#tal writes

"Please, baby, just eat something!" Floyd begged his newly adopted baby monster. He'd had Animal for less than a week now and he couldn't get him to eat any of the foods he's offered, and it was really starting to stress the both of them out.

He wanted to be good caretaker and guardian, but he was worrying about Animal's health. If he starved, Floyd would never forgive himself. Once again, he held the spoon of mashed carrots out to his little one, who once again turned his head and whined, pushing the spoon away with little hands.

Floyd sat back down in the kitchen chair and set the carrots jar down next to the other rejected baby foods. Open jars of pears, applesauce, bananas, and some other vegetables mush littered the kitchen table, all of them untouched.

Burying his face in his hands, Floyd let out a shakey sigh. The stress of recent sleepless nights caring for a fussy, hungry baby who wouldn't eat had been weighing on him.

He barely reacted when he heard the door open and shut, signaling that his friend and roommate had returned. "Where ya been?" He called out, not bothering to lift his head to greet the man.

"Grocery shoppin'." Doc replied, setting a couple bags on the counter and rummaging through them. "Animal doesn't wanna eat fruits or veggies, we'll just have to keep lookin'."

Finally, Floyd sat up, rubbed his exhausted face, and looked up at his friend. Dr Teeth had moved in with him recently, within the last month, yet it felt like they had known each other for years sometimes. He'd been nothing but supportive when Floyd brought Animal inside to adopt after finding him caged up on their doorstep.

Even when the little monster kicked up a fuss all night, Doc would sometimes get up and take over so Floyd could sleep. He'd never once given up on either of them or showed any sort of irritation, and Floyd was forever grateful for that.

Doc rummaged around in the grocery bags for a minute, pulling out a loaf of bread, a carton of milk, and a couple of instant dinners; money was tight at the moment, especially when most of it went to Animal's care.

The kitchen was dim, only lit up by the one light above the stove, and the only sounds to be heard were the crinkling of the grocery bags and Animal occasionally grunting as he tried to escape his high chair by kicking his legs.

Finally finding what he was looking for, Doc pulled out a small jar of baby food and cracked it open, causing Floyd to cringe at the smell. "Good gravy, what even is that?"

"Beef and gravy." Doc answered simply, getting a small spoonful and offering it to the infant... Who eagerly leaned forward and accepted the food.

And suddenly it felt like they could all breathe.

Floyd let out an audible breath of relief, never so happy in his life to see someone eat. "Well there ya go," he said softly, "Maybe he's a carnivore, whatever he is."

"He's hungry is what he is." Doc replied, showing his friend the spoon that Animal had just bit the top off of.

They both stared in shock as the baby chewed on the metal, looking up at his caretakers happily.

_______________________________

"Don't run too far!" Floyd called out to Animal, who had just been released from the van. He sighed as he watched his chaotic son disappear into the forest, but turned around and helped everyone unload their stuff. Animal was older now and capable of taking care of himself, so he wasn't too worried. He always came back anyway.

Floyd was mostly just irritated that he wasn't helping them set up camp, but he still had four other people to help, so it wasn't a big deal.

He opened the back doors of the van and saw Zoot passed out, snoring. Okay, he had three people to help him unload the van.

Lips came over and grabbed Zoot like he was just another piece of equipment to unload and carried him over to where they'd be setting up their camp, leaning him against a tree.

Janice grabbed the rug they usually laid out on the ground, Doc started unloading their chairs, and Floyd grabbed their food. Stopping to listen for a moment, he could hear Animal running around nearby in the foliage, which was comforting.

The rug got laid out, the chairs got set up, Zoot got moved to a chair so he was more comfortable, and Lips started a fire.

Already, the sun was beginning to set and they could hear crickets and cicadas filling the air. The sound was especially comforting to Doc and Lips, who had both grown up in the south and heard the sounds every summer. The pianist sighed contentedly as he settled down into his chair and grabbed a pot to start cooking with.

It wasn't long before Janice had grabbed her guitar and plucked at the strings a little before turning back to her new family. She had joined them only a couple months ago, but she still felt like their souls were connected and they were all spiritually bound together.

