Seek the Stars

VII

Sora found Riku staring at the picture the Nobodies had given Sephiroth. Riku often stared at it, as if the marred faces would suddenly become clear and he would have all the answers. They were still in Radiant Garden, trying to convince Cid to fly them around – or at least let them borrow a Gummi ship. Cid, unfortunately, kept refusing and nothing Aerith or Yuffie tried, he would not relent. Sora had half a mind to just steal a ship and be done with it.

“Riku?”

Sora winced as his boyfriend jumped at the sound of the voice breaking through his reverie. Riku looked at Sora and tried to smile. The brunette just moved to sit beside him, laying his head on the silver-haired boy’s shoulder, staring at the picture.

“He really is your dad, isn’t he?” Sora asked quietly. He felt Riku shudder.

“Yeah,” The older boy replied in a whisper. “There are holes in his memory, though, so I only know a little. He remembers almost nothing about my mother. All he can tell me is that I’m just like him.”

“Him? Just like your father?”

“No. Him.” Riku pointed to the blurred face of the man with the strange belt. “My mother.”

Sora thought for a moment. “A man can’t be a birth-mom!” He yelled finally, staring with wide-eyes at Riku.

Riku’s aquamarine eyes clouded over. “In Midgar, one can. I have an older brother, too. Malchus.” He shuddered. “Why was I the one chosen Sora? Why was I the one given up?”

“Maybe because your mom wanted to protect you.” Sora said, looking away from Riku. “My mom told me stories from when she was little. She said that there was a great war going on where she used to live and she ran away with her mom. She left behind her sister and her father and nothing her mom tried could get them to come to Destiny Islands.”

“But that’s different. I was given up as a baby, not a child.”

“Who says you were given up?” Sora asked, growing just a little angry. “What if your mom sent you away to keep you from getting caught up in shit? What if he was in trouble and was willing to die to protect you? So say he had kept you. With that world gone, you’d be dead!”

Riku’s eyes sharpened when he looked at Sora. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand plenty.” Sora bit out. “I never knew my father. He left Mom before I was ever born. Mom worked hard to raise me and had to live with the stigma of being a single mom, being thought a slut because she had no husband. You may have been adopted, had a mom and a dad who loved you very much, but you’ll never know what it’s like to be teased because you’re not like everyone else.” Sora heaved a sigh and calmed himself. “Sorry.”

Riku watched him for a long time before he looked back at the photo, shoulders shaking. “No. I’m sorry.”

Sora wrapped an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders and drew him close, resting his cheek against Riku’s soft hair. “If your dad, Sephiroth, doesn’t remember, then your mom has to.” Sora whispered. “All we do is find him and get answers.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy to find him.” Riku replied quietly.

“Of course it will.” Sora said brightly. “Remember what those Nobodies said? We have to go where the forgotten gather. I can find the way, and so can Sephiroth!”

“Forgotten.” Riku said. Realization dawned on him. “Forgotten, not dead!”

“Right! If we can get a Gummi ship, and find enough clues, we can go to where the forgotten gather! Then we can find Kairi, and I bet your mom will be there too!”

Riku pulled back, grinning. Then he paused. “There’s just one problem.”

“What is it?”

“We don’t have a Gummi ship. Hell, we don’t even have any clues.” Riku sighed.

Sora echoed him. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, frowning. Left and right his head went, tracing memories to try and find clues. “Wait. One of them said if I didn’t remember to look in a mirror.”

Riku looked at Sora, confused. “A mirror?”

“I know, sounds crazy, but.” Sora trailed off. He got to his feet and helped Riku up. “What else have we got?”

“Then let’s find a mirror.”

The boys hurried from the construction site, looking everywhere for a suitable mirror. How hard could it be to find a mirror? Apparently, very difficult, for no matter what house they looked in, they couldn’t find a mirror, and no woman would let them borrow her compact, if she had one. At a loss, Sora and Riku went to find some lunch, learned no progress had been made with Cid, and grumbled about cranky old men. They spent a good hour walking around Radiant Garden, beating up defenseless Heartless, before Sora happened to glimpse his reflection in a window. He paused and back-pedaled, staring at his reflection for a long while.

Riku turned to look at him, confused. “Sora?”

