[02.] Key: Of Keyblades, Keyblade Masters, and the Key to Light
Title: Of Keyblades, Keyblade Masters, and the Key to Light
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Theme: [02.] Key
Claim: Cloud/Riku
Word Count: 2,372
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: There seemed to be a lot of keys in Cloud’s life over the past few days. Keys and the eyes of a silver-haired boy that he just couldn’t shake.
Musical Inspiration: 30 Seconds to Mars A Beautiful Lie
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Kingdom Hearts/Square Enix/Disney/Final Fantasy/yada yada/Big Bird/or anything that I could possibly be making money off of. Maybe one day I will be rich, but I can’t control the KH universe in any way. True story.
Author’s Note: I walked around my bedroom for forty-five minutes last night after writing the first draft of Prompt #1 trying to decide whether I should really challenge myself by going in order with the prompts or just jumping around. Once I decided I might get confused if I jump around, I decided to really challenge myself. I then proceeded to say the word, “Key,” to myself repeatedly until I fell asleep. Today, I randomly thought, “Key,” to myself. Key . . .key . . . key. Keys. Keyholes. Keyblades. Keyblade Masters. Key lime pie. So, yeah . . .the theme of this prompt was key.
“I’ve been thinking about you.”
Cloud was notorious for indifference. Aerith and Yuffie both had very distinct-though very different-ways of saying things. Aerith called him stoic and melancholy. Yuffie called him uptight and stuffy. Squall (wait, Leon), when he did speak, said Cloud was withdrawn and distant. Coming from Leon, that was something. Cid said Cloud was going through a phase and he needed to lighten up. Tifa just smiled and said, “That’s Cloud for ya.”
He had his close-knit group of companions, though he hardly ever saw them since Hollow Bastion was taken over by the Heartless. There were things that needed to be taken care of-things involving Sephiroth that Cloud preferred on most occasions not to think about. Cloud pushed away all things that bothered him or made him uncomfortable for as long as possible, especially when they involved Sephiroth. As Tifa would say, “That’s Cloud for ya.”
When Cloud ended up in Hollow Bastion again with Hades, this time run over by the Heartless instead of the home he once knew, he pretended it didn’t bother him. Cloud knew he was alone in everything he did-whether his friends were there or not-and if he was going to be stuck with himself alone, he’d rather not torture himself over things like Heartless. While this made perfect sense in his head, Tifa would shake hers and say, “That’s Cloud for ya.”
So when he sat in on the meeting between Hades and his allies, he watched the lithe, silver-haired boy across the room. Something about his presence bothered Cloud deeply. The boy was young-still a teenager. He shouldn’t have been there, and working for Maleficent at that, whom Cloud could tell from the brief encounter seemed to be the ringleader of this entire darkness/Heartless takeover operation. When Maleficent commended him on the kidnapping of two princesses and gave him orders on obtaining a third, the boy stared at her, his aquamarine eyes fierce, but yielding. He didn’t know what Maleficent held over the boy’s head, but he was a stubborn one. It was in his eyes; he wasn’t about to back down, no matter how much hesitation swam behind the determination.
He had been, at best, a distraction at first. Dismissed shortly after the boy, Cloud followed him down the halls of Maleficent’s castle before speaking to him, learning his name was Riku, and like Cloud, was doing the dark’s bidding in exchange for assistance with finding someone. Only this someone, Cloud could tell from the darkening sadness in his eyes, was very dear to him.
Cloud hardly gave it a second thought when he left with Hades, assuming he’d never see the boy again. He’d smiled at Riku just before turning away, and though Riku delayed in his response, for a brief second Cloud saw the hesitation disappear from his eyes as the smile was returned.
It was a little over a week now-nine days, perhaps-and Cloud couldn’t stop thinking about those eyes. They spilled emotions like Yuffie spilled secrets; every thought, every feeling in Riku’s heart seemed to come out through those eyes. How could someone be so open and yet so guarded? It was very unlike Cloud to focus on something for more than a few moments other than his goal to finish off Sephiroth for good or his long absences away from those he called friends. Tifa might have said, “Cloud, this isn’t like you.”
