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OOC Information
Alias: Lydia
Contact Info: AIM- tmesisly
Other characters: Uchiha Sasuke, Nico Robin
IC Information
Character: Riku
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Point in canon: Just before the KH2:FM ending
Age: 17
Personality:
Loyal, prideful, and self-sacrificing. These are the three key aspects of Riku’s personality, the things that make him who he is and the things that, unfortunately, led to most of the events in Kingdom Hearts. But perhaps the first thing that you really need to know about this boy is that once he makes a friend, he keeps it. Getting friendship out of Riku... really isn’t that hard. Sure, he’s a bit quieter now, a bit more reserved, but if you start talking to him and he finds that he likes you, you will have a friend for life. He comes across as bristly, distant, and maybe a bit egotistical, but once you dig a little deeper you’ll find that he’s really a good kid. And, if you really dig deeper, you may find that a bit of the derp he was as a child is still in there.
That being said, the first aspect of Riku’s personality that needs to be described is his loyalty. Riku is like a big dog. He’s incredibly loyal. Once he makes a friend he won’t give up on them and he will do anything and everything in his power to have them be safe and happy. Even if it’s at the cost of his own happiness. His own heart. During the course of Kingdom Hearts Riku turned to Darkness time and time again in order to try and save Kairi and Sora. He didn’t care what happened to him so long as the two were safe and happy. He went to the brink and back for Kairi during the first game, carrying her around, making sure she was safe and comfortable, and continuously turned to her saying “Soon, Kairi. Soon,” even as things went from bad to worse for him. For Sora? Well... for Sora he locked himself away inside of Kingdom Hearts. For Sora he stayed awake and fought his own Darkness. For Sora he ruined the life of someone he seemed to suspect had a heart. For Sora... he took on Ansem’s form again. Just so the boy could eventually wake up. He pushed and pulled that boy since they were kids, constantly making himself seem like the “bad guy” or, when they were younger, the “invincible one” who, of course, continuously teased and laughed in Sora’s face in order to try and get the boy to fight better and harder than he normally would. Riku, even in the midst of his own troubles, never once stopped thinking of Sora and Kairi. And even when the world was going to hell and he was trapped in that other body... he looked out for them. He fought Sora in the Land of Dragons in order to measure his strength. He left clues and tried to warn the people of any danger he thought Sora wouldn’t be able to deal with in time. He visited the Islands again, giving Kairi an escape route to a world he thought would be safer when Axel was out to kidnap her. And even though he failed with Roxas, a boy he seemed to actually feel guilty about and feel for, when DiZ ordered him to dispose of Naminé, Riku didn’t. He had a conscience, and even though Naminé was supposed to be a Nobody, a being without a heart, he seemed to care enough for her to go against DiZ and save her. In effect, spending a year with the girl had given her the same status of friend that was normally reserved for Kairi and Sora. He kept her safe throughout the events of Kingdom Hearts 2 just like he did with his other friends. After all, it wasn’t just Kairi’s rescue he came to when Saïx came after the two girls in Never Was.
But not all of Riku is sunshine and roses. There’s a lot to this boy that... quite frankly... isn’t very appealing. And this all stems from the ego and pride that usually is his default persona.
Ever since he was a kid, Riku was the top dog. He was the strongest, one of the “smartest” and, well, he always knew what he wanted to do in life. Combine all those things and Riku, as much as he was loyal to his friends, was always in competition with them. That pride of his made him see everything as a competition he had to win, and it also meant he couldn’t back down from or be scared of anything in the world. After all, Sora, Kairi, and the others had to have someone to respect, right? And seeing as Sora was told time and time again by Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie that Riku was unbeatable in just about everything, Riku went out of his way to make sure that happened. As such, he’s developed an insane amount of pride that, more often than not, usually ends up being bad for him. After all, when one takes everything - and I do mean everything - that happens to him or is said to him as a challenge... well... some rather interesting things can happen. Like, for instance, giving into the Darkness to show that he’s not afraid. Or letting someone implant something he knows ruins hearts into his body in order to prove that he’s better than it (and to help out his friends). Either way, give Riku a challenge and he’ll do absolutely anything to prove that he’s better than it. After all, losing means being weak. And being weak, for Riku, really isn’t an option. This pride and ego has also, more in the past than in the present, caused Riku to go around and actually proclaim his greatness. Even now, he still walks around and talks to people with that general “I’m better than you” air. He carries himself a bit taller than he actually is and usually has an uninterested look on his face whenever he speaks to someone. Really, he looks bored with everything unless there’s a chance to tease and goad. (Or unless you actually shock him or embarrass him. It’s not really that hard to do, his reactions are just usually too slight to really notice.)
The final key aspect of Riku’s personality is his tendency to be self-sacrificial. This... goes hand in hand with his pride and his loyalty. Because of his need to help his friends and keep them safe and happy as well as his need to... well... prove that he’s the stronger one, Riku takes risks. Even when he knows there’s no way he’ll come out on top. Instead, he’ll just keep going with that same ego, the same determination that he’ll win. So far, with a little help and a whole lot of luck, this has worked out for him. Eventually. However, Riku came close to losing his heart multiple times due to his tendency to screw himself over to help others. It’s heavily implied (and is my personal opinion) that Riku was in love with Kairi during the events of Kingdom Hearts I. However, Sora was also in love with the girl. Seeing as Riku was the “better man”, he backed off. He sacrificed his own happiness for Sora’s. In addition, because of this unique bond he had with Kairi, when it came to saving her heart... Riku honestly didn’t care what happened to him or his. He jumped headfirst into the Darkness once he learned she was in danger. Anything he could do, no matter how horrible or dangerous, to help her... he did. In the end, it got twisted. His desire to save her merged with his lust for power and his need to be stronger. He easily gave into Ansem. However, as soon as he regained control over his heart and looked at what he was doing... well... he used the last of his strength and, thus, his life, in order to give Kairi a chance to escape. Even after that, he locked himself away inside of Kingdom Hearts in order to give Sora and Kairi a chance to live happily. He didn’t care what happened to him, so long as they were alive and well. And it didn’t end there. Staying awake and watching over Sora as he slept, giving into the Darkness again and losing his form, instantly moving to use his body as a shield for Sora, being perfectly content to stay in the Darkness if it meant the realm of light could keep on going... Riku, for all his loyalty and bravado, places his friends and loved ones above himself. His own life is a perfect exchange for the safety of the people he cares about. Easily.
One more small thing of note about Riku is that, regardless of what happened to him during that year of conflict, he’s been dreaming about adventure and going to other worlds since he was a small child. Sitting still and doing nothing doesn’t sit well with him. Vacation? A break? That’s fine. But after another year of going back to a normal life after everything that happened? He’s antsy. Riku wants an adventure. He’s a fighter, and sitting by as things happen around him just isn’t his style. If there’s a fight he’ll jump into it. If there’s any chance of a fight, you can bet he’d be right there to jump in headfirst. The only times he would would be if he had a prior, more important commitment. Like protecting someone who couldn’t protect themselves. Or keeping a friend or loved one safe.
Overall? Riku’s a varied, interesting kid. He’s as loyal as a dog and you can bet that if he’s your friend he’ll do whatever he can to keep you safe. And as much as he seems like a dick... there’s a kind person under all that bravado. A bit self-sacrificing, but kind all the same.
History:
Childhood
Riku grew up in Destiny Islands, a small archipelago in the middle of a vast ocean. It was a peaceful world, never wrought by catastrophe or battles between good and evil. It was merely a world where children played, went to school, and lived normal lives. However, on weekends and during summer, Destiny Islands became the children’s domain. For years the kids used and played on a small island off the coast. It is an island of obstacle courses, play grounds, and tree houses, used during the day and night and completely safe. The children were free to come and go as they pleased, and it was here that Riku made his domain. He, Sora, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka played and fought on the island, Riku emerging triumphant every time. While the five were close and spent almost every day together, Riku was never as close to Tidus, Selphie and Wakka as he was with Sora. The brunet and Riku had a rivalry, each pushing each other forward both in terms of emotional growth and in fighting ability, and while Riku never once lost to Sora, he always looked forward to their fights.
**spoiler**
At some point, when Riku was five, he met two people on the beach, two people he’d never seen before. After being raised and hearing about that man who had left the Islands all those years ago, he assumed that these people were from different worlds too. He shared both that line of thinking and his own dream to get off the Islands and explore, train, and protect the people he knew with the man who visited, not knowing that he was a keybearer. Terra. Sensing the nearly overwhelming light in Riku, and seeing that the boy had a strong and pure heart, Terra offered him the handle of his keyblade. Tentatively, Riku grasped it and, when Terra let go a bit, the keyblade stayed in his hand. Little did Riku know, but that “ceremony” was actually in order to label him as a potential apprentice. Before Terra left, he said that some day Riku would get off the Islands, that one day... his dream would become real.
**end spoiler**
About a year later, just a short while after Kairi was found during a meteor shower, Sora thought he heard a monster in the Secret Place under the tree. Riku followed Sora in there to look around, secretly yearning for some sort of adventure, some break from the mundane pattern that had become his life. Ever since Kairi had appeared a question had been nagging at him, one that would soon become the driving force behind building that raft and setting off: “Of all the worlds out there... why did we end up on this one?”
While the monster Sora had heard turned out to be just the wind, when they were leaving the place Riku glanced back, surprised to see a glimmering keyhole in what had just been solid wood.
From that day forward the desire to start his journey, to leave the Islands plagued at Riku’s mind until finally, it became all he could think about. Every day his mind was filled with thoughts and dreams of another, more interesting world out there, and he became practically obsessed with finding it and getting there, escaping the world he had grown up in. It was this blind desire that opened his heart to darkness… and a desire that led to everything that happened to him, Kairi, and Sora.
A short while after Riku first saw the keyhole of their world the two boys met and befriended Kairi. For the next few years they lived a peaceful, happy life, but no matter how hard Riku tried, curiosity and impatience continued to eat away at him, and he became determined to find a way, any way, to leave their home. Together, when Riku was fifteen and Sora and Kairi were fourteen, they started building a raft to attempt to sail away from the world they were in and into the next. Riku became obsessed with this idea, to the point where Kairi noticed something was strange. The night before they were supposed to leave, some unknown feeling must have driven Riku out of his bed and to their play island because by the time the storm arrived, he was standing on that small island with the paopu tree, seeming to be just waiting for something to happen.
The Start of a Journey
He didn’t have to wait long. Sora, urged to the island out of fear for their raft, stumbled onto where Riku was waiting. He extended a hand to him, offering to take Sora into the darkness, into another world. He stood there, hand out stretched, sinking into the darkness as Sora struggled. The last thing he felt was Sora’s reaching fingers, and then his world went dark.