Gentle guitar filled the air, and it wasn't long before the smell of soup joined it, finally enticing Animal to come back and rejoin the group. He emerged from the bushes on all fours, panting from all the running and plopped down in front of Floyd, who quietly fussed about the twigs and leaves tangled in his fur as he started to comb through it all with his hands.

Animal didn't mind, he liked the attention.

The melody stopped as Janice scooted over to help, smiling up at Floyd. "He's such a free spirit, isn't he?"

The bassist couldn't help but smile. He'd only known her a few months, but he loved her view on life, and how she seemed to see light in everyone, no matter how strange, misunderstood, or outcasted they were. "Feral is more like it.. But yeah, he's always been a wild one-" he gently pulled out a stick that was entirely too big to have logically been hidden in Animal's fur, "How did you even do this??"

Animal didn't respond other than wag his tail, thumping it against the ground, and Janice just smiled at the pair.

_______________________________

The shack was still.

It was rare for the whole group to be this calm and quiet all at once, but it did happen occasionally.

They Mayhem had been together for years now. They'd played many, many, many shows, traveled all over the country, and had finally found a house of their own. 'Home' had always been with them, of course, but it still felt nice to have a place they could come back to after a show. They loved the van, but it was nice to have something bigger and more stable.

And it was all thanks to Nora, their most recent addition to the family, who somehow found the unusual silence both relaxing and vaguely unsettling. She'd never seen them all so.. still. There was usually some form of chaos happening, even if it was just Animal running around, but even he was calm, sprawled out on the floor.

The human glanced over her left, where Janice was quietly playing with Lips' hair, pulling it back into a ponytail. To her right, Floyd was writing down lyrics into a notebook while Zoot slept, his legs draped over Floyd's lap. Doc was sitting next to her on the couch, his eyes closed, and his fingers tapping against the arm of the couch, dancing like they were playing keys on the piano.

She didn't want to break the silence and ruin everything, but it was such an absurd moment, she just had to say something. "I don't think I've ever seen you all so calm. There's almost always some sort of.... Mayhem."

Lips chuckled. "We nut alwu suh chaotic, Nobu. Suties we like tuh sitarou an' ejoy the mo'ent."

Nora tilted her head. She'd honestly only caught like every third word and decided to just nod along. She thought she understood, anyway. Sometimes they'd just enjoy each other's company.

"Ain't got no shows at the moment, we gotta roof over our heads, and enough space to be able to sit around for once." Doc said, still tapping away at the arm of the couch, probably playing some song in his head.

Floyd nodded and looked up from his notepad. "Back in the van, we still could relax like this, but it was a little more cramped. Don't get me wrong, we love each other, we're family. But family argues, no matter how close ya are. It's nice to have at least three feet of space between us sometimes."

As if to prove his point, Floyd reached down and gently squeezed Zoot's knee a couple times, prompting him to pull his legs back and give his friend some space to write.

Nora nodded. That part she understood, especially after having lived with her sister for so long. Satisfied with their answers, she settled in and rested her head on the arm of the couch, shutting her eyes. She could enjoy the peace while it lasted.

It would only last about a minute more before Zoot accidentally fell off the couch, which seemed to somehow trigger Animal's energy as he shot up and started to zoom around the house on all fours repeating, 'RUNNING! RUNNING!' as he did so.

He crashed into Lips, who let out a winded, 'oof!' then darted down the hall, which prompted Floyd to sigh and get up to go after him, knowing he was likely to get into something he shouldn't. Doc's eyes shot open as he quickly got up and ran toward the basement to work on the song he'd been silently playing.

It really is an apocalypse, Scott thought, watching the carnage from atop the cliffs.

The world had gone mad. The plateau below was splattered with blood, and death was spreading like an infection through the ranks of the players.

He was hiding in his own base, from his own teammates. Maybe it was stupid to keep hanging around, but he knew this place well, and he was pretty sure they didn’t think he’d come back. He’d nearly been killed getting chased out by his own teammate, for fucks sake.

He’d gone to ground after that, but he knew that without info he was a sitting duck. So, here he was, on one of his increasingly rare ventures to the surface, crouching in a tree and watching the grasslands below.