The darkness was getting to Cloud; that much was sure. Originally, his plan had been to exploit the power of darkness to take on Sephiroth, but it’d backfired. He felt so lost these days that sometimes he just wanted to head off to Traverse Town just to see Aerith again. She always knew what to say exactly when he needed to hear it. More so, he found himself thinking about visiting Hollow Bastion-whether it brought him a great deal of pain or not-just to see Riku again. Those eyes held secrets, emotions, truths, and Cloud found himself wanting to know every one of them.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” he whispered to no one in particular.
Shaking his head, he drew his crimson cape over his shoulders and entered the doors into Olympus Coliseum. Cloud crossed over the battlefield, his boots crunching on the ground. For a brief moment, Cloud wondered if there was no shame to the raging war between dark and light these days. Already on the battlefield was that loud-mouthed satyr, Phil, with a duck, a dog (?), and another teenage boy, probably even younger than Riku. He locked eyes with the boy as he passed and then turned ahead, set on not thinking about how young those involved seemed to be these days.
Riku was stuck in his head and Cloud couldn’t shake it. His fighting-admittedly-was not in its best form as he battled his way to Hercules. Just get through the qualifications, thought Cloud. Hades will help you find Sephiroth and you can finish this thing for good. Visualizing Sephiroth didn’t work either, as he kept turning into Riku. Cloud figured it had something to do with the hair.
He stood by Hades, only half-hearing him ramble about something, and watching as the kid-Sora, he learned-took his place on the battlefield. On the outside, Cloud supposed he seemed as calm and removed as ever, which was a good thing considering Hades’ presence. Inside, all Hell had just broken loose, and Riku disappeared from his thoughts for the moment.
The Key.
It was as if a thousand pieces were clicking into place as he watched Sora swing the legendary Keyblade (it was, in fact, actually real). Though the kid was far from fantastic, he had some natural talent and an innocence about him that could only fit a Keyblade Master. Squall (Leon, he reminded himself, though who would want to be Leon Leonheart in the first place) mentioned something about having to find the Keyblade Master if the Heartless were ever to be defeated.
Cloud thought it was all just a myth.
“That little punk is your next opponent, okay?” said Hades, snapping Cloud from his musings on the actual existence of the Keyblade. “Now don’t blow it. Just take him out.”
Even more pieces clicked into place. So he wasn’t just here for Hercules. Hades actually expected him to take out the Keyblade Master? Cloud almost laughed. Not likely. It wasn’t that he didn’t think he could do it, but honestly, kill the person meant to save the worlds from the darkness? Sephiroth would be a saint next to him for attempting that one.
Cloud glanced at Sora, the duck (Donald), and the dog-thing (Goofy-appropriate) as they celebrated their victory, and turned an empty stare to Hades.
“The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid? Sorry, but my contract says-“
“I know! You think I don’t know? I wrote the contract!” Hades seemed to calm a bit, for which Cloud was thankful. He had been painfully close to rolling his eyes. “I know it says you’re only required to kill Hercules in this tournament. But you’ve gotta fight that kid to get to him. Come on. Hey, its like that old goat says: Rule number eleven: It’s all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it! I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?”
Cloud pushed away from the wall, lifting his gaze from the ground. He almost scoffed as he crossed Hades. A casualty. So that’s how Hades was going to play this card. Torn between amusement that Hades would actually think Cloud knew nothing about Keyblades or Keyblade Masters and annoyance that Hades thought Cloud was so gullible to believe his flippant tirade, Cloud strode out to take on Sora.
~*~
When Cloud woke up, he thought several things at once: a) He’d refused to kill Sora, and Hades had sicced a giant three-headed dog on them; b) He was no longer in the Coliseum, but just outside; c) He was in a great deal of pain; and d) Riku.
He sat up, rubbing at his head as if it would tell him what had happened between the slobbering three-headed dog (hereafter referred to as The Cerberus Incident) and waking up on the steps just outside the Coliseum. Cloud supposed The Cerberus Incident was Hades’ own little way of informing Cloud that refusal to kill Sora was a breach of contract, as now he could not kill Hercules having failed to take Sora out.
Cloud stared at the ground, mulling over thoughts a through d, when a voice interrupted.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Cloud looked up to see Sora staring back at him. When did he show up?
“Yeah.”
“So, why did you go along with him anyway?”
