Some ficlets featuring our favorite trio
Most have been posted at kh_drabble at some time or another. I apologize if I have posted any of these here before. It's been a while.
Title: Strangers
Characters: Sora & Roxas, Riku, Kairi
Rating: G
Sometimes, Sora wondered about the boy who was the other part of him. There were thoughts that crept into his mind that were not his, memories he was certain he'd never had. Emotions he couldn't explain. Disturbing moments where he felt a stranger in his own skin, waking disoriented from a half-remembered dream. He'd slept for so long, and even now there were pieces that he couldn't fit into place, things missing that shouldn't have been.
All he had was a name and a brief encounter that didn't begin to explain anything. Roxas. Golden hair and blue eyes, a face so much like his own. He'd needed Roxas to become whole, that was what Riku had said. Roxas was never meant to exist. But Sora wondered if it was right to take away the life that Roxas had, as illusory as it had been, for his own.
He was probably being stupid. After all, if he hadn't awoken, then he would not have been able to stop the Organization. Still, there were times when he looked in the mirror and was aware of someone else looking through his eyes. And he knew it was not supposed to work this way. Together, they would be whole. This duality of existence was not what anyone had expected, and neither had any say in the matter.
Maybe, eventually, he would tell Kairi and Riku.
Sora looked at his eyes in the mirror, once more. "I'm sorry," he said. Whether he meant it for Roxas, or for Riku and Kairi, he did not know.
Title: Without Words
Pairing: Sora/Riku
Rating: G
Sora stopped trying to find a word for what he and Riku had. They were best friends--that had always been, since the day he threw sand in Riku's face when he was three, and would never change--and there were times, when the storm clouds gathered outside his window and he found himself looking across the water to the island where they used to play, that he knew he wouldn't have gotten far without Riku. The boy who always seemed to know what he needed most, whether a pat on the shoulder in encouragement or a punch to say, What are you doing?
And they were once rivals, playing their games like naive island children always do, racing and swimming and laughing with Kairi cheering them on. She was still rooting for them, but in a different way now.
There were plenty of things he tried not to think about, after returning to the islands, thoughts and feelings and images that kept surfacing in his mind. But after a while he started to notice: the way his gut seemed to drop as though he was falling from the tops of the coconut trees, the way his gaze lingered, in ways it shouldn't. And what was once a clean label of "best friend" suddenly blurred to "bestfriend-rival-somethingelseentirely" Riku.
Sora was not very good with words. His comfort was in feeling, in knowing. He and Riku had always been able to understand each other with other means of communication.
So he never had to tell Riku how he felt. A look and a kiss, and Riku understood his message perfectly.
Title: Give Up the Sky
Characters: Sora
Rating: PG
It was all wrong. The dark keyblade felt insubstantial in his hands, much different than the solid, reassuring weight of the Kingdom Key. This was not a weapon meant for defense, or for heroism. Its blade was wicked and black and he could feel the will of it to cut, to kill.
It felt like Riku, and that unsettled him. If his own keyblade was used for justice and goodness, then this dark thing showed him how much Riku had fallen. For a long time, Sora hadn't wanted to believe it. He refused to see the hurt anger in his best friend's eyes, the blame and resentment that lay there. Here was the proof, in his hands.
His grip on the handle tightened. The greatest people in the world, the ones he loved so much, depended on him now. Kairi lay in sleep, her motionless body so different than her normal energy and movement. Her face was quiet and expressionless. He wanted to see her smile again, look at him with those peculiar colored eyes and tease him like she always did.
And most of all, he wanted Riku back. He wanted them to fight with wooden swords that would break if they weren't careful, and then no matter who won they'd laugh and it wouldn't mean anything.
Not like this, not with Riku and that scary look on his face that said this wasn't a game anymore.
He could handle all of it, fighting the Heartless that just kept on coming no matter how many times his keyblade tore through their shadowy bodies. He could handle his island being destroyed, not knowing what happened to his parents.
But none of it would matter if he didn't have his friends. Even though Kairi had come later, he thought of her like the sister he had never had, never caring about whether she got dirty or that playing with boys was dumb. They were three, and one couldn't exist without the others.
Now he had to save them. He would find Riku in the dark, and wake Kairi and defeat Ansem, and they would all go back home, together.