When Cleo dug through their wall, he couldn’t help but be relieved. His instinctive reaction was affirmed when they, treading just as lightly as he was, showed no signs of hostility or of alerting the hunters.

“Hi,” he grinned at her.

“Hi, hi!” They replied, a stressed little laugh in their voice as they creeped through the new opening.

“What’s happening? Why is there a Warden now?” Scott asked softly as she filled in the wall behind herself.

“They’re trying to get me,” she grimaced, easing into a crouch beside him, sheltered under the trees. “As the last- the last green.”

Scott hummed a tense reply, leaning against the rough bark of the oak, slowly creeping further into his- the base.

“Gem also has no band loyalty anymore,” he said nonchalantly, not looking at Cleo, “Because she died, came back as a red, and tried to kill me. So, I had to flee. I’ve been skulking around my own base all day.”

He said it offhandedly, like it was just another anecdote. Like it was an interesting tidbit instead of a near deadly betrayal.

He knew they could see right through him.

She knew what was genuinely laidback and what was a coverup. She knew how much he hated this, how deeply his loyalty ran.

“Widow’s Alliance?” She offered, holding out her arm. The shifting moonlight hit a tattoo, a blue rope winding down the inside of her wrist, its end frayed and orange. He’d known it was there. It’s partner was on his arm, after all. He could barely see his own now, however. The lava from his latest capital ‘D’ Death had burned away most of the skin on his arms. It was there though, the orange strands twisting along his forearm, just a little buried by scar tissue.

(The care was still there too, even though at the start they’d promised to go their separate ways. Even though their bond had been tried by nearly five of these damned games.)

If there was one constant in this mess, it was Cleo, and he could really use a damn anchor right now. He trusted her, and he hoped the feeling was mutual.

“I guess so.” He took her forearm, and the frayed ends of their ties met.

Later, after they joined up with BigB, the infected began closing in again. As they took shelter behind the walls, Scott let the other two know about his makeshift bunker, the one not even his teammates knew about.

“You know me, I’m not gonna go after you.” Cleo said, casually, as if it was a given, a law of nature that he could show her his secrets, his backup plans, without fear. And really, it was, wasn’t it? Even if Cleo didn’t have clear memories of the games before, they knew, somehow, that they could put their back to his and be defended.

He’d wondered sometimes if Cleo, ever the survivor, trusted him as implicitly as he trusted them. As they descended into the mines, he realized that now he knew. Even if neither of them realized it, they were each other’s safety net, a soft place to fall that went beyond alliances, or games, or even memories.

I want to keep a wild and mysterious feeling, there’s not really a society or any schools to learn about this stuff, this part of the world is strange and untamable.

There’s this creature named Mire that’s your run-of-the-mill small town cryptid. They’re genderfluid and they freely travel between here and the Other, which regularly overlaps during those eerie hours. In fact whenever you get that feeling probably mean they’re overlapping. This overlap is called Gloaming (hence why I’m calling this project Gloam).

They were passing through town, guiding ghosts into the Gloam, when a handful of kids stumbled across them. The kids hid promptly, but one tossed a candy bar or something out and Mire decided to take it because one, free candy, and two, they want to put the kids at ease. Then commences a long process where the kids think they’re earning the trust of a stray monster, but the monster is trying to earn their trust instead. Like if the cat you keep feeding shows up so that one day you’ll get the courage to actually come out and pet it.

“Why the hell would I jump to my death just for a good singing voice?”

“Oh come now, don’t leave me here all alone.” He tilted his head and batted his eyelashes, trying to look cute. How foolish did he think George was? And how foolish were his own men for falling for his terrible tricks?

“I will not be fooled so easily, this is your final warning. Leave or I will shoot.” The mermaid pouted and suddenly rose with the water to meet him eye to eye, resting his arms on the side of the boat and gently pushing George’s gun away from his face.

He leaned close like he was scrutinizing his face, looking him up and down for answers, his head tilted in confusion.

“My song does not work on you?”

“You’re a lovely singer, but I certainly don’t see the need to die because of it.” George stared at him, beginning to feel equally confused. The mermaid let out a sweet laugh that resulted in fishy breath being puffed in George’s face.

