[09.] Old Life, New Life
Title: Old Life, New Life
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Claim: Cloud/Riku
Theme: [09.] Old
Word Count: 3,356
Rating: R/M
Summary: Some things can never be the way they used to be.
Disclaimer: Throughout these nine little prompts, I did not acquire any rights to Kingdom Hearts. I do not foresee acquiring the rights to Kingdom Hearts any time in the future. All I have is my little PS2, a cat that’s pawing at me as I type and threatens to lay on my keyboard again, and an unheated attic bedroom that’s failing to keep me warm. Obviously, I am making no money off this trifle of a story. (I could write a very professional disclaimer, but alas, I am too lazy for that).
Author’s Note: So I’ve been planning on writing Riku’s side of the Kingdom Hearts series as a very long one-sided Soriku. Cloud/Riku was going to be a little side story in it. Alas, I took all those ideas, threw them into this, and now will have to write Riku’s story entirely differently. I’m looking forward to that challenge. However, I suppose this all worked out. Now I can keep the Soriku and the Cloud/Riku stories in my head as separate pieces of fiction as well. I have no one but Kingdom100 to thank (or curse, lol) for that.
Riku felt fake.
Weary, weathered, old, and just fake.
The darkness, he supposed, was getting to him.
When Riku woke up aboard the Jolly Roger, he rolled over in bed and silently begged for it all to be a dream. Kairi wasn’t comatose. She was at home in her bed where she belonged. Sora wasn’t off fighting the Heartless and the arrogant little Keyblade Master. He, too, was at home, safe and sound. The sound of the water slapping against the Jolly Roger was actually Destiny Islands-ocean waves to which Riku, living close to the shoreline, had woken to his entire life.
Of course, when he opened his eyes, that illusion slipped out of grasp.
It wasn’t a day of school, homework, and his paopu tree in front of him; he was going to Monstro to investigate Pinocchio.
Puppets with hearts. Riku almost laughed. How could a puppet have a heart when Kairi had lost hers, and Riku felt his slipping away every second that Destiny Islands become a more distant memory?
Riku spent little time washing and dressing. He felt tired and achy. Every muscle in his body felt knotted and then stretched thin, threatening to snap. Misery clouded him, and Riku waited for the sting behind his eyes that never came.
Why had he been so foolish, so fearless? He wished more than anything he could go back and not open that door. If he’d known what would happen when he did, where he would go, and what awaited his friends, he’d have gone straight home. He wanted his old life back. The only thing good in this new one was Cloud, and though Riku was thrilled at finding someone to love, he would gladly sacrifice his own happiness for things to be the way they used to be.
Riku held out one hand and opened a darkness portal. He looked to Kairi, laying lifeless in Captain Hook’s cabin, and dropped his head in shame. Without another glance, he entered the portal.
~*~
The whale had some serious anatomy issues. Riku never claimed to be an expert on whale anatomy, nor to really know anything about where internal organs belonged in a whale, but as Riku wandered Monstro’s interior, he got the distinct feeling that the inside of a whale was not supposed to be arranged the way this whale was. Then again, people shouldn’t be able to survive being swallowed by whales, either, and if they did, they weren’t supposed to encounter Heartless when it happened.
Of course, there was also that problem where whales weren’t supposed to be this large or appear amongst the worlds out of nowhere.
As Riku contemplated whale anatomy, his eyes landed on a little boy also wandering the interior. Wait-not a little boy . . . a puppet.
Best to be nonchalant.
“Hey,” said Riku.
“Huh?” said Pinocchio, looking around, his wooden eyes falling on Riku. “Oh! Hi!”
“Hi, I’m Riku.”
“I’m Pinocchio! Did you get swallowed by the whale, too?”
“Yeah, and I’m . . .”
How did you get close enough to a puppet to study their heart?
“I’m pretty bored,” said Riku. “You know of anything to do around here?”
“No. There’s no one else here. Do you wanna play with me?”
Play? That sounded appropriate.
“Sure. What do you want to play?”
“What games do you know?”
Riku looked around Monstro. There weren’t a whole lot of options.
“How about Hide and Seek? I used to play that all the time.”
Pinocchio’s eyes lit up.
“Yeah!”
“Okay, then. You hide, and I’ll seek.”
As a kid, Riku always hated being the seeker. There was something so much more enjoyable about hiding. Unfortunately, he’d always found it a little too fun, and ended up giggling until someone found him. The closer the seeker drew, the louder Riku had laughed, and he always seemed to get found first. Sora, however, could stay hidden for weeks.