Damn, this kid asked a lot of questions. Cloud propped his elbows on his knees, laid one hand on top of the other, touched his nose to his hands, and closed his eyes. Be vague.
“I’m looking for someone. Hades promised to help.” He straightened, standing up. “I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn’t find the light.”
“You’ll find it,” said Sora. “I’m searching, too.”
Cloud looked down to him. Who was this kid and was he always so optimistic?
“For your light?” Sora nodded. Kids really did start young these days. Walking over to Sora, he handed him a charm he’d gotten when he first started training to fight, enhancing the holder’s weapon with an attack called Sonic Blade. Hey, the kid was the Keyblade Master, after all, and his prowess wouldn’t suffer from some help. “Don’t lose sight of it.”
He passed Sora to head back into the Coliseum. May as well get the angry harangue from Hades over with so he could be properly fired.
“How about a rematch sometime?” Sora called after him. “Fair and square, no dark powers involved.”
Cloud smiled to himself for a brief second, turned his head back toward Sora, and ran his fingers through his hair. This kid was too much.
“I think I’ll pass.”
~*~
The Cerberus Incident aside, the end of his work for Hades was painless. Except for now having to find Sephiroth on his own, Cloud found he now had a lot of free time on his hands. Sephiroth could be anywhere, so he headed to Traverse Town.
After checking in with Yuffie, Cid, and Leon, he went to Aerith.
“You’ve been gone a long time,” she said. “Need a place to sleep?”
“I’d be grateful. Only for tonight, though. I’m heading off again in the morning.”
“Cloud. . .”
This would be the part where she’d bestow upon him some fantastic wisdom and insight on his current situation (re: thinking about Riku all the time even though he’d only spoken to him for a few minutes) without him ever telling her the problem. He knew she meant well and he loved her beyond words, but good intentions were overrated.
“Not tonight, Aerith. The others told me there’s been no sight of Sephiroth.”
Aerith shook her head.
“None.”
“There’s no reason for me to stay here, then.”
“I understand. If this is what you need to do, I’m behind you. You know that.”
“And you know I’ll be back.”
She nodded. “Mmm. . .I know, but will you stay?”
Cloud looked away. Not if he didn’t find Sephiroth, but he couldn’t tell her that. One awkward glance to her face and he knew he didn’t have to.
“Not tonight, Aerith.”
“Cloud?”
He turned his head to look at her this time. He hated how understanding she could be sometimes.
“When you’re lost in darkness, there’s always a little light still shining. Hold on to it. It’ll guide you through,” she said. “I know settling things with Sephiroth is something you have to do to fight your darkness. Just don’t forget all the things that bring you joy as well. That’s the key to making it through all right. And Cloud?”
“What?” he asked, a little harsher than he intended. She didn’t flinch.
“Don’t forget that you bring others joy as well.”
~*~
There seemed to be a lot of keys in his life the past few days. Keyblades actually being real. Keyblade Masters younger than Cloud when he first started fighting. Aerith’s speech on the key to finding one’s way through darkness. Now, there was a very real key in his palm to a recently vacant house Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, and Leon acquired in the Third District of Traverse Town. They hadn’t taken up residence there yet, but Cloud knew Aerith didn’t expect him back until long after they had.
When Cloud left Traverse Town that morning, he intended on heading to whatever world his Gummi Ship took him. If the key to finding your way through darkness was to follow the light, he figured the best thing to do was to follow where his un-Cloud-like tendencies pointed. He ended up in Hollow Bastion.
The town wasn’t the same as it had been growing up-wasn’t even close. Heartless swarmed everywhere. In Maleficent’s castle (or as it was now, because Cloud had a hard time thinking of it as anything but where Ansem the Wise lived), he came upon the room he’d first seen Riku, and followed the hallway, listening for a sign of movement at every door he passed. Several turns later, he opened the door to a rather large bedroom with bookshelves against the wall, a large bed, and a desk, at which one bothersome, silver-haired boy was sitting, reading.
Riku looked up, startled, and seemed even more surprised to see Cloud standing there. Cloud figured he was expecting Maleficent. Those aquamarine eyes that Cloud couldn’t shake stared at him as if unsure of what to say.
“Cloud?”
Cloud took a deep breath. He hadn’t exactly planned on what he was going to say, and even if he had, he was sure to forget it by now. So he said the first thing that came to mind.