“Well then I guess I’ll just have to...” he trailed off, leaning dangerously close to George until he gently pressed his cold, wet lips to George’s own. He stayed frozen for a moment in shock and confusion, waiting for the mermaid to pull away.

“Do you wish to join me now?” He smiled slyly, sharp teeth jutting out.

“No?”

“What do you mean no!” He shouted, throwing his arms down in frustration, splashing the water that held him up so high.

George wiped his lip, the taste of salt lingering. “A salty kiss will not convince me to die for you.”

“Salty? You mean it did not taste sweet or whatever else you humans desire?”

“And why should it taste like that?”

“Because I am a siren you fool!”

“Well of course you are, but” George paused, “I thought sirens were supposed to be...well don’t take this harshly but, beautiful?” The siren gasped, his face turning a little pink.

“What do I look like to you?”

“A mermaid.”

“Be more specific than that, please.” He hissed impatiently.

“Well you have nice hair, I suppose, but where your ears should be I only see fins and your hands are webbed and almost opaque. You reek of fish and the sea, your eyes are a bright green and the pupils remind me of a cats. And there are gills near your chin and...” He looked down at the mermaid, “your tail is quite lovely and colorful, and there are some more gills there right before your tail begins. Is that detailed enough for you?” He just barely smiled at the dumbstruck siren.

“But that is impossible! How can you see me?”

“It’s really not so hard.” George smiled a bit wider, finding the confused siren to look a little more endearing with each confused pout. It seemed he was smarter than he ever knew.

“No! It- it should be impossible! There has never been a single soul who has actually seen me!”

“And who are you anyway?” George asked. The mermaid paused, looking at the churning sea where his unlucky men floated away.

“My name is Lafayette.” He spoke after a moment.

“Well, Lafayette, I must ask you to leave and never come back.”

“No! No- I need to know what is so different about you!” He grabbed George’s jacket, soaking it in saltwater. “Is there some sort of charm on your person? A mystical sea charm you found during your adventures?”

“The only thing on my person is some gunpowder and bullets.” He grumbled, pushing the siren off. “Now please I do not want to kill-“ Lafayette’s eyes lit up as caught sight of the chain around George’s neck. He beamed and quickly lunged forward to yank it from his person. He smiled triumphantly as he held it too far away for George to reach without falling overboard, but he still swiped at it.

“Are you not so strong without your little charm?” He teased, jangling it over the water.

“Give that back this instant!” George roared, “that is not yours to take!”

“Oh, but wouldn’t you like to fetch it now? Come into the water with me.” He sang. Suddenly the dazed man beside him lunged forward and George had to seize him to keep him from jumping off.

“Dammit, Lafayette! That’s not a charm and I am still no more interested in dying! Give that back now!”

“Oh fine.” He pouted, placing it back in George’s hand. The man beside George began reaching out to touch the mermaid, but Lafayette splashed him with water, a grumpy look on his face.

He turned his attention back to George. “So you are just...immune to my spell?”

“I suppose so.” Lafayette sighed, throwing his arms up then placing them on the wood to lay his head against, deep frown still on his face.

“I don’t like not knowing things, George. You realize that no one has ever once been so resistant of me? But you are not even fighting! You are so annoyingly unaffected!” George saw Lafayette’s eyes look at his hand, frown deepening, clearly lost in thought.

“Well then, if we are done here, I will ask you one more time to go.”

Lafayette sighed loudly once again. “Fine, I will go.” He lowered the water back down to the sea so he could begin swimming away, discontent apparent even in the way he swam. Something about seeing the sad mermaid swimming away made his heart ache.

“Wait!” He called out, leaning over the side of the ship. Lafayette stopped and poked his face out of the water, half of it still hiding.

“What?”

“Will I,” George gulped, “ever see you again?” George could make out a wide smile on Lafayette’s face, looking right at him before turning back around and swimming away without another word.

George watched breathlessly as the colorful tail splashed and twirled, like he was showing off. George watched the siren go until he could no longer see even the slightest glimmer of color in the sea.

“No! You’re letting her get away!” The man cried out, lunging forward as Lafayette disappeared.

