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"Advance and Follow" untitled sidefic
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anriko is working on this story, Advance and Follow, based on the idea of: what would happen if someone with power like Naminé's used it to do real damage?
When she has the time/inspiration to work on it, it promises to be pretty awesome. It's about when a Princess goes bad and the usual heroes are indisposed, and Kairi getting her turn to travel the worlds kicking ass and taking names. 8D
It's also kind of EATING MY BRAIN, so she let me do this little slice-of-life sidefic for it, of Sora and Riku. XD
(no title)
Words: 1,517
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sora and Riku on the dark side, and what was lost getting there.
Being in Sora's room made Riku uncomfortable.
It wasn't really Sora's fault. Whenever his friend came calling, Sora was nothing but gracious to him. Riku was the only one permitted to enter without knocking, and Sora would always beam like he hadn't seen him for weeks and invite him to make himself at home. There was no deficit of welcome.
And it wasn't even that it wasn't a nice room. It was. Fine linens for the bedsheets, down cushions on all the chairs, red curtains woven through with gold threads. The carpet was rich and soft, the room itself airy and open. The attached bathroom was outfitted in white marble. It seemed that the only luxury Sora lacked here was his own kitchen - and that was just down the hall.
True, the appearance of it was not the same. But it was, in so many other respects, exactly like the quarters Maleficent had given him.
And it turned his stomach to be here, knowing that; and especially to see Sora reclining with cheerful abandon in a silk-cushioned papasan chair, his shoes kicked to the other side of the room, grinning at him and just being so damned Sora despite it all.
"You cast away your home, your friends, everything... But at least they gave you a nice room."
Sora kept offering to share his space with Riku, if he wouldn't accept his own from Aurora. Riku kept refusing. He'd rather sleep on the roof than in one of those beds.
"What brings you here today, Riku?" Sora asked, and it felt wrong. His grin was the same but it all felt disjointed; the way he talked wasn't quite him any more, the emotion never quite right in those bright blue eyes. Aurora was powerful, but she lacked Naminé's finesse and it made Riku cringe to think what she had made of Sora's memory. He imagined a holocaust of gaping holes, patched over and stitched together clumsily, a child's fumbling work at repairing her broken toy. There was enough left, still, to be recognizable; but so much gone or changed or shoved to the back that Riku wasn't sure he could honestly say the other boy was still his friend.
At least Naminé had done her best to preserve that which was Sora.
"I wanted to talk about our strategy for Mer," Riku said, seated awkwardly on the edge of Sora's bed.
"Oh." Sora sighed, then sat up straight. "Never a social call with you, is it?"
"Well, you know how it is." Riku forced a chuckle. "No rest for the wicked..."
Sora smiled in sympathy and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Well, if we can make contact with the Dark Dweller, we'll be doing good. Aurora likes the look of that Dark Water he controls." He scrunched up his face in thought.
"The trick'll be getting to him," Riku pointed out, keeping his face carefully neutral. "We can't swim that deep, or through Dark Water. That pirate lord might have some supplies we could use, though, if he'll part with them."
A knock came at the door, small and faint. Signaling hold on a sec, Sora glanced over his shoulder and called, "It's open!" before returning his attention to Riku. "Bloth? Nah. He wants to rule Mer himself and he doesn't seem to feel like sharing. It'd be a diplomatic nightmare to get him to cooperate, there's too much of a conflict of interest."
"All right, then." Riku leaned back a bit, resting on his hands. One of the little Memory creatures that Aurora commanded, armed with a duster, had crept in through the door and was dutifully beginning to tidy up the mostly-imaginary clutter. "Then what's your idea?"
"I was thinking we could use your dark shield," Sora offered, smiling. "If Aurora's guess is right, we can jump right into the water and we'll reach him. You can protect us just long enough to get there."
Riku suppressed a groan. That wasn't going to give him much time. He'd been hoping for a chance to steal away and parley with the prince they'd encountered. Just one or two of those treasures they hunted would have been enough for Riku's latest sabotage effort. "Hunh. If you think so..."
"Don't worry!" Sora beamed at him. "You can do it. Nobody's as good with the darkness as you are. I believe in you, Riku."
It was possibly the least encouraging thing Riku had ever heard Sora say.
"Thanks." It felt hollow, and he pushed on. "So, we'll probably have to offer him something in return for his help..."
