Follow Me - Chapter Three

The night breeze was cool against Sora’s nightshirt and boxers as he stared off into the churning blackness of the ocean. He sat with his legs folded out in front of him on the sandy Paopu Island, his eyes half closed. Kairi had gone to bed early, tired from both the crying and talking they’d done that day, and all the things she’d been planning. She’d successfully invited everyone on the mainland to the wedding, and a few people from different worlds including Belle, Wendy and Goofy and Donald.

Sora was glad that he didn’t have to do much of the planning, but more of then encouraging. Kairi wanted everything perfect, so he’d let her have it the way she wanted. He liked seeing her happy, and so long as she was satisfied with the wedding, he’d have a good marriage.

At least, that’s what he told himself.

He hadn’t been able to sleep that night, not wanting to face more dreams of Riku’s face. It was the only way he could see the boy, but it hurt to know that those dreams were memories of a time before darkness had penetrated the silver haired boy’s heart. Sora put a hand slowly to his heart, fingering the cotton of his shirt thoughtfully. “I should have been the one taken by the darkness,” he whispered. “You were always so much more stronger than me…”

Sora closed his deep blue eyes, not wanting to stare at the churning sea. The wind was picking up a bit more. He was beginning to shiver. After a moment, he stood as the wind began to howl around him and let out a long frustrated cry, his arm going up into the air as the keyblade appeared there in his clenched hand. He thrust it hard into the sand, hating what the thing had done to him. It’d torn his friends away, showed him that even good people had black hearts. Yet, it’d always protected him.

“Why couldn’t things just have stayed the same?” he grumbled, falling down to the sand again. “Why couldn’t we have built the raft and discovered the worlds that way?” The brunette stared up at the stars that were quickly being covered with clouds. He remembered that last night on the island. It was much like this.

