✗ luministi application
**whited out portions of the history are due to slight BBS spoilers**
Player Name: Lydia
Player LJ: tmesisly
E-mail and/or AIM: AIM: tmesisly
Timezone: Pacific
Current Characters: none
Character: Riku
Fandom/Series: Kingdom Hearts
Original or Alternate Universe: Alternate
Canon Used: Video Game
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Appearance: here
Personality: Although this Riku is an AU, there are some key aspects of his personality that remain the same and will be explained first.
Loyal, prideful, and self-sacrificing. These are the three key aspects of Riku’s personality, the things that make him who he is. 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 a bit egotistical, but once you dig a little deeper you’ll find that he’s really a good kid.
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. In canon, he showed this loyalty through constantly taking the weight of things on his own shoulders, effectively screwing himself over in order to better the people around him. Even in this AU, he remains the same there. He shut himself away in Kingdom Hearts and went around saving the world afterwards in order to give Sora and Kairi the opportunity to live and be together, practically grounding them when they tried to go with him. After all, it was better for them. But in the end, he’ll do anything to save his friends. He’ll die for them, sacrifice his own happiness and future for them, and he’ll have no qualms about it. If a friend is in danger, he’ll do whatever it takes to help them.
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. In canon this led to him giving into the Darkness, but thankfully that hasn’t happened in his AU. However, he has gotten into some pretty tough places because of his pride. He tends to rush in alone without thinking, convinced that he’s strong enough to take on whatever’s in front of him. Most of the time this works out, but a lot of the time he’s only able to pull through with Donald and Goofy’s help. 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.)
Now, there is something different about this Riku’s personality than with the canon him, and that’s the fact that he’s free of guilt. Traveling around with Donald and Goofy, no matter how much he tries to remain serious and mature, Riku’s picked up a bit of their derp-dom. He reacts to things almost as much as Sora does, getting angry and yelling without problem (he actually spends most of his time yelling... Donald grates on his nerves). In addition, he also smiles, laughs, and freaks out a lot more. That calm and cool demeanor he has as well as his tendency to brood is gone. He’s a lot more egotistical and like his KH1 self, really. Overall, Riku will be a lot more relaxed, not prone to bouts of emo, and will react to things a lot easier than his canon self.
Strengths/Abilities:
As much as Riku’s compassion and loyalty are also his downfalls, they can be his strengths. His feelings towards his friends and those he cares about push his physical strength to new heights during fights, and even allows him to endure more trauma emotionally than he would have otherwise. Also, his loyalty and devotion to his friends isn’t just one way, Riku knows for a fact that Kairi and Sora would go to similar lengths for him. And sometimes, just knowing that fact is enough to push him forward.
Again, with Riku the things that are his greatest weaknesses can also prove to be his greatest strengths. And while “stubbornness” isn’t quite considered strength, it goes hand in hand with “dedication” and “drive”. Riku is never down and out for long. He has his moments of self-hate, as do anyone, and does have to deal with a lot of guilt that he’s built up for years, but at the same time he never lets them get him down. In any situation where it seems as if he’s about to fail or there is no hope, Riku never looses that instinct-driven determination to move forward. Even when he was trapped in the darkness, not knowing if he could get out again, he refused to just lie back and give up. Even if there was no door to the light he pushed himself forward, determined to get out and go back to his life. This doesn’t mean that Riku is an optimist, always believing that things will work out, in fact he’s quite the opposite, always assuming the worst of situations. What this means is that while Riku accepts that an escape or a “good thing” won’t just happen, it doesn’t mean that he can’t stubbornly push and push until it does happen. And throughout his life, this is just what Riku has done, push his way stubbornly through bad situations, refusing to let them weigh him down for too long until finally the situation reverses itself and Riku can finally relax.
As far as abilities go, Riku is a keybearer. He has all the normal abilities in Kingdom Hearts (Dodge Roll, Auto-Dodge, Block, Auto-Block, Glide, Rocket Glide, Air Slide, Air Rush, Sliding Dash, Aerial Recovery, Haste, High Jump) as well as his weapon abilities. He can use magic (not as much as Sora) such as Cure, Fire, Lightning, and Blizzard, but the other magics escape him. He has some slights, but tends to just fight without using many abilities. He doesn’t like a set collection of moves. Sure, he slams his keyblade into the ground to create shockwaves and also throws it and creates phantom blades around him from time to time from his magic, but other than that? He just makes it up as he goes. However, as a keybearer, that means he has a keyblade. The keyblade has the ability to open any lock, including those that people wouldn’t normally consider “locks”, such as on the heart. In addition, unlike in canon, Riku has access to the Kingdom Key and all the keychains that can change it. His weapon of choice, however, is Oblivion, not Way to Dawn or Ultima. In addition, he doesn’t have any of the drive forms Sora had in KH2.
Weaknesses:
Riku is a total pushover of sorts. He may not act like it, and he may be a jerk about it, but the fact of the matter is that if he feels any sort of fondness for someone, he’ll become incredibly loyal. If he finds someone - anyone really, even someone who’s a total dick to him - in distress, even if his instincts are screaming at him to run away and save himself, he’ll stay and either try and drag the person to safety, or he’ll fight whatever’s attacking them. Well, as long as he doesn’t detect darkness on them.
Riku has always known that his stubbornness and his confidence will get him in trouble some day. If he sets his mind to help someone (from, say, a familiar sounding scream) he will run right into the monster’s nest in order to try and help. However, for anyone but Kairi or Sora he won’t stay and fight until his death. Even Riku has enough sense to know that if he tries to help and gets batted away like a fly, there is nothing he can do. For someone close to him however, he doesn’t care if he gets ripped apart, he’ll go anyways. But as far as his confidence goes, a lot of the time Riku just doesn’t see things like they are. He will always assume that he can do things he can’t until he’s physically proven otherwise. Eventually his luck will run out and he won’t be able to escape, but until then he’ll keep doing stupid things that will probably end badly.
As far as fighting goes, the weaknesses Riku has are pretty much all from his pride and ego. He thinks he has no weaknesses, and as such... he doesn’t try and improve. He leaves openings just as often as he uses his own body as a shield for the people he cares about. His own life really means nothing to him when it comes to defeating someone or protecting someone. As such, it’s not that hard to injure him. However, until Riku’s incapacitated... he’ll keep fighting. Even if it means dying, he’ll keep fighting until he can’t move even an inch.
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.
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.
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. He was ready for his Adventure to start.
The Keyblade
When Riku was fifteen, he, Sora, and Kairi had finally started on that raft. But, only a few days before they were set to shove off and start their adventure, a storm came to the Island. Worried about the state of the raft, he rushed to the island only... to find it covered in Heartless. Sora showed up soon after, and together the two went out to find Kairi, since her boat was there. In the middle of the chaos, Riku and Sora split up. Riku was searching the outside when Sora ventured to the Secret Place. Riku heard a yell, but by the time he got there, Kairi’s heart had merged with Sora, and Darkness was forming around them. Riku tried to grab onto the younger boy, to keep them together. After all, he was the protector. Sora’s safety was his responsibility. However, the younger boy disappeared into the Darkness, much as Riku was about to. But then, in a flash of light, the Darkness was gone, and Riku was standing on the floor of a stained glass world. He... was having his Awakening.