“I’ve been thinking about you.”
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Theme: [02.] Key
Claim: Cloud/Riku
Word Count: 2,372
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: There seemed to be a lot of keys in Cloud’s life over the past few days. Keys and the eyes of a silver-haired boy that he just couldn’t shake.
Musical Inspiration: 30 Seconds to Mars A Beautiful Lie
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Kingdom Hearts/Square Enix/Disney/Final Fantasy/yada yada/Big Bird/or anything that I could possibly be making money off of. Maybe one day I will be rich, but I can’t control the KH universe in any way. True story.
Author’s Note: I walked around my bedroom for forty-five minutes last night after writing the first draft of Prompt #1 trying to decide whether I should really challenge myself by going in order with the prompts or just jumping around. Once I decided I might get confused if I jump around, I decided to really challenge myself. I then proceeded to say the word, “Key,” to myself repeatedly until I fell asleep. Today, I randomly thought, “Key,” to myself. Key . . .key . . . key. Keys. Keyholes. Keyblades. Keyblade Masters. Key lime pie. So, yeah . . .the theme of this prompt was key.
“I’ve been thinking about you.”
Cloud was notorious for indifference. Aerith and Yuffie both had very distinct-though very different-ways of saying things. Aerith called him stoic and melancholy. Yuffie called him uptight and stuffy. Squall (wait, Leon), when he did speak, said Cloud was withdrawn and distant. Coming from Leon, that was something. Cid said Cloud was going through a phase and he needed to lighten up. Tifa just smiled and said, “That’s Cloud for ya.”
He had his close-knit group of companions, though he hardly ever saw them since Hollow Bastion was taken over by the Heartless. There were things that needed to be taken care of-things involving Sephiroth that Cloud preferred on most occasions not to think about. Cloud pushed away all things that bothered him or made him uncomfortable for as long as possible, especially when they involved Sephiroth. As Tifa would say, “That’s Cloud for ya.”
When Cloud ended up in Hollow Bastion again with Hades, this time run over by the Heartless instead of the home he once knew, he pretended it didn’t bother him. Cloud knew he was alone in everything he did-whether his friends were there or not-and if he was going to be stuck with himself alone, he’d rather not torture himself over things like Heartless. While this made perfect sense in his head, Tifa would shake hers and say, “That’s Cloud for ya.”
So when he sat in on the meeting between Hades and his allies, he watched the lithe, silver-haired boy across the room. Something about his presence bothered Cloud deeply. The boy was young-still a teenager. He shouldn’t have been there, and working for Maleficent at that, whom Cloud could tell from the brief encounter seemed to be the ringleader of this entire darkness/Heartless takeover operation. When Maleficent commended him on the kidnapping of two princesses and gave him orders on obtaining a third, the boy stared at her, his aquamarine eyes fierce, but yielding. He didn’t know what Maleficent held over the boy’s head, but he was a stubborn one. It was in his eyes; he wasn’t about to back down, no matter how much hesitation swam behind the determination.
He had been, at best, a distraction at first. Dismissed shortly after the boy, Cloud followed him down the halls of Maleficent’s castle before speaking to him, learning his name was Riku, and like Cloud, was doing the dark’s bidding in exchange for assistance with finding someone. Only this someone, Cloud could tell from the darkening sadness in his eyes, was very dear to him.
Cloud hardly gave it a second thought when he left with Hades, assuming he’d never see the boy again. He’d smiled at Riku just before turning away, and though Riku delayed in his response, for a brief second Cloud saw the hesitation disappear from his eyes as the smile was returned.
It was a little over a week now-nine days, perhaps-and Cloud couldn’t stop thinking about those eyes. They spilled emotions like Yuffie spilled secrets; every thought, every feeling in Riku’s heart seemed to come out through those eyes. How could someone be so open and yet so guarded? It was very unlike Cloud to focus on something for more than a few moments other than his goal to finish off Sephiroth for good or his long absences away from those he called friends. Tifa might have said, “Cloud, this isn’t like you.”
