Chapter Text
The guest room is dark and yawning when he opens the door, and the only light is coming from the kitchen downstairs. They aren’t supposed to be awake, but Sora is the smallest, so it makes the most sense that he would be selected to sneak past Kairi’s dad’s room to get a third gaming controller.
He’s not scared of the dark, of course; he’s not a baby. He’s seven-and-three-quarters, as of yesterday. But this darkness feels different. It has teeth that sink into Sora’s skin and make him shiver. It lures him deeper into the room with the promise of an apology.
Sora knows the gaming controllers are stored in the closet, and when he moves through the doorway, he forgets that the door is heavy and closes by itself.
Suddenly, the light is extinguished entirely. There’s no way he could find his way to the closet without tripping and making too much noise, so Sora moves to open the door and prop it open. When he tries the handle, it doesn’t budge.
Fear claws at Sora’s heart. He’s not afraid of the dark, really , but the back of his neck prickles like he’s not alone in the room. Like the darkness is a living, breathing thing.
He can’t yell for someone to open the door—Kairi’s dad will wake up and catch them. He’s not about to get his friends in trouble because he had been too stupid to keep the door open.
His breathing gets shallow as tears prick at the corner of his eyes. He’s not going to cry. What would Riku think if he knew Sora let a dark room give him nightmares?
As the thought passes, there’s a rushing sound of wind, and a stunning white light shines from under the doorway. It’s bright enough to make Sora shield his eyes, and it illuminates the entire room. For a brief moment, Sora thinks it’s lightning.
Then, the door creaks open, and Riku is standing there with a weak, pale-yellow flashlight.
“Sora?” he asks, and that’s when Sora breaks and tears start to flow. He wanted to be strong for Riku, to show Riku that he can be brave, but he allowed his fears to take hold.
“The door locked,” he whimpers miserably, and Riku rushes closer, placing his flashlight on the ground before bringing Sora into his arms.
“You know it closes by itself sometimes,” Riku chides as he rubs Sora’s back.
Sora sniffles pathetically into Riku’s bony shoulder. “Forgot.”
He feels Riku huff a laugh before his best friend pulls back and gives him the most reassuring smile Sora has ever seen. Instantly, Sora is at ease, and the darkness of the room feels far away. “That’s okay. I came to find you!”
“Thanks, Riku.” Sora smiles meekly and asks, “What was that light?”
“What light?”
“The really bright one right before you opened the door.”
Riku furrows his brows. There’s no way he didn’t see it—Sora’s never seen a flashlight that bright. But, maybe he imagined it…
“Come on,” Riku says when Sora doesn’t elaborate. “Kairi’s waiting. Let’s find that controller, okay?”
–
Sora wakes up, lying on the same examination table he’s been using as a bed for three weeks.
He doesn’t feel rested, but that doesn’t matter. Despite his heavy limbs and stiff neck, Sora sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He glances over at the monitor where Ienzo is typing away, looking at a ton of different graphs that Sora can’t even begin to understand. It’s been five days since Sora had a memory dream, so this is a breakthrough.
“Anything?” he asks, his voice rough. “I was pretty young. Maybe it was too far back.”
Ienzo frowns. “It’s not immediately promising. I’ll keep at it, though.”
Of course. Quelle surprise.
The entire Radiant Garden crew has told him ad nauseam that they used Riku’s dreams to find Sora in Quadratum. Surely, they said, it’s the solution to finding Riku in the same fashion. But it’s been three weeks since Riku left, and so far, they’ve got nothing. Sora is starting to think they’re just humoring him.
He swings his legs over the side of the examination table and yawns, feeling sore. “Text me if you find anything. I’m headed to Arendelle today.”
“You’re not going anywhere, mister,” Kairi’s voice floats in from the doorway. “You’re taking a nap.”
Much to her dismay, Sora hasn’t stopped moving, visiting a new world every day to search for Riku. It’s not his fault that there are lingering Heartless wandering around, and it’s kind of his responsibility to take them out. What with his personalized magic key that releases metaphysical hearts, and all.
“I’m fine.”
“You look like a drowned puppy,” she aptly describes. “When was the last time you slept for more than four hours?”
He scratches the back of his neck. “Um.”
“Exactly. You’re not gonna do Riku much good if you’re falling asleep at the ship helm.” Even the mention of his name makes Sora’s heart skip—especially embarrassing while he’s still feeding readings to Ienzo, and his heartbeat shows as a line on one of his graphs.
He hops off the table and follows Kairi, who walks him to his room. He hasn’t slept in here since—
Sora swallows the bitterness that rises up his throat.