At the end of it, he defeated the Darkside both in that dream world and at Destiny Islands. However, the Island was falling apart, and soon enough the boy was swept up into a swirling vortex of, well, doom. He thought he was going to die, as he thought everyone else was, too. Instead, the next thing he knew, he was being pounced by a very excited dog slobbering all over his face.
Confused and disoriented, Riku wandered about town, trying to get his bearings, using that weird weapon he’d acquired in order to take care of the shadows skulking about. The same creatures that’d been on the island. Eventually, a man came out of nowhere, telling him that the creatures would follow him if he kept the keyblade, before challenging him to a fight. Riku, thinking the guy was just insane, merely turned around to walk off. However, Leon attacked. Not one to pass up a challenge, Riku fought him... and won.
Kind of.
Either way, he ended up listening to what the guy had to say, learning of the things called Heartless, the keyblade, and the fact that he’d been right. There were other worlds out there. Sure, most of it didn’t make much sense, and sounded like something right out of a bad science fiction novel, but Riku couldn’t deny what his eyes were seeing. So, although he didn’t quite understand it, he did listen.
Things progressed, Riku learned how to open doors and locks with the weapon he’d been given, and they were attacked. Again. This time by stronger Heartless, all of them after the keyblade. Annoyed and trying to follow Leon’s instructions, Riku fought his way to the Third District before pausing, looking for the other fighter. Something exploded above him and suddenly.... it was raining ducks and dogs.
Donald and Goofy seemed extremely happy to see him, what with all the fuss they were making over the key in his hand, but Riku was really... just trying to get over the fact that he was with talking animals. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to get acquainted. After all, there was even more stuff falling from the sky, only this time it was in the form of a giant pile of armor and a few Heartless. The three of them quickly dispatched of the armor, what with Goofy and his defense, Donald and magic, and Riku with the offense. Really, they were a pretty good team. And even Riku had to admit that. So, when the two offered to take him to other worlds, worlds he couldn’t reach on his own, he agreed.
Little did he know that the ship they’d be going on... ran on smiles.
So, Riku would spend the rest of his journey in that little Gummi Ship with two chipmunks on his shoulders, keeping the corners of his mouth up. Amazingly, the ship seemed to think that good enough. After all, they made it all the way to Hollow Bastion in the end.
From there on out, he, Donald, and Goofy traveled the worlds, looking for signs of Sora and Kairi (on Riku’s part) and for the King. Unlike Sora, who went out of his way to try and help everyone on every world, getting Riku to deter from his stubborn goal of finding his friends was like trying to pull teeth from a squirming five year old. After all, Riku was always singular in his goals. Nothing mattered to him more than finding and helping his best friends. After all, he’d had a rough landing. And the worlds they were visiting weren’t exactly the most friendly environments. So even though he ended up helping a few of the worlds, making sure heads weren’t chopped off and giant, three headed dogs didn’t eat all the would-be Gods, he did so distractedly. Where-as Sora made lifelong friends with everyone, Riku kept himself at a distance, fighting and investigating, but once he turned up with nothing it was only Donald and Goofy that kept him on the worlds.
After a little while of traveling, Riku found himself back in Traverse town, checking in with Leon and Aerith and handing over some strange gummi blocks to Cid. However, while he was there.... he ran into Sora. Almost instantly, he could tell something was off with his friend. Maybe it was the way he was talking, maybe it was the stench of Darkness that hadn’t been there before... or maybe it was the way his eyes glinted gold in some lights. (This was actually due to Vanitas' increased presence in Sora, increasing his Darkness and, at this point, taking control and influencing his movements.) Worried, he tried to approach him, tried to get him to join their little group, but Sora refused. Somehow, he’d gotten it in his head that Riku’s weapon, the keyblade had been used to unlock Kairi’s heart. And, since Riku wielded it, everything was Riku’s fault. Confused and... slightly annoyed, Riku tried to get Sora to listen to him, but just then... they were set upon by several Large Bodies. By the time Riku, Donald, and Goofy managed to dispatch of them, Sora was gone.
After getting the warp drive installed in the Gummi Ship, Riku, Donald, and Goofy set out to a new set of worlds, dealing with the Heartless threats there and sealing as many keyholes as they came upon. Occasionally, they stopped in at Traverse Town for supplies and the like, always keeping themselves on their toes.
Along the way, the three were eaten by a giant, flying whale. Yeah. Seriously. And once inside they met a carpenter named Gepetto and his “son”, a little puppet named Pinocchio. It was then that the quietest member of the group made an appearance, jumping out of Riku’s collar and urging them to follow Pinocchio when he wandered off. Deciding that going deeper into the whale was as good an idea as any at the time (if the stomach acid didn’t kill them, well... they could at least find an, er, exit) Riku followed, eventually coming across Pinocchio and... Sora. After that, there was a nice little chance around the whale’s intestines that eventually found Pinocchio kidnapped and Riku, of course, saving him. Thankfully, after all that jumping and climbing, Riku and co. learned how to “high jump”, making maneuvering around the whale a whole hell of a lot easier. They saved Pinocchio, Sora disappeared, they went back to the whale, Sora reappeared, kidnapped Pinocchio and... the chase was on. Again. Annoyed by then, Riku followed Sora again, saved the puppet again and defeated the cage Heartless again. By this point, however, Sora proved to be following a different, darker agenda, even going so far as to... hint at something Riku really didn’t want to contemplate.
He was looking for a way to get a heart into a heartless body. For a friend.
The group left the whale, then. Searching around the worlds for a bit longer until the next challenge came a-knockin’.
Finally, Riku, Donald, and Goofy found themselves beset by a flying pirate ship. After a short mid-air battle, Riku and the crew were knocked out. When he came to, Sora was in front of him, looking just as crazy as ever and ranting on and on about how Riku didn’t care. How he was just out to hurt them all, to destroy everything... including Kairi. Riku snapped back, as competitive as ever, saying that what Sora was saying was, pretty much, a load of bull. The younger teen then stepped aside, showing the soulless body of Kairi. Riku started and tried to leap forward at her, to take her away from the pirates and the Heartless that had started coming to the deck, but Captain Hook activated a trap door, dumping Riku into the bottom of the ship with Donald and Goofy. Desperate to get back up on deck and save Kairi, the girl he - unwittingly - loves, he pushed forward, ramming himself against the door until, finally, Peter Pan came to their rescue. Teaching Riku, Donald, and Goofy how to fly with the help of Tinkerbell’s pixie dust, the five made their way to the deck. However, Peter had to fly off to help save Wendy, leaving Riku and his flunkies to confront Sora in the captain’s quarters. He merely smirked at Riku, stepped back into a wall of Darkness with Kairi in tow, and Riku saw that his best friends eyes... were now a sharp gold.
After defeating the Heartless Sora raised as well as going out and beating Captain Hook down, the three amigos took back their ship, sealed the keyhole in London, and were on their way. The next stop? ... Hollow Bastion.