Pinocchio, it appeared, also found joy in hiding, and went running off the second Riku turned his back to count to one-hundred.
Riku sought and found Pinocchio three times (Pinocchio and Riku, it appeared, were equally matched at hiding), and was about to set out a fourth time when he saw Pinocchio rush into the room.
“What are you doing? Come on, let’s go back.”
Sora.
Riku almost laughed. Sora and company got sucked into the whale, too.
“You know, Geppetto’s awfully worried about you,” said Goofy. Pinocchio didn’t get any closer. Riku didn’t blame him. He’d be damn near running from that dog-thing.
“Pinocchio, stop fooling around. This is no time for games,” said Sora, snapping at the puppet. He, Donald, and Goofy turned to walk away.
The annoyance and hate reignited. Damn, Sora had become such an effing brat. Two could play this game.
“But, Sora, I thought you liked games.” Sora turned around locked eyes with him. “Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?”
“Riku! Wh-what are you doing here?”
Witnessing your bratty behavior.
“Just playing with Pinocchio.”
“You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?”
Yeah, you little snot, and it wasn’t that hard, either. I just swallowed my pride and wasn’t too arrogant to ask for help.
“Maybe. Catch us and maybe I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Come on!”
Riku grabbed Pinocchio and dragged him away.
“Where are we going?” asked Pinocchio.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you know him, too?”
“Sora? You know Sora?”
“I met him once.”
“Sora used to be my friend.”
“Oh. Can we still play?”
“Yeah, but we’re playing with Sora right now, too, so why don’t you go hide real good, okay, and I’ll come find you.”
“Okay!”
Riku didn’t really intend to look for Pinocchio. There were bigger fish (no pun intended) to fry. He hadn’t even said hello. Hadn’t even asked how he’d been. The old Sora was his friend; this Sora didn’t even give a damn about his new life.
If Sora was too good to give a shit, then Riku wouldn’t bother to care. Let’s see how much he liked that.
As Riku wandered the inner chambers of Monstro, turning this Sora thing over his head, a dark portal appeared before him, and along with it, Maleficent. For crissakes, was she stalking him, or did she just have the worst timing ever?
“You saw the ledgers?”
“I came to investigate Pinocchio,” said Riku. “There’s something wrong with Kairi.”
“Is there? Would you like me to come aboard the Jolly Roger and take a look at her?”
“Really?” Maleficent nodded. Relief washed over him. If anyone could tell him just how bad off Kairi was, it was Maleficent. “That would be great, but later, okay? I still need to learn how Pinocchio works. Besides, Sora’s here, and I have some business to handle with him.”
Riku turned to walk away.
“Why do you still care about that boy? He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all.”
“I don’t care about him. I was just messing with him a little.”
“Oh, really? Of course you were. Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.”
“Mind your own business.”
Maleficent disappeared back into the dark portal. Bitch. How dare she accuse him of allowing his heart to fall into the darkness? He was playing with Sora for being such a brat. He didn’t care, and if he did, he certainly wouldn’t let his anger towards Sora eat away his heart. Sora wasn’t that important.
Things weren’t the way they used to be, and as much as Riku wished he could go back to his old life, it wasn’t going to happen.
Commotion broke him of his thoughts and he turned to find Pinocchio race into the room, followed by Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Pinocchio ran past Riku and straight through to the next chamber. Why did they have to instigate that damn puppet? He was only a child, after all.
“Riku! What’s the matter with you?” said Sora. “What are you thinking? Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”
What? Riku was just standing there. What was Sora doing?
“I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?”
“I do.”
Pinocchio’s screaming caught their attention; all four turned to look toward the chamber Pinocchio disappeared into. They ran through to find a large Heartless contraption, Pinocchio captured within its cage. This puppet was a lot of trouble.
“You up for this,” said Riku, drawing his crappy wooden sword. His fingers hardly touched the hilt before it turned into a proper weapon.
“No problem,” said Sora, drawing his Keyblade. “Let’s do it.”
Riku couldn’t help but laugh for a second. Sora looked so ridiculous with that serious look on his face, holding that gigantic Keyblade. This wasn’t the time for contemplating these sorts of things, though, and Riku prepared for battle.