“Shh.” Sora replied, moving closer to his reflection. Look in a mirror, the Nobody had said. A mirror was a reflection, an image of the self, just reversed. Reversed? “No. Oh, no, no.”

“What?” Riku asked, moving closer to his boyfriend.

Sora pointed at his reflection. “Look in a mirror, you see your reflection. My ‘mirror’ is Roxas.”

Riku’s eyebrows rose. “So what’s that mean?”

“Well, either we have to go to Twilight Town,” Sora began slowly, “or we’ll find the place where the forgotten gather if we find Roxas.”

Riku and Sora exchanged glances. “So. Find Roxas.” Riku said.

Sora rubbed his cheek. “Find Roxas.”


Roxas sneezed hard enough for his head to slam into Tenkuu’s shoulder, and the younger boy stared at him long enough to earn a blush. Kairi and Naminé shared a giggle. Kaoru rolled his eyes. The five of them had landed on a strange planet that claimed to be called Spira, and they had walked a great distance until they came to the first village in a string along the coast. They certainly blended in, though most seemed fascinated by Kaoru’s hair. He’d quickly decided to cover it up with a hat and glowered at anyone who reached for it. They had no idea what they were looking for, but Kairi surmised that was usually the case with the group. She walked side-by-side with Naminé, Kaoru in the front and Tenkuu and Roxas taking up the rear. Now they headed through a forest, enjoying the shade the branches granted them.

“So what exactly are we looking for?” Kairi asked.

“Oh, you know,” Tenkuu began, “the running people, the high-pitched screaming, and general chaos.”

“Oh, and sometimes flying body parts.” Roxas added.

Kairi looked a bit green. “Body parts?”

“Enigmas are very messy eaters.” Naminé said. “If we’re lucky, we won’t encounter any here.”

Kaoru snorted. “If we’re lucky.”

“I take it they’re hard to kill.”

“It’s like fighting a behemoth with Regenerate.” Kaoru muttered.

Kairi winced. “Oh.”

And hour passed before the forest gave way and ruins of stone stairs started, and the five began to ascend, simply following the path. They talked of inane things, catching Kairi up, explaining rules and things she didn’t know, and doing their best not to be caught off-guard. The stairs led up to a wide broken platform and Kaoru paused when they reached the center.

“Kaoru?” Naminé asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Something came through here.” Kaoru said. “No. Someone.”

Almost immediately, Roxas and Tenkuu had their Keyblades in their hand, and even Naminé had her gun out. Kairi followed suit and summoned her staff, the words of several support spells on her tongue. The only one who remained unarmed was Kaoru and Kairi didn’t believe for a second he was helpless.

“Do you know this someone?” Roxas asked the silver-haired boy.

“Maybe.” Kaoru cautiously replied. “He feels familiar.”

“’He’?” They all chorused.

Kaoru nodded and twitched his hand, calling in his Keyblade. Unlike Roxas’ Oblivion and Oathkeeper, and Tenkuu’s gold and white Kingdom Key, Kaoru’s Keyblade was deep ebony and royal violet, shot through with ivory white vines that wrapped around the blade. It wasn’t a ‘key’ in the traditional sense, rather having a wide flat blade than a round one, and it ended in a scythe curve instead of a keyhead. It was a key made to kill more than just Heartless.

Slowly, Kaoru moved forward, stepping lightly and with hardly a sound. He gestured to keep the others where they were and kept moving until he had traced out the path the Someone had taken. Then he gestured for Naminé. She didn’t go alone, the other three right behind her, but when they reached Kaoru, only Naminé continued on into the brush.

Kairi could tell Roxas and Tenkuu were nervous; she was their Princess, after all. Naminé returned just as fast as she had disappeared, holding a hand much larger than hers. Kairi and Roxas looked at each other as he emerged from the brush and Kaoru frowned.

“Well,” Kairi whispered, “looks like we found our reason for coming to this world.”

Roxas shook his head. “Should’ve expected it.”

Naminé pulled him into the group and held tight to his hand, giving him comfort when he knew he shouldn’t have any. He recognized three of the five, four, if you counted Kaoru-who-wasn’t-Riku. But they all seemed to recognize him.

“It’s okay,” Naminé said gently. “You’re safe now, Xemnas.”