Or if that was impossible, he would at least make sure they would be all right. Perhaps Kairi could save Riku if he could not.
He smiled, looked at Donald and Goody as if to say Don't worry, you'll be fine without me, and turned the blade on his own heart.
Title: The Colors of Halloween
Characters: Naminé, Sora, Riku, Kairi
Rating: G
Yellow, brown, red, silver. There were memories in those colors. Two shades of blue, violet, sea-green. But they were not real, and as Naminé used them to form shapes on the blank pages of her memory-tablet, she felt both happy and sad at having to add those colors that didn't belong to a picture that was more real than crayons could ever create.
As Sora walked past the slate-colored buildings of Halloweentown, he suddenly remembered a night on Destiny Islands, the first time he and his friends had ever gone trick-or-treating without their parents. They had all met at Kairi's house, since hers was in the middle of all of theirs, and had to restrain their energy while they posed for pictures from the parents.
Riku got to stand in the back since he was the tallest, and he proudly showed off his cardboard sword and knight's costume and slashed at invisible monsters. Kairi was a princess dressed in pink with a plastic tiara, but when Riku said he would save her from the dragon she said she would just hit it with her shoe and run away. Sora had wanted to be a knight, but since Riku was going to be one first he settled for a pirate, and he got a sword anyway so it was okay. His mom had put some fake blood on his shirt with paint, and he scared little Naminé, who thought he had really gotten hurt. She was a little fairy, dressed in a sparkly white dress, and she waved her wand at him and said she was curing his boo-boos.
After that they walked from house to house and got lots of candy. Sometimes people would ask them to sing a song or do something funny to get candy. Riku and Sora had pretend fights with their swords, while Kairi jumped up and down and cheered for both of them and Naminé smiled nervously and peered behind her hands, worried that they would get hurt. Kairi would sing a cute little song about three little pumpkins and then curtsy at the end as though she was in a big play. Naminé was a little shy, but she was encouraged by her friends, and so, blushing just a little, she would recite a little poem she had written about a ghost that didn't have any friends but then met a family of goblins and was happy. The first time she did Sora said that her poem was too sad for trick-or-treating and she felt silly. The next few times she changed it just a little so it talked about the goblins' adventures instead.
Riku and Sora had a contest to see who could get the most candy, and Sora won but it was only because he took two handfuls one time instead of just one. Kairi said she thought Sora won, but only because Riku kept trying to scare her. Naminé kept the lollipops but gave them the rest of her candy.
They were almost back to Kairi's house when Naminé started to cry. Kairi was patting her back gently and told Sora and Riku that she'd lost her wand. Sora said he would find it and he and Riku went looking. Eventually Sora found it lying on the ground and gave it back to Naminé. She smiled and said thanks and held it tight after that. Sora said that it was a pirate's job to find treasure.
Title: Footprints in the Sand
Characters: Naminé, with Sora and Riku
Rating: G
In her dream, she sees the sky. There is laughter and motion. The sun burns her skin, and she runs to the water, its icy foam splashing around her. She tastes salt on her tongue and smells it on the light breeze. A boy's voice calls her name, and she turns to greet him. Her dress is wet, but she doesn't care. Two boys are waving to her, one with messy brown hair and eyes like a summer sky, the other with silver hair that covers his eyes, and something restless about his stance. The boys exchange a glance and start running, and as she hurries to follow them, bare feet leaving trails in the sand, she calls after them.
Don't leave me behind! she says. When they reach the hut that the three of them had built, they break out in laughter and collapse together on the sand, faces gleaming with sweat and happiness. Then the brown-haired boy looks at her, his face suddenly serious. We would never forget you, Kairi, he says. And she knows it is true.
In her dream, her name is Kairi. But then she wakes up, and it is not the sunny beautiful island she sees, but the walls of her white prison. The laughter of children has never warmed those cold halls, and she has never seen the sky. Only Sora's memories give her an escape, and she hopes that, someday, she will be able to thank him. She doesn't tell Marluxia what she sees, because he would tell her that Nobodies cannot dream. But they desire their hearts again, and isn't wishing also a kind of dream?
She turns to a fresh sheet in her notepad and begins to draw. She must capture those memories before she forgets, before she makes him forget.