~*~
Once the Heartless was defeated, its cage door opened and spit Pinocchio down into a hole in the floor. Riku jumped after. He hadn’t come all this way to lose Pinocchio; this was about Kairi. Riku found Pinocchio lying on the floor, passed out. He picked him up and made his way out of the room with the puppet. Footsteps behind him signaled Sora and others were following, but he couldn’t be bothered with that right now. He had to figure out how Pinocchio worked so he could get out of here and back to Kairi.
“Pinocchio! Pinocchio!”
That must have been Pinocchio’s father, Geppetto, down there on that boat. Riku paused. He didn’t want to be an asshole or anything, but he really needed to save Kairi, and Geppetto was just going to have to wait for Riku to figure out what he needed to know. Pinocchio would be okay; Kairi might not.
“Please! Give me back my son!”
“Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet.”
“He’s no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!”
Actually, Pinocchio was a puppet, little boy or not, but maybe it was best to level with the man.
“He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I’m not sure, but maybe he can help someone who’s lost theirs.”
“Wait a minute,” said Sora. When did he catch up? “Are you talking about Kairi?”
Riku sneered. He’d have known sooner if he’d even attempted to find her or actually asked Riku what had been going on, but Sora was too wrapped up in his own little Keyblade master glory to bother with such trivial matters.
“What do you care about her?”
He wasn’t going to hang around here and listen to Sora’s blathering. Riku was sure to receive a verbal beating for that comment, and Sora was so egotistical these days, Riku doubted anything he said would make Sora realize how badly he was behaving. He walked away.
~*~
Riku sat in the room where he and Sora had fought that Heartless and pulled out his cell phone.
“You done with the puppet already?”
Riku smiled. Trust Cloud to skip over the pleasantries.
“Not exactly. I’m just . . . stressed out, I guess. Wanted to ask you what you know about puppets with hearts.”
“Not much. Where are you?”
“Monstro. You?”
“Coliseum. What are you still doing there?”
“Can’t figure this thing out. What are you doing at the Coliseum?”
“I was going to sign up for the games yesterday but the current one’s full, and the next one isn’t for awhile. Ran into Yuffie and Leon, though, so I’m staying with them. Catching up with old friends, you know?”
Riku laughed.
“Boy, do I know. Guess who’s here in Monstro.”
“Who?”
“Sora and friends. I’m tired, Cloud.”
“I take it that it’s not going well.”
“Not exactly. I just keep finding myself wishing he were the way he used to be. I miss the old Sora.”
“Sora sans Keyblade?”
“Exactly. He’s such a brat. He practically terrorizes Pinocchio, and he came up to me yelling about what I think I’m doing. I wasn’t doing anything. I guess he was still sore about me teasing him.”
“Teasing?”
“Yeah. He asked about Kairi and I told him if he caught me, I’d tell him. I was just playing with him, though, cause he was pitching a fit about Pinocchio playing games. Sora used to like games.”
“The old Sora used to like games, you mean.”
“Exactly. Listen, I didn’t really think you’d know anything, but I really . . . I don’t know. Wanted to hear your voice, I guess. Need some reassurance that I’m not evil incarnate or anything.”
“I know you’ve got good intentions. Sora just . . . doesn’t see it, I guess.”
“Sure doesn’t.”
“It sounds like you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you so I’m going to let you go, okay?”
“Can I call you later?”
“You can call me anytime.”
The smile in Cloud’s voice didn’t go unnoted.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Sure. Riku?”
“Yeah?”
“My thoughts are with you, okay?”
“How about your heart?”
“That, too.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Keep your head up.”
“I will.”
Riku pressed end on the phone, stuck it back in his pocket, and looked over Pinocchio. What could make a puppet have a heart? A puppet that, seemingly, lost its heart to that overgrown Heartless. It would figure. How was he supposed to figure this out now? And on his own?
“Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku.”
Sora. Again. This was getting tiresome. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?
“A puppet that’s lost its heart to the Heartless . . . Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about it, Sora? Let’s join forces to save her. We can do it together.”
Sora’s only response was drawing his Keyblade. Arrogant little shit.
“What? You’d rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?”
“Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience.”
“Conscience?”
Hurt doused Riku, washing over him and seeping into his heart. Was Sora actually implying what Riku thought he was implying. His eyes vaguely registered a little cricket running past him dressed in a top hat and coat, but Riku was far past the point of wondering what the hell Sora was traveling with these days. This just got very personal.
“You might not hear it, but right now it’s loud and clear. And it’s telling me you’re on the wrong side!” said Sora, Keyblade still drawn and glaring.
