And I'll be posting chapters more often. XD My school breaks up tomorrow, which means I'll have chapters up more frequently. Woo.
Anyway, hi there!
Not much to post here. This chapter does enough explaining already. ^-^
Lol, were you expecting that about Imari?
Just a quick note - some things I skipped (explanation of events in KH1), but I left in stuff about KH:TFF. A little memory refresher, I guess ^-^
Chapter Eight
Stunned, Riku sat in silence for a few moments.
“What?” he whispered, unable to comprehend what she’d just said.
“I-I don’t really know what happened,” Imari replied quietly, shrinking down into the bed. She didn’t really know any details, and was embarrassed to give her simple story. “All I know is that I found myself in your world.” Riku shook his head, trying to rationalise everything.
“Imari, you would have told me by now,” he tried to find a reason why it couldn’t be true. She sighed.
“My dad made me promise,” she stated. “And even if I did tell you, I didn’t think you’d believe me.” He shook his head again.
“Of course I would have!” he said. “I knew about the other worlds anyway.” She waggled a finger at him.
“Yeah, but I didn’t know that,” she tried to defend herself. He sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“Then why did you get so freaked out at Donald and Goofy?” he asked.
“’Cause I wasn’t sure, okay?” she retorted. “I still don’t entirely know what happened to me. I guess I didn’t put two and two together.” She blushed, unsure of herself. He ran his hand through his hair.
“Okay,” he sighed, trying to keep hushed. Taiko still slept soundly at their side. “Will you tell me what happened?” She nodded, getting herself comfortable on the bed.
“I was out walking with my dad,” she explained. “Suddenly, the sky clouded over, and a blizzard started. Before we could get back home, it just got worse and worse. The wind kept getting stronger, and the snow kept coming. Then it got darker, until everything went black. I just passed out, I think.” Riku nodded, listening intently. “When I woke up, my father and I were on a beach.” Riku nodded.
“That’s how you got there,” he mused. He rubbed his chin. “Nine years ago?” She nodded. “Sounds like you got caught up in the same thing as us.” From her expression, it was clear she was a little confused.
Riku explained how he, Sora and Kairi had been taken from the Islands, and how they met others who had suffered the same fate. It seemed that their stories were interlinked - she was unwittingly part of what he was going to tell her.
“So a lot of people got separated,” she whispered. “We weren’t the only ones.” Riku shook his head.
“Far from it,” he sighed. “There’s one thing I can’t figure out, though. When we sealed the door to Kingdom Hearts, all the worlds went back to normal. Everyone was sent back to their own worlds. But you weren’t.” Imari shrugged. She wasn’t sure of what Kingdom Hearts was, but assumed Riku would explain later.
“I guess I’m not complaining,” she smiled. “I met you guys, didn’t I?” Riku smiled, kissed her.
“But don’t you miss home?” he asked. “And your family must be back there, too. What was your world like?” She smiled.
“Cold,” she grinned. “Snowy. And it’s a little more… self sufficient, I guess. There’s no electricity.” Riku’s eyes widened. Jumping from her world to his must have been hard. “And I do miss my family. They don’t even know that dad died.” She was saddened by this, and her dark eyes glazed over. Riku curled his arm around her, took her close to his chest. He hated to see her upset. He knew this was probably her first chance to let her feelings out, express her longing for her home.
“What were your family like?” he asked, gentle and soothing. She dried her tears, continued.
“Well, there’s my mother,” she sniffed. “Then my grandmother. And my older brother.” Riku smiled, taking delight in comforting her.
“It would be nice to meet them all,” he smiled. “Maybe we will, while we’re looking for the King.” Imari smiled. It was a nice thought.
“I guess you’re right,” she nodded, curling up beside him. He accepted her reliance with heroic composure. “So did you meet Donald and Goofy after you got lost from the islands?” Riku shook his head.
“Kinda,” he explained. “They met Sora first. I didn’t meet them ‘til later. And I was kinda… jealous of them.” Her gaze questioned him. “I’d been out searching for Sora. I was so worried about him, and I found out he’d been with them all along. I guess I got kinda mad that he hadn’t bothered to look for me. Turned out he had though, Donald and Goofy were helping him. But I didn’t know that. I sorta lost my way from then…”
He explained how he’d met Maleficent, how he ended up almost losing himself to the darkness. He felt strange, explaining all his mixed emotions to her - he wasn’t the most expressive person, tending to keep himself to himself. But, he wanted to justify himself as he told her of his struggle against his inner demons. She understood as he explained what had happened between Sora and Ansem, and then how he and King Mickey were lost as they closed the door to Kingdom Hearts.