"Right. Equal trade and all that. What do you sugge--" The end of his sentence was lost in the the sound of something heavy and wooden hitting the carpet, and the rushing jingle and clink of metal.
Sora moved so fast Riku barely saw him. It was only reflex that allowed him to act in time, as Sora went from recognition of the sound to snatching his sword from the dresser in a handful of heartbeats. Riku only just managed to catch his arm before he could run the cowering Memory through.
"Sora, no!"
"Stand aside!" Sora snarled like a wild beast, his knuckles white on the sword's hilt. "Miserable little--"
"It's not worth your time!" Riku's voice came out harsher than it should have, overcompensation to mask his horror. This was not Sora. The tiny Memory shuddered on the ground, wringing bone-thin hands, its featureless face turned down in submission. It was utterly at Sora's mercy - and it was only Riku's grip that kept the sword from plunging through it. "It's just a servant, Sora. It's not worth your time. Save it for your enemies."
"Don't you see what it DID-- clumsy maggot--"
Riku dragged Sora into his arms, pinning him. Wide-eyed, he glanced down at the floor and the poor groveling Memory, wondering what in all the worlds could have provoked such a reaction--
Oh.
"If they're damaged I'll have its HEAD, even so much as a chip--"
Keychains had spilled across the floor, dozens of them, a glittering mass of metal links and vivid colors. Riku had wondered what had become of them. The Keyblade had rejected Sora weeks ago, as Aurora had folded him ever further into her growing darkness.
When the Keyblade no longer answered his call, Sora had been shocked, horrified; Riku suspected he might have fought his way back to the light then and there if Aurora had not seen his distress and pulled him close, stroking his hair and pulling the memories away. The Keyblade had not rejected him, there had never been a Keyblade--
Feeling Sora's violent struggles taper off, Riku slowly released his friend. Sora snarled once more at the Memory, which skittered away in rightful terror, and then he jammed his sword into its scabbard as if he wished it would bleed. Setting the weapon aside, he knelt to gather the keychains into the box. Each chain was held up to the light and examined from all angles before he would put it away.
This was Aurora's clumsiness. There was only so much of the Keyblade you could erase before you began erasing Sora too. His heart and his destiny were too intertwined with it. She must have had to leave fragments, just enough to hold his mind together... like the keychains.
Riku watched, half numb, as Sora put each trinket - that was all they were in his hands now, all they could be - into the box. He didn't dare offer his help, not with Sora still seething in his unnatural fury.
Sora couldn't remember the Keyblade, but he couldn't forget it entirely and still keep his heart. He had the keychains, and he had to know they were important, that they belonged to him for a very important reason - but he couldn't remember it, and when so much of him was gone, his anger having none of the normal checks and balances, so little of Sora's personality left to hold it back...
The last keychain jingled, and Sora shut the box, closing the snaps and gathering the thing into his arms. He stalked back to his papasan chair and sank into it again, curling around the box protectively and stroking its lacquered top.
Riku felt nauseous.
"Sora," he said softly, and got only a glowering stare, barely visible past the crook of Sora's arm. "I'll go make preparations for our trip to Mer. Tomorrow we'll decide on a gift for the Dark Dweller."
There was a small affirmative noise - half a growl - from Sora's direction, and nothing more. Riku bowed his head, a convenient formality that kept him from having to look at the other boy. He turned quickly, and slipped out the door. Once he was sure Sora would no longer hear his footsteps, he broke into a desperate run.
Mickey's presence would have been an enormous comfort now. Him, or his knight and wizard, or Kairi...
He needed their reassurances that there was enough left of Sora to save.
... 8D
anriko is working on this story, Advance and Follow, based on the idea of: what would happen if someone with power like Naminé's used it to do real damage?When she has the time/inspiration to work on it, it promises to be pretty awesome. It's about when a Princess goes bad and the usual heroes are indisposed, and Kairi getting her turn to travel the worlds kicking ass and taking names. 8D
It's also kind of EATING MY BRAIN, so she let me do this little slice-of-life sidefic for it, of Sora and Riku. XD
(no title)
Words: 1,517
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sora and Riku on the dark side, and what was lost getting there.
Being in Sora's room made Riku uncomfortable.
It wasn't really Sora's fault. Whenever his friend came calling, Sora was nothing but gracious to him. Riku was the only one permitted to enter without knocking, and Sora would always beam like he hadn't seen him for weeks and invite him to make himself at home. There was no deficit of welcome.
