Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Virtue ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts I, II or CoM or those other games I'm hearing about. Damnit. This is going to become an extremely long disclaimer, soon.

Warnings: Smex! Death!

Hope…

Riku had always been hopeful. From his position in the tiny hospital room, he would sit in his hard and lumpy bed that had become his and no one else's, because he knew as well as the doctors and nurses and all those liars that he wasn't going to be leaving alive, and watch the people from his window.

His window overlooked a high school, something he had never really understood, because, honestly, who wants to go to school knowing that people are dying just over the road?

The people were all the same yet utterly different. They all wore the same clothing—a white button up top with a blue tie, and plain navy slacks for the boys and blue kilt-like skirts for the girls—and they all wore the same shoes and carried the same bags, yet they had coloured eyes and coloured hair and coloured skin. Some were sad, some were happy, some were content and some were angry. He didn't know their names, but he gave them ones, anyway.

There was Kairi, a girl with a teasing grin and pretty purply blue eyes and red hair that reached her shoulders, and there was Wakka, the tanned boy with the orange cow-lick, and Axel, one of Riku's favourites, who had the wild red hair that was immensely bushy and the emerald eyes and the tiny upside-down tattoos on his cheeks.

He liked to hang around with Roxas, a short boy with wavey-spikey blonde hair and light blue eyes who always scowled, who Riku would like to imagine was Sora's twin.

Sora. Riku smiled, the tiny effort a strain on his weakened body, as he thought of the cheery, alive, energetic boy with the spiky brunette hair and the perfect blue eyes that Riku liked to think about every time his heart started to fail him and he felt death come for him. He would pretend that Sora was chasing away the threat of no-life, that he was in the room with him, smiling his goofy smile and saying, “Don't give up, Riku!”

And Riku had always hoped that one day, maybe, Sora would look up from his lunch and see the tall, skinny, pale boy with the long silver hair and tired blue-green eyes that had dulled long ago, watching him, and maybe take an interest, and maybe come and visit him and then they could be friends. Maybe Sora would bring Axel and Roxas along, too, and then Riku would get better and they could all go and watch movies and live. Riku smiled, and his eyes watched as Sora bound across the schoolyard.

“Riku, time for your medication,” Aerith, the nurse who had been here the longest announced as she walked in the room. Riku nodded, and waved at Sora, as he always did. He then shifted himself into his wheelchair, and allowed Aerith to roll him out.

Every day this routine played out, and everyday Riku missed having Sora wave back.

Fortitude…

For as long as Sky had been attending Hollow Bastion High, there had been a hospital. It was made from red brick, and gave off the eerie feeling of ever-present death. Sky had hated it at first, when he had first come here with his brother Skylar - his parents weren't very original. But one day, when he was eight years old, he had been out in the school yard playing with Distance—a strange name for a girl—and he had looked up at the hospital and he had seen the most beautifully sad thing in the world.

Sitting at a seventh story window was a boy, around his age, with short silver hair and chubby cheeks. He had a smile on his face as his vibrant blue-green eyes watched the children play, even though he had a strange machine beeping away behind him. And then, every day after that, the boy would sit at his window and watch the children play. He watched them grow, and grew with them. Soon Sky's small group of friends knew of him, and they secretly named him Land. They were shy at first, afraid to smile at the boy who smiled at them, but as time wore on they started to grow comfortable with his gaze. When Sky turned sixteen, he had wanted to go and talk to the boy, but he hadn't been at the window.

He wasn't at the window the next day, or the day after that. On the third day, when Sky was going to storm over and demand to know what was wrong with his friend-yet-not-friend, he had appeared again, this time falling asleep on the window sill, dozing peacefully. Everything had been alright, Sky had thought. And then he watched the nurse, a pretty girl with long brown hair tied up with green eyes, come in and inject three different needles into Land's right forearm, each huge and a different colour.

And then he had realised that it wasn't alright. He knew there was something wrong with Land's heart. He had figured as much when a few years prior Land had bent over gasping, clutching his chest in pain. It had happened a few more times, too, and then there was that machine that monitored Land's heart rate behind him. It went everywhere Land went, as if it was keeping the pale boy alive. But Sky knew that, somehow, Land was keeping himself alive, through sheer force of will. Sky didn't know if it was because Land was afraid of death, or was just waiting for something…or someone.

Charity…

Riku looked forward to Sundays. Every Sunday, for the last five years, Cloud, a male nurse, would walk into the room carrying a box of books and games, just for Riku, because Riku's parents never came and visited him so he never got any new stuff. Riku couldn't really remember the last person who had visited him, really. When he'd been seven years old, he had been playing outside, when suddenly there had been this striking, white-hot pain flash through his chest. It had gone quickly, so when he told his mother and father they had just brushed it off as heart-burn. But it happened a few more times, and became more and more frequent.