Title: Home
Characters: Sora, Riku, Kairi
Rating: G
The Destiny Islands are quiet. Almost too quiet, Sora thinks, after all the places he has been to. There are no Heartless here for him to fight, only tests and beach parties and hot nights. At first, the dreams wake him, dreams where he runs while chasing shadows just out of sight.
It's hard to adjust. His mother greets him home the first day as if it hasn't really been two years. He hugs her tightly, and she smiles at his sudden display of affection, though she'll never understand how glad he is to see her again. And the weight of all that he's seen and been through is something only he, Kairi, and Riku can carry. It brings them closer together, though he feels an invisible distance between himself and everyone else they've known their entire lives.
Going back to school is strange. Sora almost would have slept in if Kairi hadn't called him. They find Riku waiting for them halfway to school, pacing restlessly.
"I needed to get out of the house," he says. Riku cut his hair: now it barely reaches his chin, and it makes him look so much older. Sora feels the anxiety himself. It's hard to sit still, after getting so used to the constant motion of traveling between worlds and searching for the keyholes. Class seems to go on forever, and the superficial concerns of ordinary teenagers are so far removed from the issues the three of them have dealt with.
After a month, he no longer wakes in a cold sweat, imaging Heartless creeping up on him as he sleeps. He no longer expects to run into an Organization member as he rounds a corner.
He's sitting with Kairi and Riku on the trunk of the paopu tree when he suddenly says, "Hey Riku, I'll race you to the other end of the island."
Riku looks up at him. The last time they said those words was an endless distance ago. There is more between them now. Their friendship is different; the knowledge of their past conflict brings them closer.
"Winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi," Riku says, and he winks at Kairi. She laughs and punches him in the shoulder.
"I'll be the judge," she says, and they all go to their makeshift starting line. "On your mark--"
Life is simple and sweet.
Bonus Fics:
Title: Mistaken
Pairing: Riku/Roxas, Riku/Sora
Rating: PG-13
Timeline: Beginning of KH2
Summary: As the world crumbles away, Roxas and Riku are brought together.
Link: @ Archive of Our Own
Title: Shades of Red
Pairing: Riku/Kairi
Rating: PG
Timeline: Beginning of KH1.
Summary: The horizon you can never reach.
Link: @ Archive of Our Own
Title: Strangers
Characters: Sora & Roxas, Riku, Kairi
Rating: G
Sometimes, Sora wondered about the boy who was the other part of him. There were thoughts that crept into his mind that were not his, memories he was certain he'd never had. Emotions he couldn't explain. Disturbing moments where he felt a stranger in his own skin, waking disoriented from a half-remembered dream. He'd slept for so long, and even now there were pieces that he couldn't fit into place, things missing that shouldn't have been.
All he had was a name and a brief encounter that didn't begin to explain anything. Roxas. Golden hair and blue eyes, a face so much like his own. He'd needed Roxas to become whole, that was what Riku had said. Roxas was never meant to exist. But Sora wondered if it was right to take away the life that Roxas had, as illusory as it had been, for his own.
He was probably being stupid. After all, if he hadn't awoken, then he would not have been able to stop the Organization. Still, there were times when he looked in the mirror and was aware of someone else looking through his eyes. And he knew it was not supposed to work this way. Together, they would be whole. This duality of existence was not what anyone had expected, and neither had any say in the matter.
Maybe, eventually, he would tell Kairi and Riku.
Sora looked at his eyes in the mirror, once more. "I'm sorry," he said. Whether he meant it for Roxas, or for Riku and Kairi, he did not know.
Title: Without Words
Pairing: Sora/Riku
Rating: G
Sora stopped trying to find a word for what he and Riku had. They were best friends--that had always been, since the day he threw sand in Riku's face when he was three, and would never change--and there were times, when the storm clouds gathered outside his window and he found himself looking across the water to the island where they used to play, that he knew he wouldn't have gotten far without Riku. The boy who always seemed to know what he needed most, whether a pat on the shoulder in encouragement or a punch to say, What are you doing?
And they were once rivals, playing their games like naive island children always do, racing and swimming and laughing with Kairi cheering them on. She was still rooting for them, but in a different way now.