And it wasn't even that it wasn't a nice room. It was. Fine linens for the bedsheets, down cushions on all the chairs, red curtains woven through with gold threads. The carpet was rich and soft, the room itself airy and open. The attached bathroom was outfitted in white marble. It seemed that the only luxury Sora lacked here was his own kitchen - and that was just down the hall.
True, the appearance of it was not the same. But it was, in so many other respects, exactly like the quarters Maleficent had given him.
And it turned his stomach to be here, knowing that; and especially to see Sora reclining with cheerful abandon in a silk-cushioned papasan chair, his shoes kicked to the other side of the room, grinning at him and just being so damned Sora despite it all.
"You cast away your home, your friends, everything... But at least they gave you a nice room."
Sora kept offering to share his space with Riku, if he wouldn't accept his own from Aurora. Riku kept refusing. He'd rather sleep on the roof than in one of those beds.
"What brings you here today, Riku?" Sora asked, and it felt wrong. His grin was the same but it all felt disjointed; the way he talked wasn't quite him any more, the emotion never quite right in those bright blue eyes. Aurora was powerful, but she lacked Naminé's finesse and it made Riku cringe to think what she had made of Sora's memory. He imagined a holocaust of gaping holes, patched over and stitched together clumsily, a child's fumbling work at repairing her broken toy. There was enough left, still, to be recognizable; but so much gone or changed or shoved to the back that Riku wasn't sure he could honestly say the other boy was still his friend.
At least Naminé had done her best to preserve that which was Sora.
"I wanted to talk about our strategy for Mer," Riku said, seated awkwardly on the edge of Sora's bed.
"Oh." Sora sighed, then sat up straight. "Never a social call with you, is it?"
"Well, you know how it is." Riku forced a chuckle. "No rest for the wicked..."
Sora smiled in sympathy and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Well, if we can make contact with the Dark Dweller, we'll be doing good. Aurora likes the look of that Dark Water he controls." He scrunched up his face in thought.
"The trick'll be getting to him," Riku pointed out, keeping his face carefully neutral. "We can't swim that deep, or through Dark Water. That pirate lord might have some supplies we could use, though, if he'll part with them."
A knock came at the door, small and faint. Signaling hold on a sec, Sora glanced over his shoulder and called, "It's open!" before returning his attention to Riku. "Bloth? Nah. He wants to rule Mer himself and he doesn't seem to feel like sharing. It'd be a diplomatic nightmare to get him to cooperate, there's too much of a conflict of interest."
"All right, then." Riku leaned back a bit, resting on his hands. One of the little Memory creatures that Aurora commanded, armed with a duster, had crept in through the door and was dutifully beginning to tidy up the mostly-imaginary clutter. "Then what's your idea?"
"I was thinking we could use your dark shield," Sora offered, smiling. "If Aurora's guess is right, we can jump right into the water and we'll reach him. You can protect us just long enough to get there."
Riku suppressed a groan. That wasn't going to give him much time. He'd been hoping for a chance to steal away and parley with the prince they'd encountered. Just one or two of those treasures they hunted would have been enough for Riku's latest sabotage effort. "Hunh. If you think so..."
"Don't worry!" Sora beamed at him. "You can do it. Nobody's as good with the darkness as you are. I believe in you, Riku."
It was possibly the least encouraging thing Riku had ever heard Sora say.
"Thanks." It felt hollow, and he pushed on. "So, we'll probably have to offer him something in return for his help..."
"Right. Equal trade and all that. What do you sugge--" The end of his sentence was lost in the the sound of something heavy and wooden hitting the carpet, and the rushing jingle and clink of metal.
Sora moved so fast Riku barely saw him. It was only reflex that allowed him to act in time, as Sora went from recognition of the sound to snatching his sword from the dresser in a handful of heartbeats. Riku only just managed to catch his arm before he could run the cowering Memory through.
"Sora, no!"
"Stand aside!" Sora snarled like a wild beast, his knuckles white on the sword's hilt. "Miserable little--"
"It's not worth your time!" Riku's voice came out harsher than it should have, overcompensation to mask his horror. This was not Sora. The tiny Memory shuddered on the ground, wringing bone-thin hands, its featureless face turned down in submission. It was utterly at Sora's mercy - and it was only Riku's grip that kept the sword from plunging through it. "It's just a servant, Sora. It's not worth your time. Save it for your enemies."