Upon landing, Riku met up with Sora, able to actually smell the Darkness coming off of the kid. And as much as he tried to use his light to fight that overwhelming Darkness Sora was leaking, Riku found that he couldn’t. After all, there was a part of him that... wanted to use it, too. Finally, during their little outdoor battle, Sora took a wounded Beast captive and forced Riku to hand over the keyblade. Pissed, Riku relented and handed the weapon over, catching the wooden sword that was tossed at him with a bit of ire. He, Donald, and Goofy split up, as the two were sworn to follow the keyblade wherever it went. Honestly? He would have told them to go, anyways. They were safer with Sora, the one who could command the Heartless, than with him. But, Riku and Beast fought their way into the castle, Riku using what little magic he’d learned to use as well as some raw strength, and the Beast acting as a huge, furry shield. Finally, Riku met up with Sora, and now that he was cocky, he took the keyblade back and battled him... only to lose. Forced to watch as Sora laughed and walked further into the castle, saying he had what he needed now after just holding Riku’s keyblade.
Defeated and knowing that he couldn’t save Sora without... killing him, Riku was at a loss. He, Donald, and Goofy took recluse in the library and, frustrated, Riku escaped into the hallway to try and figure something out. There, he was approached by a mysterious figure calling himself Ansem. Saying he could give Riku the power he needed, Riku eventually gave in. After all, there was no other way. So, armed with the unlocked power of his Darkness and pointedly ignoring Ansem’s voice, Riku went into the final chamber in order to confront Sora. Sure, he fought Maleficent in all her Dragon-y goodness. But let’s face it. She really wasn’t that tough. After all, Riku had a mission. His best friend and the girl he loved were just one room away. So, finally, he faced off with Sora, fighting him and, for the most part, beating him. However, sensing that he was about to be defeated, Sora tried, in a final, desperate attempt, to unlock his heart. As such, Kairi’s heart was freed and Sora... was separated into three beings. First, there was a shadow, Sora, who was immediately cast into Kingdom Hearts to struggle with his sense of self. Secondly, there was a being who had been formed elsewhere, a “Nobody”. Thirdly... there was Ansem.
It seemed that Riku wasn’t the only person Ansem had offered his power to. Sora, with all the hearts sharing room next to his own, couldn’t take all of Ansem’s power and consciousness, and as such he needed to approach Riku as well.
Using the little bit of control he had over the part of Ansem that had been a part of him, Riku held off Ansem long enough for him, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy to escape the Castle. They then took refuge in Traverse Town, counting their losses and trying to figure out the next plan of attack. Finally, Riku could come up with nothing other than traveling beyond Hollow Bastion to a world made of the Darkness and destruction of others. The End of the World. So, bidding Kairi goodbye and telling her to keep safe, Riku, Donald, and Goofy traveled to meet Ansem again and go through with that final battle. It took a while, but after a while of beating him down, Ansem led them to the Door to Darkness, opening it. However, the initial release of light within it caused Ansem to lose power and fade back... back into Riku. However, he was ready for that, and had been expecting it. So, he sealed him away inside of his heart, using the light Riku was pretty much made of by now in order to keep him at bay.
However, there was one more thing to take care of. Riku had to seal the door to Kingdom Hearts. But, as much as he, Donald, and Goofy pushed, the door just wouldn’t shut. Just as they thought all hope was lost, however? Sora showed up. He showed up giving Riku a grin and saying that he’d shut it from the inside. And it was actually Sora, not that thing that’d taken residence in him. But as Sora started pulling, Riku turned his head, seeing the shimmer of what looked like their Island in the distance... and he saw Kairi.
In that moment, he knew what he had to do. One person was going to have to be shut away in that door, it was the only way to close it - King Mickey’s help or not - and Riku... couldn’t separate two people that loved each other. Even if he was head over heels for Kairi himself. So, he reached into the door, grabbed Sora, and hauled him out, replacing the boy’s presence with his own before grabbing the door from the other side and pulling it shut. With a sigh, he turned around to face King Mickey and the Darkness.... and found Donald and Goofy standing in front of them. Apparently, they “couldn’t let him go through this alone”.
Chain of Memories
After speaking with the King; he, Riku, Donald, and Goofy decided to try and press forward in the Darkness in order to find a way out. However, eventually they became disoriented and separated, wandering until they all eventually seemed to give up. Riku fell asleep in the Darkness, losing consciousness and awareness of himself until a voice spoke to him. It was the King. With the help of a man who would be known as DiZ to Riku later on, the King pulled Riku out of the Darkness and into a halfway point of sorts called Castle Oblivion.
He wandered the halls and floors of the Castle for a while, fighting off the enemies he ran into and getting more and more fed up with the entire layout. But, along the way, he was losing memories... and he didn’t even know it. At around the third floor he went to, he ran into Goofy and Jiminy, who had been separated from Donald (who Goofy had arrived with) and, surprisingly enough, Sora. It was then that Riku learned that Sora had been pulled to the castle as well, at first being told that they had Riku held captive there. Now, they were playing on his feelings for his friends in order to try and gain his power. Little did Riku know... but the ruler of the castle was doing the exact same thing to Riku, too.
Slowly, images of Kairi started fading from Riku’s mind, being replaced by the visage of a blonde girl. Naminé. However, no matter how much the Organization tried, they just couldn’t tweak Riku’s memories and mindset enough to set him against Sora again. So, Vexen made a Replica of him in order to further confuse and bend Sora to their will. However, Riku and Goofy were hot on Sora’s heels. They followed him through the floors, defeating members of the Organization along the way, until finally... they made it near the top. However, as Sora met and battled with Marluxia in order to “save his best friend”, Riku was detained by his Replica. As much as he, admittedly, didn’t really want to battle the kid, the Replica was convinced he could either defeat Riku now or he would cease to exist. In the end, Riku was forced to destroy him.
By the time Riku reached the top of the castle, Sora had managed to defeat Marluxia. Happy to see his friend safe, he and Riku reunited before Riku... turned to Naminé, addressing her much like Kairi. Confused, Sora asked if Riku remembered Kairi. The older teen just frowned and said he didn’t know anyone named Kairi. So, Naminé explained what had happened, telling them about her powers of memory manipulation. Amazingly enough, Riku wasn’t that mad at her. Annoyed, yeah, but not mad. After all, she’d been used by the Organization. So, when it came down to it, Riku went to sleep in the pods, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy took up the task of keeping him from harm as he slept.
The Time Asleep
For the next eleven months, Riku slept within that chamber, during which Sora and company worked on beating back hordes of enemies called Nobodies. However, without the keyblade, Sora couldn’t really help all that much. As such, it was all on Riku. So... they tried to speed up Riku’s awakening by relying on the research of one DiZ, the person who’d helped Mickey pull Riku out of the Darkness of Kingdom Hearts. With a bit of study on both Riku and the Organization, DiZ was led to Roxas, a boy who’d been created when Sora had unlocked his heart. Thinking that a bit of Ansem, the entity held at bay within the prison of Riku’s heart, had made it into Roxas due to Sora’s involvement with the Heartless, DiZ ordered Sora to go and collect him. Taking advantage of the incapacitating headache Roxas got while facing him, Sora brought Roxas in to DiZ, who then tweaked his memory in order to place him into a town and observe him.
However, halfway through the time when Roxas was in the town, Riku woke up. Annoyed both with Sora not being on the islands and with the entire situation with DiZ and Roxas, Riku literally forced Sora to stay on the islands before entering the digital world himself, taking the brunt of Roxas’ anger when the Organization member’s memory was restored. However, Riku was shocked to find that Roxas... was actually wielding a keyblade.