Of course, no one realised how serious it was until Riku had a heart attack of sorts in P.E. The boy had fallen to the ground, and curled up around himself, shuddering and shaking in pain. Tears had streamed down his face as he felt claws dig into his heart, and tug and tug and tug. Pain had wracked every nerve, had flooded throughout his body. He had then blacked out, and the children had started screaming that he was dead. The teacher fainting hadn't helped much, either.

Cloud lived with a man named Leon, who worked at the local toy-store, for reasons unknown to Riku. The few times he had met Riku he had seen lots of leather and a completely stoic expression. Riku didn't think that would lure children into the store. Now, Leon, for more reasons unknown, got to take home all the old things that no one wanted to buy. Old books, classics, they were called, video games, and when Riku had been nine and had been sitting in his room waiting excitedly for his parents to come and celebrate his birthday, Leon had bought him Naminé, his stuffed rabbit. He hadn't known his parents had moved, and were just paying the hospital to keep him there.

By the time dinner had rolled around, Riku had retreated to his window, and watched the street lamp down below flicker on and off. He figured that maybe mother and father were busy, and would be coming into tomorrow. He had been trying hard not to cry. And then Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie—another nurse -and Leon had walked in. Aerith had a small birthday cake, and Yuffie had bought gifts. It was the best birthday Riku had ever had, in his opinion, because it had been with people who had cared about him. He had gotten Nami from Leon, and a large picture book from Cloud. Aerith had bough him a brand spanking new GameBoy, and Yuffie several games for said GameBoy.

And so, every Friday Leon would sort through the old toys, and find things he thought Riku would like. Then he would walk down to the local bookstore, and buy three different books. They varied in type, sometimes they were adventure, or action, or fantasy. Riku particularly liked the romance novels, with Brokeback Mountain and The Loop being his favourites. He quite enjoyed reading about feudal Japan and ancient China, about Rome and Egypt. He joked that he'd make sure he was born in one of those countries in his next life. He didn't know that he made Aerith cry at night, her heart hurting for the boy who had long ago given up hope of living. He didn't know that Yuffie would sometimes randomly burst into tears because she had become Riku's `Big Sister'. He didn't know that Cloud and Leon were spending so much money on him, trying to get doctors to figure out what was wrong with him.

Temperance…

Sky was angry at the hospital. He hated them, because they never seemed to do anything about Land's problems. He only ever saw the pretty nurse with the brown haired nurse, and sometimes the girl with short black hair and violet eyes. There were two men, as well, one blonde, one brown, but that was it. No one else went to visit Land, no doctors seemed to care, and it infuriated him. He longed to storm over there and yell and scream and demand why they weren't working harder, but he knew that Land probably wouldn't like that. So he kept himself in check, until one day he realised what a hypocrite he was being.

So, after school finished, Sky stalked across the road, and into the hospital. He was practically fuming, his eyes noting the three doctors who were leaning against a wall simply talking. Why weren't they saving lives? Why were they just standing there? Huffing, Sky stormed past them, muttering under his breath, “Bastards” and over to the elevator. He went up to the seventh floor, and ran into Land's nurse.

The girl dropped her clipboard upon seeing the boy Riku had talked about so much, and she had just stared at him and in shock. He had stared right back, until they both said at the same time,

“I wanna see Land.”

“You wanna see Riku?”

More silence, and the girl smiled, and said, “My name's Aerith. Riku's this way”

Sky smiled back, and mulled over Land's real name. Riku. He almost laughed at the irony of it all. Riku meant `Land' in Japanese, didn't it? They walked down the hall, until they reached a closed door. Aerith was almost laughing in joy, and she said to Sky, “You have no idea how much he's wanted to talk to you”

Sky nodded, and Aerith opened the door, walking in, Sky trailing after her. Smiling broadly, she said to the confused silver haired teen who had looked up from his book, “Guess who's here?”

Riku rolled his eyes, and said, sarcastically, “My parents?”

Aerith shook her head, and replied, “Sora.”

Sky blinked, and realised that that was what Riku had called him. Sora. Sky then decided that, from now on, he wanted that to be his name. It was a lot nicer than Sky, anyway.

Aerith then stepped back, allowing both boys to stare at each other for a good minute. Sora took in the ethereal beauty that the promise of death had bought Riku, and Riku took in the aura of liveliness that came from Sora. Then Sora smiled, and walked forward.

“Hey.”

Riku felt tears form, and he whispered, completely shocked, “Hey,” back.