Riku could kill him.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
“Pinocchio! Pinocchio!”
That damn cricket was kind of killing the vibe.
Pinocchio’s head lifted.
“Jiminy, I’m not gonna make it.” He gave a pathetic little cough and then his nose grew. What the fuck? “Oh! I guess I’m okay!”
A loud rumble was heard and that giant Heartless thing dropped in the room again. Riku was done with this. Sora could handle it alone. If he was going to sling verbal assaults like the one he just dared to pull out-Riku not have a conscience?-then that was just fine. All Riku could do now was hope Sora understood the war he’d just started.
Riku created a dark portal and stepped through.
He passed through the corridors of darkness, making his way back to the Jolly Roger empty handed. He should have known the second he found out Pinocchio and Sora were acquainted. Once Sora got to someone, they were of no use to him. It was the way alliances worked these days-Sora was the great Keyblade master, and who was Riku? No one. Just the bad guy without a conscience.
Riku found this a little ironic considering he wasn’t attacking Sora about his behavior save for that one little comment, and all that had been was a direct response to Sora’s accusations. How dare he scream at Riku for nothing? He’d been teasing. Now this conscience deal? Riku had a damn conscience and Sora could shove his up his ass-that was, of course, if there was any room left next to his head.
He’d been trying to help Kairi. Riku was doing more for Kairi than Sora.
How dare he imply Riku didn’t have a conscience? Sora didn’t even know Riku anymore. He knew the old Riku-the one with a passion to see the world imprisoned on Destiny Islands. Sora didn’t know where Riku was living. He didn’t know where Riku had found Kairi. He didn’t know how Riku had found Sora. Sora certainly didn’t know about Cloud or that Riku was falling in love.
These were the most confusing, hardest, and exhilarating times of his life, and Sora knew nothing about any of it.
Riku stepped out into Captain Hook’s cabin to find Maleficent. Fantastic. Just who he wanted to see right now.
“You wanted me to come, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I told you to forget about that boy. Isn’t this girl the one you want to save?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with her?”
“Her heart seems to be gone. She’s still alive, yes, but there’s nothing there. She’s only the remaining shell.”
“So, Kairi’s like a lifeless puppet now?”
“Precisely.”
“And her heart was . . .”
“Taken by the Heartless, no doubt.”
“Tell me! What can I do?”
“There are seven maidens of the purest heart,” said Maleficent, growing serious. “We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them together and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There, you will surely find a way to recover Kairi’s heart.”
So that’s what this princess business was about. At least now he could get some use out of it.
“Now, I’ll grant you a marvelous gift. The power to control the Heartless.”
Riku really hated it when Maleficent called things like this gifts. He felt the darkness sweep over him, sinking farther into his heart, and he saw his body become engulfed in yellow-green light. There was no fighting it. Hopefully he could use this to his advantage. He turned back to Kairi. The darkness felt deep in his body, tingling through to his fingertips. He’d just have to use this to his advantage.
“Soon, Kairi. Soon.”
When Riku turned around, Maleficent had gone.
Old life, new life.
Riku felt fake.
Weary, weathered, old, and just fake.
He was trying so hard to smile for Kairi when he wanted to cry. He stared Maleficent down, plastered a hint of a smile on his face, to say he didn’t care about Sora when he was dying inside. Embraced the darkness and was using it to help Kairi when he wanted to run from it.
Around others, he made sure he smiled when he should, laughed when appropriate, glared when it was required, and played his part.
The darkness was getting to him.
Riku pulled the cell phone from his pocket. At least with Cloud, he could be real.
Old life, new life.
Riku eyed the phone. This phone could call across worlds. He wondered. . .
Old life, old life, old life.
Riku’s fingers ghosted over the number pad and then he punched the digits in and listened.
“The number you are calling does not exist or has been disconnected,” said the automated voice over the line.
Of course. The number didn’t exist because Destiny Islands didn’t exist. Home didn’t exist anymore.
What would he have said if someone had picked up anyway? Hey, Mom, it’s Riku, sorry I ran away from home and let Heartless take over the Islands, but I love you and really miss you?
There was no old life anymore. All that remained was this new life-one with Maleficent, and darkness, and Cloud.
Cloud was a good thing.
He was abandoned by the old, but Cloud had said to keep his eyes on the light left, and Riku planned on doing it. He found Cloud’s number in the menu and pressed send.
( Prompt Table) 09/100 Completed.
