A Connection.

((KH multimuse featuring mainly Roxas and Kairi written by Goob. Please read the rules page! NOT SPOILER FREE!))

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

He was somewhat determined, really and truly, not to take anything Kairi said personally. He knew she didn't mean it that way, he'd been trying to be a little better about that, but it still took a moment to swallow, compose himself, remind himself with a deep breath and a smile that only looked out of place at first. Hopefully.

"Right, okay." Riku agreed mostly to himself, trying to get some practice in on letting the tension roll off of his shoulders. The promise of cake actually helped, a little. "I keep having to get used to calendars. Months aren't universal." He tried to shrug as nonchalantly as he dared before making the realization out loud. "Guess I should have brought cutlery, too."

[clocktowerdestiny]

"You... worry too much about things, Riku." She gave him a sad smile. "It's cute! And... also sad. Mostly sad? Hm." Kairi hummed in thought.

"I'm sure we can get forks on the pier, probably?"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny [From here, since Tumblr continues to... whatever.]

Too late. Not that it was-- Not that he minded, exactly, just--

Clearing his throat, halfway to re-accepting that he was an awkward mess in pretty much any situation but especially ones like the kind he'd just stepped into, he admitted, "Yeah. For you, I mean. I guess you could have learned some magic, too--" The tease that was so eager to be set free got metaphorically wrestled to the ground and silenced before he swallowed his own foot, blushing hard and handing the cake and pillow over. He wondered, not anywhere near for the first time, how Sora could just speak his mind about his feelings so easily. It would have been nice to have been blessed with that.

"I thought... I missed birthdays. And probably other important things I should have been there for, so..." It wasn't nearly enough, obviously. But it was a start, right?

[clocktowerdestiny]

"Riku... I'm sure I've missed plenty of my own birthdays, too. Whether unconscious or just... losing my memories of you two..." That definitely counted, in her book.

"So, you gotta help me eat this cake! Because I'm sure I've missed some of your birthdays too. I'm surprised time works at all with all the traveling we do, really..."

[clocktowerdestiny]

It started as it usually did, with a purely innocent concern that became a worry, and then an action which seemed perfectly reasonable at the time but suddenly completely overblown when he was standing there after the task was completed--

Well. Too late to do anything short of running away. Not that he wasn't tempted.

In fact, there was still time. It was silly, wasn't it? Too silly, too weird. He'd started feeling bad for hesitating when he'd been handed a paopu fruit, then Riku thought he might make up for it with an apology gift... which snowballed into a gift and a little cake since he'd fully completely missed at least one birthday, but a heart-shaped cake and a little yellow star pillow were just dumb to show up with, weren't they? Were they going to look insincere? Like too much? Too little? He could still hide any and all awkward evidence and run--

"Riku?" Kairi turned to see him.

Her eyes darted between him, the cake, and the pillow, and back to him. She gasped. "Is that- For me?"

She smiled and hugged him, avoiding squishing the cake. "Thank you! What's got you acting all sweet for, huh? That paopu put a spell on you? Because I sure didn't! Unless..." Her girlish charms? Nah. Couldn't be.

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

"I didn't want to." He reiterated between clenched teeth before sighing. "I wasn't about to stand in his way, either. Not after everything he'd done. But... I should have gone with him." That was a piercing regret that wasn't going to go away.

"He was right." Riku repeated, insisted, softer but no less fierce. "He couldn't accept the idea that you were somewhere alone out there and waiting for someone to find you." And maybe Sora wouldn't have wanted him to say that much, but he doubted it really mattered at the moment. He'd been right, but again, maybe they'd stumbled into doing it all wrong.

Riku couldn't help the little smile, helpless and fleeting though it was. "Don't thank me yet. I don't want to do this either, but I'm not about to let Sora do what he needs to do and not let you do the same." He assured, voice quiet and even. "Just let me do the dangerous stuff, okay?" Not that he thought that was a promise that any of them could hold to.

He drew Kairi in by the arms and hugged her again, first because he wanted to, but second... it let him whisper, "Seriously, do you need to pack, because I'm going to have to be sneaky about this and we'll need to get out before anyone starts yelling--" There was a little power building, hopefully not enough to be noticed by anyone further away than they were, but the moment that power would be recognized as Darkness, it was going to be a race.

[clocktowerdestiny]

"...But maybe you'd both be gone, then." Kairi frowned. It was a horrible situation no matter how you put it.

"I was... I was dead, Riku," she told him, quietly. It may have been a bit difficult even for her to realize, but it was true, wasn't it? "That's why Sora isn't coming back. Because I'm not supposed to be here."

"I'll help you do the dangerous stuff." She grumbled.

