Bngngrng! +SoRiKai<3
It was storming again, lightning crackling against the sky and meteors and falling stars leaving trails of light across the darkness. Riku looked out the window. New people were going to arrive. They always did, after this kind of storm. Troubled, he pressed his forehead against the cool glass. There’d be lots of work to do tomorrow. No doubt this was going to set back the rebuilding - there was bound to be something knocked over or blown down, and combining that with settling in the new people…yes, tomorrow would be difficult.
His fist clenched against his leg. They’d defeated most of the bad guys, they’d met back up, they were helping rebuild the town - so why did it still feel like they were losing? He screwed his eyes shut, forcing back the thoughts from his mind. A soft cough interrupted his musing, and his head snapped up to reveal Kairi at the doorway, lit in intervals by the flashing lights outside. Taking his silence as an invitation, she stepped in, hand twisting round the hem of her dress in a way that was both familiar and yet seemed to be from years ago.
She’d always hated storms, he remembered - she’d turn up at his door, or Sora’s, twisting her hands round the hem of her dress, and then they’d huddle under the covers together, because Sora hated storms too, not that he’d admit it for fear of being accused as a coward, and Riku didn’t mind storms, but he liked being next to his best friends, the closest thing he had to family, and listening to them breathing, feeling like he could protect them. Silently, he gave a bitter inner laugh. Protect them. yeah, right, he did such a good job of that in the end.
But this was a chance to do things again, right? He could fix things, he was fixing things. So as Kairi stepped in, and Sora peeped out from behind the door, he smiled, sitting on the bed and patting the covers. Some things were different now - Kairi was curves and muscle, not awkward gangly legs and too-big sandals, Sora’s hair was brighter, skin darker and he had seen too much too fast, and his life had been royally screwed over, and Riku had been to the depths of hell and back, almost literally, but some stuff still stayed the same.
And as Kairi nestled into his side, clutching at his nightshirt, head buried in his chest, and Sora clutched them both like he was drowning and they were a liferaft, arm curled round Kairi’s waist and his head buried in the nook of Riku’s shoulder, he allowed a small smile. He’d definitely protect them this time.
---
When morning came, the trio headed downstairs, fuzzy-headed and bleary. Aeris smiled, motherly, giving them all coffee, straightening out any clothes that were back-to-front (Sora), buttoned up wrong (Riku) or not zipped up right (Kairi), and pushed them out the door. Leon stood there waiting, Cloud hovering in the background. Weird, Cloud didn’t usually help out-ah, Tifa was helping today - she’d probably bullied him into it.
Some things changed, and some things stayed the same.
Whether life stayed like this or not, they were tied together now.