The darkness was getting to Cloud; that much was sure. Originally, his plan had been to exploit the power of darkness to take on Sephiroth, but it’d backfired. He felt so lost these days that sometimes he just wanted to head off to Traverse Town just to see Aerith again. She always knew what to say exactly when he needed to hear it. More so, he found himself thinking about visiting Hollow Bastion-whether it brought him a great deal of pain or not-just to see Riku again. Those eyes held secrets, emotions, truths, and Cloud found himself wanting to know every one of them.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” he whispered to no one in particular.
Shaking his head, he drew his crimson cape over his shoulders and entered the doors into Olympus Coliseum. Cloud crossed over the battlefield, his boots crunching on the ground. For a brief moment, Cloud wondered if there was no shame to the raging war between dark and light these days. Already on the battlefield was that loud-mouthed satyr, Phil, with a duck, a dog (?), and another teenage boy, probably even younger than Riku. He locked eyes with the boy as he passed and then turned ahead, set on not thinking about how young those involved seemed to be these days.
Riku was stuck in his head and Cloud couldn’t shake it. His fighting-admittedly-was not in its best form as he battled his way to Hercules. Just get through the qualifications, thought Cloud. Hades will help you find Sephiroth and you can finish this thing for good. Visualizing Sephiroth didn’t work either, as he kept turning into Riku. Cloud figured it had something to do with the hair.
He stood by Hades, only half-hearing him ramble about something, and watching as the kid-Sora, he learned-took his place on the battlefield. On the outside, Cloud supposed he seemed as calm and removed as ever, which was a good thing considering Hades’ presence. Inside, all Hell had just broken loose, and Riku disappeared from his thoughts for the moment.
The Key.
It was as if a thousand pieces were clicking into place as he watched Sora swing the legendary Keyblade (it was, in fact, actually real). Though the kid was far from fantastic, he had some natural talent and an innocence about him that could only fit a Keyblade Master. Squall (Leon, he reminded himself, though who would want to be Leon Leonheart in the first place) mentioned something about having to find the Keyblade Master if the Heartless were ever to be defeated.
Cloud thought it was all just a myth.
“That little punk is your next opponent, okay?” said Hades, snapping Cloud from his musings on the actual existence of the Keyblade. “Now don’t blow it. Just take him out.”
Even more pieces clicked into place. So he wasn’t just here for Hercules. Hades actually expected him to take out the Keyblade Master? Cloud almost laughed. Not likely. It wasn’t that he didn’t think he could do it, but honestly, kill the person meant to save the worlds from the darkness? Sephiroth would be a saint next to him for attempting that one.
Cloud glanced at Sora, the duck (Donald), and the dog-thing (Goofy-appropriate) as they celebrated their victory, and turned an empty stare to Hades.
“The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid? Sorry, but my contract says-“
“I know! You think I don’t know? I wrote the contract!” Hades seemed to calm a bit, for which Cloud was thankful. He had been painfully close to rolling his eyes. “I know it says you’re only required to kill Hercules in this tournament. But you’ve gotta fight that kid to get to him. Come on. Hey, its like that old goat says: Rule number eleven: It’s all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it! I mean, a casualty or two along the way is no big deal, right?”
Cloud pushed away from the wall, lifting his gaze from the ground. He almost scoffed as he crossed Hades. A casualty. So that’s how Hades was going to play this card. Torn between amusement that Hades would actually think Cloud knew nothing about Keyblades or Keyblade Masters and annoyance that Hades thought Cloud was so gullible to believe his flippant tirade, Cloud strode out to take on Sora.
~*~
When Cloud woke up, he thought several things at once: a) He’d refused to kill Sora, and Hades had sicced a giant three-headed dog on them; b) He was no longer in the Coliseum, but just outside; c) He was in a great deal of pain; and d) Riku.
He sat up, rubbing at his head as if it would tell him what had happened between the slobbering three-headed dog (hereafter referred to as The Cerberus Incident) and waking up on the steps just outside the Coliseum. Cloud supposed The Cerberus Incident was Hades’ own little way of informing Cloud that refusal to kill Sora was a breach of contract, as now he could not kill Hercules having failed to take Sora out.
Cloud stared at the ground, mulling over thoughts a through d, when a voice interrupted.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Cloud looked up to see Sora staring back at him. When did he show up?
“Yeah.”
“So, why did you go along with him anyway?”
Damn, this kid asked a lot of questions. Cloud propped his elbows on his knees, laid one hand on top of the other, touched his nose to his hands, and closed his eyes. Be vague.