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Claim: Cloud/Riku
Theme: [09.] Old
Word Count: 3,356
Rating: R/M
Summary: Some things can never be the way they used to be.
Disclaimer: Throughout these nine little prompts, I did not acquire any rights to Kingdom Hearts. I do not foresee acquiring the rights to Kingdom Hearts any time in the future. All I have is my little PS2, a cat that’s pawing at me as I type and threatens to lay on my keyboard again, and an unheated attic bedroom that’s failing to keep me warm. Obviously, I am making no money off this trifle of a story. (I could write a very professional disclaimer, but alas, I am too lazy for that).
Author’s Note: So I’ve been planning on writing Riku’s side of the Kingdom Hearts series as a very long one-sided Soriku. Cloud/Riku was going to be a little side story in it. Alas, I took all those ideas, threw them into this, and now will have to write Riku’s story entirely differently. I’m looking forward to that challenge. However, I suppose this all worked out. Now I can keep the Soriku and the Cloud/Riku stories in my head as separate pieces of fiction as well. I have no one but Kingdom100 to thank (or curse, lol) for that.
Riku felt fake.
Weary, weathered, old, and just fake.
The darkness, he supposed, was getting to him.
When Riku woke up aboard the Jolly Roger, he rolled over in bed and silently begged for it all to be a dream. Kairi wasn’t comatose. She was at home in her bed where she belonged. Sora wasn’t off fighting the Heartless and the arrogant little Keyblade Master. He, too, was at home, safe and sound. The sound of the water slapping against the Jolly Roger was actually Destiny Islands-ocean waves to which Riku, living close to the shoreline, had woken to his entire life.
Of course, when he opened his eyes, that illusion slipped out of grasp.
It wasn’t a day of school, homework, and his paopu tree in front of him; he was going to Monstro to investigate Pinocchio.
Puppets with hearts. Riku almost laughed. How could a puppet have a heart when Kairi had lost hers, and Riku felt his slipping away every second that Destiny Islands become a more distant memory?
Riku spent little time washing and dressing. He felt tired and achy. Every muscle in his body felt knotted and then stretched thin, threatening to snap. Misery clouded him, and Riku waited for the sting behind his eyes that never came.
Why had he been so foolish, so fearless? He wished more than anything he could go back and not open that door. If he’d known what would happen when he did, where he would go, and what awaited his friends, he’d have gone straight home. He wanted his old life back. The only thing good in this new one was Cloud, and though Riku was thrilled at finding someone to love, he would gladly sacrifice his own happiness for things to be the way they used to be.
Riku held out one hand and opened a darkness portal. He looked to Kairi, laying lifeless in Captain Hook’s cabin, and dropped his head in shame. Without another glance, he entered the portal.
~*~
The whale had some serious anatomy issues. Riku never claimed to be an expert on whale anatomy, nor to really know anything about where internal organs belonged in a whale, but as Riku wandered Monstro’s interior, he got the distinct feeling that the inside of a whale was not supposed to be arranged the way this whale was. Then again, people shouldn’t be able to survive being swallowed by whales, either, and if they did, they weren’t supposed to encounter Heartless when it happened.
Of course, there was also that problem where whales weren’t supposed to be this large or appear amongst the worlds out of nowhere.
As Riku contemplated whale anatomy, his eyes landed on a little boy also wandering the interior. Wait-not a little boy . . . a puppet.
Best to be nonchalant.
“Hey,” said Riku.
“Huh?” said Pinocchio, looking around, his wooden eyes falling on Riku. “Oh! Hi!”
“Hi, I’m Riku.”
“I’m Pinocchio! Did you get swallowed by the whale, too?”
“Yeah, and I’m . . .”
How did you get close enough to a puppet to study their heart?
“I’m pretty bored,” said Riku. “You know of anything to do around here?”
“No. There’s no one else here. Do you wanna play with me?”
Play? That sounded appropriate.
“Sure. What do you want to play?”
“What games do you know?”
Riku looked around Monstro. There weren’t a whole lot of options.
“How about Hide and Seek? I used to play that all the time.”
Pinocchio’s eyes lit up.
“Yeah!”
“Okay, then. You hide, and I’ll seek.”
As a kid, Riku always hated being the seeker. There was something so much more enjoyable about hiding. Unfortunately, he’d always found it a little too fun, and ended up giggling until someone found him. The closer the seeker drew, the louder Riku had laughed, and he always seemed to get found first. Sora, however, could stay hidden for weeks.
