Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Red Sky at Night ❯ Red Sky at Night ( Chapter 1 )

The sun was going down. The boat and our faces were lit on one side, redly. The wind was picking up. I wondered if a storm was coming.

 

"Slow down, Riku," Kairi said. "He's not going anywhere."

 

I kept rowing. "He might."

 

"He won't." I looked up at her, sitting calmly, watching me. "He's Sora, he won't."

"He snuck out of his room, and took his boat somewhere. At sundown. Without telling his parents, without telling us. Why else would he do that?"

 

"I don't know." Kairi shook her head. "But I know he wouldn't hurt you like that. Not either of us."

 

"We're not twelve anymore, Kairi. Things are different now. How do we know we're more important than going off to save the world again?" She opened her mouth. "And how do we know he wouldn't rather protect us than take us along?" She shut it again. "And if you're so sure I'm wrong, why did you come?"

 

"You needed me," Kairi said. "You're my friend." I stopped rowing, and stared at her. But then the boat bumped into the dock.

 

I jumped out, hastily tied the boat up, and ran toward the beach. Sora's boat was right next to mine. "Sora!"

 

"Riku, wait, you're too fast!"

 

"Sora! Where are you?" I ran down the beach, through the shacks, over the ladders and bridges, our playground. Up ahead was where we'd built the raft, and the wind was faster now. "Sora!"

 

There - a fire, a big one, and a spike-haired silhouette in front of it. "Sora!" He didn't turn. He didn't even twitch. "Sora?" He just stared into the fire, like he'd lost something. Like he was trying to remember. "Roxas?"

 

"What?"

 

I stopped short. I couldn't really see him; he was just a shadow against the fire and the red sun. If I got closer to him, would I see his own face? Or was he just a strange look in Sora's eyes? When Sora looked up at night, was he looking for an orange star?

 

"Where's Sora?"

 

"He's fine. He'll be awake again soon."

 

Kairi had caught up to me. I heard her standing behind me, breathing hard. And - maybe it was all those weeks wearing a blindfold - I could hear her staring. Hear her speechless. There was knowing Sora had a Nobody, and then there was actually seeing him, a sharp, sad stranger with your best friend's eyes. I knew.

 

Maybe Roxas heard her there, too. Maybe that was why his voice was a little gentler when he asked, "What do you want?"

 

I shook my head. I was an idiot, panicking for no reason. Kairi had been right. . . "I want," she said, "I want things to be like they were before."

 

Roxas nodded. "Yeah." But they weren't talking about the same before.

 

The wind pulled at our clothes, and threw up sparks from the fire. For a second I wished the storm would come, and end the world again.

 

-o-

 

Kingdom Hearts is the property of Disney and Square-Enix, and was created by Tetsuya Nomura.