The Final Leg of the Journey
After getting into the Nobody’s head about their weapons and learning a bit about the Organization, Riku actually busted both Roxas and Naminé out from DiZ’s hands, thinking badly on the man because... frankly, he was tricking everyone in order to keep Roxas and experiment on him. But as soon as they were free, Naminé used her portals to keep Riku updated on the situation back on the Islands and Roxas... actually became a mole within the Organization. It was risky, sure, but it was necessary in order to destroy the Kingdom Hearts Xemnas was trying to create. But, just as spying on Xemnas was tricky, keeping Roxas’ trust was just as hard. Riku only had the boy’s slight loyalty after telling him how easily the Organization disposed of its own members. After everything Roxas had seen in the past year? It seemed that Riku was giving him an out that Roxas hadn’t had before.
So as Riku, Donald, and Goofy traveled the worlds and learned more about the new pathways as well as the Nobody menace, Roxas tried his best to go on missions and tell Riku what was going on within the Organization. It was a tiresome and long journey, but eventually Riku and company ended up coming across members of the Organization. He battled Xaldin at the Beast’s Castle, and despite the various members he met along the way (Xigbar, Demyx, and Luxord) it would take some time before he had an actual battle with another member. In fact, it would take a certain unfolding of events at Hollow Bastion to bring about another fight. After finding the computer in Ansem’s study, the King showed up in order to tell them that Ansem... wasn’t really the Ansem they knew. It had taken a while for him to remember the name, but finally he told them: Xehanort. Ansem the Wise’s apprentice.
With that information, Riku, Donald, and Goofy ran out in order to try and defeat the Heartless that were marching on the city. However, as they did so, they had to meet and fight Demyx. Just after that fight, an explosion rang out, and Goofy suddenly pushed the King out of the way of a falling rock, getting hit instead. Donald and Mickey rushed over, mourning Goofy’s loss while Riku... got angry. Without even waiting for the other two, Riku rushed off, going into a rage he’d never actually felt before. He plowed through the Heartless and Nobodies in his path, barely pausing in order to work with the residents of Hollow Bastion that came out to help. Finally, Riku paused in order to catch his breath, and the mourning Donald and Mickey came in. The three had a moment of silence in respect for their fallen friend............. which Goofy then ruined, walking in and asking why he’d been left behind. Despite the fact that Riku usually displayed annoyance and bickered with his companions, the entire thing left him relieved and, amazingly enough, with a deeper bond towards all three of them.
However, just along the way, Saïx approached the trio, telling them about the Heartless, and about how Riku and his keyblade were being used by the Organization in order to collect hearts. Instead of the incapacitating shock and despair that Saïx was expecting... he got something a little disappointing. There was shock, yes... and anger, but it wasn’t anything like what he was expecting. As such, he left with a bit of doubt in his mind, doubt that would, inevitably, make it to Xemnas’ ears.
Riku, meanwhile, went back to Hollow Bastion, pissed that his encounter with Saïx didn’t go as planned... and he waited for Roxas to check in. Because frankly, as much as he and the blond bickered, he was a reluctant friend. However, news wouldn’t come from the castle any time soon, and Riku would know why in just a while. Roxas had, after Saïx’s investigation, been found out as the mole and... disposed of. That news then prompted Axel to defect, to try and get his best friend back by using Sora, the person he originally came from. As such, Riku soon heard news from Naminé both about Roxas’ death and the fact that Axel came to the Islands... and kidnapped Kairi. Realizing that the end of this entire thing was near, Riku gathered his forces and went on his way towards Twilight Town and DiZ’s lab. As much as he hated it, he knew that the Darkness there would lead him to the World that Never Was. After all, the worlds were the closest together.
So, Riku stepped through that portal and found himself in that rainy, dreary world, fighting Neoshadows and making his way towards a castle that not only held the rest of the Organization... but his best friends, too. After all, there was no way that Sora would stand idly by as Kairi was captured. As much as Riku hated it, he was the last to arrive in that world, and as he fought his way forward, he knew that he had the most catching up to do. As such, there wasn’t a moment to waste.
Figures that would be the exact moment that Riku would be pulled into another world.
Canon Point: Kingdom Hearts 2: Just as he’s going to save Kairi from the dragon’s keep- I mean... castle.
First Person Sample:
[There’s the sound of static and a bit of mumbling for a moment before the person on the other end goes absolutely silent before letting out a frustrated noise.]
What the-.... What is this? Perfect.
Figures that as soon as something actually starts happening, I end up....
[Silence for a moment, and you can bet he has a confused look on his face.]
Where is this, anyway? [But then, as if in answer, the Mayor's recorded welcome starts playing, and there's a startled noise from Riku before he listens to it] ... So now the walls are answering. That's just great.
A gift basket? Really? [Silence, and then the sound of rummaging]
... This is the weirdest welcome I've ever had. Wonder if- [... Wait. Waaaaaiiiiiit..... ADFJASDF;KASDFGSDFF !!!]
Kairi? Sora? Donald? Goofy? [A beat, a muttered "damnit", the sound of a fist slamming against a solid object, then...] OW.
Third Person Sample:
The World that Never Was was one of those places that sent a shiver down your spine. It was saturated in Darkness so much that it was hard to breathe, hard to move, hard to think. Donald and Goofy seemed to be handling it just fine, walking forward and chatting with each other - although by chatting it was really just a never-ending routine of Goofy saying something stupid and Donald starting to flip out - but Riku... as soon as he took two steps into that world, he had to stop. The Darkness of that was causing that being caged in his heart to squirm, causing those bits of Darkness inside of him to move towards the surface, resonating with what was filling the air. He could scent it everywhere, could see flickers of it coating the street and raining down in the air, and it has him on edge.
Raising a hand to rub at his chest, Riku tilted his face towards the sky, letting the rain hit against his skin, water starting to run down his body, cooling him and coating him further in the Darkness of that world. It... was sad. Under all that discomfort and unease Riku felt from that world, he could feel how sad it was. It was like the very earth was in pain, the sky crying.
Donald said something that sounded vaguely like "get a move on already", and Riku let a sigh fall from his lips, just barely biting back a retort before shaking his shoulders a bit and stepping forward, his hand falling from his chest in order to extend in front of him. Light moved from his belt to his hand, spreading and lengthening until a familiar weight settled in his hand. Oblivion. It fit this world. A keyblade made of a neutral Darkness, neither good nor bad, merely the opposite of light. The opposite of the keyblade that had been formed from his bond with Kairi: Oathkeeper. Whatever the reason, Riku found that Oblivion seemed to put him at ease, seemed to be the keyblade he could use and call forth the easiest.
He reached a hand up in order to brush a clump of damp hair out of his face, and as they rounded the next corner, a heart-shaped moon illuminated the turrets of a castle. Riku stepped forward until he was between Donald and Goofy, staring upwards, Oblivion sagging in his grip until the tip scraped against the ground. There it was. The final goal. The Castle that Never Was. The stronghold of the Organization, the citadel of Darkness that held his best friends.
"Hold on just a little longer, Kairi," green eyes fell from the moon to the street, narrowing dangerously at the neoshadows rising from the ground. "This’ll only take a second."