Pinocchio, it appeared, also found joy in hiding, and went running off the second Riku turned his back to count to one-hundred.
Riku sought and found Pinocchio three times (Pinocchio and Riku, it appeared, were equally matched at hiding), and was about to set out a fourth time when he saw Pinocchio rush into the room.
“What are you doing? Come on, let’s go back.”
Sora.
Riku almost laughed. Sora and company got sucked into the whale, too.
“You know, Geppetto’s awfully worried about you,” said Goofy. Pinocchio didn’t get any closer. Riku didn’t blame him. He’d be damn near running from that dog-thing.
“Pinocchio, stop fooling around. This is no time for games,” said Sora, snapping at the puppet. He, Donald, and Goofy turned to walk away.
The annoyance and hate reignited. Damn, Sora had become such an effing brat. Two could play this game.
“But, Sora, I thought you liked games.” Sora turned around locked eyes with him. “Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?”
“Riku! Wh-what are you doing here?”
Witnessing your bratty behavior.
“Just playing with Pinocchio.”
“You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?”
Yeah, you little snot, and it wasn’t that hard, either. I just swallowed my pride and wasn’t too arrogant to ask for help.
“Maybe. Catch us and maybe I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Come on!”
Riku grabbed Pinocchio and dragged him away.
“Where are we going?” asked Pinocchio.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you know him, too?”
“Sora? You know Sora?”
“I met him once.”
“Sora used to be my friend.”
“Oh. Can we still play?”
“Yeah, but we’re playing with Sora right now, too, so why don’t you go hide real good, okay, and I’ll come find you.”
“Okay!”
Riku didn’t really intend to look for Pinocchio. There were bigger fish (no pun intended) to fry. He hadn’t even said hello. Hadn’t even asked how he’d been. The old Sora was his friend; this Sora didn’t even give a damn about his new life.
If Sora was too good to give a shit, then Riku wouldn’t bother to care. Let’s see how much he liked that.
As Riku wandered the inner chambers of Monstro, turning this Sora thing over his head, a dark portal appeared before him, and along with it, Maleficent. For crissakes, was she stalking him, or did she just have the worst timing ever?
“You saw the ledgers?”
“I came to investigate Pinocchio,” said Riku. “There’s something wrong with Kairi.”
“Is there? Would you like me to come aboard the Jolly Roger and take a look at her?”
“Really?” Maleficent nodded. Relief washed over him. If anyone could tell him just how bad off Kairi was, it was Maleficent. “That would be great, but later, okay? I still need to learn how Pinocchio works. Besides, Sora’s here, and I have some business to handle with him.”
Riku turned to walk away.
“Why do you still care about that boy? He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all.”
“I don’t care about him. I was just messing with him a little.”
“Oh, really? Of course you were. Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.”
“Mind your own business.”
Maleficent disappeared back into the dark portal. Bitch. How dare she accuse him of allowing his heart to fall into the darkness? He was playing with Sora for being such a brat. He didn’t care, and if he did, he certainly wouldn’t let his anger towards Sora eat away his heart. Sora wasn’t that important.
Things weren’t the way they used to be, and as much as Riku wished he could go back to his old life, it wasn’t going to happen.
Commotion broke him of his thoughts and he turned to find Pinocchio race into the room, followed by Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Pinocchio ran past Riku and straight through to the next chamber. Why did they have to instigate that damn puppet? He was only a child, after all.
“Riku! What’s the matter with you?” said Sora. “What are you thinking? Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”
What? Riku was just standing there. What was Sora doing?
“I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?”
“I do.”
Pinocchio’s screaming caught their attention; all four turned to look toward the chamber Pinocchio disappeared into. They ran through to find a large Heartless contraption, Pinocchio captured within its cage. This puppet was a lot of trouble.
“You up for this,” said Riku, drawing his crappy wooden sword. His fingers hardly touched the hilt before it turned into a proper weapon.
“No problem,” said Sora, drawing his Keyblade. “Let’s do it.”
Riku couldn’t help but laugh for a second. Sora looked so ridiculous with that serious look on his face, holding that gigantic Keyblade. This wasn’t the time for contemplating these sorts of things, though, and Riku prepared for battle.
