[One-Shot] Seeking Solace
Title: Seeking Solace
Author: kryss_delrhei
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Type: Video Game
Characters/Pairing: Riku/Sora, Namine
Word Count: 1,028
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: Love isn't some storybook fairytale, it's just shown in a different way than you would think.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts 2 nor the characters, just borrowing them from Square-Enix for a little while.
Author's Notes: A very old piece. Polished and put on display.
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Riku stood in the silence of the basement room in the old Mansion, the hum of machines the only thing to break the calm. He felt so isolated in the white expanse. The skin on his arms, though covered in the black material of the coat, was raised with goose flesh. The charms on his coat jingled together as he shifted his body weight from one foot to the other.
It had been so long since he saw the boy that slumbered right in front of him, encased in the capsule that was frosted over. He couldn’t explain how much he wanted to hear him laugh. Or to see those deep blue eyes that reminded him so much of the sky.
Riku couldn’t explain why he was there every day. He just knew he had to be, just in case the Organization decided that they’ll come after him. Because for some reason, everyone knew about the keyblader stuffed away in cold storage. That was, of course, the ones that wanted to hurt him.
Riku fisted his hand around a piece of material.
He’d taken it off, so that he could see Sora, not caring at the moment that the darkness in his heart might try to take control over him.
“Riku?” Naminé's quiet voice spoke softly as the door opened into the white room.
“I'm about to leave.” He whispered, not really wanting to talk any louder for fear of waking his best friend, though he knew that Sora wouldn't wake up until Naminé was finished reconstructing his memories.
The boy thought about how long it had been so far, since Sora had chosen to go to sleep. Six months, maybe, or was it longer?
Wishing was something that kept him in contact with people and hope was the thing that probably kept drawing him back down here every day. The room was empty and cold, completely something opposite of what Sora would enjoy. Riku knew him too well, maybe that’s why his heart ached with sudden loneliness.
Why was his best friend not here with him?
Cause of destiny? The fact that the witch ripped his memories apart on account of her orders? Because he was the keyblader, chosen precisely by the keyblade? Or was it because there just wasn’t any darkness in his heart?
His train of thought kept going until it came to a dead halt when the witch touched his arm. Riku turned his head so that he could glance down at her. Her blue eyes were so familiar that he had to look away. He missed the islands so much, and seeing Naminé reminded him of Kairi.
He couldn’t help the tremble of anger that ran up his spine at the thought of nobodies. It was his fault that his best friend and Kairi had ended up with them. If he hadn’t been so selfish this whole thing wouldn’t have started.
Riku gritted his teeth and leaned forward, pressing his palm against the capsule. Sora’s young face, barely visible through the frost, looked so peaceful as he slumbered unaware. At seeing the boy sleeping, fury rose up, eating away at him as he bowed his head, one hand clutching at his chest, the charms jingling together.
Naminé gasped and touched his arm, her gentle fingers clutching his elbow, “Riku? What’s wrong?”
“Shut up!” Riku snarled, unable to contain the anger any longer, “Don’t act like you know me!”
She took a step back, hands clasped to her chest as looked away, “You’re right.” She gave a half-hearted smile that seemed so sad on the inside, which only made Riku’s heart throb in pain all the more.
He took a step forward, unsure of what he should do as he sighed. Riku turned away from her, his eyes closed as he rested his forehead on the frozen capsule. His fisted hand opened, letting the black blindfold fall to the floor, “Please… Just leave,” he whispered on a shaky breath, the pain in his chest too overwhelming.
Naminé nodded, glancing away as she bowed quickly, hurrying to leave as fast as she could.
Riku sighed miserably once she was gone, the door almost slamming shut in her wake. He rested his cheek on the cold surface of the capsule, palms spread near his head as he swallowed, his throat sore, tongue fuzzy and heavy.
“Wake up…” he whispered, clenching his eyes shut, hoping that somewhere inside the capsule the slumbering Sora would hear his pathetic pleas. “Wake up…”
His throat tightened almost closing up as the sting of tears started to overwhelm his vision, “Why?” He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the cold surface, the noise reverberating through the room, “I need you!”
Riku snarled and punched at the capsule again, over and over. Continuously taking out his anger-or was it is inability to do the right thing? Why couldn’t he have just let things have been the same? Why did he always have to complicate the matter?
The boy punched at the capsule, his strength fleeting as he dropped to his knees, his hand throbbing in pain… just like the empty hole in his chest that he’d made himself.
“Sora…what if…” He tilted his head back, the tears freely streaming down his cheeks as he swallowed ragged breaths. His voice was empty, hollow, as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see his best friend so peaceful.
It was too much, to be in that room, day in and day out. Too much emotion jaded his heart as he was given time to contemplate his actions over the past months since they’d left the island. The darkness inside of him wanted Sora to rot, never wanting to see his face again.
It was hard sometimes to quiet the voice that rang out in his mind. And sometimes he believed that to be his true self, but Naminé and DiZ wouldn’t let him. Riku swallowed back the raw emotion that ate away at his heart, something he didn’t suppose he had on occasions.
“What if… you never wake up?” Riku whispered to the capsule.
His only answer was the hum of machines.