[team one] Books of Prophecy (and cake)
Something I started writing for day 7 of sorikuweek (crossover (with good omens)) ~ 1300 words of (g-rated) Sora and Riku trying to sneak into a ~mysterious ~bookshop owned by an Angel and his demon maybe sora boyfriend.
“You think I can? I’ll try…” Riku frowned as he eyed the keyhole. Sure his key unlocked doors but…
This whole bookshop felt off.
“Of course!” Sora offered a grin in response.
“You just don’t want to be caught breaking and entering,” Riku summoned his blade anyway.
“It’s not breaking and entering!” Sora insisted. “We’re not breaking anything! We’re keyblade-ing and entering.”
“I somehow don’t think the owner will see it that way.” Riku touched the door again. It still felt.. Off. Not Darkness, not Light but still powerful in its own way. “Why don’t we wait for opening hours?”
“You already admitted you couldn’t make heads nor tails of this shop's hours.” Sora studied the paper taped to the door, the hours of operation written in elegant, but badly cramped handwriting. Riku didn’t want to admit that he got a headache halfway through, only deciding that the shop wasn’t open on Tuesdays.
Or maybe Tuesday was the only day the shop was open.
“Besides, we just need to dip in, grab the book of prophecy in there, and get out,” Sora argued. “They’ll never know we were there. Or maybe it’s abandoned!”
“I doubt it.”
Still, the street was completely empty, and Riku had a distinct impression that the bookshop itself was pushing people away.
But, with a bit of concentration and a flick of his wrist, the door clicked open easily.
“And you’re sure it’s here?”
Sora rubbed his chest, right over his heart. “Yep. It’s… calling out to me. A bit.”
“Right.”
The shop was dark as they entered and smelled damp. Like the shack back on their island. Strange for a bookshop. Especially one that just felt… old.
Riku was reminded of the library in Radiant Garden before it was fully restored. Lots of old texts but no organization to them. And the same sort of moldery smell.
“C’mon,” Sora said, “I think it’s this way.”
Riku swallowed around his suddenly dry throat but nodded. Didn’t Sora feel it too? That distinct presence in the air? The one that said “my dear, only bad things happen here so maybe you should go back. There’s a lovely cafe around the corner with delicious hot chocolate.”
But Sora pressed on, urged by his oath to find it- Invi’s book of prophecy.
The enigma that is the Master of Masters somehow made them both promise to find all the books of prophecy. Apparently, it was important to the fate of all worlds. Or something.
In a reversal of the norm, Riku was under a cursed sleep at the time Sora struck the deal on his behalf. So the details are a bit hazy.
As is the exact event that allowed him to wake up.
“Well, I suppose the quicker we do this, the quicker we’ll be done.”
“That’s the spirit!”
So they began the search While Sora’s ‘feeling’ led him to the bookstore, it wasn’t any more specific than that. So it took time. Especially since the books were so disorganized Riku figured only the bookshop owner would ever make sense of it.
Time that they, unfortunately, didn’t have.
A car screeched to a stop outside, the headlights causing sharp shadows to dance across the bookshelves. Riku held his breath, and Sora pressed closer to him.
“Maybe it’s just a neighbor,” Sora whispered in hope.
Then the front doors burst open, voices echoing over the threshold. “Angel, I’m telling you, they just don’t make 'em like they used to!”
The voice belonged to a tall, thin man. It was still too dark to make out much more than that, but Riku could smell the smoke and dirt scent he associated with darkness and he held Sora a little tighter.
“It wasn’t bad, my dear,” another voice interrupted. “It was just… well…”
“Terrible.”
The other voice hummed in response as a shorter figure closed the door, locking it behind them. The taller man snapped his fingers and several lamps turned on. Riku groaned quietly and pulled Sora deeper into the shadows.
The shorter figure lingered at the door. “Crowley?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you miracle the door open?”
The taller man - Crowley - turned back to the door. “No. I thought you did.”
“Ahh.” The shorter man looked perplexed for a moment. Then the two men shared a look.
Between one blink and the next, the taller man vanished.
“Hello.”
Riku jerked as the voice came right behind him. Braveheart came to his hand in a flash of light, and he swung widely.
“Woah, there!”
There was the sound of fingers snapping before Bravehard flew out of Riku’s hand. Startled, Riku shifted backwards but his foot caught on Sora’s and sent them both tumbling to the ground. Sora groaned as Riku’s weight landed fully on top of him.
“If you’re trying to lurk,” the taller man drawled, stepping out from the shadows. His hair was a shade of red that was thankfully darker than Lea’s, if only slightly. His eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses, that seemed very out of place at night in a bookshop. “You’re doing it all wrong. You gotta pace yourself with that. Though I like the magic trick with the giant car key.”
“It’s a keyblade,” Sora protested, though his voice was muffled from where he was buried under Riku. Riku groaned and rolled over to allow Sora to sit up.
“Now, Crowley,” the shorter man hung his coat up on a coat rack Riku wasn’t sure was there a moment earlier. “No need to frighten them so.”
“Angel, I think we need to have a discussion again about what to do when you catch burglars.”
Riku honestly couldn’t tell if ‘Angel’ was the man’s name or an endearment.
“Those young men came back later for more cake!” the Angel protested. “I consider that a win.”
“Ehh, sure.”
“Now, why don’t you two have a seat and we can talk about your attempted burglary.” The man motioned to two chairs that Riku was certain hadn’t been there earlier.
“We weren’t going to steal anything!” Sora protested. “We, uh… were going to buy it?”
“Oof, that’s even worse,” Crowley muttered stepping around both of them to lean against a table nearby. “In this bookshop, you’re probably better off trying to steal from Aziraphale here.”
“Don’t tempt them with any ideas. The shorter man, whose name must have been Aziraphale, patted Crowley on the shoulder fondly. “You wily snake.”
The taller man grinned like he had won some secret competition.
“We’re just looking for something.” Riku tried to explain. “It’s a rather special book.”
“It’s a book of prophecies” Sora added.
“Oh?” This truly grabbed Aziraphale’s attention. Even Crowley stood a little straighter.
“Well,” Aziraphale snapped his fingers. Instantly, a coffee table appeared between them, complete with four plates, forks, and a fully decorated cake on a white cake stand. “We might as well get comfortable as you explain what’s so special about this book that it compelled you to break into my bookshop.”
“We technically weren’t breaking!” Sora protested.
“We, uh, keyblade…ded it.” Riku was not as natural at making verbs out of nouns as Sora was. “That is-”
Riku flicked his wrist once more. Braveheart came easily, though Riku sensed it was none too pleased at being flung out of his hand seconds earlier. Sora made his own gesture, and his Kingdom Key came into view. Riku would have worried about world order, but, well…
He got a distinct impression that making coffee tables and cakes appear wasn’t exactly the norm here.
“Well, that… a certainly a thing.” Crowley drawled, collapsing on the chair in a manner that couldn’t only very generously be described as sitting.
“Yes,” Aziraphale agreed. “But, before we talk of books of prophecy and, uh, keyblades? As it were… I must ask a very important question.”
Riku nodded and Sora leaned in.
Aziraphale smiled broadly. “Who wants cake?”
knittenkitten your line is "Who wants cake?"