"...King Mickey's gonna be so mad," she whispered back, giggling. "I guess we'll have to wait for when no one's looking, huh?"

[clocktowerdestiny]

((remember melody of memories?

oof...

what a waste of money lmao))

[clocktowerdestiny]

The words were reassuring... kind of. She did wonder a bit if he were only saying that to make her feel better.

"You let him?" She raised her head. "Riku! Why would you...?" It would've been quite the pointless fight, she realizes. Sora wouldn't have taken no for an answer. Sora saves his friends. That is what he does.

"We should... I should get him. I don't know how, but it's my responsibility. Not that I've been... any use to anyone this entire war." She sighed. She knew she couldn't physically do it. Riku was the one with the power of waking, not her.

"...Don't leave me here," she threatened him. "Please. Please, Riku... If you have to go, then bring me. I don't wanna be alone. I know everyone else is still here, but..." It wouldn't be the same. Sora and Riku were her very best friends. It was okay before because they had their gummiphones, but there's no way she'd be able to reach them in an entirely different dimension, right?

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

He knew her question was mostly rhetorical, but still Riku flinched away from both her gaze and her words, eyes trained on the ground. "I didn't want to." He admitted, remembering that moment too well. Too clearly. He had faith, complete faith in everything Sora did, but still...

Hold gentling enough so that he could grasp onto Kairi's arms instead of clinging in a crushing hug, he braved making eye contact. "He was right. You weren't there, and... Nothing was over without you." He should have insisted, he should have followed, he should have--

It was all wrong. Everything was wrong. Another step further away from where they thought they'd been, a war ended and yet. He wanted to argue vehemently, to insist in a way that was final. He wanted to tell her to stay behind and to stay safe. One of them should, after all, and Sora had gone after her just to bring her back, so--

Riku swallowed hard, bitterness thick in his throat, squeezing Kairi's arms still in his hold gently. He knew if he looked over, he was going to see gazes of friends that were going to insist on any number of things, who were going to argue against taking action immediately. He didn't want to see their expressions, didn't think he could take whatever was collected on their faces in the dead silence of the moment. He couldn't stand the idea of waiting to consult Yen Sid, or for everyone to finally agree on one plan of action.

Okay. Okay. He nodded subtly, accepting her request and keeping his voice down. "Do you need time to pack?" He knew he was going to hear about this, sooner rather than later, and there was no running from a group of people more or less blocking their exit, but he'd faced down harder challenges. Hopefully.

[clocktowerdestiny]

"What do you mean you didn't want to? You did! You let him." This was no time for scolding, really, but she was upset. It could be worse, though. She could be without either of them...

"Riku..." Kairi frowned. Her boys really cared about her, didn't they? As much as she cared about them.

Moments passed, and when Riku asked her that...

She gasped and her eyes widened. "...Really?" A smile grew on her face and she jumped and hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

"No." The words sounded a little bit destroyed out of his throat, voice rougher than he really wanted it to be, but he had as little control over that as he did in holding on tightly. "He left to-- To get you, you should both be here."

That was it. That was it, the... injustice of the whole thing. They'd won! They'd done what they'd been fighting for, it should have been over. But they weren't all there at the end, so Sora...

Sora did what Sora does and as much as Riku had wanted to reach out and physically restrain him if necessary... "I let him go." Quiet words, awful words. Then an awful sound, not quite stifled as he buried his face in Kairi's hair. "I thought..."

It didn't matter. They'd been so close to the end but they weren't all there so of course Sora was determined to fix that. To set everything right. He understood that, he did, it... just...

He could sense eyes on them, even if his own were closed tightly. No one approached, no one else spoke. He didn't think he'd have been able to take that just then, breath coming out in heaves and shakes.

"You should be here, too." He didn't even know if what came out of his mouth was understandable, if they were even words, but he wouldn't-- He was not going to let anyone doubt their worth. He wasn't.

[clocktowerdestiny]

The words were reassuring... kind of. She did wonder a bit if he were only saying that to make her feel better.

"You let him?" She raised her head. "Riku! Why would you...?" It would've been quite the pointless fight, she realizes. Sora wouldn't have taken no for an answer. Sora saves his friends. That is what he does.

"We should... I should get him. I don't know how, but it's my responsibility. Not that I've been... any use to anyone this entire war." She sighed. She knew she couldn't physically do it. Riku was the one with the power of waking, not her.

"...Don't leave me here," she threatened him. "Please. Please, Riku... If you have to go, then bring me. I don't wanna be alone. I know everyone else is still here, but..." It wouldn't be the same. Sora and Riku were her very best friends. It was okay before because they had their gummiphones, but there's no way she'd be able to reach them in an entirely different dimension, right?