“I’m looking for someone. Hades promised to help.” He straightened, standing up. “I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn’t find the light.”
“You’ll find it,” said Sora. “I’m searching, too.”
Cloud looked down to him. Who was this kid and was he always so optimistic?
“For your light?” Sora nodded. Kids really did start young these days. Walking over to Sora, he handed him a charm he’d gotten when he first started training to fight, enhancing the holder’s weapon with an attack called Sonic Blade. Hey, the kid was the Keyblade Master, after all, and his prowess wouldn’t suffer from some help. “Don’t lose sight of it.”
He passed Sora to head back into the Coliseum. May as well get the angry harangue from Hades over with so he could be properly fired.
“How about a rematch sometime?” Sora called after him. “Fair and square, no dark powers involved.”
Cloud smiled to himself for a brief second, turned his head back toward Sora, and ran his fingers through his hair. This kid was too much.
“I think I’ll pass.”
~*~
The Cerberus Incident aside, the end of his work for Hades was painless. Except for now having to find Sephiroth on his own, Cloud found he now had a lot of free time on his hands. Sephiroth could be anywhere, so he headed to Traverse Town.
After checking in with Yuffie, Cid, and Leon, he went to Aerith.
“You’ve been gone a long time,” she said. “Need a place to sleep?”
“I’d be grateful. Only for tonight, though. I’m heading off again in the morning.”
“Cloud. . .”
This would be the part where she’d bestow upon him some fantastic wisdom and insight on his current situation (re: thinking about Riku all the time even though he’d only spoken to him for a few minutes) without him ever telling her the problem. He knew she meant well and he loved her beyond words, but good intentions were overrated.
“Not tonight, Aerith. The others told me there’s been no sight of Sephiroth.”
Aerith shook her head.
“None.”
“There’s no reason for me to stay here, then.”
“I understand. If this is what you need to do, I’m behind you. You know that.”
“And you know I’ll be back.”
She nodded. “Mmm. . .I know, but will you stay?”
Cloud looked away. Not if he didn’t find Sephiroth, but he couldn’t tell her that. One awkward glance to her face and he knew he didn’t have to.
“Not tonight, Aerith.”
“Cloud?”
He turned his head to look at her this time. He hated how understanding she could be sometimes.
“When you’re lost in darkness, there’s always a little light still shining. Hold on to it. It’ll guide you through,” she said. “I know settling things with Sephiroth is something you have to do to fight your darkness. Just don’t forget all the things that bring you joy as well. That’s the key to making it through all right. And Cloud?”
“What?” he asked, a little harsher than he intended. She didn’t flinch.
“Don’t forget that you bring others joy as well.”
~*~
There seemed to be a lot of keys in his life the past few days. Keyblades actually being real. Keyblade Masters younger than Cloud when he first started fighting. Aerith’s speech on the key to finding one’s way through darkness. Now, there was a very real key in his palm to a recently vacant house Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, and Leon acquired in the Third District of Traverse Town. They hadn’t taken up residence there yet, but Cloud knew Aerith didn’t expect him back until long after they had.
When Cloud left Traverse Town that morning, he intended on heading to whatever world his Gummi Ship took him. If the key to finding your way through darkness was to follow the light, he figured the best thing to do was to follow where his un-Cloud-like tendencies pointed. He ended up in Hollow Bastion.
The town wasn’t the same as it had been growing up-wasn’t even close. Heartless swarmed everywhere. In Maleficent’s castle (or as it was now, because Cloud had a hard time thinking of it as anything but where Ansem the Wise lived), he came upon the room he’d first seen Riku, and followed the hallway, listening for a sign of movement at every door he passed. Several turns later, he opened the door to a rather large bedroom with bookshelves against the wall, a large bed, and a desk, at which one bothersome, silver-haired boy was sitting, reading.
Riku looked up, startled, and seemed even more surprised to see Cloud standing there. Cloud figured he was expecting Maleficent. Those aquamarine eyes that Cloud couldn’t shake stared at him as if unsure of what to say.
“Cloud?”
Cloud took a deep breath. He hadn’t exactly planned on what he was going to say, and even if he had, he was sure to forget it by now. So he said the first thing that came to mind.
“I’ve been thinking about you.”