He emerged to a broken world, a fragment of the Islands he had grown up on, and he assumed it was a trick of the darkness. He wandered, watching the destruction for a while, before a cloaked figure appeared behind him. Riku turned to him, watching as the cloaked figure extended his hand, and the boy couldn’t help but smirk. He would later realize this was Xehanort’s heartless come to lead him, to claim him, but at the moment he only realized it to be what he had been waiting for. He stepped into the portal the figure opened and into another world. (Due to issues raised in another com, I feel its important to note that this is canon. It was in a cutscene from Kingdom Hearts: Coded.}
When he opened his eyes he was in a strange world, seemingly alone. He would learn later that this was Hollow Bastion, but at the time of his awakening he panicked, expecting his friends to be there. However, he wasn’t truly alone. Soon enough Maleficent approached him, sensing the hold darkness had on the boy and his unique powers as a chosen keyblade wielder. She used that darkness and Riku’s desperation to find and reunite with Kairi and Sora in order to manipulate the boy, dragging him deeper and deeper into the darkness.
Descent into Darkness
Maleficent took him to Traverse Town, showing Riku that Sora was stronger and had no need for him, replacing his presence with Donald and Goofy. Even when he disappeared on his friend, Sora didn’t seem to miss him, instead going about and laughing. It hurt, and Maleficent just twisted a knife in that wound, opening Riku even more to the darkness radiating around him. Riku soon gained mastery over using the darkness to travel between worlds, searching desperately for Kairi as Sora just seemed to drag on, not even truly looking for her. At least in Riku’s eyes. Maleficent told Riku of Sora’s progression, twisting her words and further corrupting Riku’s heart.
It was a desperate search that led Riku to the bowels of Monstro, where Maleficent had told him a puppet with a heart had resided. Determined to find the puppet and study him, trying to figure out how an empty shell, had obtained a heart in order to save his friend. It was an added bonus that Riku could run into Sora here. However, unlike their previous meeting in Traverse Town, Riku felt only bitterness and betrayal for his one time best friend, leading him on a wild goose chase around Monstro, reveling in how he teased and hurt Sora along the way.
Finally, after Riku could gain nothing further from Pinocchio, he allowed Sora to catch up with him, offering a partnership of sorts. Even then, with his heart so close to being swallowed by the darkness, Riku was only thinking of his friends, of how to save Kairi. He did not think his methods were questionable, instead seeing them as a necessary sacrifice in order to save Kairi’s heart. However, Sora refused his offer to fight together, calling him him out on being on the wrong side. Insinuating that the boy had no conscience, even if he had a heart, thoroughly shaking off the last grasp Riku had on their friendship and pushing the teen even further into the darkness. A heartless surprised them, and Riku used the distraction to open a portal back to Hollow Bastion.
Angry and hurt, Riku’s heart fell even further to the darkness inside of him, and Maleficent felt that he was ready to take those final few steps towards her side of the fight. She granted Riku the ability to control the Heartless and sent her to Captain Hook’s ship as her ambassador of sorts, both to recover Kairi and to tell the Captain that Wendy wasn’t one of the Princesses they were looking for. He waited for Sora on Hook’s ship, and when the boy arrived he showed Sora his power, telling him that Sora’s path was the wrong one and showing him exactly what had happened to Kairi. Angered by Sora doing nothing but call him stupid, insist that Sora’s way was the right one, that Riku had fallen to darkness. Sick of hearing what Sora had to say, he sent his one-time friend to the depths of the ship and followed Hook inside. There he informed the Pirate that Wendy was not one of the Princesses of Heart, and in a burst of recklessness he took Kairi and used the Corridor of Darkness without a vessel, putting a serious strain on his heart. Maleficent took advantage of this event, awakening the darkness within Riku, giving birth to new, stronger powers.
Ansem’s Slave
Finally Sora made it to Maleficent’s stronghold, and Riku was there to greet him, taking care of an “intruder” as he waited. Sora seemed upset with what Riku had done to the Beast, but Riku honestly couldn’t find the need to care what his former friend thought of him. Instead, he thanked Sora for delivering the keyblade to him, taking advantage of his newfound strength in order to forcefully take the blade from Sora, prompting Donald and Goofy to follow him and leaving Sora almost defenseless. It was a sweet victory for Riku, as he got what he wanted as well as making Sora feel the same betrayal he had felt what seemed like ages ago, when he had watched his friend laugh with Donald and Goofy while he traveled and fought alone.
Riku sensed Sora following him throughout the castle and decided to wait, embracing the darkness even further and altering his appearance for the fight he knew was coming. Experience told Riku that he would win, and his recent gain of power and everything “good” that had happened to him just increased that feeling. However, when he faced Sora and had not only Donald and Goofy drawn to the brunet’s side but also the keyblade he had taken from Sora, his heart wavered, and not even the darkness could keep Riku from losing.
He retreated shamefully. Angry and injured, Riku stumbled through the castle, cursing his weakness until finally, a voice spoke to him. He turned and saw a figure in the darkness, a figure that mocked his weak heart and told him that he could help Riku grow stronger, that he could fix the weakness in his heart. By this point Riku’s heart and mind had become so warped that instantly he said yes, acting for the first time out of selfishness, not out of a desire to save Kairi. He handed his body over to Ansem and faded into the darkness. He was aware of what his body was doing, but for the first time in so long his mind was clear. He could see the wrongs he was committing, could see that Sora’s path was right, had always been right… but it was too late. Ansem used him as a tool, creating a dark keyblade that could open people’s hearts, using it to empower Maleficent, turning her into the puppet she had thought Riku to be. He fought Sora, loosely controlling his body as Ansem steered him, “retreating” at his loss, leaving his keyblade there for Sora to use. He watched helplessly as Sora released Kairi’s heart, becoming a heartless and providing the final piece necessary to reveal the keyhole of Hollow Bastion.
Ansem emerged as soon as Sora was gone, calling upon the Heartless in order to defeat Goofy, Donald, and Kairi, having no further use of them. However, Riku wasn’t going to tolerate that. He froze Ansem’s body, appearing before him as a glowing figure, tapping into the small amount of light still within him, telling Kairi to run, holding Ansem back while they escaped. After that he faded again, pushed back until he had no contact with the outside world anymore. It was then that Riku found himself stumbling along through the Darkness, only seeing flashes of what was happening through his loose connection with his body. Just as he was about to give up and fade, a voice spoke to him, commenting about his heart and his friends. Renewed with hope, Riku followed this voice and found King Mickey waiting inside of Kingdom Hearts, the place his lost heart had been forced to go. There, he waited for Sora. Waited until they opened the door tot he outside.
By the time Sora and Ansem Seeker of Darkness finally opened the door, Riku was there to help pull it shut. Just as Sora, Donald, and Goofy seemed to be losing hope that they could get the door closed and shut away the Darkness inside of it, Riku grabbed onto the door from the inside, helping pull it shut from the inside, finally doing his part in the battle, sacrificing himself to the darkness so Sora could be in the light. So his best friends could be okay. However, for the first time since he began his journey, he wasn’t alone. King Mickey was with him. With four final words to Sora - Take care of her - he allowed himself to be engulfed by the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, trusting himself not to get devoured by it and trusting King Mickey’s assurance that there would always be a door to the light.
Castle Oblivion
The next time Riku was aware of himself and his surroundings, a voice was calling out to him, guiding him out of the haze he had been in, telling him he could either sleep in the mist of grey, or he could take the card that appeared in front of him and escape. He could move on with his life and attempt to fight the darkness within him. Riku took the card, smug and determined as he told the voice that the place he was in “looks like a boring place to take a nap anyway”.
Within an instant Riku was stepping into what he thought was Hollow Bastion, not realizing it was actually Castle Oblivion, a cheap imitation formed by the card he’d found in the darkness. He wandered around, taunted and mocked by that voice he’d grown accustomed to hearing. However, he soon found that the city wasn’t the same as he remembered. No matter where he went and where he searched, Riku was alone in the vast city. That is until he stumbles across Maleficent. The Maleficent of his memories taunted him, mocking his refusal of the darkness. Riku pushed himself to fight despite his fear of the darkness within him and defeated his former “mentor”, finally emerging into the true form of the place, Castle Oblivion.
Once he wandered out of Hollow Bastion, he was met with Ansem - Xehanort’s heartless. Words were exchanged. Ansem taunted Riku with the darkness, finally just stating that will take over Riku’s heart. However, King Mickey’s presence reached Riku, chasing away Ansem for the time being. However, before he retreated back into Riku’s body the Heartless unlocked the darkness in Riku’s heart, allowing the boy to have access to it if he so wished. Riku was forced to proceed through the castle, afraid of the darkness within him.
As he progressed through the floors of the castle Riku constantly struggled with the darkness inside of him, fearing its hold on him and angered that it was still there, taunting him. He soon realized he had the strange ability to “smell” the darkness on people, and while this worried him King Mickey’s presence managed to calm him and encourage him to progress. It wasn’t long before the boy was approached by Vexen, one of the Organization members. While Riku didn’t know of the Nobodies or the Organization yet, the strange mix of darkness and light in the man alerted Riku, causing him to question if Vexen was allied with the Ansem inside of him. Vexen cryptically said no, that he was with “another Ansem”. Prompted into action, Riku attempted to fight Vexen, but the scientist only used the information he gathered to create a replica of the teen, one that could wield the darkness Riku was so afraid of.
Riku was soon approached by the replica, forced to fight an actual representation of the darkness inside of him. And while Riku stubbornly refused to use the power his replica was boasting about, he managed to “defeat” the replica. However, just as he was about to deal the finishing blow, his double pushed him back with darkness, mocking Riku once more about his weakness and his cowardice before retreating. Annoyed and distressed, Riku was appealed to once again by Ansem, the heartless saying that the Riku replica was a model of what Riku could be, that his power could be so much greater if he gave into the darkness. However, Riku looked at the bitterness he had seen in the replica and used what he had seen in order to convince himself that darkness was not the answer.
However, as Riku progressed further through the castle Ansem’s grip on Riku’s heart was slowly getting stronger. As the teen battled another Organization member, Lexaeus, Ansem used a lull in the battle to pull at Riku’s heart, momentarily engulfing the teen in darkness and changing his form to that of the “Heartless Riku” he’d been back in Hollow Bastion. He quickly finished Lexaeus with the newfound strength, and Riku was pushed back into darkness, almost loosing himself. However, Mickey finds him again and pushes back Ansem, allowing Riku to emerge from the darkness again and reclaim his body and heart.
As Riku progressed through the castle, Sora’s own journey in the castle was growing to a close. Even though Riku had no idea the other boy was there, he still felt the change in the castle when Marluxia was killed. Almost instantly after the presence disappeared another Nobody approached Riku, this one introducing himself as Zexion. However, unlike the ones he had previously met, Zexion explained what was going on… at least in part. For the first time Riku knew that Sora was in the castle as well, and he had managed to find his way there due to his heart resonating with the other boy’s. He was then given a card by Zexion that would lead to Destiny Islands, and despite the darkness creeping up on him, Riku entered the next floor.
