Turning on the Light
More mopey Riku under the cut.
Riku stays cooped up in his house for two weeks after they get back. He says he’s busy, adjusting to life and attending to long-overdue tasks that have piled up in his extended absence.
Two years ago Sora might have fallen for it. Now, though, Sora is a young man that has been through more than most people manage in a lifetime. He shows up at Riku’s door one night, Kairi right behind him, and Riku finds himself caught red-handed.
So much light flows out of their veins that in the dark it could be blinding. How can he tell them he is afraid? Frightened of what people will think of him now, after what reaching out for power did to this tiny place? So many worlds would have been better off but for him darkening their doorsteps.
Kairi smiles and he can find no darkness hiding behind her teeth. She has lit a candle and keeps it cupped close to her, illuminating her face. It’s safe there. Sora is radiating a light all his own, half something and half nothing at all. Neither of them says a word.
Riku realizes that they have grown up without him and feels young and foolish by comparison. Once upon a time he had been the one to protect them from the monsters that came out at night - now he’s afraid of what his own shadow looks like.
They stare at him with hearts and hands and eyes so bright, so full of light and love and everything good in this world - in all the worlds. There are stars far away peering up into the night and drinking in the glow that can only come from hearts like theirs.
So Riku takes a breath and invites them in.
Riku stays cooped up in his house for two weeks after they get back. He says he’s busy, adjusting to life and attending to long-overdue tasks that have piled up in his extended absence.
Two years ago Sora might have fallen for it. Now, though, Sora is a young man that has been through more than most people manage in a lifetime. He shows up at Riku’s door one night, Kairi right behind him, and Riku finds himself caught red-handed.
So much light flows out of their veins that in the dark it could be blinding. How can he tell them he is afraid? Frightened of what people will think of him now, after what reaching out for power did to this tiny place? So many worlds would have been better off but for him darkening their doorsteps.
Kairi smiles and he can find no darkness hiding behind her teeth. She has lit a candle and keeps it cupped close to her, illuminating her face. It’s safe there. Sora is radiating a light all his own, half something and half nothing at all. Neither of them says a word.
Riku realizes that they have grown up without him and feels young and foolish by comparison. Once upon a time he had been the one to protect them from the monsters that came out at night - now he’s afraid of what his own shadow looks like.
They stare at him with hearts and hands and eyes so bright, so full of light and love and everything good in this world - in all the worlds. There are stars far away peering up into the night and drinking in the glow that can only come from hearts like theirs.
So Riku takes a breath and invites them in.