Stupid, stupid Riku. And stupid Vanitas for going with him.
Kairi seems to sense his apprehension to enter the room before they get to the door. “Hey. We’ll find them.”
He doesn’t answer as he enters the room, and Kairi follows wordlessly, the two of them understanding that Sora doesn’t like to fall asleep alone these days.
“What if we don’t?” Sora asks, his voice breaking as he toes off his shoes.
“Well, we’re going to, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
Sora, exhausted, collapses to the bed and stares at the ceiling. “Why the fuck did he run away from me?”
He’s played their last moments together so many times in his head and he can’t figure it out. Riku’s words had been indecipherably cryptic, to the point where Sora didn’t even know where to begin searching. And without their link, finding Riku feels more and more hopeless as each day passes. He could be halfway across the universe by now.
Kairi makes herself comfortable at the desk and grabs a random book from the shelf above it, flipping unseeingly through the pages. “Because he’s a dumb, stupid, self-hating idiot. Go to sleep, Sora.”
It takes a few minutes for him to do so, despite his low energy. He can’t sleep in the dark, and he can’t sleep much better with a light on. He’s only been able to successfully pass out fully in the lab, and maybe it’s because he knows it’s the only way to find Riku.
And then, there’s the bleeding.
He hasn’t mentioned it yet. He’s not sure if he will mention it, actually. Before he disappeared, Riku said there would be enough residual light from their link to protect him from his Quadratum memories.
He was wrong.
Sora sees flashes of another world, sometimes. One minute, he’ll be in the peaceful lab, and the next, he’ll be inside an unfamiliar apartment with a storm raging outside. The images will flicker and fade and blend. Sora can shake them away with a few blinks or a pinch to his arm, but they’re getting more frequent. Worse.
And, when he fights Heartless, it’s not like he’s losing his powers. Whatever Riku did with their link helped Sora back to his former Keyblade Wielder glory, and that hasn’t changed. But, every now and then, he’ll catch himself forgetting a cure spell or missing an easy swing of his blade.
When he finally dozes, Kairi reading by his bedside, he twilight-dreams about a city. Huge buildings tower above him. Cars zip past, splashing puddles of rain as they go. People bustle about, umbrellas clutched tight as they try to evade the downpour. Sora knows this is Quadratum.
He’s not sure how long he actually sleeps (not that he would really consider that half-awake state sleeping ) until he realizes Kairi isn’t in the room anymore, which means it must have been a few hours at least. Groggily, he rubs his face with his hands like he can scrub the images of Quadratum from his mind.
As if on cue, there’s a knock at the door, and a few seconds pass before Strelitzia pokes her head inside.
“Oh,” she mutters. “Sorry, I didn’t wait for an answer. I’m—I’m used to just walking in on you.”
He gives her a gentle, sleepy smile. “It’s okay! I’m the one who has to catch up.”
They haven’t had a lot of time to chat due to Sora’s recent explorations and searches, but Strelitzia still feels safe. His heart knows her, that’s for sure.
She steps inside and closes the door behind her. Almost shyly, she offers Sora a cup of water and places a piece of fruit down on his desk. “I thought you might need some energy.”
“So, a peace offering?” he teases. “Or an excuse to talk to me?”
She frowns as her ears turn red. “How do you read people like that?”
“It’s a gift.” He stretches until his back cracks. “What’s up?”
“How are you feeling?” she asks, gingerly sitting in the desk chair. “Really.”
He regards her carefully. Even if he doesn’t remember it, they were best friends for four years—she has to be relatively trustworthy. “Promise not to tell the others?”
“Promise.”
He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I’m kind of hallucinating.”
She furrows her brow. “Like…from lack of sleep?”
“No. More like…from the fact that I switched realities and the only thing keeping my brain un-fried was a connection I don’t have anymore.”
Realization colors her expression. “Oh, Sora…you need to tell someone.”
“What are they gonna do?” he scoffs. “The only way to fix it is to find Riku and hope we can restore the link, which isn’t guaranteed. If he even wants to do that.”
“Is it really bad?”
He shrugs. “I just see flashes sometimes. I think…an apartment? Our apartment?”
Strelitzia fiddles with the drawstring from her gray hoodie. “Do you remember anything about me, or is it just places?”
“Right now, just places,” Sora sighs. “I’ll be okay. We don’t really have time to worry, y’know? We have to find Riku.”
She gives a bitter smile. “I hated him at first. I knew bringing you back to the Realm of Light would just hurt you more. But…he was right. Every day, you’re out there, saving people from Heartless—I don’t think anyone else can do what you do. They need you here.”