He emerged into the islands, expecting to see his home, but instead finding the land broken, as if they were being swallowed by the darkness again. It was in this barren landscape that Zexion threw all of Riku’s fears at him, making the boy meet and loose his friends as he taunted him, telling him that everything that had happened on the Islands that day had been his fault. Because Riku had seen the keyhole, because Riku had let his heart be touched by the dark when he was a child, the darkness had found its way to Destiny Islands. Zexion even went as far as disguising himself as Sora, tricking Riku and fighting him, sending the teen into the light.
As Riku sank into the light he felt himself fading away. As a being so close to darkness, the amount of light he was in was too much, and if he had been allowed to sink completely he would have been lost forever. However, just as he was starting to give up and let himself be taken away, Kairi appeared before him. She convinced him that the darkness wasn’t necessarily evil, that the power within him could be his and could be used for good. She convinced Riku that he had nothing to fear from the darkness in his heart, as it was as much a part of him as the light was. Trusting those words Riku engulfed himself in darkness and faced his fear, pushing his way out of the light and attacking Zexion, sensing now that he wasn’t truly Sora. Zexion retreated, and Riku attempted to progress further, only to be stopped in his tracks - literally - as Xehanort’s heartless seeks control of him, momentarily assuming control of his body. However, Mickey had finally found a way to Riku, appearing in a solid form this time as he beat Ansem down again.
Riku was overcome with relief that he finally had a companion in his journey, and thankfully accepted the card Mickey had brought with him. Using it, Riku found himself in Twilight Town, facing Xehanort’s Heartless again. However, this time Riku’s mind was clear and he could sense that the man in front of him wasn’t “Ansem”, for he didn’t smell of the same intense darkness. Ansem’s image faded away to reveal a very different man who introduced himself as DiZ. Riku instantly placed him as the voice that had woken him up at the beginning of his journey and demanded to know what DiZ wanted with him. The strange man only told Riku that he had to find Naminé and make that final choice between the road to light and the road of darkness.
As Riku attempted to leave Twilight Town, his replica found him again, this time armed with Riku’s memories and more free will and thought of his own. The replica was determined to fight Riku and take his place as a “real” being. However, Riku finally had control of the dark powers inside of him, and after a short fight the real Riku emerged triumphant, telling the replica that maybe their hearts would go to the same place when he vanished.
Shortly after this event Riku met Naminé in the room where Sora was sleeping. He instantly identified her as the Kairi that had appeared to him in the light. As he learned that Sora was sleeping while his true memories were returned, Riku was offered a choice. He could sleep like Sora and loose his memories of Castle Oblivion and thus seal the darkness in his heart away, or he could try and conquer it on his own. Riku refused the offer to sleep, wanting to fight on his own and saying that it was now his job to make sure Sora remained safe and recovered all his memories. The teen then moved on to the final room in the castle, meeting DiZ again and obtaining a card that would draw Ansem out of him, allowing him to face and fight that part of him. Before Riku went to fight he tried to get King Mickey to promise to destroy him if Ansem won the fight. However, Mickey refused to even let Riku finish that statement, instead assuring the teen that if that were to happen he would do everything in his power to save Riku.
Determined and thankful to have such a friend behind him, Riku proceeded, calling out Ansem and fighting him. After a long, tiring fight, Riku emerged triumphant, but still wary of the darkness inside of him. While he no longer feared it and instead wielded it as a weapon, Ansem had assured Riku that he still survived within Riku’s heart, and that he would be back.
Donning the black cloak of the organization, Riku and Mickey finally left Castle Oblivion, meeting DiZ on the outside. When asked which road Riku would take - the light or the dark - he confidently walked down the path in the middle, turning back to simply say “The Road to Dawn”. However, despite his confidence and his will to go on with Mickey by his side, Riku couldn’t deny that there was still evil festering within him. As such, he parted ways with Mickey to work with DiZ, putting on a blindfold to keep a hold on his true self.
Xion and Roxas
Riku’s first act of business after starting his work with DiZ and Naminé was following and observing Organization 13, trying to find Sora’s Nobody. Naminé had informed them that someone had obtained some of Sora’s memories, thus slowing her progress.
As he watched and followed the Organization, he was constantly exposed to the darkness, and eventually it became so bad that if he ever took off his blindfold his physical appearance would change. While this gave him some additional strength, the more he took off his blindfold, the harder he found it to bind his sight again. While the blindfold didn’t actually hamper his ability to see and fight, it was always a struggle to keep the cloth over his eyes.
Finally, after a while of following the Organization members (and finally hitting a growth spurt, but that’s beside the point) Riku had his first run-in with Xion. He had followed her to the Beast’s Castle, and after a brief scuffle he pulled back her hood and pushed up the edge of his blindfold, trying to get a clear and close look at the girl. What he saw shocked him, something that was relatively hard to do at this point. Xion looked even more like Kairi than Naminé did, and as Naminé was Kairi’s Nobody… well… he hadn’t been expecting it. As Xion started to stir again, Riku told her that her keyblade was a sham, seemingly angering the girl. In a burst of sympathy for the Nobody’s plight, Riku advised Xion to get out of the Organization. However, Xion was too angry to listen to him, and as she lashed out Riku easily knocked her out and made his escape.
He and DiZ left the Organization alone for a while to return to where Naminé was keeping Sora. When the blonde Nobody reached a stand still, saying that Xion contained memories Sora needed to wake up, Riku knew what he had to do, even though it wasn’t really sitting well with him. He started tracking the young girl again, eventually following her to Destiny Islands. He reached the Islands just as Xion was finishing a nightmare, going to the girl and coaxing her out of it. Xion soon woke up, and Riku held a conversation with her, trying to convince her to voluntarily return to Sora and return his memories so he can wake up.
Why he did this? It can be deduced that Riku didn’t actually want to kill her. He kept going out of his way to prolong the time Xion had to make her decision, kept trying to give her time even be able to make this decision. Whether this was in order to try and give the girl a chance to live her life or whether it was done due to her uncanny resemblance to Kairi and Naminé is unknown. However, it is known that Xion spent well over a month in Riku’s care, thinking things over and spending time with the “Imposter” to her Organization. During that time Riku didn’t take Xion to DiZ and didn’t even tell her of Naminé. He seemed to keep her in the dark, trying not to influence her decision in any way. Instead, he watched out for her, even going so far as to accompanying her once in order to meet with Roxas and Axel. While the two Organization members couldn’t see their faces, Roxas recognized Xion almost instantly, and Riku covered the girl’s escape, leading Roxas and Axel on a goose chase around town, eventually retreating himself and rendezvousing with Xion. Whatever talk the two had next, Xion somehow showed up just a few days later to approach Roxas alone, and ended up being taken back to the castle.
For the rest of Xion’s existence, Riku spent his time going from the Skyscraper to the Mansion that DiZ and Naminé were in. Over time, DiZ became impatient, ordering Riku to finish it. Thankfully, he didn’t have to go after Xion himself. Instead, she came to him, saying she’d finally made her decision. That done, Riku took her to Naminé in order to go through with whatever plan she had in mind before retreating back to his skyscraper, seemingly waiting for some kind of sign. That sign... came in the form of Xion’s death. And with her death, the disappearing memories of the replica. With Xion out of the picture, progress kept going for a while, until Naminé and DiZ came to the realization that, due to how long they had waited, there was another force interfering. Fearing that waiting any longer would cause Sora to wake up before he was ready, Riku was forced to take immediate action and go after Roxas, the boy DiZ had determined to be Sora’s true Nobody.
The boy took a short detour in the Mansion’s woods, appearing in front of Mickey in Ansem’s form. The King was startled, and almost attacked his friend before Riku could put his blindfold back on, regaining his previous form. He then went on to ask the King that... if he died in his fight against Roxas... Sora could be watched over. Preferably by the King himself. However, Mickey just told him that Riku would be fine, and that even if he lost himself to the Darkness, he’d save him, not destroy him. So with those parting words, Riku went the skyscraper, waiting for the boy he’d been told he needed to bring back... and kill.
When Roxas came to the skyscraper, Riku was waiting for him. However... neither of the boys had been expecting the sheer amount of Neoshadows. In a strange moment of camaraderie, Riku jumped down from the skyscraper... and Roxas surged upwards. In what first appeared to be an attack, Roxas hurled Oblivion towards the boy, allowing Riku to catch it as he fell. As soon as his hand closed around the hilt of the keyblade, flashes of Xion entered Riku’s mind as well as Roxas’, prompting both boys to merely pass each other, watching the other warily. Riku landed on the bottom, plagued by head pangs brought on by the sudden surge of memories, and Roxas soon joined him. Together the two fought and destroyed the Neoshadows. But as soon as they stopped fighting side by side, the memories seemed to fade a bit, causing both boys to snap out of their “truce” and jump away from each other.
A fight started soon after, during which Riku kept goading Roxas, trying to get a response out of him, to get exactly why he had the keyblade, to make sure he was actually Sora’s Nobody. Finally... he got his answer. It was recently revealed in a segment by Tetsuya Nomura that Riku had actually refused to believe that Roxas was Sora’s nobody, despite what DiZ said, because somewhere inside of him he didn’t think that Sora could have a Nobody. This could also mean that, by extension, Riku didn’t want to have to kill Roxas either, seeing as the boy not being Sora’s Nobody would mean that they didn’t need him or his memories. That Roxas could keep living. However, once Riku goaded the blond and got some typical Sora responses, it became clear that Roxas really was the keyblade hero’s Nobody. Roxas swiftly counterattacked, beating Riku back and almost winning the fight. However, Riku dramatically took off his blindfold and surrendered to the Darkness, permanently assuming Xehanort’s Heartless’ guise in order to win the fight.
DiZ soon arrived, and Riku quickly donned his hood, mentioning absently that Roxas said he could feel Sora. DiZ merely laughed and called such a thing foolish, but this wouldn’t be the only time where Riku seemed to express doubts as to both Roxas and Naminé being unable to feel. However, he still blindly followed the man, taking Roxas back to the Mansion in Twilight Town in order to erase the boy’s memories and place him inside a computer until they could get what they needed out of him.
Summer Vacation
As Roxas was prepared to merge with Sora, Riku sat on the sidelines, watching as DiZ and Naminé went about their work, only participating whenever he needed to make sure that Roxas was remembering Sora at the right rate. As Axel began to breach the town’s walls, Riku went into the town at a higher rate, taking some keepsakes of Roxas’ and pressing with questions about the boy’s capacity to feel. Soon enough he was almost constantly in the world, fighting off the Nobodies breaking in and keeping Naminé from revealing too much to Roxas. Finally, as the time to Sora’s awakening grew nearer, Riku confronted DiZ, questioning the man’s motives in all of this. When he heard that DiZ was only in it for revenge, Riku was disgusted and angry, and when the man ordered him to dispose of Naminé, Riku instead helped her escape.