“What is wrong with you people?” George grumbled to himself, leaving the man to his grief. It at least seemed his spell was not effective to make them die when he was not singing. George would have to be sure to write every detail of his encounter with the siren in his journal, and to remember his face if he was to ever see him again. But he felt the mermaid was not a creature he would be forgetting anytime soon.

~~

if you guys enjoyed this and haven’t read grumblebee’s Fathoms and Foundlings, trust me you need to read it right now and give it lots of love. (and check out more of bee’s works, seriously, its my favorite stuff)

Anyway, please don’t be shy about requesting something for yourself! I promise it can be any ship from Turn or Hamilton and a prompt (I’ve organized all the stuff under the ‘prompts’ tag) or just an idea you have or something you just want to see written! (for example: if you want to see me write an ending for A Beautiful Tragedy where the main character doesn’t die, that would be fun!) I promise it will make me so excited and I would love to write something for you:) (and anon is turned on!)

***

I barely stepped out of the shower, hair bound up in a towel, when I got a notification on my phone that Riku had tagged me in a post.

Upon opening it, I saw that it was the picture he’d taken of me in the playhouse. Looking out over the island and the ocean, dark orange rays of sunset bathing my face and bringing out the tiniest sheen of orange in my hair. The subdued light washed out most of the harsh lines shadow left on my face, giving me a soft look. It was, in fact, an incredibly photogenic picture.

Destiny Islands’ sunsets are beautiful, but even those pale in comparison to her. #LifelongFriend #Aesthetic #Beautiful #DestinyIslands #Sunset #MyBestGirl

I felt my ears grow warm and texted him.

Me: Charmer.

Riku: ???

Me: The post?

Riku: Oh. Well. I meant every word. G’night.

Me: Night. Sleep well. Talk tomorrow.

Riku: Definitely.

Smiling, I put my Gummiphone on my bedside table and snuggled down for the night.

If I dreamt, I don’t remember anything from it. Sometimes, after all the adventures, I woke up in a cold sweat after nightmares in the middle of the night. Usually I was okay, but occasionally I saw Riku getting possessed by Ansem in the Hollow Bastion Keyhole room. Other times I saw Kairi getting slashed across the back by Xehanort. And yet other times, I saw Sora getting killed hundreds of times over by all the enemies we faced on a day-to-day basis.

But that night, my sleep was dreamless. Hours upon hours of empty void.

I woke up the next morning to a text from Kairi.

Kairi: SINCE WHEN ARE YOU AND RIKU A THING?

Me: ??? We’re not???

Kairi: I SAW HIS POST!

Me: Kairi, he’s just being silly. A bit dramatic for the sake of entertaining.

Kairi: -_- That’s not true. I bet he likes you.

Me: 50 munny says you’re wrong.

Kairi: I’m training with him later today on the beach of the play island. I’ll ask him then. You’re so on. I’m going to be 50 munny richer by sunset.

Me: Haha. We’ll see.

Kairi: See you later to pick up my winnings.

Me: Bye Kairi.

I put my Gummiphone down on my bedside table again and got out of bed. Quickly, I changed out of my pajamas and into some normal clothes. I was still a bit tired but there was stuff that I needed to do. After several years of adventuring, business at home was crazy. Sora, Riku, and I all had nearly two years of school to catch up on. Kairi had missed less than one and had caught up fairly quickly.

Once I was ready, with my hair brushed and clothes on, I had a quick breakfast, brushed my teeth, and went running out the door, slinging my backpack on. “Bye Mom! Love you!” I shouted as I yanked the front door open.

“Bye sweetheart!” Mom called. “Have fun at school!”

“I will!” I shut the door behind me and whirled to go jogging down my street.

And ran right into someone. “Oof! Morning.”

“Riku! Morning!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Just thought we could walk to school together.”

“Oh. That’s a great idea,” I said with a smile. Riku offered me his arm. I looped my arm through his and we headed off for school. I fidgeted with my tie with my free hand. I’d never been particularly good at tying them, even after years of practice, and my two-year break to go save the worlds hadn’t helped my fingers’ inability to tie a tie.

We were quiet as we walked down my street. Riku’s family didn’t live far, and neither did Sora’s. We were all pretty close.

“It’s weird to be back at school,” Riku said. “It feels so...”