“They need you here, too,” Sora tells her. “Not just for your brother. You have a place here. You know that, right?”
Strelitzia doesn’t answer. She just clears her throat and changes the subject. “Yen Sid was calling for you, by the way.”
Sora perks up. “Huh? Why?”
“He thinks he found something that could help, but that it’s no guarantee and might just be a shot in the dark.” She reaches for her phone and shows him the screen, which displays a text conversation with Ven. “Ven’s already at the tower.”
Sora is out of bed in the next second. Yen Sid doesn’t casually drop bombs like this, and even if it is a hopeless thread to follow, Sora has to try. It’s the first time in a month that he’s actually entertained Sora; his visits to the tower have been in vain, and Yen Sid always acts like he’s a burden to be around. It’s draining, to say the least.
As if it’s the most natural thing in the world, Strelitzia hands him a clean shirt from the dresser drawer, and Sora pauses. For a fraction of a second, the shirt is stained and Strelitzia’s distant voice is telling him to be more careful when he pours wine for his wealthier customers. Then, it’s gone.
“Sora?”
He smiles. “Come on. Walk me to the hangar?”
–
Ven is already in Yen Sid’s study by the time Sora climbs the steps and reaches the top. He turns to offer Ven a smile, but Ven’s responding expression is strained and tired. He’s been losing sleep just like Sora—his only advantage is that he’s not dealing with crippling visions of another reality.
Yen Sid regards Sora with his standard pensive expression, clearly analyzing his body language. But, Sora didn’t come here to get a mental evaluation.
“Master,” Sora greets. “You said you had some information?”
“Indeed,” the old man drawls. “Though, I must warn you—it’s quite far-fetched, compared to seeking answers through dreams.”
Sora stays quiet. Far-fetched is better than nothing at all.
“Long ago, all that existed was everlasting darkness and eternal light borne out of Kingdom Hearts.” He waves his hand and an illusion appears in front of the group, setting the scene. Two blobs of light and dark encircle each other like binary stars. “Then, for reasons unknown, the darkness split into seven beings. That same darkness clashed with the eternal light emitted by Kingdom Hearts, and the result brought forth an explosion of people and worlds.”
“The Master said something about this,” Sora says, folding his arms over his chest. “Talking about how he wanted a clean slate.”
“Yes. According to the mythos, the essence of each darkness and each light has been traveling through the ages ever since. It is believed the darkness enters humans at will, forcing them to commit atrocities. The essence of light is fated to clash with the darkness.
“I believe,” Yen Sid continues, “Riku may have a heart wrested by that same darkness.”
“The essence of darkness from the beginning of time possessed Riku and forced him to run away?”
“Possession is not the term to use,” Yen Sid continues. “Consider, instead, the concept of reincarnation. This essence would have followed Riku across lifetimes. As such, this explains the Master’s claim of traversing centuries to collect the light between the two of you.”
Sora still doesn’t quite understand, but the Master’s words are forever burned into his mind. After weeks of pointless ruminating, he’ll take any theory.
“He was not our only flight risk,” Yen Sid continues. “As you know, Vanitas has vanished as well. I have suspected for a long while that Vanitas could also be related to the original essence of darkness. My suspicion is that he convinced Riku that leaving was his only option to keep you safe from the Master’s plans.”
“That’s stupid. How are we supposed to beat that guy if we’re apart?” Sora gestures at Ven. “I know we have numbers, but if our link is that powerful, it’d be the only thing we could use to stop the Master.”
“I tend to agree,” Yen Sid hums. “Leaving was quite reckless. I have to imagine Vanitas made a convincing argument.”
Ven finally speaks up and says, “Is that why I’m here? To help find them both?”
“Yes. You will travel together and start your search in Scala ad Caelum.” Yen Sid snaps his fingers, and a gummi ship slightly larger than Highwind rises into view of the tower’s window. “This is where the mythos began; visiting Scala ad Caelum is vital to help us gather more context if we hope to find our missing comrades.”
“I want Kairi to come,” Sora blurts.
Yen Sid pauses. “I would not normally allow a Master on such a dangerous mission. Your journey will be arduous; you’ll have to use your heart as your guiding key to find the path to Scala. Kairi’s skills could be needed here.”
“He’s her best friend too, Master,” Sora reminds him. “If she can help, she’ll want to go.”
Yen Sid contemplates for an uncomfortably long few seconds before nodding sagely. “Perhaps the added protection is also necessary. I approve.”