Help from the Shadows
Despite the fact that Sora was finally awake and searching almost desperately for him, Riku was incredibly careful to keep his distance from the boy, instead keeping his distance, watching and helping when he could. His various sightings throughout the game were both to help Sora and to fuel him on, to help him get stronger. But one thing always remained constant, Riku was very careful to keep his distance. While both Kairi and Sora suspected it was him, he did nothing to betray his identity, instead merely appearing in the distance, out of the corner of their eyes, careful to keep his face hidden. After all, he couldn’t bear to have his friends see him like that. Bearing the face of their first enemy.
So instead, Riku helped from the shadows. He pleaded with Mickey not to tell Sora anything about his current status, and although the King told Sora he was in contact with Riku, the brunet seemed to understand and kept his distance. However, as much as Riku would have liked to follow Sora closer and help him out as much as possible, things were unfolding in a rather unpredictable way. Chancing a look at Destiny Islands, quite possibly to makes sure that Kairi was still safe and sound, Riku found that Axel was approaching Kairi, trying to find any way to get Sora to turn into a heartless again and recreate Roxas. Borrowing Pluto for a while, Riku sent the dog through the darkness, opening portals as needed for the animal to lead Kairi away from Axel and into Twilight Town, where Riku knew she would meet Sora’s friends. As much as Riku would have liked to stay and make sure Kairi was safe, he had to return to the realm of darkness as Sora sunk into it, leaving a package containing sea-salt ice cream and a picture of Roxas and his friends, raising questions and prompting Sora to remember his Nobody. Unfortunately, in that time of absence Kairi was finally found by Axel and taken out of Riku’s sight.
A short while later Riku arrived in the Land of Dragons, intent on warning the Emperor of a Heartless Dragon Xigbar was sending to the town. However, he timed his arrival poorly, and ended up surprising Sora. He was forced to defend himself in a short battle in which Sora recognized his weapon, withdrawing slightly and questioning Riku’s identity. Riku used the confusion to escape, making his way down to the Palace to warn the Emperor before the Dragon and Sora could make it there. Unfortunately, his unique personality and “respect” to the Emperor had Sora convinced it was him.
Not wanting to risk further discovery, Riku faded into the background, letting Sora continue his journey as he tried to find a way into the World that Never Was in order to try and save Kairi once he realized that she had been taken by Saïx. Finally, just as Sora entered the world, Riku sensed a change and broke into the world, helping Naminé save Kairi as Saïx surprised them. After a quick thank you from Naminé Riku’s retreat was stopped by Kairi. Reluctantly he allowed her to remove his hood, expecting her to be disgusted by his form. However, her ability to see who he truly was surprised him enough to follow her around, keeping her safe as she made her way down to where Sora had finally entered the castle.
The Final Battles
Forced to follow and keep his reckless friends safe, Riku joined Kairi and Sora in fighting off hordes of Heartless, even providing Kairi with a keyblade so she could finally join the fight. As Kairi finally made her way to Sora and the two reunited, Riku attempted to make his escape again, this time getting the portal actually open and active before Kairi latched onto him, dragging Sora over to get a real look at him. Riku waited nervously as Sora tried to see who he truly was, and when his friend dropped to his knees, crying, Riku couldn’t help but feel true relief for the first time in so long.
However, that didn’t change the fact that Riku was still overcome with guilt at his own weakness, both recently and during their first battles. He had called himself no one before, just a castaway from the Darkness when they pressed for his identity. And even after Sora reunited with him, telling him he looked everywhere for his best friend, Riku just replied with a calm “I didn’t want to be found”. It was clear that no matter how much Riku seemed to grow, no matter how much he shrugged off his guilt and issues for the battle at hand and their reunion, he was still deeply troubled by what he had done. However, he still followed Sora and the others through the different floors, keeping Kairi safe and, more often than not, being locked out of the battles by doing so. But finally, near the top of the castle, they reunited with the King and DiZ. To say that DiZ’s true identity had come as a surprise to Riku would have been an understatement, but there was no time to reflect on it as the researcher activated a machine designed to encode Kingdom Hearts into data. As the machine overloaded and exploded, Ansem’s appearance and the darkness in Riku’s heart was melted away. In the aftermath of the blast, it became obvious that Riku had regained his true form, much to the surprise of everyone there. It was dubbed “A miracle worked by a heart no Darkness could eclipse”.
It took just a little convincing from Sora and the King for Riku to risk taking off his blindfold, but as soon as he did and found that the darkness within him was no stronger, he finally shed the cloak he had been wearing since Sora went to sleep and took that middle path again, finally balancing out his powers and finally fighting at Sora’s side.
Together they ascended the last few flights of stairs to face Xemnas. Sora was called off to fight alone, and Riku stayed with the others, calling for Sora but otherwise unable to do anything more. Finally, Sora stumbled out of wherever Xemnas had taken him and the Nobody in question vanished into Kingdom Hearts. However, the worlds provided them with a door, and together the three keyblade wielders (Mickey, Sora, and Riku) unlocked the door and pushed forward, determined to end this once and for all. They fought again, and Xemnas appeared to be gone for good, leaving them trapped within the strange world. Riku attempted to create a portal to leave, but found it to be impossible now that he no longer had such a close tie to the darkness within him. However, Naminé appeared before them, opening a door to Destiny Islands as well as having one final reunion with the Nobody still sleeping inside of Sora: Roxas. Relieved, Riku and Sora waited for the others to proceed, but just as they were about to leave, Xemnas resurfaced and the door closed, just as Kairi and the King attempted to turn and join the two boys. Together the two pushed forward, fighting battle after battle with the Nobody until finally they seemed to be reaching the end. By then they were both tired, sheer determination the only thing keeping them going. Riku took a heavy hit for Sora, one that had been intended to finish the keyblade wielder off. However harmful it was to Riku, it provided just the opportunity they needed to end everything. Both boys clutched Sora’s keyblade and shot a beam of light, finally ending Xemnas.
However, that wasn’t the end of it. Within seconds they were surrounded by Dusks intent on finishing them off. Both braced for an attack, faces set in grim determination, but the Nobodies melted into nothing, leaving the teens alone in the darkness.
With the battle over, with everything over, Riku finally allowed himself to collapse, intent on giving up right then and there. However, Sora’s never-ending optimism had him up and supported by his friend, and as they walked on they found themselves at the supposed end of everything, collapsing tiredly in the Dark Meridian. There the two finally reconciled with each other, saying things that should have been said one year ago, before the entire mess had started. Riku admitted that he had always wanted to be like Sora, and Sora said the same thing in reverse. And finally, they were just two teens relaxing. Riku was still feeling guilt, and probably always would, but the fact that he and Sora were talking like nothing had happened between them, like nothing had changed… it was enough to put the teen’s mind at rest.
Suddenly, something hit against his legs, washed up by the water, and Riku pulled a small bottle out of the ocean, opening it and reading the letter inside, handing it to Sora with a smirk. As the younger teen read the letter a door opened, and Riku pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the pain of his wound. He stepped forward towards the light, towards home. Finally, it seemed his journey was at an end. He could finally, finally get to rest.
For almost a year Riku's been at home. Going to school, hanging out with Sora and Kairi, getting his life back together. He still trains and goes to that play island in order to spar on the beach, but otherwise? It's been quiet. He has yet to receive that letter he, Sora, and Kairi are seen reading at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, so he doesn't know anything more about the events of Birth By Sleep, but he is getting antsy. Itching for an adventure. As horrible as Lucerne Ridge may be, at least now he's able to get rid of some of that pent up energy. He's getting at least a bit of the adventure he's wanted since he was five.
Abilities: here
Items brought along:Clothes (school outfit)
School bag (Books: English and Math, binder, notebook paper, pens)
A separate bag (after school clothes: aka his kh2 outfit)
Organization cloak (it's always shoved into the bottom of his extra bag)
Some munny (it was in his pockets)
Two packs of gum
A wallet with his student ID and library cardStigma: Guilt. Even now, almost a year after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2 came to an end, Riku is still eaten away by guilt. After all, he stooped so low and messed up so many lives in order to help Sora, and even before that... he tried to kill his best friend. He made the choice to give into Darkness, and even though there's no issue of him giving into it after so long, the fact that he had still makes him feel like he has something to make up for.
Samples
Regular Post:
[The feed clicks on in the middle of a sentence and the speaker.... sounds pretty annoyed.]
-ould've done was warn us before taking us away. I didn't even see the portal.
.... Kairi! Sora! Tch. Must've gotten separated.
[A pause, and the only sound is that of someone walking about and rummaging through some bags.]
What is this place, anyways? It.... feels... off, somehow.
... Are there any locals out there? I at least want to know the name of this dump.
Log Post: [from a short stint elsewhere]
Well now. That was different.
It was all Riku could think as he came to a stop in his wanderings, gazing rather blankly at the pile of dirt and tombstones that was in front of him. The rest of the cemetery had been uniform, neatly organized, generally nice - although how a cemetery could be anything but depressing Riku didn't know... at the moment he wasn't really dwelling on anything in particular. Still, he couldn't help but pause and stare at the hill of graves, wondering why that one small section was so different from the rest of the cemetery... and why the hell he needed that many tombstones all in one area anyways.
"Ahhh," he sighed, raising a hand to scratch at the back of his head while the other rested on his hip, a branch clutched in his hand. He'd tried to summon his keyblade earlier, only to momentarily black out and almost brain himself on a gargoyle shaped tombstone. He'd figured it would be safer to just improvise a weapon. And anyways, he was used to the feeling of wood in his hand after a childhood full of swinging around wooden swords, and the callouses on his palm protected him from anything resembling splinters, so he was fine at the moment. Didn't mean he wouldn't prefer the familiar feeling of Way to the Dawn in his hand. "Damn it."
He kicked moodily at a tombstone - gargoyle again, grinning up at him almost unnaturally - only to hiss in pain and close his eyes as the teeth of the gargoyle seemed to bite into foot, the claws bruising his shin. If he didn't know any better he'd have said the thing had moved just to piss him off... but he did know better, and despite his lack of judgment in kicking at solid marble, he probably deserved that bit of pain.
And actually, it helped a bit. He was no longer thrown off by the strange graves and pissed by the paranoid sensation that every single stone figure in the cemetery was staring at him. Instead, he was limping forward, convinced that he already had bruising from the various points of impact with the strange headstone, and mourning the small tears he'd seen when he pulled his leg away from the gargoyle's grasp.
And he thought Sora was supposed to be the impulsive one.