“Boring? Unimportant?” I suggested.

“I guess. Kinda. We’ve had the safety of the worlds riding on us for so long now that sitting in a classroom just feels almost too easy. Too relaxing. Like, I’m constantly on-edge just waiting for a massive Heartless to tear the door down and attack the classroom.”

“I feel the same. I’ve already broken two pencils from clenching them as hard as I do my Keyblade’s hilt. I keep waiting for my pencil to transform into my Keyblade because there’s a threat in the hallway.”

Riku nodded in agreement. “That’s why you and I sit so close to the door, huh? To protect everyone else,” he said.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Because if something happened, we’d be the only ones who could in our class.”

Riku nodded. We rounded the corner closer to the school building. I half-expected Riku to let me go. We weren’t an item and being seen walking together arm-in-arm would start rumors that we were.

But he didn’t. We just kept walking. Other kids---there weren’t that many on the island---were making their way to the school too.

Riku didn’t let me go until we sat down---next to the door---in our first class of the day. We sat next to each other and didn’t really talk to anyone. These were kids, in the class with us, who’d been two grades below us growing up. But since we’d missed so much, we were catching up with them. We didn’t know the others particularly well and so we kept to ourselves in the back of the room.

Riku and I shared a look of understanding and settled in for class.

I twirled my pencil between my fingers. Riku bounced his leg. We were both nervous and restless. Had been for a few months while we waited. Neither of us were even sure what we were waiting for. The next crisis, I supposed.

When I caught a glare from a classmate, I set my pencil down and started drumming my fingers on my leg to keep it quieter. I’d spent two years or so wired and ready to jump into battle at any moment that sitting in a classroom was getting monotonous and, frankly, somewhat terrifying.

Because the longer nothing happened, the bigger the something that would eventually happen.

Riku reached under our desks and grabbed my hand to stop my drumming. “It’s okay,” he whispered, so quietly he was basically mouthing it.

“I know,” I replied. “Just waiting for it all to go wrong.”

“Me too.” He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and a nod. I nodded back, taut and terse.

***

Riku peeked at her out of the corner of his eye. She had gone back to paying attention to the teacher’s lesson. Since she’d been glared at for twirling her pencil and he’d taken her hand to calm her drumming, he could see her toe tapping in her shoe.

Part of him didn’t want to look away. She looked the same now as she had bathed in the light of the sunset. Absolutely stunning, even if her expression was tense and worried.

She glanced over. Before she could turn to face him, he went back to looking at the teacher.

She let go of his hand under the desk in order to take up her pencil and take notes. She bumped her knee to his to reassure him she was still there and scratched away in her notebook.

***

I sunk my Keyblade into the sand, leaned on it, and looked out to the horizon where the water met the sky. A few stray hairs were stuck to my face from sweat, but that was what happened when I ran drills in the late afternoon on a tropical island. I’d grown up on the islands and, let me just say, visiting Arendelle was torture for me if I didn’t have at least two coats on.

“Well, we survived another day of school,” Riku remarked. I jumped and whirled to see him approaching. Braveheart, his new Keyblade, was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t planning to spar with me just yet, then.

“Yeah,” I grunted, looking back to the sea and leaning even more heavily on my Keyblade. It sunk further into the soft, dry sand.

I heard Riku’s camera shutter go off again. I peeked at him to see his Gummiphone turned toward me. When he realized I caught him, he gave me a somewhat smug smile and put the Gummiphone back in his pocket. He shrugged. “Can’t help it. You look so nice today.”

I snorted. “Sweaty and nervous. Got it. My best look.”

“C’mon,” he enticed, mildly irritated. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

I met his eyes. “Maybe not; but you certainly have odd timing for taking pictures.”

He shrugged, a small smirk playing on his face. “Candid pictures always look the best. It’s just... natural, I guess,” he said. He patted the Gummiphone in his jacket pocket and slid it off. With a flick of his elbow, the jacket got thrown to the side, draping itself over a ramshackle fence that kids long before us had built at the back of the beach. Leaving Riku in just the white, sleeveless V-neck shirt he usually wore after school. Revealing exactly how muscular he was.

With a bright flare of light, Braveheart appeared in Riku’s hand and he bent into his fighting stance.

