Seek the Stars

XX

Riku lay behind the Nobody, shaking, eyes wide in awe of the man before him. Those swords were wiped clean and thrust into sheaths positioned on the small of his back as the Nobody turned to Riku and offered a hand up. When Riku remained frozen, the hand not offered went up to pull back the hood. Tousled and spiky black hair tumbled over forest green eyes that glowed softly, and the man’s lips curled into a smile.

“Come now, Riku.” Zack said softly. “Get up.”

Riku reached for the Nobody’s hand and slowly got to his feet. The moment he was up he latched onto the darker man, eyes closed tight as he buried his face against Zack’s chest.

“Mom.” Riku breathed. “It’s really you, isn’t it?”

Zack laughed softly. “Yes. It’s really me. You’ve grown up so much. Look at you.” Zack stepped back to hold Riku at arm’s length. “Grown up and saving worlds.”

A boot scuffed behind the pair, and Zack slowly turned to look up at Sephiroth. The man was paler than normal and slowly reached out to touch Zack’s face. His thumb passed over Zack’s lips and Sephiroth pulled the smaller man into a breath-stealing hug. Riku felt Sora take his hand and looked down at the brunette.

“That’s your mom?” Sora questioned softly.

“Yeah.”

“He’s scary, isn’t he? Took out all those Enigma on his own.”

Riku nodded slowly. “I guess he’s fought them before.”

Zack pulled back from Sephiroth and looked at Sora and Riku. He frowned slightly when the others approached and then his gaze focused on Kaoru. Kaoru gave a groan.

“You said to do what I thought was right!” Kaoru cried indignantly, pointing at Zack. “You knew the whole time this would happen, right?”

“I knew something would happen, but not to this magnitude.” Zack replied. “Besides, you know your limits.”

“When you speak in idiot, I can’t understand you.” Kaoru murmured. Sephiroth almost took a step forward, but Zack stopped him.

“We act like this all the time.” Zack said with a smile. “Kaoru belongs to Malchus.”

“Really now.” Sephiroth’s gaze intensified, but Kaoru bravely stood his ground.

“Stop it.” Zack smacked Sephiroth’s shoulder. “We have to go back now.”

“Go back where?” Kairi asked.

Zack gazed at the Princess and tilted his head. “Sunrise. From there, Axel will take you seven where you need to be.”

“Wait.” Riku stepped forward, glowering. “I’m not going anywhere until I have some answers.”

“Which I will answer along the way.” Zack heaved a sigh and pointed at Riku’s lion-Enigma. It sat obediently, bowed its head, and vanished. “But Hojo’s suspicions have been confirmed now, and he’ll come after you with everything he can use.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a Creator, Riku, just like me. If you wanted, you could bring forth your own world. That Griever you summoned is proof of that.”

Riku felt Sora squeeze his hand. “So, if I’m like you,” he trailed off, unable to ask.

Zack smiled a little. “Maybe. But your power isn’t mature enough yet for that.”

“But you–” Naminé began and Kairi stepped on her foot. Zack sighed.

“I’m older. Besides, if you hadn’t had a kid between you and Sora yet, chances are really good that you won’t have one until you’re at least twenty.”

Naminé frowned at Kaoru and then at Zack. Liar, she mouthed, and blushed when Zack simply stared at her. Finally, Zack took lead of the group, after answering a few more non-pregnancy questions, and brought them into a Dark Corridor. They emerged in Sunrise Town on the beach and Zack looked at the teenagers.

“Here’s where we go our separate ways.” He looked at Roxas and Kaoru. “You two take them to Axel and get where you need to be. Sephiroth and I will stay here.”

“Why do we always have to split up?” Tenkuu asked.

“Creates dramatic suspense.” Roxas said. He looked at Sora. “Let’s get going.”

Sora nodded and tugged on Riku’s hand. Slowly, Riku turned to follow the rest of the group up to the boardwalk, instantly looking over his shoulder to watch his parents.

“They’ll be fine.” Sora told his boyfriend. “I mean, if a sundering can’t kill them, Enigma sure won’t.”

“Yeah. Right.” Riku sighed and glared at Kaoru when the smaller punched him in the shoulder.

Kaoru’s yellow eyes were narrowed citrine chips as he glared at Riku. “Look, your mom has fought tooth and nail against these things from the beginning. He knows your grandfather’s tricks and he’s strong enough to stand against him. We’re the ones with the more important, dangerous job.”

“Kaoru.” Naminé admonished. She reached out to take hold of his shoulder, but he shrugged her hand off.

“No.” He said in a venomous voice. “Don’t ‘Kaoru’ me. Since the day I was created all I’ve seen of heroes is that they whine before they finally get down to acting like the hero. They always have problems. Guess what. So do the rest of us! The people I love are fighting too, and of course I’m worried that they’ll die! But if I don’t step up and do what I’m supposed to do, they’ll surely die! I don’t whine about it or give voice to it because then I’ll just worry more!

“So screw you, Riku. Screw you, Sora. You two don’t know what it feels like to have everything you’re devoted to ripped out from under you. You don’t know what it’s like to hope someone is there waiting for you at the end of the day. So just shut up and suck it up! Everyone is just as concerned as you, but the difference is that they’re fighting to keep their loved ones from dying, not whining about it and waiting for reassurance!”

The group stared at Kaoru for a good while, his words sinking in to the very core. Roxas put his arm around Kaoru’s shoulders, doing well to hide the fact Kaoru was shaking.

“Let’s just go.” Roxas said softly, hoping the three Islanders wouldn’t decide to retaliate against Kaoru.

“Yeah.” Kairi said, watching Sora and Riku and looking to intervene before something could happen.

They traveled through the city in silence, watching people board up their homes and businesses and head up for the Palace. It was an eerie reminder of Kaoru’s outburst and Sora and Riku glanced at each other, feeling somewhat guilty. They moved up, terra by terra, until they came to Palace’s gates where people crowded, being checked before they were let in. Axel spotted them before Naminé could alert him to their presence and the redhead hurried over to them.

“You ready?” he asked as he stopped before the teens.

“Ready?” Kairi asked. “For what?”

“Well, this is the part where I say something about facing your destiny and finding out the truth, but I’m tired. So I’m going to take you to the people who will so irritatingly answer all your questions.” Axel muttered.

The teens looked at each other, then to Axel. As one, they gave a half-nod and Axel sighed.

“All right.” The redhead rubbed his face. “Let’s go.”