Did you read the rules?
Yes indeed-ily!
Player Name: Lydia
Player LJ: tmesisly
E-mail and/or AIM: AIM: tmesisly
Timezone: Pacific
Current Characters: none
Character: Riku
Fandom/Series: Kingdom Hearts
Original or Alternate Universe: Alternate
Canon Used: Video Game
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Appearance: here
Personality: Although this Riku is an AU, there are some key aspects of his personality that remain the same and will be explained first.
Loyal, prideful, and self-sacrificing. These are the three key aspects of Riku’s personality, the things that make him who he is. 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 a bit egotistical, but once you dig a little deeper you’ll find that he’s really a good kid.
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. In canon, he showed this loyalty through constantly taking the weight of things on his own shoulders, effectively screwing himself over in order to better the people around him. Even in this AU, he remains the same there. He shut himself away in Kingdom Hearts and went around saving the world afterwards in order to give Sora and Kairi the opportunity to live and be together, practically grounding them when they tried to go with him. After all, it was better for them. But in the end, he’ll do anything to save his friends. He’ll die for them, sacrifice his own happiness and future for them, and he’ll have no qualms about it. If a friend is in danger, he’ll do whatever it takes to help them.
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. In canon this led to him giving into the Darkness, but thankfully that hasn’t happened in his AU. However, he has gotten into some pretty tough places because of his pride. He tends to rush in alone without thinking, convinced that he’s strong enough to take on whatever’s in front of him. Most of the time this works out, but a lot of the time he’s only able to pull through with Donald and Goofy’s help. 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.)
Now, there is something different about this Riku’s personality than with the canon him, and that’s the fact that he’s free of guilt. Traveling around with Donald and Goofy, no matter how much he tries to remain serious and mature, Riku’s picked up a bit of their derp-dom. He reacts to things almost as much as Sora does, getting angry and yelling without problem (he actually spends most of his time yelling... Donald grates on his nerves). In addition, he also smiles, laughs, and freaks out a lot more. That calm and cool demeanor he has as well as his tendency to brood is gone. He’s a lot more egotistical and like his KH1 self, really. Overall, Riku will be a lot more relaxed, not prone to bouts of emo, and will react to things a lot easier than his canon self.
Strengths/Abilities:
As much as Riku’s compassion and loyalty are also his downfalls, they can be his strengths. His feelings towards his friends and those he cares about push his physical strength to new heights during fights, and even allows him to endure more trauma emotionally than he would have otherwise. Also, his loyalty and devotion to his friends isn’t just one way, Riku knows for a fact that Kairi and Sora would go to similar lengths for him. And sometimes, just knowing that fact is enough to push him forward.
Again, with Riku the things that are his greatest weaknesses can also prove to be his greatest strengths. And while “stubbornness” isn’t quite considered strength, it goes hand in hand with “dedication” and “drive”. Riku is never down and out for long. He has his moments of self-hate, as do anyone, and does have to deal with a lot of guilt that he’s built up for years, but at the same time he never lets them get him down. In any situation where it seems as if he’s about to fail or there is no hope, Riku never looses that instinct-driven determination to move forward. Even when he was trapped in the darkness, not knowing if he could get out again, he refused to just lie back and give up. Even if there was no door to the light he pushed himself forward, determined to get out and go back to his life. This doesn’t mean that Riku is an optimist, always believing that things will work out, in fact he’s quite the opposite, always assuming the worst of situations. What this means is that while Riku accepts that an escape or a “good thing” won’t just happen, it doesn’t mean that he can’t stubbornly push and push until it does happen. And throughout his life, this is just what Riku has done, push his way stubbornly through bad situations, refusing to let them weigh him down for too long until finally the situation reverses itself and Riku can finally relax.
As far as abilities go, Riku is a keybearer. He has all the normal abilities in Kingdom Hearts (Dodge Roll, Auto-Dodge, Block, Auto-Block, Glide, Rocket Glide, Air Slide, Air Rush, Sliding Dash, Aerial Recovery, Haste, High Jump) as well as his weapon abilities. He can use magic (not as much as Sora) such as Cure, Fire, Lightning, and Blizzard, but the other magics escape him. He has some slights, but tends to just fight without using many abilities. He doesn’t like a set collection of moves. Sure, he slams his keyblade into the ground to create shockwaves and also throws it and creates phantom blades around him from time to time from his magic, but other than that? He just makes it up as he goes. However, as a keybearer, that means he has a keyblade. The keyblade has the ability to open any lock, including those that people wouldn’t normally consider “locks”, such as on the heart. In addition, unlike in canon, Riku has access to the Kingdom Key and all the keychains that can change it. His weapon of choice, however, is Oblivion, not Way to Dawn or Ultima. In addition, he doesn’t have any of the drive forms Sora had in KH2.
Weaknesses:
Riku is a total pushover of sorts. He may not act like it, and he may be a jerk about it, but the fact of the matter is that if he feels any sort of fondness for someone, he’ll become incredibly loyal. If he finds someone - anyone really, even someone who’s a total dick to him - in distress, even if his instincts are screaming at him to run away and save himself, he’ll stay and either try and drag the person to safety, or he’ll fight whatever’s attacking them. Well, as long as he doesn’t detect darkness on them.
Riku has always known that his stubbornness and his confidence will get him in trouble some day. If he sets his mind to help someone (from, say, a familiar sounding scream) he will run right into the monster’s nest in order to try and help. However, for anyone but Kairi or Sora he won’t stay and fight until his death. Even Riku has enough sense to know that if he tries to help and gets batted away like a fly, there is nothing he can do. For someone close to him however, he doesn’t care if he gets ripped apart, he’ll go anyways. But as far as his confidence goes, a lot of the time Riku just doesn’t see things like they are. He will always assume that he can do things he can’t until he’s physically proven otherwise. Eventually his luck will run out and he won’t be able to escape, but until then he’ll keep doing stupid things that will probably end badly.
As far as fighting goes, the weaknesses Riku has are pretty much all from his pride and ego. He thinks he has no weaknesses, and as such... he doesn’t try and improve. He leaves openings just as often as he uses his own body as a shield for the people he cares about. His own life really means nothing to him when it comes to defeating someone or protecting someone. As such, it’s not that hard to injure him. However, until Riku’s incapacitated... he’ll keep fighting. Even if it means dying, he’ll keep fighting until he can’t move even an inch.
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.
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.
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. He was ready for his Adventure to start.
The Keyblade
When Riku was fifteen, he, Sora, and Kairi had finally started on that raft. But, only a few days before they were set to shove off and start their adventure, a storm came to the Island. Worried about the state of the raft, he rushed to the island only... to find it covered in Heartless. Sora showed up soon after, and together the two went out to find Kairi, since her boat was there. In the middle of the chaos, Riku and Sora split up. Riku was searching the outside when Sora ventured to the Secret Place. Riku heard a yell, but by the time he got there, Kairi’s heart had merged with Sora, and Darkness was forming around them. Riku tried to grab onto the younger boy, to keep them together. After all, he was the protector. Sora’s safety was his responsibility. However, the younger boy disappeared into the Darkness, much as Riku was about to. But then, in a flash of light, the Darkness was gone, and Riku was standing on the floor of a stained glass world. He... was having his Awakening.