~*~
Once the Heartless was defeated, its cage door opened and spit Pinocchio down into a hole in the floor. Riku jumped after. He hadn’t come all this way to lose Pinocchio; this was about Kairi. Riku found Pinocchio lying on the floor, passed out. He picked him up and made his way out of the room with the puppet. Footsteps behind him signaled Sora and others were following, but he couldn’t be bothered with that right now. He had to figure out how Pinocchio worked so he could get out of here and back to Kairi.
“Pinocchio! Pinocchio!”
That must have been Pinocchio’s father, Geppetto, down there on that boat. Riku paused. He didn’t want to be an asshole or anything, but he really needed to save Kairi, and Geppetto was just going to have to wait for Riku to figure out what he needed to know. Pinocchio would be okay; Kairi might not.
“Please! Give me back my son!”
“Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet.”
“He’s no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!”
Actually, Pinocchio was a puppet, little boy or not, but maybe it was best to level with the man.
“He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I’m not sure, but maybe he can help someone who’s lost theirs.”
“Wait a minute,” said Sora. When did he catch up? “Are you talking about Kairi?”
Riku sneered. He’d have known sooner if he’d even attempted to find her or actually asked Riku what had been going on, but Sora was too wrapped up in his own little Keyblade master glory to bother with such trivial matters.
“What do you care about her?”
He wasn’t going to hang around here and listen to Sora’s blathering. Riku was sure to receive a verbal beating for that comment, and Sora was so egotistical these days, Riku doubted anything he said would make Sora realize how badly he was behaving. He walked away.
~*~
Riku sat in the room where he and Sora had fought that Heartless and pulled out his cell phone.
“You done with the puppet already?”
Riku smiled. Trust Cloud to skip over the pleasantries.
“Not exactly. I’m just . . . stressed out, I guess. Wanted to ask you what you know about puppets with hearts.”
“Not much. Where are you?”
“Monstro. You?”
“Coliseum. What are you still doing there?”
“Can’t figure this thing out. What are you doing at the Coliseum?”
“I was going to sign up for the games yesterday but the current one’s full, and the next one isn’t for awhile. Ran into Yuffie and Leon, though, so I’m staying with them. Catching up with old friends, you know?”
Riku laughed.
“Boy, do I know. Guess who’s here in Monstro.”
“Who?”
“Sora and friends. I’m tired, Cloud.”
“I take it that it’s not going well.”
“Not exactly. I just keep finding myself wishing he were the way he used to be. I miss the old Sora.”
“Sora sans Keyblade?”
“Exactly. He’s such a brat. He practically terrorizes Pinocchio, and he came up to me yelling about what I think I’m doing. I wasn’t doing anything. I guess he was still sore about me teasing him.”
“Teasing?”
“Yeah. He asked about Kairi and I told him if he caught me, I’d tell him. I was just playing with him, though, cause he was pitching a fit about Pinocchio playing games. Sora used to like games.”
“The old Sora used to like games, you mean.”
“Exactly. Listen, I didn’t really think you’d know anything, but I really . . . I don’t know. Wanted to hear your voice, I guess. Need some reassurance that I’m not evil incarnate or anything.”
“I know you’ve got good intentions. Sora just . . . doesn’t see it, I guess.”
“Sure doesn’t.”
“It sounds like you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you so I’m going to let you go, okay?”
“Can I call you later?”
“You can call me anytime.”
The smile in Cloud’s voice didn’t go unnoted.
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Sure. Riku?”
“Yeah?”
“My thoughts are with you, okay?”
“How about your heart?”
“That, too.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Keep your head up.”
“I will.”
Riku pressed end on the phone, stuck it back in his pocket, and looked over Pinocchio. What could make a puppet have a heart? A puppet that, seemingly, lost its heart to that overgrown Heartless. It would figure. How was he supposed to figure this out now? And on his own?
“Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku.”
Sora. Again. This was getting tiresome. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?
“A puppet that’s lost its heart to the Heartless . . . Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about it, Sora? Let’s join forces to save her. We can do it together.”
Sora’s only response was drawing his Keyblade. Arrogant little shit.
“What? You’d rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?”
“Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience.”
“Conscience?”
Hurt doused Riku, washing over him and seeping into his heart. Was Sora actually implying what Riku thought he was implying. His eyes vaguely registered a little cricket running past him dressed in a top hat and coat, but Riku was far past the point of wondering what the hell Sora was traveling with these days. This just got very personal.
“You might not hear it, but right now it’s loud and clear. And it’s telling me you’re on the wrong side!” said Sora, Keyblade still drawn and glaring.
