Post by Riku on Mar 25, 2011 15:33:13 GMT -5
He didn't need the blindfold.
Not yet.
But Riku's second descent into darkness had been just as unforgiving as the first, and against his will. It stung to know that he could still let it do that, after all this time. Riku didn't think in terms of failing to keep the darkness out--only succeeding in letting it in. It was a part of him no matter what, and being sullied with it for so long had taught him that much.
It was almost enough to send him back to that old mindset, the loop of guilt that wouldn't let him see his friends or return home. Maybe, since he could never quite get rid the darkness in him without destroying a major part of himself, he was also doomed never to escape it. Maybe returning to Destiny Islands was meaningless now.
But if Sora ever taught him anything, it was not to give up.
Waking up on the transparent, glassy ground of the End of the World made him feel suspended for a moment, as if he were waking up back in the white void of Castle Oblivion with DiZ's voice ringing in his ears. "Sora?" He pushed himself up with a grunt, tucking his elbows behind him to prop him there. It felt like he'd taken a baseball bat to the gut and a few other places. "Kairi!"
No response. He'd been alone when the darkness took over...hadn't he? The near-forgotten image of Sora reaching for him through the darkness burned across his mind--he'd never forgive himself if he dragged one or both of them into this. They had to be safe. He'd get up and he'd shake off the darkness like always and he'd go back to the islands to make sure himself--
Could he go back to the islands like this?
Riku hesitated now that he was standing, looking to the glowing white horizon. It wasn't anything like home. There were no waves here. He wouldn't stay, but what if...could he afford to go back now? Like this? Regardless of whether he could go back, he shouldn't bring darkness to the islands. If they had to stay an untouchable ideal, suspended in the stars beyond his reach, then he could live with that. He already had for a year or more.
But in a suffocating moment of vulnerability he'd never show Sora or Kairi, Riku desperately missed the paopu tree. The Secret Place. His own room and the parents he hadn't seen in so long.
The best way to find out how deeply the darkness was entrenched and what he could do about it was to see the King, and that meant not sticking around here. Without even thinking about it, Riku raised a hand as he had a dozen times before, completely expecting to see the darkness unfold in front of him.
At the precise moment when he always remembered, Oh, I can't do that anymore, the darkness swirled and opened under his fingertips with an unearthly hum.
Riku stared.
"No...!"
It wasn't a huge portal by any means. He probably couldn't travel through this one at all, but the fact that it was even there made him stumble back and almost fall. Had the darkness in him already deepened that much? Was it coincidence? He dismissed it with a sharp snap of his wrist like it'd burned him, and his heart sank even more when it obeyed his whim.
Even if he could have taken that portal, he wouldn't. Maybe if his heart were stronger, he could go through it without a cloak, but right now he wouldn't trust the darkness with the light he had left. Instead, he called Soul Eater in a flash of light instead of shadows, and the weight told him it was still its new, altered form. At least he hadn't lost that. It calmed him to see it, giving him a slow, exulting burst of optimism. Aquamarine eyes roved the blade, from the keychain at the end to the angel wing at the tip. "I'll find my way," he murmured, not sure who he was promising--himself or the Keyblade that had finally accepted him--and turned his attention to a slightly different conglomeration of broken worlds than the one the darkness had dragged him into once before.
Not yet.
But Riku's second descent into darkness had been just as unforgiving as the first, and against his will. It stung to know that he could still let it do that, after all this time. Riku didn't think in terms of failing to keep the darkness out--only succeeding in letting it in. It was a part of him no matter what, and being sullied with it for so long had taught him that much.
It was almost enough to send him back to that old mindset, the loop of guilt that wouldn't let him see his friends or return home. Maybe, since he could never quite get rid the darkness in him without destroying a major part of himself, he was also doomed never to escape it. Maybe returning to Destiny Islands was meaningless now.
But if Sora ever taught him anything, it was not to give up.
Waking up on the transparent, glassy ground of the End of the World made him feel suspended for a moment, as if he were waking up back in the white void of Castle Oblivion with DiZ's voice ringing in his ears. "Sora?" He pushed himself up with a grunt, tucking his elbows behind him to prop him there. It felt like he'd taken a baseball bat to the gut and a few other places. "Kairi!"
No response. He'd been alone when the darkness took over...hadn't he? The near-forgotten image of Sora reaching for him through the darkness burned across his mind--he'd never forgive himself if he dragged one or both of them into this. They had to be safe. He'd get up and he'd shake off the darkness like always and he'd go back to the islands to make sure himself--
Could he go back to the islands like this?
Riku hesitated now that he was standing, looking to the glowing white horizon. It wasn't anything like home. There were no waves here. He wouldn't stay, but what if...could he afford to go back now? Like this? Regardless of whether he could go back, he shouldn't bring darkness to the islands. If they had to stay an untouchable ideal, suspended in the stars beyond his reach, then he could live with that. He already had for a year or more.
But in a suffocating moment of vulnerability he'd never show Sora or Kairi, Riku desperately missed the paopu tree. The Secret Place. His own room and the parents he hadn't seen in so long.
The best way to find out how deeply the darkness was entrenched and what he could do about it was to see the King, and that meant not sticking around here. Without even thinking about it, Riku raised a hand as he had a dozen times before, completely expecting to see the darkness unfold in front of him.
At the precise moment when he always remembered, Oh, I can't do that anymore, the darkness swirled and opened under his fingertips with an unearthly hum.
Riku stared.
"No...!"
It wasn't a huge portal by any means. He probably couldn't travel through this one at all, but the fact that it was even there made him stumble back and almost fall. Had the darkness in him already deepened that much? Was it coincidence? He dismissed it with a sharp snap of his wrist like it'd burned him, and his heart sank even more when it obeyed his whim.
Even if he could have taken that portal, he wouldn't. Maybe if his heart were stronger, he could go through it without a cloak, but right now he wouldn't trust the darkness with the light he had left. Instead, he called Soul Eater in a flash of light instead of shadows, and the weight told him it was still its new, altered form. At least he hadn't lost that. It calmed him to see it, giving him a slow, exulting burst of optimism. Aquamarine eyes roved the blade, from the keychain at the end to the angel wing at the tip. "I'll find my way," he murmured, not sure who he was promising--himself or the Keyblade that had finally accepted him--and turned his attention to a slightly different conglomeration of broken worlds than the one the darkness had dragged him into once before.