That night, after getting to know Riku, when Sora walked back through the waiting room, he saw the same three doctors, still up against the wall, this time with coffee. Sighing, Sora decided to keep his anger to himself. It wouldn't do to get himself banned, now would it?

Faith…

For a year, Sora came to the hospital every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. He got to know Cloud, and Aerith and Yuffie, and had met Leon. He and Riku soon became almost inseparable. When Sora was at school he always made sure to wave to Riku, and sometimes his friends would wave with him. Aerith could see the good having friends was doing for Riku, and she was so thankful to Sora. The best surprise had been on Christmas, when Sora had turned up, Skylar, who had taken to calling himself Roxas after hearing of Riku's name for him, and Axel, who had done the same. Both boys' had been kinda shocked to see the mass amount of equipment that had been slowly attached to Riku over the months, but they shook it off, and soon the four boys were having what Riku liked to think of as his first `real Christmas' in years.

Riku began to expect to see Sora on those days, and had placed so much faith in Sora. Sora knew this, and he liked the fact that he was constantly proving himself to Riku. It made him feel like he was doing something decent with his life.

Justice…

Looking back at it now, perhaps it would've been a good idea to wait until the doctor's annual examination was over. After all, walking in on Sora sitting above Riku, stark naked as the boy beneath him, gasping and choking on words as Riku penetrated him, wasn't exactly the best thing to do. It had effectively gotten Sora kicked out of the hospital, despite everyone's protests. Riku's health began to rabidly decline, his face becoming an emotionless mask, except when he and Sora stared at each other through the window.

Valentines Day came around, and Sora had gotten everyone he knew to help him with his project. The next day, when Riku came to his window, he had been shocked to see the front of the school covered in pink balloons, the words `I love you' formed by the plastic balls of air. Sora had been leaning out of the window, waving and smiling broadly. Riku had then taken a deep breath, and yelled, “I LOVE YOU TOO!!”

Prudence…

It had been totally unexpected. Sora had been in class, listening to the teacher as she droned on about some stupid subject, when the door to the classroom had been slammed open, and Aerith had run in, tears streaming down her cheeks. She stopped in front of Sora, and shakily held out a envelope. Sora's heart stopped, and he took the envelope from her, whispering, “Is… he…?”

Aerith nodded, and choked out, “Last night. They were operating on him…and…and…”

“No…,” Sora breathed.

Aerith sighed, and said, “He…knew…he knew! And he wrote you that…and…”

Sora hastily tore open the envelope, his eyes scanning the paper. The writing was scribbly and weak, and Sora knew how much of an effort that would have been on Riku.

Dear Sora,

If you've gotten this letter, I'm probably gone. Sorry. I…I didn't want to die, Sora. At first, I was so sick of living, and I was looking forward to it, but now that you're here…now that I have—had—you in my life…I just….I just wish I had gotten better and had been able to spend more time with you. When I was in a word of darkness, you came, bright and shining, and gave me a light to see the way.You, mainly, and Rox and Axel…and everyone else. You're all so precious to me, and I wanted to protect you all, yet here I am, making you cry. I seem to be rather good at that.

Sora, I love you so, so much, it almost hurts. Thinking of you makes me feel like I have a chance, like I'll be able to wake up one day, and pull out all those tubes and run down to your school, and we'll be able to live a real, decent life. But that isn't gonna happen, because… well, I'm not really there anymore. God, Sora, I love you so much…

Please, don't forget me, but don't dwell on me, either. Don't let yourself get caught up in the past, because I know you will. I'm not stupid. I know how you think, despite all odds. Find someone, have a few kids, maybe. I'll wait for you up here, or down here, or wherever I am at the moment. Hopefully I'll be up, because then maybe I'll be able to watch you grow. Heh. Watching you grow up has become one ofmy favourite hobbies, I think.

You know what? I think…I'll try and become your guardian angel. That way I'll be able to watch you 24/7. Yes, fear the almighty Riku! You'll have to behave yourself. If I hear you've knocked up some girl and left her to fend for herself I'll be down there and on your ass (or in) faster than Yuffie on sugar. But you're not like that, so I have nothing to worry about.

Say good-bye to everyone for me, `kay? Thank you.

I love you.

Riku

---

An old man sat in his armchair, staring up at the ceiling. His blue eyes were slightly glazed, and his breathing was laboured. Angrily, he huffed, “Where are you?”

As if on cue, a tall boy, no longer sickly, faded into view. He smiled, and held out his hand. The old man smiled, and stood up. His old body was left behind, his teenage soul walking into the arms of the silver haired boy. Smiling, Sora stood on his tip-toes, and pressed a kiss to Riku's lips.

Riku smiled back, and said, “Told you I'd wait.”