"Don't you see what it DID-- clumsy maggot--"
Riku dragged Sora into his arms, pinning him. Wide-eyed, he glanced down at the floor and the poor groveling Memory, wondering what in all the worlds could have provoked such a reaction--
Oh.
"If they're damaged I'll have its HEAD, even so much as a chip--"
Keychains had spilled across the floor, dozens of them, a glittering mass of metal links and vivid colors. Riku had wondered what had become of them. The Keyblade had rejected Sora weeks ago, as Aurora had folded him ever further into her growing darkness.
When the Keyblade no longer answered his call, Sora had been shocked, horrified; Riku suspected he might have fought his way back to the light then and there if Aurora had not seen his distress and pulled him close, stroking his hair and pulling the memories away. The Keyblade had not rejected him, there had never been a Keyblade--
Feeling Sora's violent struggles taper off, Riku slowly released his friend. Sora snarled once more at the Memory, which skittered away in rightful terror, and then he jammed his sword into its scabbard as if he wished it would bleed. Setting the weapon aside, he knelt to gather the keychains into the box. Each chain was held up to the light and examined from all angles before he would put it away.
This was Aurora's clumsiness. There was only so much of the Keyblade you could erase before you began erasing Sora too. His heart and his destiny were too intertwined with it. She must have had to leave fragments, just enough to hold his mind together... like the keychains.
Riku watched, half numb, as Sora put each trinket - that was all they were in his hands now, all they could be - into the box. He didn't dare offer his help, not with Sora still seething in his unnatural fury.
Sora couldn't remember the Keyblade, but he couldn't forget it entirely and still keep his heart. He had the keychains, and he had to know they were important, that they belonged to him for a very important reason - but he couldn't remember it, and when so much of him was gone, his anger having none of the normal checks and balances, so little of Sora's personality left to hold it back...
The last keychain jingled, and Sora shut the box, closing the snaps and gathering the thing into his arms. He stalked back to his papasan chair and sank into it again, curling around the box protectively and stroking its lacquered top.
Riku felt nauseous.
"Sora," he said softly, and got only a glowering stare, barely visible past the crook of Sora's arm. "I'll go make preparations for our trip to Mer. Tomorrow we'll decide on a gift for the Dark Dweller."
There was a small affirmative noise - half a growl - from Sora's direction, and nothing more. Riku bowed his head, a convenient formality that kept him from having to look at the other boy. He turned quickly, and slipped out the door. Once he was sure Sora would no longer hear his footsteps, he broke into a desperate run.
Mickey's presence would have been an enormous comfort now. Him, or his knight and wizard, or Kairi...
He needed their reassurances that there was enough left of Sora to save.
... 8D
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Wah, Sora! ::clings::
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If you liked this, you should check out AaF itself. 8D It's actually only one chapter right now, but it's a promising start. Give
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Thank you. :DDDD I sort of creeped myself out writing it. :DDDD
Be sure to encourage Amiko to write more, if you like what's there of the main fic~ XD
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May I
worshipfriend you?no subject
If you wish to friend me, go right ahead! :D
(And man, Pirates of Dark Water rocked. And it slots so nicely into Kingdom Hearts! You don't even really have to change anything! XD)
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I...I don't know what to say. That was brilliant. Terrifying, but brilliant.
Why is there not another installment? There should totally be another installment. :D
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This was a one-off I did to get the scary mindfucked Sora out of my head; if you want more in this universe, as always, you'll have to stalk the original author and poke her to write more. XD
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Oooooooooooooh that's really an awesome fic. And yet I don't even know the series you're talking about (I had to check "Pirates of Dark Water" on wikepedia XD;). But in a few words you create a great universe, with the Memory for example. Aurora (and we don't even see her!) and Sora are super creepy. The contrast with canon is well-rendered. Creeeepy, and intriguing.
And Riku :3 I love him in there. He cares for Sora, he tries his best, even if he's not sure he will manage to do something... Pure love ♥
Do you know if anriko plans to write more of Advance and Follow? It's a great idea, but apparently it has never been updated and I don't want to harass them if they don't...
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Heee, thank you. :D The OMGCREEPY factor was pretty much the whole reason I wanted to write this, so I'm glad that came across well~
Poor Riku is trying his best ♥ He's really in a tough spot.
Yes! Actually, at this time, I'm betaing the shit out of her chapter 1 draft, it should be ready to post very soon.