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

The growing dread wasn't real until Kairi made contact, until all he could do was wrap his arms around her because he felt completely numb. Hollowed out and barely there in a way that the Realm of Darkness couldn't hope to replicate.

She was crying. She shouldn't have been crying, and she shouldn't have been alone. He wondered if she could hear the pounding of his heart as loudly as he could, suddenly, the full realization of the moment crashing down around him as Riku finally properly held her back. Maybe a little too tightly, a little too close, but he knew even without asking, he knew--

Sora threw his entire self into everything. Never once hesitated to do everything he could to save someone. But he'd always stumbled back with a smile, real or faked, always come out the other side a little worse for wear but ready to do it again.

Until.

He remembered the king's words. He remembered convincing everyone to have faith. He let Sora go. He let Sora go.

Feeling smaller, emptier, wrapping himself around Kairi and swallowing past the burning restriction in his throat, he croaked out the closest thing to a complete sentence that he could. "What happened?"

No one else existed. Nothing else existed. Just the girl in his arms and the missing piece between them.

[clocktowerdestiny]

Maybe his heart was beating loud, and maybe he was crushing her with the strength of his hold, but things like hearing and feeling felt foreign to her even as she was trying to ground herself. At least words were cutting through. Somehow.

"I- I don't know, I... He. He's gone. He was here, and then-" She sniffled. "Riku, I- I'm sorry! I shouldn't be here. It should be him. It should be him...!"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

Having nothing but faith didn't exactly amount to having as much patience. He tried, he did his best and then some, because the moment his eyes focused on those streaks in the sky--

It was worth it. All worth it. Riku felt it, the presence, the connection, ringing like a plucked string as he gazed over at familiar silhouettes. Everything was okay again, everything was--

Frowning slightly, he raised a hand to his chest, having felt a... flutter? A flicker. Maybe that was what the waiting brought, the relief more than a little foreign, the--

The connection flickered out like a flame. He tried, tried so hard, not to let his first thought be Something is wrong, but it was. It was, and his heart felt it before his eyes saw, before he processed the information.

He was running, somewhere in that chaos. Voices behind him didn't matter, he couldn't hear what they were saying, he only knew the way up to the bridge by muscle memory alone because in front of his eyes was still two, then one.

One. And Kairi looked-- She looked sad and his heart ached and suddenly he didn't quite recognize the devastation in his voice, sure there was a reason, there had to be a reason... "Kairi... where..?"

It all started shaking apart.

[clocktowerdestiny]

She felt it, too. Sora was gone. She felt it before she saw it, a hand on hers, and then...

Nothing.

It would've been hard enough, with her vision clouding with tears.

Kairi had been dead. She should have been dead. The power of waking wasn't meant to be used for purposes such as this. Of course, she had been on the verge of death so many times, but this should have been final.

As much as her heart yearned for miracles, on some deep level, she knew the price for this. If she was to stay in the land of the living, then he was not.

It was her fault.

Her world spun around her like she was dying all over again. Riku's voice barely broke through.

She turned to him, because he deserved a response, but all she got out was a choked, "Ri-" before she stumbled off the tree branch and ran into his arms.

He could be angry at her. She deserved it, but right now, she needed something to hold onto!

[clocktowerdestiny]

((shoooo like...

who wanna write sorikai w me and @betweendawnanddark ?

we need sora,,))

[clocktowerdestiny]

"Candy is totally a food group! It's just, you know, the tiny part at the top of the pyramid..."

"Alright! You got any preference...? Soda? Lemonade?"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

"It's the pointy part of the pyramid, the one that'll injure you, yeah." Riku smirked, feeling a little better... but the blush was taking an awfully long time to fade. Maybe it was just hot that day. He could play that off, right? And they were both a little nervous; for once he couldn't manage to believe it was only him.

"Soda and lemonade. And whatever weird limited time flavor of anything they have. You know that'll either wind up as a dare or his new favorite thing for a couple of weeks." Or, that was how it used to go, anyway.

[clocktowerdestiny]

"You're just the kinda guy who pretends he doesn't like sweets because it's not 'cool', but I know you..." She squinted at him.

"Ah. Pickle juice. Got it!"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

Blushing for a different reason, Riku cleared his throat and attempted to defend himself despite knowing it was a lost cause from the start. "It's Sora, he could stand to be reminded that candy isn't a food group..." But there was little argument to be had and Kairi was right, dammit.

They were just going to talk to Sora. Like they'd done a million times before. "How about this: I get snacks, you get drinks, we'll meet at check-out." That sounded a lot more like a battle plan than he'd meant for it to, but that was fine.

[clocktowerdestiny]

"Candy is totally a food group! It's just, you know, the tiny part at the top of the pyramid..."