At the end of it, he defeated the Darkside both in that dream world and at Destiny Islands. However, the Island was falling apart, and soon enough the boy was swept up into a swirling vortex of, well, doom. He thought he was going to die, as he thought everyone else was, too. Instead, the next thing he knew, he was being pounced by a very excited dog slobbering all over his face.
Confused and disoriented, Riku wandered about town, trying to get his bearings, using that weird weapon he’d acquired in order to take care of the shadows skulking about. The same creatures that’d been on the island. Eventually, a man came out of nowhere, telling him that the creatures would follow him if he kept the keyblade, before challenging him to a fight. Riku, thinking the guy was just insane, merely turned around to walk off. However, Leon attacked. Not one to pass up a challenge, Riku fought him... and won.
Kind of.
Either way, he ended up listening to what the guy had to say, learning of the things called Heartless, the keyblade, and the fact that he’d been right. There were other worlds out there. Sure, most of it didn’t make much sense, and sounded like something right out of a bad science fiction novel, but Riku couldn’t deny what his eyes were seeing. So, although he didn’t quite understand it, he did listen.
Things progressed, Riku learned how to open doors and locks with the weapon he’d been given, and they were attacked. Again. This time by stronger Heartless, all of them after the keyblade. Annoyed and trying to follow Leon’s instructions, Riku fought his way to the Third District before pausing, looking for the other fighter. Something exploded above him and suddenly.... it was raining ducks and dogs.
Donald and Goofy seemed extremely happy to see him, what with all the fuss they were making over the key in his hand, but Riku was really... just trying to get over the fact that he was with talking animals. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to get acquainted. After all, there was even more stuff falling from the sky, only this time it was in the form of a giant pile of armor and a few Heartless. The three of them quickly dispatched of the armor, what with Goofy and his defense, Donald and magic, and Riku with the offense. Really, they were a pretty good team. And even Riku had to admit that. So, when the two offered to take him to other worlds, worlds he couldn’t reach on his own, he agreed.
Little did he know that the ship they’d be going on... ran on smiles.
So, Riku would spend the rest of his journey in that little Gummi Ship with two chipmunks on his shoulders, keeping the corners of his mouth up. Amazingly, the ship seemed to think that good enough. After all, they made it all the way to Hollow Bastion in the end.
From there on out, he, Donald, and Goofy traveled the worlds, looking for signs of Sora and Kairi (on Riku’s part) and for the King. Unlike Sora, who went out of his way to try and help everyone on every world, getting Riku to deter from his stubborn goal of finding his friends was like trying to pull teeth from a squirming five year old. After all, Riku was always singular in his goals. Nothing mattered to him more than finding and helping his best friends. After all, he’d had a rough landing. And the worlds they were visiting weren’t exactly the most friendly environments. So even though he ended up helping a few of the worlds, making sure heads weren’t chopped off and giant, three headed dogs didn’t eat all the would-be Gods, he did so distractedly. Where-as Sora made lifelong friends with everyone, Riku kept himself at a distance, fighting and investigating, but once he turned up with nothing it was only Donald and Goofy that kept him on the worlds.
After a little while of traveling, Riku found himself back in Traverse town, checking in with Leon and Aerith and handing over some strange gummi blocks to Cid. However, while he was there.... he ran into Sora. Almost instantly, he could tell something was off with his friend. Maybe it was the way he was talking, maybe it was the stench of Darkness that hadn’t been there before... or maybe it was the way his eyes glinted gold in some lights. (This was actually due to Vanitas' increased presence in Sora, increasing his Darkness and, at this point, taking control and influencing his movements.) Worried, he tried to approach him, tried to get him to join their little group, but Sora refused. Somehow, he’d gotten it in his head that Riku’s weapon, the keyblade had been used to unlock Kairi’s heart. And, since Riku wielded it, everything was Riku’s fault. Confused and... slightly annoyed, Riku tried to get Sora to listen to him, but just then... they were set upon by several Large Bodies. By the time Riku, Donald, and Goofy managed to dispatch of them, Sora was gone.
After getting the warp drive installed in the Gummi Ship, Riku, Donald, and Goofy set out to a new set of worlds, dealing with the Heartless threats there and sealing as many keyholes as they came upon. Occasionally, they stopped in at Traverse Town for supplies and the like, always keeping themselves on their toes.
Along the way, the three were eaten by a giant, flying whale. Yeah. Seriously. And once inside they met a carpenter named Gepetto and his “son”, a little puppet named Pinocchio. It was then that the quietest member of the group made an appearance, jumping out of Riku’s collar and urging them to follow Pinocchio when he wandered off. Deciding that going deeper into the whale was as good an idea as any at the time (if the stomach acid didn’t kill them, well... they could at least find an, er, exit) Riku followed, eventually coming across Pinocchio and... Sora. After that, there was a nice little chance around the whale’s intestines that eventually found Pinocchio kidnapped and Riku, of course, saving him. Thankfully, after all that jumping and climbing, Riku and co. learned how to “high jump”, making maneuvering around the whale a whole hell of a lot easier. They saved Pinocchio, Sora disappeared, they went back to the whale, Sora reappeared, kidnapped Pinocchio and... the chase was on. Again. Annoyed by then, Riku followed Sora again, saved the puppet again and defeated the cage Heartless again. By this point, however, Sora proved to be following a different, darker agenda, even going so far as to... hint at something Riku really didn’t want to contemplate.
He was looking for a way to get a heart into a heartless body. For a friend.
The group left the whale, then. Searching around the worlds for a bit longer until the next challenge came a-knockin’.
Finally, Riku, Donald, and Goofy found themselves beset by a flying pirate ship. After a short mid-air battle, Riku and the crew were knocked out. When he came to, Sora was in front of him, looking just as crazy as ever and ranting on and on about how Riku didn’t care. How he was just out to hurt them all, to destroy everything... including Kairi. Riku snapped back, as competitive as ever, saying that what Sora was saying was, pretty much, a load of bull. The younger teen then stepped aside, showing the soulless body of Kairi. Riku started and tried to leap forward at her, to take her away from the pirates and the Heartless that had started coming to the deck, but Captain Hook activated a trap door, dumping Riku into the bottom of the ship with Donald and Goofy. Desperate to get back up on deck and save Kairi, the girl he - unwittingly - loves, he pushed forward, ramming himself against the door until, finally, Peter Pan came to their rescue. Teaching Riku, Donald, and Goofy how to fly with the help of Tinkerbell’s pixie dust, the five made their way to the deck. However, Peter had to fly off to help save Wendy, leaving Riku and his flunkies to confront Sora in the captain’s quarters. He merely smirked at Riku, stepped back into a wall of Darkness with Kairi in tow, and Riku saw that his best friends eyes... were now a sharp gold.
After defeating the Heartless Sora raised as well as going out and beating Captain Hook down, the three amigos took back their ship, sealed the keyhole in London, and were on their way. The next stop? ... Hollow Bastion.