Riku could kill him.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
“Pinocchio! Pinocchio!”
That damn cricket was kind of killing the vibe.
Pinocchio’s head lifted.
“Jiminy, I’m not gonna make it.” He gave a pathetic little cough and then his nose grew. What the fuck? “Oh! I guess I’m okay!”
A loud rumble was heard and that giant Heartless thing dropped in the room again. Riku was done with this. Sora could handle it alone. If he was going to sling verbal assaults like the one he just dared to pull out-Riku not have a conscience?-then that was just fine. All Riku could do now was hope Sora understood the war he’d just started.
Riku created a dark portal and stepped through.
He passed through the corridors of darkness, making his way back to the Jolly Roger empty handed. He should have known the second he found out Pinocchio and Sora were acquainted. Once Sora got to someone, they were of no use to him. It was the way alliances worked these days-Sora was the great Keyblade master, and who was Riku? No one. Just the bad guy without a conscience.
Riku found this a little ironic considering he wasn’t attacking Sora about his behavior save for that one little comment, and all that had been was a direct response to Sora’s accusations. How dare he scream at Riku for nothing? He’d been teasing. Now this conscience deal? Riku had a damn conscience and Sora could shove his up his ass-that was, of course, if there was any room left next to his head.
He’d been trying to help Kairi. Riku was doing more for Kairi than Sora.
How dare he imply Riku didn’t have a conscience? Sora didn’t even know Riku anymore. He knew the old Riku-the one with a passion to see the world imprisoned on Destiny Islands. Sora didn’t know where Riku was living. He didn’t know where Riku had found Kairi. He didn’t know how Riku had found Sora. Sora certainly didn’t know about Cloud or that Riku was falling in love.
These were the most confusing, hardest, and exhilarating times of his life, and Sora knew nothing about any of it.
Riku stepped out into Captain Hook’s cabin to find Maleficent. Fantastic. Just who he wanted to see right now.
“You wanted me to come, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I told you to forget about that boy. Isn’t this girl the one you want to save?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with her?”
“Her heart seems to be gone. She’s still alive, yes, but there’s nothing there. She’s only the remaining shell.”
“So, Kairi’s like a lifeless puppet now?”
“Precisely.”
“And her heart was . . .”
“Taken by the Heartless, no doubt.”
“Tell me! What can I do?”
“There are seven maidens of the purest heart,” said Maleficent, growing serious. “We call them the princesses of heart. Gather them together and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There, you will surely find a way to recover Kairi’s heart.”
So that’s what this princess business was about. At least now he could get some use out of it.
“Now, I’ll grant you a marvelous gift. The power to control the Heartless.”
Riku really hated it when Maleficent called things like this gifts. He felt the darkness sweep over him, sinking farther into his heart, and he saw his body become engulfed in yellow-green light. There was no fighting it. Hopefully he could use this to his advantage. He turned back to Kairi. The darkness felt deep in his body, tingling through to his fingertips. He’d just have to use this to his advantage.
“Soon, Kairi. Soon.”
When Riku turned around, Maleficent had gone.
Old life, new life.
Riku felt fake.
Weary, weathered, old, and just fake.
He was trying so hard to smile for Kairi when he wanted to cry. He stared Maleficent down, plastered a hint of a smile on his face, to say he didn’t care about Sora when he was dying inside. Embraced the darkness and was using it to help Kairi when he wanted to run from it.
Around others, he made sure he smiled when he should, laughed when appropriate, glared when it was required, and played his part.
The darkness was getting to him.
Riku pulled the cell phone from his pocket. At least with Cloud, he could be real.
Old life, new life.
Riku eyed the phone. This phone could call across worlds. He wondered. . .
Old life, old life, old life.
Riku’s fingers ghosted over the number pad and then he punched the digits in and listened.
“The number you are calling does not exist or has been disconnected,” said the automated voice over the line.
Of course. The number didn’t exist because Destiny Islands didn’t exist. Home didn’t exist anymore.
What would he have said if someone had picked up anyway? Hey, Mom, it’s Riku, sorry I ran away from home and let Heartless take over the Islands, but I love you and really miss you?
There was no old life anymore. All that remained was this new life-one with Maleficent, and darkness, and Cloud.
Cloud was a good thing.
He was abandoned by the old, but Cloud had said to keep his eyes on the light left, and Riku planned on doing it. He found Cloud’s number in the menu and pressed send.
( Prompt Table) 09/100 Completed.