There were plenty of things he tried not to think about, after returning to the islands, thoughts and feelings and images that kept surfacing in his mind. But after a while he started to notice: the way his gut seemed to drop as though he was falling from the tops of the coconut trees, the way his gaze lingered, in ways it shouldn't. And what was once a clean label of "best friend" suddenly blurred to "bestfriend-rival-somethingelseentirely" Riku.
Sora was not very good with words. His comfort was in feeling, in knowing. He and Riku had always been able to understand each other with other means of communication.
So he never had to tell Riku how he felt. A look and a kiss, and Riku understood his message perfectly.
Title: Give Up the Sky
Characters: Sora
Rating: PG
It was all wrong. The dark keyblade felt insubstantial in his hands, much different than the solid, reassuring weight of the Kingdom Key. This was not a weapon meant for defense, or for heroism. Its blade was wicked and black and he could feel the will of it to cut, to kill.
It felt like Riku, and that unsettled him. If his own keyblade was used for justice and goodness, then this dark thing showed him how much Riku had fallen. For a long time, Sora hadn't wanted to believe it. He refused to see the hurt anger in his best friend's eyes, the blame and resentment that lay there. Here was the proof, in his hands.
His grip on the handle tightened. The greatest people in the world, the ones he loved so much, depended on him now. Kairi lay in sleep, her motionless body so different than her normal energy and movement. Her face was quiet and expressionless. He wanted to see her smile again, look at him with those peculiar colored eyes and tease him like she always did.
And most of all, he wanted Riku back. He wanted them to fight with wooden swords that would break if they weren't careful, and then no matter who won they'd laugh and it wouldn't mean anything.
Not like this, not with Riku and that scary look on his face that said this wasn't a game anymore.
He could handle all of it, fighting the Heartless that just kept on coming no matter how many times his keyblade tore through their shadowy bodies. He could handle his island being destroyed, not knowing what happened to his parents.
But none of it would matter if he didn't have his friends. Even though Kairi had come later, he thought of her like the sister he had never had, never caring about whether she got dirty or that playing with boys was dumb. They were three, and one couldn't exist without the others.
Now he had to save them. He would find Riku in the dark, and wake Kairi and defeat Ansem, and they would all go back home, together.
Or if that was impossible, he would at least make sure they would be all right. Perhaps Kairi could save Riku if he could not.
He smiled, looked at Donald and Goody as if to say Don't worry, you'll be fine without me, and turned the blade on his own heart.
Title: The Colors of Halloween
Characters: Naminé, Sora, Riku, Kairi
Rating: G
Yellow, brown, red, silver. There were memories in those colors. Two shades of blue, violet, sea-green. But they were not real, and as Naminé used them to form shapes on the blank pages of her memory-tablet, she felt both happy and sad at having to add those colors that didn't belong to a picture that was more real than crayons could ever create.
As Sora walked past the slate-colored buildings of Halloweentown, he suddenly remembered a night on Destiny Islands, the first time he and his friends had ever gone trick-or-treating without their parents. They had all met at Kairi's house, since hers was in the middle of all of theirs, and had to restrain their energy while they posed for pictures from the parents.
Riku got to stand in the back since he was the tallest, and he proudly showed off his cardboard sword and knight's costume and slashed at invisible monsters. Kairi was a princess dressed in pink with a plastic tiara, but when Riku said he would save her from the dragon she said she would just hit it with her shoe and run away. Sora had wanted to be a knight, but since Riku was going to be one first he settled for a pirate, and he got a sword anyway so it was okay. His mom had put some fake blood on his shirt with paint, and he scared little Naminé, who thought he had really gotten hurt. She was a little fairy, dressed in a sparkly white dress, and she waved her wand at him and said she was curing his boo-boos.
After that they walked from house to house and got lots of candy. Sometimes people would ask them to sing a song or do something funny to get candy. Riku and Sora had pretend fights with their swords, while Kairi jumped up and down and cheered for both of them and Naminé smiled nervously and peered behind her hands, worried that they would get hurt. Kairi would sing a cute little song about three little pumpkins and then curtsy at the end as though she was in a big play. Naminé was a little shy, but she was encouraged by her friends, and so, blushing just a little, she would recite a little poem she had written about a ghost that didn't have any friends but then met a family of goblins and was happy. The first time she did Sora said that her poem was too sad for trick-or-treating and she felt silly. The next few times she changed it just a little so it talked about the goblins' adventures instead.