Upon landing, Riku met up with Sora, able to actually smell the Darkness coming off of the kid. And as much as he tried to use his light to fight that overwhelming Darkness Sora was leaking, Riku found that he couldn’t. After all, there was a part of him that... wanted to use it, too. Finally, during their little outdoor battle, Sora took a wounded Beast captive and forced Riku to hand over the keyblade. Pissed, Riku relented and handed the weapon over, catching the wooden sword that was tossed at him with a bit of ire. He, Donald, and Goofy split up, as the two were sworn to follow the keyblade wherever it went. Honestly? He would have told them to go, anyways. They were safer with Sora, the one who could command the Heartless, than with him. But, Riku and Beast fought their way into the castle, Riku using what little magic he’d learned to use as well as some raw strength, and the Beast acting as a huge, furry shield. Finally, Riku met up with Sora, and now that he was cocky, he took the keyblade back and battled him... only to lose. Forced to watch as Sora laughed and walked further into the castle, saying he had what he needed now after just holding Riku’s keyblade.
Defeated and knowing that he couldn’t save Sora without... killing him, Riku was at a loss. He, Donald, and Goofy took recluse in the library and, frustrated, Riku escaped into the hallway to try and figure something out. There, he was approached by a mysterious figure calling himself Ansem. Saying he could give Riku the power he needed, Riku eventually gave in. After all, there was no other way. So, armed with the unlocked power of his Darkness and pointedly ignoring Ansem’s voice, Riku went into the final chamber in order to confront Sora. Sure, he fought Maleficent in all her Dragon-y goodness. But let’s face it. She really wasn’t that tough. After all, Riku had a mission. His best friend and the girl he loved were just one room away. So, finally, he faced off with Sora, fighting him and, for the most part, beating him. However, sensing that he was about to be defeated, Sora tried, in a final, desperate attempt, to unlock his heart. As such, Kairi’s heart was freed and Sora... was separated into three beings. First, there was a shadow, Sora, who was immediately cast into Kingdom Hearts to struggle with his sense of self. Secondly, there was a being who had been formed elsewhere, a “Nobody”. Thirdly... there was Ansem.
It seemed that Riku wasn’t the only person Ansem had offered his power to. Sora, with all the hearts sharing room next to his own, couldn’t take all of Ansem’s power and consciousness, and as such he needed to approach Riku as well.
Using the little bit of control he had over the part of Ansem that had been a part of him, Riku held off Ansem long enough for him, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy to escape the Castle. They then took refuge in Traverse Town, counting their losses and trying to figure out the next plan of attack. Finally, Riku could come up with nothing other than traveling beyond Hollow Bastion to a world made of the Darkness and destruction of others. The End of the World. So, bidding Kairi goodbye and telling her to keep safe, Riku, Donald, and Goofy traveled to meet Ansem again and go through with that final battle. It took a while, but after a while of beating him down, Ansem led them to the Door to Darkness, opening it. However, the initial release of light within it caused Ansem to lose power and fade back... back into Riku. However, he was ready for that, and had been expecting it. So, he sealed him away inside of his heart, using the light Riku was pretty much made of by now in order to keep him at bay.
However, there was one more thing to take care of. Riku had to seal the door to Kingdom Hearts. But, as much as he, Donald, and Goofy pushed, the door just wouldn’t shut. Just as they thought all hope was lost, however? Sora showed up. He showed up giving Riku a grin and saying that he’d shut it from the inside. And it was actually Sora, not that thing that’d taken residence in him. But as Sora started pulling, Riku turned his head, seeing the shimmer of what looked like their Island in the distance... and he saw Kairi.
In that moment, he knew what he had to do. One person was going to have to be shut away in that door, it was the only way to close it - King Mickey’s help or not - and Riku... couldn’t separate two people that loved each other. Even if he was head over heels for Kairi himself. So, he reached into the door, grabbed Sora, and hauled him out, replacing the boy’s presence with his own before grabbing the door from the other side and pulling it shut. With a sigh, he turned around to face King Mickey and the Darkness.... and found Donald and Goofy standing in front of them. Apparently, they “couldn’t let him go through this alone”.
Chain of Memories
After speaking with the King; he, Riku, Donald, and Goofy decided to try and press forward in the Darkness in order to find a way out. However, eventually they became disoriented and separated, wandering until they all eventually seemed to give up. Riku fell asleep in the Darkness, losing consciousness and awareness of himself until a voice spoke to him. It was the King. With the help of a man who would be known as DiZ to Riku later on, the King pulled Riku out of the Darkness and into a halfway point of sorts called Castle Oblivion.
He wandered the halls and floors of the Castle for a while, fighting off the enemies he ran into and getting more and more fed up with the entire layout. But, along the way, he was losing memories... and he didn’t even know it. At around the third floor he went to, he ran into Goofy and Jiminy, who had been separated from Donald (who Goofy had arrived with) and, surprisingly enough, Sora. It was then that Riku learned that Sora had been pulled to the castle as well, at first being told that they had Riku held captive there. Now, they were playing on his feelings for his friends in order to try and gain his power. Little did Riku know... but the ruler of the castle was doing the exact same thing to Riku, too.
Slowly, images of Kairi started fading from Riku’s mind, being replaced by the visage of a blonde girl. Naminé. However, no matter how much the Organization tried, they just couldn’t tweak Riku’s memories and mindset enough to set him against Sora again. So, Vexen made a Replica of him in order to further confuse and bend Sora to their will. However, Riku and Goofy were hot on Sora’s heels. They followed him through the floors, defeating members of the Organization along the way, until finally... they made it near the top. However, as Sora met and battled with Marluxia in order to “save his best friend”, Riku was detained by his Replica. As much as he, admittedly, didn’t really want to battle the kid, the Replica was convinced he could either defeat Riku now or he would cease to exist. In the end, Riku was forced to destroy him.
By the time Riku reached the top of the castle, Sora had managed to defeat Marluxia. Happy to see his friend safe, he and Riku reunited before Riku... turned to Naminé, addressing her much like Kairi. Confused, Sora asked if Riku remembered Kairi. The older teen just frowned and said he didn’t know anyone named Kairi. So, Naminé explained what had happened, telling them about her powers of memory manipulation. Amazingly enough, Riku wasn’t that mad at her. Annoyed, yeah, but not mad. After all, she’d been used by the Organization. So, when it came down to it, Riku went to sleep in the pods, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy took up the task of keeping him from harm as he slept.
The Time Asleep
For the next eleven months, Riku slept within that chamber, during which Sora and company worked on beating back hordes of enemies called Nobodies. However, without the keyblade, Sora couldn’t really help all that much. As such, it was all on Riku. So... they tried to speed up Riku’s awakening by relying on the research of one DiZ, the person who’d helped Mickey pull Riku out of the Darkness of Kingdom Hearts. With a bit of study on both Riku and the Organization, DiZ was led to Roxas, a boy who’d been created when Sora had unlocked his heart. Thinking that a bit of Ansem, the entity held at bay within the prison of Riku’s heart, had made it into Roxas due to Sora’s involvement with the Heartless, DiZ ordered Sora to go and collect him. Taking advantage of the incapacitating headache Roxas got while facing him, Sora brought Roxas in to DiZ, who then tweaked his memory in order to place him into a town and observe him.
However, halfway through the time when Roxas was in the town, Riku woke up. Annoyed both with Sora not being on the islands and with the entire situation with DiZ and Roxas, Riku literally forced Sora to stay on the islands before entering the digital world himself, taking the brunt of Roxas’ anger when the Organization member’s memory was restored. However, Riku was shocked to find that Roxas... was actually wielding a keyblade.