Alias: Lydia
Contact Info: AIM- tmesisly
Other characters: Uchiha Sasuke, Nico Robin
IC Information
Character: Riku
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Point in canon: Just before the KH2:FM ending
Age: 17
Personality:
Loyal, prideful, and self-sacrificing. These are the three key aspects of Riku’s personality, the things that make him who he is and the things that, unfortunately, led to most of the events in Kingdom Hearts. But perhaps the first thing that you really need to know about this boy is that once he makes a friend, he keeps it. Getting friendship out of Riku... really isn’t that hard. Sure, he’s a bit quieter now, a bit more reserved, but if you start talking to him and he finds that he likes you, you will have a friend for life. He comes across as bristly, distant, and maybe a bit egotistical, but once you dig a little deeper you’ll find that he’s really a good kid. And, if you really dig deeper, you may find that a bit of the derp he was as a child is still in there.
That being said, the first aspect of Riku’s personality that needs to be described is his loyalty. Riku is like a big dog. He’s incredibly loyal. Once he makes a friend he won’t give up on them and he will do anything and everything in his power to have them be safe and happy. Even if it’s at the cost of his own happiness. His own heart. During the course of Kingdom Hearts Riku turned to Darkness time and time again in order to try and save Kairi and Sora. He didn’t care what happened to him so long as the two were safe and happy. He went to the brink and back for Kairi during the first game, carrying her around, making sure she was safe and comfortable, and continuously turned to her saying “Soon, Kairi. Soon,” even as things went from bad to worse for him. For Sora? Well... for Sora he locked himself away inside of Kingdom Hearts. For Sora he stayed awake and fought his own Darkness. For Sora he ruined the life of someone he seemed to suspect had a heart. For Sora... he took on Ansem’s form again. Just so the boy could eventually wake up. He pushed and pulled that boy since they were kids, constantly making himself seem like the “bad guy” or, when they were younger, the “invincible one” who, of course, continuously teased and laughed in Sora’s face in order to try and get the boy to fight better and harder than he normally would. Riku, even in the midst of his own troubles, never once stopped thinking of Sora and Kairi. And even when the world was going to hell and he was trapped in that other body... he looked out for them. He fought Sora in the Land of Dragons in order to measure his strength. He left clues and tried to warn the people of any danger he thought Sora wouldn’t be able to deal with in time. He visited the Islands again, giving Kairi an escape route to a world he thought would be safer when Axel was out to kidnap her. And even though he failed with Roxas, a boy he seemed to actually feel guilty about and feel for, when DiZ ordered him to dispose of Naminé, Riku didn’t. He had a conscience, and even though Naminé was supposed to be a Nobody, a being without a heart, he seemed to care enough for her to go against DiZ and save her. In effect, spending a year with the girl had given her the same status of friend that was normally reserved for Kairi and Sora. He kept her safe throughout the events of Kingdom Hearts 2 just like he did with his other friends. After all, it wasn’t just Kairi’s rescue he came to when Saïx came after the two girls in Never Was.
But not all of Riku is sunshine and roses. There’s a lot to this boy that... quite frankly... isn’t very appealing. And this all stems from the ego and pride that usually is his default persona.
Ever since he was a kid, Riku was the top dog. He was the strongest, one of the “smartest” and, well, he always knew what he wanted to do in life. Combine all those things and Riku, as much as he was loyal to his friends, was always in competition with them. That pride of his made him see everything as a competition he had to win, and it also meant he couldn’t back down from or be scared of anything in the world. After all, Sora, Kairi, and the others had to have someone to respect, right? And seeing as Sora was told time and time again by Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie that Riku was unbeatable in just about everything, Riku went out of his way to make sure that happened. As such, he’s developed an insane amount of pride that, more often than not, usually ends up being bad for him. After all, when one takes everything - and I do mean everything - that happens to him or is said to him as a challenge... well... some rather interesting things can happen. Like, for instance, giving into the Darkness to show that he’s not afraid. Or letting someone implant something he knows ruins hearts into his body in order to prove that he’s better than it (and to help out his friends). Either way, give Riku a challenge and he’ll do absolutely anything to prove that he’s better than it. After all, losing means being weak. And being weak, for Riku, really isn’t an option. This pride and ego has also, more in the past than in the present, caused Riku to go around and actually proclaim his greatness. Even now, he still walks around and talks to people with that general “I’m better than you” air. He carries himself a bit taller than he actually is and usually has an uninterested look on his face whenever he speaks to someone. Really, he looks bored with everything unless there’s a chance to tease and goad. (Or unless you actually shock him or embarrass him. It’s not really that hard to do, his reactions are just usually too slight to really notice.)
The final key aspect of Riku’s personality is his tendency to be self-sacrificial. This... goes hand in hand with his pride and his loyalty. Because of his need to help his friends and keep them safe and happy as well as his need to... well... prove that he’s the stronger one, Riku takes risks. Even when he knows there’s no way he’ll come out on top. Instead, he’ll just keep going with that same ego, the same determination that he’ll win. So far, with a little help and a whole lot of luck, this has worked out for him. Eventually. However, Riku came close to losing his heart multiple times due to his tendency to screw himself over to help others. It’s heavily implied (and is my personal opinion) that Riku was in love with Kairi during the events of Kingdom Hearts I. However, Sora was also in love with the girl. Seeing as Riku was the “better man”, he backed off. He sacrificed his own happiness for Sora’s. In addition, because of this unique bond he had with Kairi, when it came to saving her heart... Riku honestly didn’t care what happened to him or his. He jumped headfirst into the Darkness once he learned she was in danger. Anything he could do, no matter how horrible or dangerous, to help her... he did. In the end, it got twisted. His desire to save her merged with his lust for power and his need to be stronger. He easily gave into Ansem. However, as soon as he regained control over his heart and looked at what he was doing... well... he used the last of his strength and, thus, his life, in order to give Kairi a chance to escape. Even after that, he locked himself away inside of Kingdom Hearts in order to give Sora and Kairi a chance to live happily. He didn’t care what happened to him, so long as they were alive and well. And it didn’t end there. Staying awake and watching over Sora as he slept, giving into the Darkness again and losing his form, instantly moving to use his body as a shield for Sora, being perfectly content to stay in the Darkness if it meant the realm of light could keep on going... Riku, for all his loyalty and bravado, places his friends and loved ones above himself. His own life is a perfect exchange for the safety of the people he cares about. Easily.
One more small thing of note about Riku is that, regardless of what happened to him during that year of conflict, he’s been dreaming about adventure and going to other worlds since he was a small child. Sitting still and doing nothing doesn’t sit well with him. Vacation? A break? That’s fine. But after another year of going back to a normal life after everything that happened? He’s antsy. Riku wants an adventure. He’s a fighter, and sitting by as things happen around him just isn’t his style. If there’s a fight he’ll jump into it. If there’s any chance of a fight, you can bet he’d be right there to jump in headfirst. The only times he would would be if he had a prior, more important commitment. Like protecting someone who couldn’t protect themselves. Or keeping a friend or loved one safe.
Overall? Riku’s a varied, interesting kid. He’s as loyal as a dog and you can bet that if he’s your friend he’ll do whatever he can to keep you safe. And as much as he seems like a dick... there’s a kind person under all that bravado. A bit self-sacrificing, but kind all the same.
History:
Childhood
Riku grew up in Destiny Islands, a small archipelago in the middle of a vast ocean. It was a peaceful world, never wrought by catastrophe or battles between good and evil. It was merely a world where children played, went to school, and lived normal lives. However, on weekends and during summer, Destiny Islands became the children’s domain. For years the kids used and played on a small island off the coast. It is an island of obstacle courses, play grounds, and tree houses, used during the day and night and completely safe. The children were free to come and go as they pleased, and it was here that Riku made his domain. He, Sora, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka played and fought on the island, Riku emerging triumphant every time. While the five were close and spent almost every day together, Riku was never as close to Tidus, Selphie and Wakka as he was with Sora. The brunet and Riku had a rivalry, each pushing each other forward both in terms of emotional growth and in fighting ability, and while Riku never once lost to Sora, he always looked forward to their fights.
**spoiler**
At some point, when Riku was five, he met two people on the beach, two people he’d never seen before. After being raised and hearing about that man who had left the Islands all those years ago, he assumed that these people were from different worlds too. He shared both that line of thinking and his own dream to get off the Islands and explore, train, and protect the people he knew with the man who visited, not knowing that he was a keybearer. Terra. Sensing the nearly overwhelming light in Riku, and seeing that the boy had a strong and pure heart, Terra offered him the handle of his keyblade. Tentatively, Riku grasped it and, when Terra let go a bit, the keyblade stayed in his hand. Little did Riku know, but that “ceremony” was actually in order to label him as a potential apprentice. Before Terra left, he said that some day Riku would get off the Islands, that one day... his dream would become real.
**end spoiler**
About a year later, just a short while after Kairi was found during a meteor shower, Sora thought he heard a monster in the Secret Place under the tree. Riku followed Sora in there to look around, secretly yearning for some sort of adventure, some break from the mundane pattern that had become his life. Ever since Kairi had appeared a question had been nagging at him, one that would soon become the driving force behind building that raft and setting off: “Of all the worlds out there... why did we end up on this one?”
While the monster Sora had heard turned out to be just the wind, when they were leaving the place Riku glanced back, surprised to see a glimmering keyhole in what had just been solid wood.
From that day forward the desire to start his journey, to leave the Islands plagued at Riku’s mind until finally, it became all he could think about. Every day his mind was filled with thoughts and dreams of another, more interesting world out there, and he became practically obsessed with finding it and getting there, escaping the world he had grown up in. It was this blind desire that opened his heart to darkness… and a desire that led to everything that happened to him, Kairi, and Sora.
A short while after Riku first saw the keyhole of their world the two boys met and befriended Kairi. For the next few years they lived a peaceful, happy life, but no matter how hard Riku tried, curiosity and impatience continued to eat away at him, and he became determined to find a way, any way, to leave their home. Together, when Riku was fifteen and Sora and Kairi were fourteen, they started building a raft to attempt to sail away from the world they were in and into the next. Riku became obsessed with this idea, to the point where Kairi noticed something was strange. The night before they were supposed to leave, some unknown feeling must have driven Riku out of his bed and to their play island because by the time the storm arrived, he was standing on that small island with the paopu tree, seeming to be just waiting for something to happen.
The Start of a Journey
He didn’t have to wait long. Sora, urged to the island out of fear for their raft, stumbled onto where Riku was waiting. He extended a hand to him, offering to take Sora into the darkness, into another world. He stood there, hand out stretched, sinking into the darkness as Sora struggled. The last thing he felt was Sora’s reaching fingers, and then his world went dark.