“So Sora‘s the Keyblade master,” she mused, playing with the creases in her dress. After a short pause, she looked up at him. “You guys must be great friends.” Riku frowned, unsure where this sudden comment had come from.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Even after you kinda… betrayed Sora,” she explained, “you guys are still best friends.” Riku smiled.
“Yeah, well he’s done a lot for me,” he raised a smile, reminiscing. His focus wandered. “He never lost hope, even after two years of looking.” Her dark eyes widened.
“Two years?” she whispered. “Wow. But where did you all end up?”
“Well, for me and the King,” he replied, “all over the universe, until we got separated. I don’t know where King Mickey turned up, but I got sent to some world called Kactos.” She nodded, entranced with his ongoing story. “Sora was out looking for me, and Kairi was back on the islands.”
“All alone?” Imari questioned. Riku nodded. “That must have been so hard for her, worrying about you two.” She was amazed at his story, sat listening intently as a child listening to a bedtime fairytale. “How did you and Sora find each other?” Pink seeped into Riku’s drained expression. Luckily, his blushing face was hidden by his long, silver hair.
Riku hated to think about his time trapped at Square-One, at the mercy of the New Generation. It had only been a few days, but the thought still lurked painfully in his memories. To Imari, he was like a big, strong hero, taking care of both her and Taiko. After the death of her father, she was devastated. He was all that remained for her, the one who kept her going through it all. But when he thought about what had happened there, he felt weak, and thought she would think he wasn’t as strong as previously believed. Reluctantly, he began to explain.
“Remember Ansem?” he asked. She thought for a moment, then nodded. “They were his students. So, after Sora defeated him, they were pretty mad.” Imari’s expression invited him to continue. “I stupidly let one of them know that I was Sora’s best friend, while I was on Kactos. A couple of days later, he came back, with two others.” Her mouth fell open, and her eyes widened.
“What happened?” she whispered, shocked. She could guess the rest, but wanted his clarification.
“They kidnapped me,” he sighed, eyes closed. “Took me back to their world.” Imari threw her arms around him, buried herself in his chest.
“That’s awful!” she said, her voice muffled. He wrapped his muscled arms around her. “Were you alright?” He nodded.
“Nothing too bad, I guess,” he said. He tried to raise a smile. “I’m still here.” Quickly moving on, away from his thoughts, he continued to explain Sora’s arrival, and his final duel with Mikado. He tied up all the loose ends, telling her all that happened after that, up to their return to the islands. After a short time, he finished. “Anything else you want to know?” Imari shook her head.
“Not really,” she rubbed her chin. He’d explained all she wanted to know, and so much more. She now knew everything about his past, all that he, Sora and Kairi had been through. There was just one more thing she needed to know. “Taiko.” Riku slapped his forehead.
“Man, I knew I left something out,” he sighed. How could Riku forget him? “Taiko was a member of the New Generation, but he didn’t agree with what they were doing. He ended up getting kicked out. He was good to me, we ended up getting pretty close, even though we didn’t spend much time together.” Imari nodded. “All he wanted was to get home to his family. So we took him back home to Foris.” Imari smiled.
“That was nice of you,” she said. Taiko seemed like a nice guy too. “I’d like to meet him, considering you named our baby after him.” Riku grinned.
“Then that’s another place on the list,” he smiled. “We can tell the others, they’ll want to go to Foris too. And I’ll make sure we try to find your world.” He raised a grin, ruffling his hair. “Looking for King Mickey is turning into a trip for us!” He laughed a little, but Imari did not.
“Will he be alright all alone?” Imari asked. It was clear she seemed a little worried. Riku nodded.
“He’s tough,” Riku reassured her. “He can take care of himself.” She nodded, feeling a little more comforted.
“That’s ok then,” she smiled. She gazed down on the baby, breathing softly as he slept. “I bet Taiko would be pretty happy to hear your son’s named after him.” Touching his little hand, she smiled again. “I was thinking of naming him after my brother. But you seemed pretty taken with Taiko.” Riku smiled.
“Sorry,” he said. “What was your brother’s name? Taiko could always use a middle name, too.” Imari giggled.
“Meiji,” she replied.
Riku’s eyes widened. Her words pierced his soul. He couldn’t be the same Meiji, could he? Noticing Imari’s stare, he replied.
“Cool,” he blurted out the first response he could think of. He decided to keep quiet about it, considering it was such a slim chance that he’d be the same person. After all, there could be millions of ‘Meiji’s throughout the universe. And he doubted Imari would name her child after such a monster.
His eyes darted as they heard a knock at the door.
“All ready?”
Hope you like it. Some CC would be great!
<3 <3
Just like Kactos, Foris, etc... I figured that if there were "As many worlds as there are stars", then there are a whole lot he didn't get to in KH. So I wanted to write about them.