The Final Leg of the Journey
After getting into the Nobody’s head about their weapons and learning a bit about the Organization, Riku actually busted both Roxas and Naminé out from DiZ’s hands, thinking badly on the man because... frankly, he was tricking everyone in order to keep Roxas and experiment on him. But as soon as they were free, Naminé used her portals to keep Riku updated on the situation back on the Islands and Roxas... actually became a mole within the Organization. It was risky, sure, but it was necessary in order to destroy the Kingdom Hearts Xemnas was trying to create. But, just as spying on Xemnas was tricky, keeping Roxas’ trust was just as hard. Riku only had the boy’s slight loyalty after telling him how easily the Organization disposed of its own members. After everything Roxas had seen in the past year? It seemed that Riku was giving him an out that Roxas hadn’t had before.
So as Riku, Donald, and Goofy traveled the worlds and learned more about the new pathways as well as the Nobody menace, Roxas tried his best to go on missions and tell Riku what was going on within the Organization. It was a tiresome and long journey, but eventually Riku and company ended up coming across members of the Organization. He battled Xaldin at the Beast’s Castle, and despite the various members he met along the way (Xigbar, Demyx, and Luxord) it would take some time before he had an actual battle with another member. In fact, it would take a certain unfolding of events at Hollow Bastion to bring about another fight. After finding the computer in Ansem’s study, the King showed up in order to tell them that Ansem... wasn’t really the Ansem they knew. It had taken a while for him to remember the name, but finally he told them: Xehanort. Ansem the Wise’s apprentice.
With that information, Riku, Donald, and Goofy ran out in order to try and defeat the Heartless that were marching on the city. However, as they did so, they had to meet and fight Demyx. Just after that fight, an explosion rang out, and Goofy suddenly pushed the King out of the way of a falling rock, getting hit instead. Donald and Mickey rushed over, mourning Goofy’s loss while Riku... got angry. Without even waiting for the other two, Riku rushed off, going into a rage he’d never actually felt before. He plowed through the Heartless and Nobodies in his path, barely pausing in order to work with the residents of Hollow Bastion that came out to help. Finally, Riku paused in order to catch his breath, and the mourning Donald and Mickey came in. The three had a moment of silence in respect for their fallen friend............. which Goofy then ruined, walking in and asking why he’d been left behind. Despite the fact that Riku usually displayed annoyance and bickered with his companions, the entire thing left him relieved and, amazingly enough, with a deeper bond towards all three of them.
However, just along the way, Saïx approached the trio, telling them about the Heartless, and about how Riku and his keyblade were being used by the Organization in order to collect hearts. Instead of the incapacitating shock and despair that Saïx was expecting... he got something a little disappointing. There was shock, yes... and anger, but it wasn’t anything like what he was expecting. As such, he left with a bit of doubt in his mind, doubt that would, inevitably, make it to Xemnas’ ears.
Riku, meanwhile, went back to Hollow Bastion, pissed that his encounter with Saïx didn’t go as planned... and he waited for Roxas to check in. Because frankly, as much as he and the blond bickered, he was a reluctant friend. However, news wouldn’t come from the castle any time soon, and Riku would know why in just a while. Roxas had, after Saïx’s investigation, been found out as the mole and... disposed of. That news then prompted Axel to defect, to try and get his best friend back by using Sora, the person he originally came from. As such, Riku soon heard news from Naminé both about Roxas’ death and the fact that Axel came to the Islands... and kidnapped Kairi. Realizing that the end of this entire thing was near, Riku gathered his forces and went on his way towards Twilight Town and DiZ’s lab. As much as he hated it, he knew that the Darkness there would lead him to the World that Never Was. After all, the worlds were the closest together.
So, Riku stepped through that portal and found himself in that rainy, dreary world, fighting Neoshadows and making his way towards a castle that not only held the rest of the Organization... but his best friends, too. After all, there was no way that Sora would stand idly by as Kairi was captured. As much as Riku hated it, he was the last to arrive in that world, and as he fought his way forward, he knew that he had the most catching up to do. As such, there wasn’t a moment to waste.
Figures that would be the exact moment that Riku would be pulled into another world.
Canon Point: Kingdom Hearts 2: Just as he’s going to save Kairi from the dragon’s keep- I mean... castle.
First Person Sample:
[There’s the sound of static and a bit of mumbling for a moment before the person on the other end goes absolutely silent before letting out a frustrated noise.]
What the-.... What is this? Perfect.
Figures that as soon as something actually starts happening, I end up....
[Silence for a moment, and you can bet he has a confused look on his face.]
Where is this, anyway? [But then, as if in answer, the Mayor's recorded welcome starts playing, and there's a startled noise from Riku before he listens to it] ... So now the walls are answering. That's just great.
A gift basket? Really? [Silence, and then the sound of rummaging]
... This is the weirdest welcome I've ever had. Wonder if- [... Wait. Waaaaaiiiiiit..... ADFJASDF;KASDFGSDFF !!!]
Kairi? Sora? Donald? Goofy? [A beat, a muttered "damnit", the sound of a fist slamming against a solid object, then...] OW.
Third Person Sample:
The World that Never Was was one of those places that sent a shiver down your spine. It was saturated in Darkness so much that it was hard to breathe, hard to move, hard to think. Donald and Goofy seemed to be handling it just fine, walking forward and chatting with each other - although by chatting it was really just a never-ending routine of Goofy saying something stupid and Donald starting to flip out - but Riku... as soon as he took two steps into that world, he had to stop. The Darkness of that was causing that being caged in his heart to squirm, causing those bits of Darkness inside of him to move towards the surface, resonating with what was filling the air. He could scent it everywhere, could see flickers of it coating the street and raining down in the air, and it has him on edge.
Raising a hand to rub at his chest, Riku tilted his face towards the sky, letting the rain hit against his skin, water starting to run down his body, cooling him and coating him further in the Darkness of that world. It... was sad. Under all that discomfort and unease Riku felt from that world, he could feel how sad it was. It was like the very earth was in pain, the sky crying.
Donald said something that sounded vaguely like "get a move on already", and Riku let a sigh fall from his lips, just barely biting back a retort before shaking his shoulders a bit and stepping forward, his hand falling from his chest in order to extend in front of him. Light moved from his belt to his hand, spreading and lengthening until a familiar weight settled in his hand. Oblivion. It fit this world. A keyblade made of a neutral Darkness, neither good nor bad, merely the opposite of light. The opposite of the keyblade that had been formed from his bond with Kairi: Oathkeeper. Whatever the reason, Riku found that Oblivion seemed to put him at ease, seemed to be the keyblade he could use and call forth the easiest.
He reached a hand up in order to brush a clump of damp hair out of his face, and as they rounded the next corner, a heart-shaped moon illuminated the turrets of a castle. Riku stepped forward until he was between Donald and Goofy, staring upwards, Oblivion sagging in his grip until the tip scraped against the ground. There it was. The final goal. The Castle that Never Was. The stronghold of the Organization, the citadel of Darkness that held his best friends.
"Hold on just a little longer, Kairi," green eyes fell from the moon to the street, narrowing dangerously at the neoshadows rising from the ground. "This’ll only take a second."
Did you read the rules?
Yes indeed-ily!