He emerged to a broken world, a fragment of the Islands he had grown up on, and he assumed it was a trick of the darkness. He wandered, watching the destruction for a while, before a cloaked figure appeared behind him. Riku turned to him, watching as the cloaked figure extended his hand, and the boy couldn’t help but smirk. He would later realize this was Xehanort’s heartless come to lead him, to claim him, but at the moment he only realized it to be what he had been waiting for. He stepped into the portal the figure opened and into another world. (Due to issues raised in another com, I feel its important to note that this is canon. It was in a cutscene from Kingdom Hearts: Coded.}
When he opened his eyes he was in a strange world, seemingly alone. He would learn later that this was Hollow Bastion, but at the time of his awakening he panicked, expecting his friends to be there. However, he wasn’t truly alone. Soon enough Maleficent approached him, sensing the hold darkness had on the boy and his unique powers as a chosen keyblade wielder. She used that darkness and Riku’s desperation to find and reunite with Kairi and Sora in order to manipulate the boy, dragging him deeper and deeper into the darkness.
Descent into Darkness
Maleficent took him to Traverse Town, showing Riku that Sora was stronger and had no need for him, replacing his presence with Donald and Goofy. Even when he disappeared on his friend, Sora didn’t seem to miss him, instead going about and laughing. It hurt, and Maleficent just twisted a knife in that wound, opening Riku even more to the darkness radiating around him. Riku soon gained mastery over using the darkness to travel between worlds, searching desperately for Kairi as Sora just seemed to drag on, not even truly looking for her. At least in Riku’s eyes. Maleficent told Riku of Sora’s progression, twisting her words and further corrupting Riku’s heart.
It was a desperate search that led Riku to the bowels of Monstro, where Maleficent had told him a puppet with a heart had resided. Determined to find the puppet and study him, trying to figure out how an empty shell, had obtained a heart in order to save his friend. It was an added bonus that Riku could run into Sora here. However, unlike their previous meeting in Traverse Town, Riku felt only bitterness and betrayal for his one time best friend, leading him on a wild goose chase around Monstro, reveling in how he teased and hurt Sora along the way.
Finally, after Riku could gain nothing further from Pinocchio, he allowed Sora to catch up with him, offering a partnership of sorts. Even then, with his heart so close to being swallowed by the darkness, Riku was only thinking of his friends, of how to save Kairi. He did not think his methods were questionable, instead seeing them as a necessary sacrifice in order to save Kairi’s heart. However, Sora refused his offer to fight together, calling him him out on being on the wrong side. Insinuating that the boy had no conscience, even if he had a heart, thoroughly shaking off the last grasp Riku had on their friendship and pushing the teen even further into the darkness. A heartless surprised them, and Riku used the distraction to open a portal back to Hollow Bastion.
Angry and hurt, Riku’s heart fell even further to the darkness inside of him, and Maleficent felt that he was ready to take those final few steps towards her side of the fight. She granted Riku the ability to control the Heartless and sent her to Captain Hook’s ship as her ambassador of sorts, both to recover Kairi and to tell the Captain that Wendy wasn’t one of the Princesses they were looking for. He waited for Sora on Hook’s ship, and when the boy arrived he showed Sora his power, telling him that Sora’s path was the wrong one and showing him exactly what had happened to Kairi. Angered by Sora doing nothing but call him stupid, insist that Sora’s way was the right one, that Riku had fallen to darkness. Sick of hearing what Sora had to say, he sent his one-time friend to the depths of the ship and followed Hook inside. There he informed the Pirate that Wendy was not one of the Princesses of Heart, and in a burst of recklessness he took Kairi and used the Corridor of Darkness without a vessel, putting a serious strain on his heart. Maleficent took advantage of this event, awakening the darkness within Riku, giving birth to new, stronger powers.
Ansem’s Slave
Finally Sora made it to Maleficent’s stronghold, and Riku was there to greet him, taking care of an “intruder” as he waited. Sora seemed upset with what Riku had done to the Beast, but Riku honestly couldn’t find the need to care what his former friend thought of him. Instead, he thanked Sora for delivering the keyblade to him, taking advantage of his newfound strength in order to forcefully take the blade from Sora, prompting Donald and Goofy to follow him and leaving Sora almost defenseless. It was a sweet victory for Riku, as he got what he wanted as well as making Sora feel the same betrayal he had felt what seemed like ages ago, when he had watched his friend laugh with Donald and Goofy while he traveled and fought alone.
Riku sensed Sora following him throughout the castle and decided to wait, embracing the darkness even further and altering his appearance for the fight he knew was coming. Experience told Riku that he would win, and his recent gain of power and everything “good” that had happened to him just increased that feeling. However, when he faced Sora and had not only Donald and Goofy drawn to the brunet’s side but also the keyblade he had taken from Sora, his heart wavered, and not even the darkness could keep Riku from losing.
He retreated shamefully. Angry and injured, Riku stumbled through the castle, cursing his weakness until finally, a voice spoke to him. He turned and saw a figure in the darkness, a figure that mocked his weak heart and told him that he could help Riku grow stronger, that he could fix the weakness in his heart. By this point Riku’s heart and mind had become so warped that instantly he said yes, acting for the first time out of selfishness, not out of a desire to save Kairi. He handed his body over to Ansem and faded into the darkness. He was aware of what his body was doing, but for the first time in so long his mind was clear. He could see the wrongs he was committing, could see that Sora’s path was right, had always been right… but it was too late. Ansem used him as a tool, creating a dark keyblade that could open people’s hearts, using it to empower Maleficent, turning her into the puppet she had thought Riku to be. He fought Sora, loosely controlling his body as Ansem steered him, “retreating” at his loss, leaving his keyblade there for Sora to use. He watched helplessly as Sora released Kairi’s heart, becoming a heartless and providing the final piece necessary to reveal the keyhole of Hollow Bastion.
Ansem emerged as soon as Sora was gone, calling upon the Heartless in order to defeat Goofy, Donald, and Kairi, having no further use of them. However, Riku wasn’t going to tolerate that. He froze Ansem’s body, appearing before him as a glowing figure, tapping into the small amount of light still within him, telling Kairi to run, holding Ansem back while they escaped. After that he faded again, pushed back until he had no contact with the outside world anymore. It was then that Riku found himself stumbling along through the Darkness, only seeing flashes of what was happening through his loose connection with his body. Just as he was about to give up and fade, a voice spoke to him, commenting about his heart and his friends. Renewed with hope, Riku followed this voice and found King Mickey waiting inside of Kingdom Hearts, the place his lost heart had been forced to go. There, he waited for Sora. Waited until they opened the door tot he outside.
By the time Sora and Ansem Seeker of Darkness finally opened the door, Riku was there to help pull it shut. Just as Sora, Donald, and Goofy seemed to be losing hope that they could get the door closed and shut away the Darkness inside of it, Riku grabbed onto the door from the inside, helping pull it shut from the inside, finally doing his part in the battle, sacrificing himself to the darkness so Sora could be in the light. So his best friends could be okay. However, for the first time since he began his journey, he wasn’t alone. King Mickey was with him. With four final words to Sora - Take care of her - he allowed himself to be engulfed by the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, trusting himself not to get devoured by it and trusting King Mickey’s assurance that there would always be a door to the light.
Castle Oblivion
The next time Riku was aware of himself and his surroundings, a voice was calling out to him, guiding him out of the haze he had been in, telling him he could either sleep in the mist of grey, or he could take the card that appeared in front of him and escape. He could move on with his life and attempt to fight the darkness within him. Riku took the card, smug and determined as he told the voice that the place he was in “looks like a boring place to take a nap anyway”.
Within an instant Riku was stepping into what he thought was Hollow Bastion, not realizing it was actually Castle Oblivion, a cheap imitation formed by the card he’d found in the darkness. He wandered around, taunted and mocked by that voice he’d grown accustomed to hearing. However, he soon found that the city wasn’t the same as he remembered. No matter where he went and where he searched, Riku was alone in the vast city. That is until he stumbles across Maleficent. The Maleficent of his memories taunted him, mocking his refusal of the darkness. Riku pushed himself to fight despite his fear of the darkness within him and defeated his former “mentor”, finally emerging into the true form of the place, Castle Oblivion.
Once he wandered out of Hollow Bastion, he was met with Ansem - Xehanort’s heartless. Words were exchanged. Ansem taunted Riku with the darkness, finally just stating that will take over Riku’s heart. However, King Mickey’s presence reached Riku, chasing away Ansem for the time being. However, before he retreated back into Riku’s body the Heartless unlocked the darkness in Riku’s heart, allowing the boy to have access to it if he so wished. Riku was forced to proceed through the castle, afraid of the darkness within him.
As he progressed through the floors of the castle Riku constantly struggled with the darkness inside of him, fearing its hold on him and angered that it was still there, taunting him. He soon realized he had the strange ability to “smell” the darkness on people, and while this worried him King Mickey’s presence managed to calm him and encourage him to progress. It wasn’t long before the boy was approached by Vexen, one of the Organization members. While Riku didn’t know of the Nobodies or the Organization yet, the strange mix of darkness and light in the man alerted Riku, causing him to question if Vexen was allied with the Ansem inside of him. Vexen cryptically said no, that he was with “another Ansem”. Prompted into action, Riku attempted to fight Vexen, but the scientist only used the information he gathered to create a replica of the teen, one that could wield the darkness Riku was so afraid of.
Riku was soon approached by the replica, forced to fight an actual representation of the darkness inside of him. And while Riku stubbornly refused to use the power his replica was boasting about, he managed to “defeat” the replica. However, just as he was about to deal the finishing blow, his double pushed him back with darkness, mocking Riku once more about his weakness and his cowardice before retreating. Annoyed and distressed, Riku was appealed to once again by Ansem, the heartless saying that the Riku replica was a model of what Riku could be, that his power could be so much greater if he gave into the darkness. However, Riku looked at the bitterness he had seen in the replica and used what he had seen in order to convince himself that darkness was not the answer.
However, as Riku progressed further through the castle Ansem’s grip on Riku’s heart was slowly getting stronger. As the teen battled another Organization member, Lexaeus, Ansem used a lull in the battle to pull at Riku’s heart, momentarily engulfing the teen in darkness and changing his form to that of the “Heartless Riku” he’d been back in Hollow Bastion. He quickly finished Lexaeus with the newfound strength, and Riku was pushed back into darkness, almost loosing himself. However, Mickey finds him again and pushes back Ansem, allowing Riku to emerge from the darkness again and reclaim his body and heart.
As Riku progressed through the castle, Sora’s own journey in the castle was growing to a close. Even though Riku had no idea the other boy was there, he still felt the change in the castle when Marluxia was killed. Almost instantly after the presence disappeared another Nobody approached Riku, this one introducing himself as Zexion. However, unlike the ones he had previously met, Zexion explained what was going on… at least in part. For the first time Riku knew that Sora was in the castle as well, and he had managed to find his way there due to his heart resonating with the other boy’s. He was then given a card by Zexion that would lead to Destiny Islands, and despite the darkness creeping up on him, Riku entered the next floor.