I twitched, remembering Vanitas dropping into an extremely similar pose.

Shaking my head to clear it, I pulled my Keyblade from the sand and struck my stance.

Riku smirked. “Gonna fight me?” he teased.

“Gonna beat you,” I retorted with a grin.

That made both of us laugh. We both knew Riku was stronger than I was---and a much more skilled Keyblade wielder. I wasn’t going to beat him. Not in this lifetime anyway. No matter how hard I worked, he always beat me.

But... there was a reason he was a Keyblade Master and I wasn’t yet.

“Show me what you got,” Riku prodded. I smiled.

Feinting right, I attacked left. Managing to give Riku a good whack in the back.

The visceral reaction that caused made me desummon my weapon. He cried out and fell to his knees in the sand, Braveheart disappearing in a flash of light.

I desummoned my Keyblade and dropped to my knees next to him. “Riku? Are you okay? What was that about?” I demanded, grabbing his upper arm gently to keep him from faceplanting. The hot sand burned at the exposed skin on my legs, but I ignored it.

He shook his head, pushing his hand through his hair. “It’s fine. It’s just---” He cut himself off and reached back.

With a few tugs, he untucked the white shirt from his blue trousers, revealing a long scar over his lower back---almost exactly where I hit him, but angled slightly off.

I gasped. “Riku... I’m sorry---I didn’t know---”

“It’s fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Is that...?”

“Xemnas hit me with one of his ethereal blades. In the nothingness. It was just me and Sora. Sora was down and I---well. You know me. I would gladly give my life for Sora’s a hundred times over if it meant he could save everyone and everything.”

I reached out but stopped short of touching Riku’s skin. “I’m so sorry, Riku. I wouldn’t have---”

“I know. You didn’t mean to. It just gave me a... a flashback I guess,” Riku said.

“Let’s not spar today,” I said. “Let’s just go sit on the paopu tree and watch the tides and not think on what’s happened to us for the last two years. How about that?”

Riku clenched his jaw. Braveheart reappeared. He drove it into the sand and used it to stand up. “No. If I can’t work through it in training, there’s no way I’ll be able to work through it in actual combat. Just try not to hit me there again, okay?”

“I’ll try, really hard,” I said.

Riku nodded. “’Kay.”

I stepped back a few steps and summoned my Keyblade. Stardrop was a beautiful weapon. A star-shaped hilt and blue-fire as the “teeth” of the key. The keychain was a shooting star. I loved my Keyblade. It fit me perfectly.

Riku nodded. “Let’s do this,” he said.

We sparred, laughing at each other and ourselves as we did so. We liked to tease and goad each other. It was mutually consensual.

After a few minutes, Riku knocked me to the sand, landing on top of me and leveling Braveheart at my throat. “Noble effort, but not quite there yet,” he said. Panting, I nodded and shoved him off.

“I know. I’m working on it,” I said.

Riku laughed and offered me his hand. I took it and let him help me stand up. “You are doing better.”

“Thanks.” I shook my head. “Gonna be washing sand out of my hair for the next week,” I muttered.

Riku grimaced. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Occupational hazard.”

We made our way to the paopu tree and climbed up to sit on it. Riku generally tended to lean against the bend in the trunk, but this time he climbed up next to me.

We watched the waves for a while. The sea breeze was pleasant and the afternoon cooled off to evening.

Riku set his hand on my knee. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Well... we all have bad feelings relating to what’s happened in the past.”

“Yeah... I appreciate it though,” Riku said. “I... it means a lot to me that you’re always here for me.”

“Thanks, Riku,” I said. I set my hand on top of his on my knee. “I appreciate you always keeping an eye on me and making sure I’m safe.” I glanced over at him. His eyes were turquoise in the deepening light.

I pulled out my Gummiphone and took a picture of him looking out to the sunset.

He glanced over at me, raising his eyebrows.

“What? I had to take a picture of you there,” I said playfully.

Riku just chuckled and shook his head. “Fair enough. Just don’t post it.”

Biting my lip, I slid my Gummiphone into my pocket. I leaned over to him, kissed his cheek, said, “No promises,” jumped off the tree, and ran for the docks.