Riku and Sora had a contest to see who could get the most candy, and Sora won but it was only because he took two handfuls one time instead of just one. Kairi said she thought Sora won, but only because Riku kept trying to scare her. Naminé kept the lollipops but gave them the rest of her candy.
They were almost back to Kairi's house when Naminé started to cry. Kairi was patting her back gently and told Sora and Riku that she'd lost her wand. Sora said he would find it and he and Riku went looking. Eventually Sora found it lying on the ground and gave it back to Naminé. She smiled and said thanks and held it tight after that. Sora said that it was a pirate's job to find treasure.
Title: Footprints in the Sand
Characters: Naminé, with Sora and Riku
Rating: G
In her dream, she sees the sky. There is laughter and motion. The sun burns her skin, and she runs to the water, its icy foam splashing around her. She tastes salt on her tongue and smells it on the light breeze. A boy's voice calls her name, and she turns to greet him. Her dress is wet, but she doesn't care. Two boys are waving to her, one with messy brown hair and eyes like a summer sky, the other with silver hair that covers his eyes, and something restless about his stance. The boys exchange a glance and start running, and as she hurries to follow them, bare feet leaving trails in the sand, she calls after them.
Don't leave me behind! she says. When they reach the hut that the three of them had built, they break out in laughter and collapse together on the sand, faces gleaming with sweat and happiness. Then the brown-haired boy looks at her, his face suddenly serious. We would never forget you, Kairi, he says. And she knows it is true.
In her dream, her name is Kairi. But then she wakes up, and it is not the sunny beautiful island she sees, but the walls of her white prison. The laughter of children has never warmed those cold halls, and she has never seen the sky. Only Sora's memories give her an escape, and she hopes that, someday, she will be able to thank him. She doesn't tell Marluxia what she sees, because he would tell her that Nobodies cannot dream. But they desire their hearts again, and isn't wishing also a kind of dream?
She turns to a fresh sheet in her notepad and begins to draw. She must capture those memories before she forgets, before she makes him forget.
Title: Home
Characters: Sora, Riku, Kairi
Rating: G
The Destiny Islands are quiet. Almost too quiet, Sora thinks, after all the places he has been to. There are no Heartless here for him to fight, only tests and beach parties and hot nights. At first, the dreams wake him, dreams where he runs while chasing shadows just out of sight.
It's hard to adjust. His mother greets him home the first day as if it hasn't really been two years. He hugs her tightly, and she smiles at his sudden display of affection, though she'll never understand how glad he is to see her again. And the weight of all that he's seen and been through is something only he, Kairi, and Riku can carry. It brings them closer together, though he feels an invisible distance between himself and everyone else they've known their entire lives.
Going back to school is strange. Sora almost would have slept in if Kairi hadn't called him. They find Riku waiting for them halfway to school, pacing restlessly.
"I needed to get out of the house," he says. Riku cut his hair: now it barely reaches his chin, and it makes him look so much older. Sora feels the anxiety himself. It's hard to sit still, after getting so used to the constant motion of traveling between worlds and searching for the keyholes. Class seems to go on forever, and the superficial concerns of ordinary teenagers are so far removed from the issues the three of them have dealt with.
After a month, he no longer wakes in a cold sweat, imaging Heartless creeping up on him as he sleeps. He no longer expects to run into an Organization member as he rounds a corner.
He's sitting with Kairi and Riku on the trunk of the paopu tree when he suddenly says, "Hey Riku, I'll race you to the other end of the island."
Riku looks up at him. The last time they said those words was an endless distance ago. There is more between them now. Their friendship is different; the knowledge of their past conflict brings them closer.
"Winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi," Riku says, and he winks at Kairi. She laughs and punches him in the shoulder.
"I'll be the judge," she says, and they all go to their makeshift starting line. "On your mark--"
Life is simple and sweet.
Bonus Fics:
Title: Mistaken
Pairing: Riku/Roxas, Riku/Sora
Rating: PG-13
Timeline: Beginning of KH2
Summary: As the world crumbles away, Roxas and Riku are brought together.
Link: @ Archive of Our Own
Title: Shades of Red
Pairing: Riku/Kairi
Rating: PG
Timeline: Beginning of KH1.
Summary: The horizon you can never reach.
Link: @ Archive of Our Own