He emerged into the islands, expecting to see his home, but instead finding the land broken, as if they were being swallowed by the darkness again. It was in this barren landscape that Zexion threw all of Riku’s fears at him, making the boy meet and loose his friends as he taunted him, telling him that everything that had happened on the Islands that day had been his fault. Because Riku had seen the keyhole, because Riku had let his heart be touched by the dark when he was a child, the darkness had found its way to Destiny Islands. Zexion even went as far as disguising himself as Sora, tricking Riku and fighting him, sending the teen into the light.
As Riku sank into the light he felt himself fading away. As a being so close to darkness, the amount of light he was in was too much, and if he had been allowed to sink completely he would have been lost forever. However, just as he was starting to give up and let himself be taken away, Kairi appeared before him. She convinced him that the darkness wasn’t necessarily evil, that the power within him could be his and could be used for good. She convinced Riku that he had nothing to fear from the darkness in his heart, as it was as much a part of him as the light was. Trusting those words Riku engulfed himself in darkness and faced his fear, pushing his way out of the light and attacking Zexion, sensing now that he wasn’t truly Sora. Zexion retreated, and Riku attempted to progress further, only to be stopped in his tracks - literally - as Xehanort’s heartless seeks control of him, momentarily assuming control of his body. However, Mickey had finally found a way to Riku, appearing in a solid form this time as he beat Ansem down again.
Riku was overcome with relief that he finally had a companion in his journey, and thankfully accepted the card Mickey had brought with him. Using it, Riku found himself in Twilight Town, facing Xehanort’s Heartless again. However, this time Riku’s mind was clear and he could sense that the man in front of him wasn’t “Ansem”, for he didn’t smell of the same intense darkness. Ansem’s image faded away to reveal a very different man who introduced himself as DiZ. Riku instantly placed him as the voice that had woken him up at the beginning of his journey and demanded to know what DiZ wanted with him. The strange man only told Riku that he had to find Naminé and make that final choice between the road to light and the road of darkness.
As Riku attempted to leave Twilight Town, his replica found him again, this time armed with Riku’s memories and more free will and thought of his own. The replica was determined to fight Riku and take his place as a “real” being. However, Riku finally had control of the dark powers inside of him, and after a short fight the real Riku emerged triumphant, telling the replica that maybe their hearts would go to the same place when he vanished.
Shortly after this event Riku met Naminé in the room where Sora was sleeping. He instantly identified her as the Kairi that had appeared to him in the light. As he learned that Sora was sleeping while his true memories were returned, Riku was offered a choice. He could sleep like Sora and loose his memories of Castle Oblivion and thus seal the darkness in his heart away, or he could try and conquer it on his own. Riku refused the offer to sleep, wanting to fight on his own and saying that it was now his job to make sure Sora remained safe and recovered all his memories. The teen then moved on to the final room in the castle, meeting DiZ again and obtaining a card that would draw Ansem out of him, allowing him to face and fight that part of him. Before Riku went to fight he tried to get King Mickey to promise to destroy him if Ansem won the fight. However, Mickey refused to even let Riku finish that statement, instead assuring the teen that if that were to happen he would do everything in his power to save Riku.
Determined and thankful to have such a friend behind him, Riku proceeded, calling out Ansem and fighting him. After a long, tiring fight, Riku emerged triumphant, but still wary of the darkness inside of him. While he no longer feared it and instead wielded it as a weapon, Ansem had assured Riku that he still survived within Riku’s heart, and that he would be back.
Donning the black cloak of the organization, Riku and Mickey finally left Castle Oblivion, meeting DiZ on the outside. When asked which road Riku would take - the light or the dark - he confidently walked down the path in the middle, turning back to simply say “The Road to Dawn”. However, despite his confidence and his will to go on with Mickey by his side, Riku couldn’t deny that there was still evil festering within him. As such, he parted ways with Mickey to work with DiZ, putting on a blindfold to keep a hold on his true self.
Xion and Roxas
Riku’s first act of business after starting his work with DiZ and Naminé was following and observing Organization 13, trying to find Sora’s Nobody. Naminé had informed them that someone had obtained some of Sora’s memories, thus slowing her progress.
As he watched and followed the Organization, he was constantly exposed to the darkness, and eventually it became so bad that if he ever took off his blindfold his physical appearance would change. While this gave him some additional strength, the more he took off his blindfold, the harder he found it to bind his sight again. While the blindfold didn’t actually hamper his ability to see and fight, it was always a struggle to keep the cloth over his eyes.
Finally, after a while of following the Organization members (and finally hitting a growth spurt, but that’s beside the point) Riku had his first run-in with Xion. He had followed her to the Beast’s Castle, and after a brief scuffle he pulled back her hood and pushed up the edge of his blindfold, trying to get a clear and close look at the girl. What he saw shocked him, something that was relatively hard to do at this point. Xion looked even more like Kairi than Naminé did, and as Naminé was Kairi’s Nobody… well… he hadn’t been expecting it. As Xion started to stir again, Riku told her that her keyblade was a sham, seemingly angering the girl. In a burst of sympathy for the Nobody’s plight, Riku advised Xion to get out of the Organization. However, Xion was too angry to listen to him, and as she lashed out Riku easily knocked her out and made his escape.
He and DiZ left the Organization alone for a while to return to where Naminé was keeping Sora. When the blonde Nobody reached a stand still, saying that Xion contained memories Sora needed to wake up, Riku knew what he had to do, even though it wasn’t really sitting well with him. He started tracking the young girl again, eventually following her to Destiny Islands. He reached the Islands just as Xion was finishing a nightmare, going to the girl and coaxing her out of it. Xion soon woke up, and Riku held a conversation with her, trying to convince her to voluntarily return to Sora and return his memories so he can wake up.
Why he did this? It can be deduced that Riku didn’t actually want to kill her. He kept going out of his way to prolong the time Xion had to make her decision, kept trying to give her time even be able to make this decision. Whether this was in order to try and give the girl a chance to live her life or whether it was done due to her uncanny resemblance to Kairi and Naminé is unknown. However, it is known that Xion spent well over a month in Riku’s care, thinking things over and spending time with the “Imposter” to her Organization. During that time Riku didn’t take Xion to DiZ and didn’t even tell her of Naminé. He seemed to keep her in the dark, trying not to influence her decision in any way. Instead, he watched out for her, even going so far as to accompanying her once in order to meet with Roxas and Axel. While the two Organization members couldn’t see their faces, Roxas recognized Xion almost instantly, and Riku covered the girl’s escape, leading Roxas and Axel on a goose chase around town, eventually retreating himself and rendezvousing with Xion. Whatever talk the two had next, Xion somehow showed up just a few days later to approach Roxas alone, and ended up being taken back to the castle.
For the rest of Xion’s existence, Riku spent his time going from the Skyscraper to the Mansion that DiZ and Naminé were in. Over time, DiZ became impatient, ordering Riku to finish it. Thankfully, he didn’t have to go after Xion himself. Instead, she came to him, saying she’d finally made her decision. That done, Riku took her to Naminé in order to go through with whatever plan she had in mind before retreating back to his skyscraper, seemingly waiting for some kind of sign. That sign... came in the form of Xion’s death. And with her death, the disappearing memories of the replica. With Xion out of the picture, progress kept going for a while, until Naminé and DiZ came to the realization that, due to how long they had waited, there was another force interfering. Fearing that waiting any longer would cause Sora to wake up before he was ready, Riku was forced to take immediate action and go after Roxas, the boy DiZ had determined to be Sora’s true Nobody.
The boy took a short detour in the Mansion’s woods, appearing in front of Mickey in Ansem’s form. The King was startled, and almost attacked his friend before Riku could put his blindfold back on, regaining his previous form. He then went on to ask the King that... if he died in his fight against Roxas... Sora could be watched over. Preferably by the King himself. However, Mickey just told him that Riku would be fine, and that even if he lost himself to the Darkness, he’d save him, not destroy him. So with those parting words, Riku went the skyscraper, waiting for the boy he’d been told he needed to bring back... and kill.
When Roxas came to the skyscraper, Riku was waiting for him. However... neither of the boys had been expecting the sheer amount of Neoshadows. In a strange moment of camaraderie, Riku jumped down from the skyscraper... and Roxas surged upwards. In what first appeared to be an attack, Roxas hurled Oblivion towards the boy, allowing Riku to catch it as he fell. As soon as his hand closed around the hilt of the keyblade, flashes of Xion entered Riku’s mind as well as Roxas’, prompting both boys to merely pass each other, watching the other warily. Riku landed on the bottom, plagued by head pangs brought on by the sudden surge of memories, and Roxas soon joined him. Together the two fought and destroyed the Neoshadows. But as soon as they stopped fighting side by side, the memories seemed to fade a bit, causing both boys to snap out of their “truce” and jump away from each other.
A fight started soon after, during which Riku kept goading Roxas, trying to get a response out of him, to get exactly why he had the keyblade, to make sure he was actually Sora’s Nobody. Finally... he got his answer. It was recently revealed in a segment by Tetsuya Nomura that Riku had actually refused to believe that Roxas was Sora’s nobody, despite what DiZ said, because somewhere inside of him he didn’t think that Sora could have a Nobody. This could also mean that, by extension, Riku didn’t want to have to kill Roxas either, seeing as the boy not being Sora’s Nobody would mean that they didn’t need him or his memories. That Roxas could keep living. However, once Riku goaded the blond and got some typical Sora responses, it became clear that Roxas really was the keyblade hero’s Nobody. Roxas swiftly counterattacked, beating Riku back and almost winning the fight. However, Riku dramatically took off his blindfold and surrendered to the Darkness, permanently assuming Xehanort’s Heartless’ guise in order to win the fight.
DiZ soon arrived, and Riku quickly donned his hood, mentioning absently that Roxas said he could feel Sora. DiZ merely laughed and called such a thing foolish, but this wouldn’t be the only time where Riku seemed to express doubts as to both Roxas and Naminé being unable to feel. However, he still blindly followed the man, taking Roxas back to the Mansion in Twilight Town in order to erase the boy’s memories and place him inside a computer until they could get what they needed out of him.
Summer Vacation
As Roxas was prepared to merge with Sora, Riku sat on the sidelines, watching as DiZ and Naminé went about their work, only participating whenever he needed to make sure that Roxas was remembering Sora at the right rate. As Axel began to breach the town’s walls, Riku went into the town at a higher rate, taking some keepsakes of Roxas’ and pressing with questions about the boy’s capacity to feel. Soon enough he was almost constantly in the world, fighting off the Nobodies breaking in and keeping Naminé from revealing too much to Roxas. Finally, as the time to Sora’s awakening grew nearer, Riku confronted DiZ, questioning the man’s motives in all of this. When he heard that DiZ was only in it for revenge, Riku was disgusted and angry, and when the man ordered him to dispose of Naminé, Riku instead helped her escape.