"Alright! You got any preference...? Soda? Lemonade?"

[clocktowerdestiny]

"If he doesn't remember, then they've probably gone bad..." Kairi pointed out.

"Chocolate's good! Maybe cookies?"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

"Especially considering how humid and warm the islands are in the summer..." Yeah, better not to think about it. Nature would... reclaim the snacks. Or something.

One hand shoved firmly in his pocket, there was the smallest voice in the back of his head taunting him for giving so much serious thought to the kinds of food they should have on hand. Riku had gotten pretty good at ignoring it. "Definitely cookies. And something salty, chips probably. Is it worth having a healthy option?"

Was it worth planning ahead when they were probably just going to go buy whatever the convenience store had available, that was the real question.

[clocktowerdestiny]

Maybe that small voice was, in fact, Kairi. "Healthy option? What are you, his mom? We are literally surrounded by fruit. Just get whatever you want! Otherwise, he'll get suspicious, right? You don't wanna put too much pressure on him."

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

Face reddening some, it had definitely been a bad idea to ask. But... that wasn't too bad, was it? Trailing after an excited Kairi, holding some-- Holding all of the bags, more than likely...

Riku cleared his throat. "I guess that's fair. As long as I don't have to spend the whole afternoon trying things on..." Well. Maybe. Depending. He wasn't so eager about buying clothes, but having them was... nice. And if Kairi thought he looked good in something, then maybe Sora would too, and...

Definitely not helping with the temperature of his face. "Right, well. Whenever you want, I guess?"

[clocktowerdestiny]

Kairi shook her head. "Nope! I mean, you look good in everything, really... B-But it might be nice to have something new! You know, something not picked out by someone else or put on you by some fairies... not that they aren't nice fairies," she was sure to emphasize.

[clocktowerdestiny]

"Perfect!" She clapped her hands.

"But now uh... Now we actually have to bring snacks..." They were lucky there was tons of stuff to forage on the island, and that, of course, they had some time.

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

He stared at the message for a little bit longer, trying to pick out everything that was wrong with it or that could be misinterpreted, what words he might want to replace to make it clearer or maybe just delete and start from the beginning because--

With a huff, Riku hit send and shoved the phone back into his pocket as if it had personally offended him. "No problem. There's no way he could remember all of the snack hiding spots he has, we can just look there." Of course, it had been a while...

The slightly sour expression reflected his thoughts. "Or, chips and berries? Unless you think we'll need chocolate."

[clocktowerdestiny]

"If he doesn't remember, then they've probably gone bad..." Kairi pointed out.

"Chocolate's good! Maybe cookies?"

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny liked for a thing!

"Kairi." It was a mistake even before he started. It was feeling even more like a mistake when she turned to look at him. He did kind of say her name, after all, of course she was going to notice him--

Taking a deep breath for a long sigh, he supposed it was already too far along to go back on. He did have a purpose, after all, just... sort of hadn't thought it through all the way. Especially not when she kept staring at him, expecting him to say something else, and. Fair, fair.

"You have... clothes." Okay, wow, that got him to wince at himself. He could face an endless onslaught of yellow-eyed darkness but it was hard to do this? Really?

"I mean-- You like clothes, right?" Yeah, that-- That wasn't better. The hand he immediately dragged down his face said he definitely knew as much, too. You know what, why don't I just--

"Do you want to go clothes shopping sometime and help me find... things?" It shouldn't have been that hard in the first place, but. Well. He'd never gone shopping for date clothes, either.

[clocktowerdestiny]

She stared at him for a very long moment, through all his blunders, blinking and puzzling and trying to get even an iota of what he was actually saying.

"You... wanna go shopping?" She tilted her head. "...Yes! Let's go shopping!" she cheered once she confirmed what he said.

"You know, I've always wanted someone to help carry my bags..." Was that bad? Tons of people had that dream!

[betweendawnanddark]

@clocktowerdestiny

Riku took one look at Kairi's face in response to him insisting that Sora was smarter than he was often credited for, and laughed. She kind of didn't need words to make her point.

As shoving him was slightly akin to trying to shove a wall out of the way, he raised one eyebrow at her before looking back at the message. "Right." He tapped out something slowly with his thumbs, wondering if he was just going to sound too formal instead of too urgent. Making another edit, he showed the screen to Kairi again.

Kairi and I would like to meet up with you at the play island. We'll bring snacks.

Friendly bribery was better than urgency, right?

[clocktowerdestiny]

"Perfect!" She clapped her hands.

"But now uh... Now we actually have to bring snacks..." They were lucky there was tons of stuff to forage on the island, and that, of course, they had some time.