Chapter Text
Something...changed. I couldn’t quite say what it was, but something was definitely different. I felt...better? Less sick inside. Was I- did I have my body back? Had Sora defeated Ansem, then?
I didn’t know. Ah! There was Mickey, with the Kingdom Key D! But, where on earth was Aqua? I didn’t see her anywhere, and I wasn’t like I could’ve just missed them meeting - Mickey still had his shirt on. But if I’d caught them beforehand, then why was Aqua missing? She was supposed to be here! Augh, and it’s not like I could just straight up ask him, either, because I’m not supposed to know about this crap in the first place!
“Riku! There you are!” Mickey said, jumping down from the rocks to land next to me. “I almost couldn’t find you through all this darkness!”
“Yeah, it’s a mess.” I agreed heavily. “What do we do now? Oh, and who are you?” I tacked on, because whoops. Almost forgot I really shouldn’t know who Mickey was, as hilarious as the thought of not knowing who Mickey Mouse was seemed to me.
“Oh! Well, my name is Mickey! Nice ta meetcha!” Mickey said, reaching out a hand, and I took it, eyes wide. “What about you?”
“Oh - I’m Riku!” I said, a strange, giddy sort of awe filling my chest, because this was literally Mickey right here in front of me, in the flesh, and I was shaking his hand. “N-nice to meet you, wh-wherever this is.”
That made Mickey’s eyes grow serious. “Well, about that-”
A ridiculously huge Heartless, one I don’t know the name of, chose that moment to ambush us both. I threw myself out of the way, rolling to my feet on the rocky ground even as Midnight Blue appeared in my hand.
“Thunder!” I shouted, getting a roar of pain from it as it turned its attention to me.
“I got this!” Mickey yelled, quick to capitalize on the opportunity to pull off some really awesome aerial moves, at least until the stupid Heartless managed to snag him out of the air with its claws.
“Mickey!” I called out in alarm, dodging a leg and raining down attacks on the Heartless’s flank. No strategy, no plan, just anything to get it to let him go!
A blast of light was my answer, sending the Heartless staggering away enough to see that Mickey was just fine, aside from the fact that he was now shirtless. Huh. That’s...maybe Aqua had just happened to make a left turn instead of a right somewhere and missed Mickey entirely by chance? Or had we managed to meet up earlier than we once would have, accidentally cutting Aqua from the equation entirely?
I didn’t know. It wasn’t like everyone was scripted to still follow the canon of Kingdom Hearts to the letter unless otherwise thrown off by my actions. She very well could have just made a different decision, or Mickey and I could’ve simply managed to run into each other before he did her, and it was...it made my heart ache at the very thought of this near miss of hers. So close to rescue...
The Heartless picked that moment to charge back into the fray, where it met my keyblade and Mickey’s magic. Working together, the Heartless couldn’t take the repeated barrage of keyblade attacks, magical blasts, and especially Mickey’s light spells, like holy crap man that was some serious power Mickey was throwing around here! It was both awesome and more than a little terrifying, I must admit, seeing someone so small throwing around that much magical power.
Size matters not indeed.
When the Heartless finally fell, Mickey was quick to turn to me. “The doors!” he said, pointing to the familiar white doors behind me, all cold edges and small stained glass windows. “We’ve got to get them shut if we’re gonna have any chance of ending this! I’ll keep the Heartless off you while you get them closed.”
“Right.” I nodded, dropping Midnight Blue in favor of racing over to the doors. Since the door handles were scaled up to fit these stupidly gigantic doors, that meant that they were waaay out of my reach. Rude. I reached out to grab the edge of the door itself in order to pull it closed, which made me uneasy for multiple reasons. I’d have to be careful when this thing swung shut, I didn’t fancy getting my hands caught between the doors.
“R-Riku?!” I heard Sora yelp from the other side, and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning even if I’d wanted to.
“Sora! Good to see you’re alright!” I said, leaning to the side so I could look through the opening. At Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Drinking in the sight of them, that they were alright. “Really. I’m glad to see you. Now come on! We got this! Let’s put our backs into it!”
“Right.” Sora nodded, before he started pushing against the door, Donald and Goofy renewing their efforts to push the other closed. I heaved back on Sora’s door from my end, straining with the effort of pulling these stupidly heavy things shut!
Two Darksides loomed behind me, but I paid them no mind, remembering Mickey’s promise.
“It’s hopeless!” Donald wailed, naturally freaking out at the sight of the Heartless massing in the pits behind me - where Mickey was fighting, keeping the Heartless at bay.
“No it’s not! Mickey’s-” Bright light shone from behind me, eradicating the Darksides at my back and making me glad that I was facing the other way. I didn’t fancy getting flash-blinded by that, thanks.
“Your Majesty?!”
“Now, Sora! Let’s close this door for good!” Mickey shouted, holding up the Kingdom Key D.
“Don’t worry about me. This isn’t a door we could pass through even if we wanted to.” I reassured Sora before he could protest. “There’s more than one way out of this place.”
“Riku’s right! There will always be a Door to the Light!” Mickey chimed in. I nodded.
“Exactly! So until we get out of here, you and Kairi stick together, you got it? Watch each other’s backs!”
“O-okay!” Sora agreed, before giving one last, final push. I quickly yanked my hands back, and watched with a sad smile as the gap between the doors vanished, and the solid white slabs closed with a dull boom. From my side, Mickey held up the Kingdom Key D, stars of power gathering at its tip. I had no doubt Sora was doing the same on his end.
Blue and orange lights began to cover the door, glowing brighter and brighter until in one final burst of light, they faded away, taking the Doors to Darkness with them.
It was done. The worlds, everyone…they were safe now. I slumped in relief, the feeling washing through me to the point where I almost thought I might fall over.
The Heartless wouldn’t be getting to the worlds this way again. Whether the Doors to Darkness were actually gone for good or not, I didn’t know, but they were definitely sealed. It wouldn’t be easy to get to them again, that was for sure.
Now…now it was up to us to get back. I summoned Midnight Blue back into my hands, sharing a nod with Mickey. We’d get back. And even though neither of us had seen Aqua here, if we didn’t come across her before we got out of here...I, it felt like such a cop-out, but I knew we’d rescue her, in a later time. When we were stronger, and could come back here to bring her home. No matter what this realm threw at us, we would take it. Together.
It had taken death itself to separate me from my original family. And nothing short of dying a second time would stop me from coming back home to the family I had now.
And this darkness? Was a far cry from that of death's.