Help from the Shadows
Despite the fact that Sora was finally awake and searching almost desperately for him, Riku was incredibly careful to keep his distance from the boy, instead keeping his distance, watching and helping when he could. His various sightings throughout the game were both to help Sora and to fuel him on, to help him get stronger. But one thing always remained constant, Riku was very careful to keep his distance. While both Kairi and Sora suspected it was him, he did nothing to betray his identity, instead merely appearing in the distance, out of the corner of their eyes, careful to keep his face hidden. After all, he couldn’t bear to have his friends see him like that. Bearing the face of their first enemy.
So instead, Riku helped from the shadows. He pleaded with Mickey not to tell Sora anything about his current status, and although the King told Sora he was in contact with Riku, the brunet seemed to understand and kept his distance. However, as much as Riku would have liked to follow Sora closer and help him out as much as possible, things were unfolding in a rather unpredictable way. Chancing a look at Destiny Islands, quite possibly to makes sure that Kairi was still safe and sound, Riku found that Axel was approaching Kairi, trying to find any way to get Sora to turn into a heartless again and recreate Roxas. Borrowing Pluto for a while, Riku sent the dog through the darkness, opening portals as needed for the animal to lead Kairi away from Axel and into Twilight Town, where Riku knew she would meet Sora’s friends. As much as Riku would have liked to stay and make sure Kairi was safe, he had to return to the realm of darkness as Sora sunk into it, leaving a package containing sea-salt ice cream and a picture of Roxas and his friends, raising questions and prompting Sora to remember his Nobody. Unfortunately, in that time of absence Kairi was finally found by Axel and taken out of Riku’s sight.
A short while later Riku arrived in the Land of Dragons, intent on warning the Emperor of a Heartless Dragon Xigbar was sending to the town. However, he timed his arrival poorly, and ended up surprising Sora. He was forced to defend himself in a short battle in which Sora recognized his weapon, withdrawing slightly and questioning Riku’s identity. Riku used the confusion to escape, making his way down to the Palace to warn the Emperor before the Dragon and Sora could make it there. Unfortunately, his unique personality and “respect” to the Emperor had Sora convinced it was him.
Not wanting to risk further discovery, Riku faded into the background, letting Sora continue his journey as he tried to find a way into the World that Never Was in order to try and save Kairi once he realized that she had been taken by Saïx. Finally, just as Sora entered the world, Riku sensed a change and broke into the world, helping Naminé save Kairi as Saïx surprised them. After a quick thank you from Naminé Riku’s retreat was stopped by Kairi. Reluctantly he allowed her to remove his hood, expecting her to be disgusted by his form. However, her ability to see who he truly was surprised him enough to follow her around, keeping her safe as she made her way down to where Sora had finally entered the castle.
The Final Battles
Forced to follow and keep his reckless friends safe, Riku joined Kairi and Sora in fighting off hordes of Heartless, even providing Kairi with a keyblade so she could finally join the fight. As Kairi finally made her way to Sora and the two reunited, Riku attempted to make his escape again, this time getting the portal actually open and active before Kairi latched onto him, dragging Sora over to get a real look at him. Riku waited nervously as Sora tried to see who he truly was, and when his friend dropped to his knees, crying, Riku couldn’t help but feel true relief for the first time in so long.
However, that didn’t change the fact that Riku was still overcome with guilt at his own weakness, both recently and during their first battles. He had called himself no one before, just a castaway from the Darkness when they pressed for his identity. And even after Sora reunited with him, telling him he looked everywhere for his best friend, Riku just replied with a calm “I didn’t want to be found”. It was clear that no matter how much Riku seemed to grow, no matter how much he shrugged off his guilt and issues for the battle at hand and their reunion, he was still deeply troubled by what he had done. However, he still followed Sora and the others through the different floors, keeping Kairi safe and, more often than not, being locked out of the battles by doing so. But finally, near the top of the castle, they reunited with the King and DiZ. To say that DiZ’s true identity had come as a surprise to Riku would have been an understatement, but there was no time to reflect on it as the researcher activated a machine designed to encode Kingdom Hearts into data. As the machine overloaded and exploded, Ansem’s appearance and the darkness in Riku’s heart was melted away. In the aftermath of the blast, it became obvious that Riku had regained his true form, much to the surprise of everyone there. It was dubbed “A miracle worked by a heart no Darkness could eclipse”.
It took just a little convincing from Sora and the King for Riku to risk taking off his blindfold, but as soon as he did and found that the darkness within him was no stronger, he finally shed the cloak he had been wearing since Sora went to sleep and took that middle path again, finally balancing out his powers and finally fighting at Sora’s side.
Together they ascended the last few flights of stairs to face Xemnas. Sora was called off to fight alone, and Riku stayed with the others, calling for Sora but otherwise unable to do anything more. Finally, Sora stumbled out of wherever Xemnas had taken him and the Nobody in question vanished into Kingdom Hearts. However, the worlds provided them with a door, and together the three keyblade wielders (Mickey, Sora, and Riku) unlocked the door and pushed forward, determined to end this once and for all. They fought again, and Xemnas appeared to be gone for good, leaving them trapped within the strange world. Riku attempted to create a portal to leave, but found it to be impossible now that he no longer had such a close tie to the darkness within him. However, Naminé appeared before them, opening a door to Destiny Islands as well as having one final reunion with the Nobody still sleeping inside of Sora: Roxas. Relieved, Riku and Sora waited for the others to proceed, but just as they were about to leave, Xemnas resurfaced and the door closed, just as Kairi and the King attempted to turn and join the two boys. Together the two pushed forward, fighting battle after battle with the Nobody until finally they seemed to be reaching the end. By then they were both tired, sheer determination the only thing keeping them going. Riku took a heavy hit for Sora, one that had been intended to finish the keyblade wielder off. However harmful it was to Riku, it provided just the opportunity they needed to end everything. Both boys clutched Sora’s keyblade and shot a beam of light, finally ending Xemnas.
However, that wasn’t the end of it. Within seconds they were surrounded by Dusks intent on finishing them off. Both braced for an attack, faces set in grim determination, but the Nobodies melted into nothing, leaving the teens alone in the darkness.
With the battle over, with everything over, Riku finally allowed himself to collapse, intent on giving up right then and there. However, Sora’s never-ending optimism had him up and supported by his friend, and as they walked on they found themselves at the supposed end of everything, collapsing tiredly in the Dark Meridian. There the two finally reconciled with each other, saying things that should have been said one year ago, before the entire mess had started. Riku admitted that he had always wanted to be like Sora, and Sora said the same thing in reverse. And finally, they were just two teens relaxing. Riku was still feeling guilt, and probably always would, but the fact that he and Sora were talking like nothing had happened between them, like nothing had changed… it was enough to put the teen’s mind at rest.
Suddenly, something hit against his legs, washed up by the water, and Riku pulled a small bottle out of the ocean, opening it and reading the letter inside, handing it to Sora with a smirk. As the younger teen read the letter a door opened, and Riku pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the pain of his wound. He stepped forward towards the light, towards home. Finally, it seemed his journey was at an end. He could finally, finally get to rest.
For almost a year Riku's been at home. Going to school, hanging out with Sora and Kairi, getting his life back together. He still trains and goes to that play island in order to spar on the beach, but otherwise? It's been quiet. He has yet to receive that letter he, Sora, and Kairi are seen reading at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, so he doesn't know anything more about the events of Birth By Sleep, but he is getting antsy. Itching for an adventure. As horrible as Lucerne Ridge may be, at least now he's able to get rid of some of that pent up energy. He's getting at least a bit of the adventure he's wanted since he was five.
Abilities: here
Items brought along:Clothes (school outfit)
School bag (Books: English and Math, binder, notebook paper, pens)
A separate bag (after school clothes: aka his kh2 outfit)
Organization cloak (it's always shoved into the bottom of his extra bag)
Some munny (it was in his pockets)
Two packs of gum
A wallet with his student ID and library cardStigma: Guilt. Even now, almost a year after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2 came to an end, Riku is still eaten away by guilt. After all, he stooped so low and messed up so many lives in order to help Sora, and even before that... he tried to kill his best friend. He made the choice to give into Darkness, and even though there's no issue of him giving into it after so long, the fact that he had still makes him feel like he has something to make up for.
Samples
Regular Post:
[The feed clicks on in the middle of a sentence and the speaker.... sounds pretty annoyed.]
-ould've done was warn us before taking us away. I didn't even see the portal.
.... Kairi! Sora! Tch. Must've gotten separated.
[A pause, and the only sound is that of someone walking about and rummaging through some bags.]
What is this place, anyways? It.... feels... off, somehow.
... Are there any locals out there? I at least want to know the name of this dump.
Log Post: [from a short stint elsewhere]
Well now. That was different.
It was all Riku could think as he came to a stop in his wanderings, gazing rather blankly at the pile of dirt and tombstones that was in front of him. The rest of the cemetery had been uniform, neatly organized, generally nice - although how a cemetery could be anything but depressing Riku didn't know... at the moment he wasn't really dwelling on anything in particular. Still, he couldn't help but pause and stare at the hill of graves, wondering why that one small section was so different from the rest of the cemetery... and why the hell he needed that many tombstones all in one area anyways.
"Ahhh," he sighed, raising a hand to scratch at the back of his head while the other rested on his hip, a branch clutched in his hand. He'd tried to summon his keyblade earlier, only to momentarily black out and almost brain himself on a gargoyle shaped tombstone. He'd figured it would be safer to just improvise a weapon. And anyways, he was used to the feeling of wood in his hand after a childhood full of swinging around wooden swords, and the callouses on his palm protected him from anything resembling splinters, so he was fine at the moment. Didn't mean he wouldn't prefer the familiar feeling of Way to the Dawn in his hand. "Damn it."
He kicked moodily at a tombstone - gargoyle again, grinning up at him almost unnaturally - only to hiss in pain and close his eyes as the teeth of the gargoyle seemed to bite into foot, the claws bruising his shin. If he didn't know any better he'd have said the thing had moved just to piss him off... but he did know better, and despite his lack of judgment in kicking at solid marble, he probably deserved that bit of pain.
And actually, it helped a bit. He was no longer thrown off by the strange graves and pissed by the paranoid sensation that every single stone figure in the cemetery was staring at him. Instead, he was limping forward, convinced that he already had bruising from the various points of impact with the strange headstone, and mourning the small tears he'd seen when he pulled his leg away from the gargoyle's grasp.
And he thought Sora was supposed to be the impulsive one.