“The Door,” he whispered softly, wondering if it had anything to do with the tropical storm blowing in. He hoped it wouldn’t be a repeat of the last time the cursed thing was on the island. This time though, he was stronger, and could fight the darkness. “I can fight the darkness,” Sora said to himself, a bit louder now as his eyes gazed out at the roiling waves, “but can Riku?”

~~~~~~~~~

“Ngh!” Riku panted as he held back a particularly relentless heartless. “Why. Won’t. You. Damn. Things. Just. DIE!” He thrust the Souleater into the heartless and gave a satisfied smirk as it disappeared. There would be more, there always was more. The more that came, the more he was tested. It tested his strength of heart, not to mention his sanity. He’d lost count of time, it seemed that nothing changed here in this darkness. He did not know if he’d been fighting for hours, days, weeks or years. He was just waiting for his escape. He’d never been so longing to see the light.

Sometimes there was a calm between the waves of heartless. At these times, Riku became aware of how weak he was getting. He’d fall, and close his eyes as the strips of darkness began to encircle him. He gave himself in willingly this time, too tired to face the next wave of heartless. The darkness began to creep over him and he gave a weak laugh. The shadows twitched and wrapped around him like a blanket. It was so good to open his heart to the darkness once more. It’d been too hard to fight.

Suddenly, something pulled the shadows from his heart with a swift motion. “You have to fight, Riku!” someone called to him. His heart lightened with hope, it was a spark and it sent the shadows even farther away from him. The silver haired boy opened his eyes, ready to see the face of his savoir. Two large black ears wobbled in front of his vision and he groaned softly.

“We’ll get out of here, you just have to fight, and always believe,” Mickey told him, shoving the Souleater back into Riku’s hand. “You can fight them, you’re strong enough.”

“There’s nothing left to fight for,” Riku whispered, falling to his knees again, his head bent low.

“There’s always things to fight for. It doesn’t matter if we can see them or not. Think about your friends, Riku. Think of Sora and Kairi! Would they want you to give up?”

“I betrayed them. They want nothing left of me,” Riku murmured, his eyes narrowed. The shadows were nearing again, excited by the boy’s pain and self-loathing. It was food to them, and it made Mickey sick.

“Then why did Sora promise to get you out?” Mickey challenged, getting ready to fight off the growing shadows. He could fight them for a while, but in the end if Riku truly wanted the darkness to take him, Mickey couldn’t stop it.

“Do you see him here? I’ve tried believing he’d come,” Riku roared, his voice echoing off the endlessness of the pure blackness. “But so much time has past, I’ve forgotten his face. I’ve forgotten almost everything…”

“But you remember Sora’s name. You remember his heart,” Mickey encouraged. He had to get Riku to keep fighting.

“Yes,” Riku whispered. He remembered how fragile that soul was, but how powerful at the same time. He remembered the love in that heart, a love that had reached out to him even when he’d betrayed it. The single ray of light from that heart had touched his own blackened soul. It’d released him from the powers of Ansem. That heart couldn’t just stop loving a friend, could it?

The bands of withering shadows slithered off the boy’s wrists and scuttled back into the gloom as he grasped the Souleater tightly in his hands. It began to change before his eyes, and he blinked, at the light in produced as it melted to show a blade that looked a lot like Mickey’s in shape. It was a keyblade, with the same dark features of the Souleater, but there were strips of light on it, and it hurt his eyes to look for very long. It made him think of a long lost memory of darkness slowly turning to light. The name escaped him for a moment as he stared past the weapon. What was it called, when you knew the darkness would end soon, and the light would shine again?

“Mickey, what is… the ending of darkness and the beginning of light?”

“I believe we call that dawn, Riku.”

The silver haired boy smirked and stood at the ready with his keyblade poised for attack. “I’m sick of fighting with a Souleater. I’m sick of eating souls. From now on I’m fighting my way out. I’m fighting to find the light.”

Mickey smiled, a flare of hope hitting his heart that had also filled with despair. He stood at the ready too, as a new wave of heartless came forward, envying their ability to fight the darkness in this hell. Riku brought the new blade down upon the first heartless, and swung around to run a slash through another. He wasn’t sure if this endless stream of fights would ever be stopped, but he had hope, and that was enough to destroy them and survive.

“Taste the Way to Dawn!” Riku bellowed at the heartless as he swung the keyblade down again. He liked the name. It made him think of a beam of pure white piercing this black hole and saving him and Mickey from their nightmare.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sora woke up in a sweat, his palms clenched tightly at his sides. He was leaning against the Paopu tree, his back aching from having slept there. The storm was swirling about in the skies above, a few drops of rain tickling his face. He was terribly uncomfortable, finding sand had found its way into his boxers. He stood up and shook off a bit, stretching his arms above his head. The sky was far too dark to tell what time it was. Most people would have felt strange sitting out on a tiny island in the middle of a storm, but Sora felt no different. The storm was still a few hours off from when it would really hit Destiny Island.

That had been a new dream. A very strange dream at that. He doubted this one was a prediction of anything. He had no idea what it was like beyond the door to Kingdom Hearts now that Ansem wasn’t controlling the heartless. He didn’t know what had happened to King Mickey or Riku for that time, and he doubted he ever would until he opened that door.

Well, perhaps that dream did have some significance. Riku had acted like he was hopeful for Sora to come. Maybe that meant he was all right. The brunette prayed that was true. He wasn’t sure if he could stand finding Riku or King Mickey succumbed to the darkness.

“Sora!” came a loud call over the wind that was beginning to pick up again. Sora gazed up at the slightly lop-sided house. On the deck stood Kairi in a robe. She looked terrified. “Get over here!” he saw her lips form, but the wind blew out the sound. He sighed and ran back to her, allowing the girl to push him inside and slam the door shut.

“It’s hurricane weather out there, Sora!” Kairi sighed, shaking her head weakly. “We should have gone back to the mainland. This is supposed to be a bad storm. Hopefully we can ride it out…”

“Don’t be so frightened,” Sora tried to tell her with a reassuring smile. “We’ll ride it out just fine. We’ve got plenty of provisions, and there’s a ton of high points on the island. We’re going to be fine.” He pulled Kairi into a loving hug that was slightly sandy from his time on the Paopu Island.

“Why were you out there Sora? You had me so worried when I woke up from the wind, and you weren’t there.”

“I couldn’t sleep… I needed some time to think,” Sora said simply. “I hadn’t expected to fall asleep. Don’t worry, my back won’t allow me to do it again.”

Kairi giggled and took his hands. “C’mon. I’ll give you a massage.” She led her fiancé back upstairs to their bedroom with its window over looking the beach. Sora knew he must be extremely sleep-deprived, because he thought he saw a tall figure standing there, his hair rippling in the wind. He blinked, and the image was gone.

He sat down on the bed, still thinking about that dream. He wondered if he should tell Kairi. Then he saw the look on her face and knew he could never bring himself to. She would be so worried and afraid. That was the last thing Sora wanted.
The girl sat so she was behind Sora and gently rubbed her hands down his sore back. “You’ve been pretty spaced out lately,” she commented. “Why is that?”

“There’s a lot to think about,” Sora sighed.

“Yeah, but at least we have each other to depend on,” Kairi whispered sweetly, pressing her lips to Sora’s.

Not in this case, Kairi…

~~~~~~~~

Dear Donald and Goofy,

Thanks for your last letter. I know it’s sort of strange to think about me getting married.  I mean, I was always that annoying kid to you Donald. It’s sort of like I’m going through a dream state myself with it all. I really do care about Kairi; I’m just sort of… worried about what might happen. I don’t want to loose her again.
There’s one other thing I’m worried about… there’s a storm, and I won’t be able to send this letter till it passes through. It reminds me of the night the island was taken over. I don’t like it… And there’s one other thing.
I’m going to do this on my own, and by the time you get this letter I’ve probably already done it. The Door is here. I’m going to open it and find Riku and King Mickey. There isn’t time for you two to come; I don’t think this storm is here by coincidence. The Door’s going to leave soon, and if I don’t act now, there’s no way we’ll be able to find it in time.
If something happens to me, then I want you to explain everything to Kairi. She’ll contact you for sure if something happens. If you don’t hear from her DON’T TELL HER ANYTHING. I don’t need her to get worked up about this when she’s so excited about the wedding.
I’m sorry this whole letter sounds like I’m saying good-bye. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but no matter what; I want to know I can count on you guys. You’re my best friends, after all.

Your Friend,

Sora

PS Hope you can make the wedding.