’ll end up staying there forever!”
“Why do you care?” The bitterness was returning now that he was forced into awareness and Riku glared up at - no one. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. Leave me alone.”
“Sorry kid, can’t do that.” Gritting his teeth Riku closed his eyes, trying to ignore the voice. “Besides, don’t you want to see your friends? That spiky-headed kid is looking for you, ya know.”
“Sora?” The name came out without thought in hushed tones. There was want and ache and fear in his voice. He had…betrayed his friends. Sora, especially. “He doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“Not true, little dude-”
“Stop calling me stupid kid names,” Riku snapped, opening his eyes to glare upwards. Although now that he was looking there did seem to be something off in the distance -a pinprick, really, but after seeing so much nothing for so long it was huge.
“Sorry, sorry. What’s your name, anyway?”
Riku hesitated, considering. True, he could just be imagining everything from the nearly non-existent pinprick of…something to the voice. If he was, though, wouldn’t the person already know his name?
“Riku,” he answered after a few moments, licking his lips.
“Riku? That’s cool. I’m Zack.” The man sounded quite pleased with himself, Riku thought, unsure if he was more amused or annoyed by that. “Pleased to meet ya.”
“Whatever,” Riku muttered, straightening so he wasn’t craning his neck to look up at the spot. “So, you have my attention. What do you want?”
“What I want is for you to get out of this place. Personally it gives me the creeps.” Riku smirked at that, moving his arms to fold his hands behind his head.
“Mmhm. And How do you propose I do that? If you haven’t noticed, there’s nothing but darkness at every turn.”
The voice - Zack - was quiet for a long moment at the teen’s words and Riku was almost afraid that he’d gone away. Not that he was lonely or anything. Riku was used to being alone.
“Still working on that part,” Zack finally answered with a sigh. “But you have to start by getting up here.”
Frowning Riku cracked and eye open to look around. “I can’t even tell what direction I’m facing, let alone if I’m moving.” It was an oddly disoriented feeling, like being in the ocean and not knowing which way was the surface; only without having to worry about drowning.
“Hey, nothing to worry about! Just sit back, relax and listen to the soothing voice of yours truly, Zack Fair.”
Snorting the teen rolled his eyes before closing them. “Oh yeah, totally not regretting this.”
“Hey! Respect your elders, brat!”
For the next - minutes? Hours? Months? - Riku’s world consisted of drifting, sleeping and Zack Fair. The other man seemed to be able to talk on and on about everything and nothing at all, which was fine for Riku. The teen wasn’t much for talk and found it rather nostalgic to let the other drone on.
Riku found out that Zack used to be a solder (though he worded it oddly) and trained fighters. The chatty male was from a small town and had joined the army in order to get away and see new sights. There was a lot that Riku could pick out that they had in common and the silver-haired teen found himself spending more time awake and aware than in the coma-like state he had allowed himself to be in before.
When Riku asked how the other ended up in the darkness the solder replied, “Oh, this? I’m not staying - just doing a favor for a friend of a friend.” Riku had no idea of what that meant but was grateful to have someone to talk to.
And then, something happened.
Riku wasn’t sure how he didn’t notice. The voice grew steadily louder but the rise in volume was so gradual that it just slipped him by. Dozing lightly with his mind in a state between consciousness and unawareness solid, gentle fingers grasped a hold of his shoulder.
“Hey, Riku! You made it!”
Blinking heavy-hooded eyes Riku stared up into the most vibrant violet eyes that he had ever seen, an even darker shade than Kairi’s and with a sense of sadness behind the cheerful mask. “I - you’re real,” Riku gasped. From the way they were positioned he felt as if he were laying down, staring up at the other.
“Bingo,” Zack replied with a grin, hand still on the teen’s shoulder. “Congrats! You’ve done good, kid.”
“Don’t call me that.” It was mumbled in reflex though there wasn’t the annoyance that would have been in his tone before. “It’s just hard to believe.” The dark-haired male (Spiky and wild, just as I thought. Just like…him.) looked bemused, reaching down with his free hand to grasp one of Riku’s. Pulling he brought the palm up to press against his own cheek, holding it there.
“Do you believe it now?” The tone was soft, teasing, mischief dancing in violet eyes. Riku could only nod, shell-shocked. The smile slowly dropped from his lips though Zack didn’t let go of the teen’s hand right away, squeezing it instead. “I’ll have to leave you.”
“What?!” A very real fear jolted through Riku at the low spoken words and he shook his head. “No, you can’t! We’re supposed to get out of here together! Right?”
“I was only sent here to guide you,” Zack said as he let go of Riku’s palm. The teen only gasped at the front of his shirt, clinging on. “It actually took a lot of begging, pleading, threatening then more begging to get here in the first place.”
Riku continued to cling on stubbornly, a scowl set in his features. “What am I supposed to do, then? I only got here because you-”
“No, Riku,” Zack interrupted. “You got this far all on your own. I only made you see that staying here isn’t the answer.”
Unaware of his own quivering grip Riku scowl shifted into a frown that was close to a pout, licking his lips. “And if I can’t make it on my own?”
The press of warm lips against his own was shocking as well as welcome and Riku’s breath hitched, mingling with Zack’s. He didn’t realize he closed his eyes until his body became acutely aware of Zack’s warm lips moving over his own and lack of deep violet but the teen knew what he wanted, free arm wrapping tightly around Zack’s neck as the other continued to cling to the older man’s shirt.
Unaware of how much time passed Riku eventually felt a throbbing in his arm from holding on so tight, fingers gone numb some time ago from his clinging. He relaxed his grip, then, letting Zack draw back and catch his breath.
Aquamarine met violet, one looking up at his lone savior while the other looked down at a lost child.
“Good luck, from me to you,” Zack murmured, leaning down to drop another light kiss to parted lips. “You don’t need me as much as you think you do. Be strong, Riku.”
“I am strong,” the teen replied breathlessly, lips still tingling from the kisses. He was strong. He would find a way out and get to Sora - with or without Zack’s help.
Seeing the determination Zack grinned, ruffling the teen’s hair. “There ya go! In three, two, one-”
Fingers tightening for the moment Riku let go just as Zack pushed him away, towards the vast darkness that seemed to continue on without end. Looking down Riku felt his throat tightening, the dark-haired man falling away much more quickly than he had come.
“Remember to keep a hold of your light!” Zack shouted up to him, grinning widely and waving. “You’ll never go astray then!”
“I will!” No longer caring of the way his voice cracked Riku called back, wanting nothing more than to cling to the one piece of light he’d come across since falling into darkness. “You just watch - I’ll do it!”
Eventually the steady waving of Zack arm along with the older man was nothing but a spot in the distance. Then he was gone, leaving Riku as he was before he’d arrived.
Though uncertain of what lay ahead, if anything, Riku set his goal in mind. He would find Sora and then would go back to the island with Kairi and - he would be happy for them. As long as he was with his friends again, everything would be fine.
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