Redemption Frägment

Chapter Five: Arrival

Every time I thought I had nothing left to offer the bucket, I was proven wrong. With every pitch and heave of the ship, I was either heaving myself with nothing to show for it or acid bubbling up my throat and burning until my eyes watered. I want off this boat. Ship. Whatever. I want off it! Where’s Riku anyway? Shouldn’t he have come back by now? And where the hell was Emma? What time was it? I didn’t feel like getting up to go look out the window. And even if I did, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it back to bed on my own. I look toward the door as I hear a knock and Riku steps inside. He glances down to let Emma by and then he shuts the door behind them, coming to stand in front of me and feel my forehead.

“How are you feeling?” He asks. I know he’s sincere since he’s not smirking, but I honestly thought I didn’t look any better than I did when we started the whole damn trip on the boat. Ship. Whatever.

“I feel like shit, thanks for asking.” I reply in a whisper. My throat fucking hurts from all the heaving and the bile. Like hell I’m going to give him the benefit of hearing me.

“The captain says we’ll be in Therein in like a day.”

I can only stare at him, not believing him for a moment. “A day? That’s all?”

Riku looks at me and I stare back at him.

“I don’t think he’d have a reason to lie to us.” Riku says, pushing my hair back as I offer the bucket more of my stomach contents. Like there is any.

“Riku,” I wince at the sound of the whine in my voice. “How long have we been at sea?” I push my body against his and he acknowledges my silent plea for comfort by sitting back in the hammock to let my head lay on his lap.

“I dunno. A few days, maybe?”

“A few days.” I shudder, swallowing a little bit of bile. “So it takes like… three days to get from Bedouin to Therein by boat? I don’t mean to be a party pooper or anything –” I offer little more of my stomach acid to the holy bucket “– but I think it’s impossible to get across a whole ocean in like two days.”

“It’s not really an ocean, An. It’s more like a really big lake.”

“Ocean, lake, they’re both bodies of water.”

Riku laughs softly and runs his fingers through my hair, gently working out snarls and tangles. It feels nice, getting this kind of attention. I don’t remember getting this kind of attention when I was growing up. In fact, I don’t remember much at all.

“Riku?”

“Mm?”

“Why do you keep saying we’re brothers?”

He’s silent for a long while before he answers. “Well, we look alike so the lie works. But I find myself like you as if you were my brother. I mean, I never had one on the Islands since we were all only children. So I’ve never been able to take care of a real little brother.”

“Oh, so I’m the little brother now.”

“I’m eighteen. You look like you’re sixteen or seventeen. I’m older.” Riku pauses. “Besides, in the scheme of things, I’d be in the middle.”

“In the middle? Can’t we be twins?”

“I’d still be older, twins or not. And yeah, in the middle.” Riku pauses, smiling, lost amid a memory. “I have an older brother. I don’t know what he’s doing now or even if he’s still alive, but I have one. I wasn’t born on Destiny Islands. My parents there aren’t my real parents. All I’ve ever wanted was to go home.”

Silence permeates the room, each of us taking comfort in the other. We’ve been through almost the same things, Riku and I, I realize. Where I have no family to speak of, Riku has a brother somewhere, parents, all of which were lost when he appeared on the Islands. Aside from the whole episode of bodysnatching, we’re in the same boat. Okay. That was a bad analogy. A really bad analogy.

I sigh, letting my eyes slide shut. Riku’s fingers drag through my hair gently, playing with a few of the silver strands. It’s almost been two days into this trip and Riku already likes and trusts me, already thinks of me as family. I can’t really ask for more. He has plenty of reason to hate me and yet he doesn’t.

Is this love?

Maybe.

Not the kind of love that lovers share… but… family. Has Riku become my family? It makes a nice notion. After a few moments, I realize Riku’s have stopped moving. I open my eyes and carefully look up. His eyes are closed, his chin resting against his chest. He’s asleep. I feel myself smile and close my own eyes. Maybe this whole redemption thing isn’t such a bad thing after all.


It’s a sharp whistle that wakes us both. Riku immediately summons his Keyblade, holding it protectively in front of us. Then he glares at me when I give him a questioning look.

“Guess we’re here, huh?” He sheaths the blade and looks at me.

“I suppose. Though it could be a warning whistle signaling that another ship is too close.”

“Do you think you can stand?”

“You mean without vertigo or puking to make you dance in it?” I shrug. “I guess.”

I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the hammock. Very carefully, I lower myself down until my feet touch the wood of the floor and stand. The ship is rocking under my feet and it helps in messing up my balance. I don’t fall, of which I feel childishly proud about, but it doesn’t stop Riku from grabbing my arm to steady me.

“Make one comment about me walking you down the aisle and I’ll murder you.” Riku says dryly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I smirk, giving him an impish glance. “Besides, you’d be the bride.”

“Would not.” He retorts.

“Would.”

“Not.”

“Would.”

“Not.”

“Not.”

“Would.” It takes him approximately five seconds to recognize his mistake. Then he whaps me upside the head, cursing. “Conniving, sneaky little bastard!”

I grin at him and he snarls a few more expletives before he sighs. “There’s no winning with you is there, An?”

“Nope! None whatsoever.” An. I’m amazed I’ve gotten so used to him calling me that. It’s as if I’ve truly become a different person. Riku mutters something under his breath and gives me a strange look as I stare at him. We both grin at the exact same time and then leave the cabin to the deck. The captain and his crew are already there, staring at something in the distance.

“Hey, Captain? What is it?” Riku calls, shifting his hold to grip my wrist. The captain turns to us and the movement allows us to see a small down right on a strip of white sand.

“That’s Therein. We’ll be docking shortly so be prepared to disembark. Then you and your… brother… can get the hell off my ship.”

“Looks like Costa del Sol,” Riku mutters to me.

“I don’t think he likes me much,” I mutter, watching the captain and his crew walk away. Riku gives me a look that plainly says “no shit, Sherlock,” and then pulls me to the rail of the ship to lean over and watch.

About an hour later, the ship meets the dock, and the crew scrambles around to tie it up. Riku and I disembark with very little in the way of good-bye and thank-you. No one stares at me as we walk through Therein. I’m feeling a lot better now that I have dry land under my feet and so Riku lets go of me and we walk side by side toward an inn. Riku gets us a room, using the money he received from the captain to pay. We don’t talk as we climb the stairs and when we get into the room, our main targets are the beds. We both seem to silently agree that we’ll talk in the morn-