Ven gives Yen Sid an adorable salute. Sora can’t help but entertain the giddy feeling in his gut—adventuring just like old times, right?
“Let’s go get those idiots and bring them back home.”
-
“You’re not nearly as pretty when you’re sulking like this.”
Riku rolls his eyes and pointedly does not respond to Vanitas. Diligently, he flips through the pages of the tomb in his hands, barely comprehending anything on the pages. Most of the books in this library are written in languages he doesn’t understand. Yen Sid has said, as a world traveler, his magic naturally translates most dialects for him subconsciously. These writings must be incredibly old, because Riku is digesting some but not all of it.
Vanitas is perched atop a table a few yards away, twirling a knife between his fingers as he browses his own book. It’s not very respectable behavior when they’re in a ghost town like Scala ad Caelum—the library is grand, and Vanitas is defiling it with his cavalier attitude.
And his flirting. His incessant, overbearing, pushy flirting.
“Sorry I’m not entirely thrilled about what we’re looking for,” he mutters.
“I never said finding answers would be easy. I just said I knew where to start looking.”
Riku gestures at the library and sighs dramatically to get his point across. “Yeah, we narrowed it down to centuries worth of books. We’ll pinpoint our origin story in no time.”
“There’s no need to be sarcastic, darling.”
“Can you stop?” Riku, exasperated, rises from his chair. He’s restless and his Keyblade hand burns from having not summoned it in days. “Being around you is so impossible when you insist on trying to get me to fuck you.”
Vanitas stabs his knife into the table and raises his hands to show his supposedly harmless intentions. “I never said I wanted you to fuck me. But, now that you mention it, we did have pretty great sex.”
“Don’t you have Ven now?” Riku turns his back to push his book back onto the shelf, and also as an excuse to hide his blush.
“Please. He’d cheer us on. Sora wouldn’t be too happy, though, would he?”
Riku doesn’t answer.
He’s been trying to avoid Sora as a topic since he and Vanitas left Twilight Town together. At the time, Vanitas hadn’t asked questions. He didn’t need to. Even if they were missing their link, leaving Sora behind after they were finally happy together was the hardest thing he’s ever done. But, it had been necessary, and Vanitas isn’t cruel enough to poke fun at that.
Lately, though, he’s been pushing his luck just like this.
“Look, you’ll have to talk about him at some point,” Vanitas says. “You’ll never be truly over a breakup unless someone can say his name without you being sent into a depression spiral. Plus, let’s be real—there’s no way you’ll never see him again, considering he practically thinks you hung the stars.”
“We didn’t break up.”
“Right. Because you weren’t together in the first place.”
Riku drags his hands over his face. He really doesn’t want to take relationship advice from Vanitas, who seems perfectly happy sleeping around regardless of his partnership status. But, it’s been three weeks, and Riku is not great at romance, and even if he can never see Sora again (the mere thought borders him on a panic attack) he needs to work through his goddamn feelings like an adult.
So, helpless and defeated, he slumps into a chair next to where Vanitas is perched on the table.
“He said I was his best friend,” he mumbles. “Right before I left.”
“I thought you fucked.”
Riku grits his teeth at Vanitas’ cavalier response, but doesn’t argue. “We did. We just didn’t have time to…put a name to it?”
Vanitas shrugs. “Me and Ven don’t have a name. It’s different, though, because I kind of hate him, but only I’m allowed to hate him.”
“What’s that about, anyway? You and him?”
“Don’t try and weasel out of the Sora Subject, ‘Ku. You’ve been obsessed with him since the beginning of time. Perhaps even literally, if I’m reading my context clues right. He’s going to come looking for you—it’s just a matter of time.”
Riku sighs. “I know. I’ve tried to run from him before, and it never works. But we can’t be together. If we rebuild the link—”
“It’s Sora,” Vanitas reminds him flatly. “He doesn’t give a shit about that. He gives a shit about you.”
He thinks back to how Sora had abandoned all logical thought when he had been fifteen and searching for Riku. No matter how dark it looked, no matter how damning the evidence, Sora never assumed anything but the best. Maybe the idea that Riku could hurt Sora enough to sever their connection was a foolish one.
“I broke his heart,” Riku says quietly. “I don’t see him forgiving me for that.”
Vanitas scoffs and hops off the table, dislodging his knife from the wood and sheathing it in his belt. “You’re such an idiot. While you think about what you’re gonna say to him when he finds us, I’m off to actually be productive.”
And Riku is left to sulk by himself, watching as Vanitas strolls into the depths of the library.