As some of you may know, Peanut and I are crazy about Roleplaying, and it's clear, since this is the second one on this site that belongs to us. And we aren't even done with the first one! Regardless, that won't stop us from starting this new roleplay, Rude Awakening!

 

Kinda dark and mysterious title, eh?

 

As stated in the title, this RP is one on one, no exceptions. Please refrain from posting in the RP. Instead, follow us on this new journey!

 

Peanut, my amazing friend, let's begin!

Lightning nodded faintly to show that she was listening, but her gaze was stuck on where Riku motioned his head to. He was swallowed by the darkness right there? It was creepy to think about something like that. Creepy just to think that Riku was taken away from here. Her heart was pounding at the recounting of the story. How much more was there to tell?

"After that, everything was a blur," Riku said after a small moment of silence. "...Eventually, Maleficent found me. I thought she was crazy at first, but she saw that the Darkness had gotten to me, so she used it to her own advantage. She wanted the Princesses, and she used me to get them. I kidnapped all of them, but...I did it to help Kairi." He opened his eyes, seeing that the sun was nearly gone. "She lost her heart because of me, so I knew I had to be the one to get it back. In order to do that, I had to turn against Sora. I eventually became greedy, and Maleficent granted me control of the Heartless. But it was all just a trick. Xehanort's Heartless was needing a vessel, and it was me."

Lightning folded her arms across her chest, not because she was angry--it was mostly because she was cold. With the sun basically set, the air was getting cold. But Riku's story was also extremely dark. He was a puppet and then a vessel. This definitely wasn't in the history books. She wished she felt angry for his sake, because these were awful things that occurred, but mostly...She felt fear for him. Even if he was right here with her, she was afraid of what happened to him.

Riku looked over at Lightning, gazing at her. "Sora and I fought multiple times. After realizing that I was the rightful Keyblade wielder, I left him for dead," he revealed. "He tried saving me, and saving Kairi, and I nearly killed him...more than once." He pushed himself away from the tree, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. It was more with himself than with the situation, but he had to deal. "He turned into a Heartless when he realized he had been harboring Kairi's heart the whole time, and I briefly gained control of my heart long enough to save Kairi, Donald, and Goofy from the Heartless," Riku continued, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets as he approached the end of the islet. "But after that...I was gone. I didn't know who or where I was, or what was happening to me. I was lost."

Lightning swallowed, staring at Riku's back. She knew what it was like to be lost in a spiritual sense, but Riku was at a deeper level than that. She suddenly found herself wanting to hold him, but she realized that he put distance between them for a reason. If he thought she was pitying him and thinking little of him, then he was wrong. She was just sad for him. Very sad.

"The next time I saw Sora, he had beaten Xehanort's Heartless and saved the worlds...mostly. In order to protect them completely, he had to seal the Door to Light. King Mickey had the other Keyblade at that time, the one from the Darkness. Both of them had to close the door, but I realized my true place, and that was in the Realm of Darkness," Riku revealed. He stared out at the water, hearing it hit the islet as the sky grew dark. "Sora and I were separated, and the last thing I said to him for the next year was to take care of Kairi." He thought he would never see his friends again, but he was wrong. "Eventually, the King and I were separated too, when we found Castle Oblivion. I'm sure you've read about that place in your history book."

Edited August 2, 201213 yr by Forever Love

"Yeah," Lightning said, speaking for the first time since Riku began his story. The only reason that she did that was because he wasn't facing her direction, so she couldn't just nod to him. Speaking aloud, though, she realized that her voice sounded dry. Probably because of the air. Castle Oblivion was where Sora and Riku separately took down a few members of Organization XIII. The rest of their adventures were pretty well documented, but Riku's experiences from before Castle Oblivion were never detailed. Now she knew why.

"That place was awful," Riku recalled, eyebrows furrowing as he gazed at the dark water. "I didn't know Sora was there until later, but...I battled my own demons. Xehanort's Heartless haunted me constantly, and I was forced to battle one of the Organization's replicas of me. Apparently it was to be of some use against Sora, but I never got the details." He lowered his gaze to his feet. "I fought the Organization members that were on my floors, and I learned to use the Darkness in my heart in battle. The King was with me most of the time, but there were times I had to force myself to keep going. By the time I reached the top, Sora was already asleep. I met Namine there, and she said she was repairing Sora's memories. She offered me the same deal, but I didn't take it. I fought too hard to lose anything at that point, even my memories. So I left, and promised to keep an eye on Sora as long as he was asleep, and do whatever it took to help him wake up." Riku turned, finally looking at his companion, able to see her well in the darkness. "That was when I chose to walk the Road to Dawn."

Lightning kept her eyes on Riku, still bundled up and fighting the urge to shiver. Okay, so she didn't know as much as she thought. Riku facing his demons was one of many things the text book didn't talk about. Her heart was aching for him and a thought passed through her mind: You might actually love him. How else could you feel so much pain for his sake? She didn't know what to say, so she just kept her eyes on him and hoped he could tell that she wasn't judging him negatively. In fact, he just turned out to be more incredible. He conquered his demons.

"You've seen what the Organization cloaks looked like, right?" Riku asked, his eyes still on Lightning. He assumed that was covered in the history books too. "I had to wear one of those to hide my identity, since I worked for DiZ then. He knew the Organization was up to no good, and had a plan. I worked for him for the next year, keeping an eye on the Organization in the shadows and doing what I could to help him out. Namine worked for him too, actually, with helping Sora. But eventually Sora couldn't wake up, and it was because of Roxas." He lowered his gaze again, to the sand as he kicked at a pebble. "I had to hunt him down. He was resistant, obviously, and so the first time we fought, I lost. The next time we met, I made sure I was the stronger one. I accepted my Darkness completely, and took its form. I didn't look like myself anymore. Instead, I absorbed the form of my inner demon, Xehanort's Heartless."

Edited August 2, 201213 yr by Forever Love

Lightning shivered. She blamed the cold, but Riku's words were also partly responsible. He took the form of Xehanort's Heartless. She saw pictures of the Heartless and it was disturbing to imagine that Riku would take up his image. She stared at him and tried to imagine it, but she couldn't. She couldn't imagine Riku as anyone but who he was now because he changed so drastically. Even without the full story, she knew he changed a lot.

"Long story short, I beat Roxas and took him to DiZ," Riku continued, approaching his friend as he stared at the ground. He saw she was cold, so he did was what necessary...and natural. He undid his coat as he continued. "Roxas eventually became one with Sora, so he could wake up... Here," Riku said, reaching forward and wrapping his coat around Lightning's slender shoulders. He tugged it close to her, hoping it would help. He continued to stand in front of her, looking up at her as he spoke. "At that point, I disappeared. I couldn't have Sora knowing what happened to me, so I made the King promise not to say anything the next time I saw him. He did, and because of that, I was able to drop off hints to Sora and his friends to keep them on the right track. Eventually Sora started becoming suspicious, and when he decided I was the person helping out, I left one last clue and ditched. Of course, at that point, Kairi was in trouble, so I saved her from one of the Organization members and got her off the Islands."

Lightning allowed the coat to settle on her shoulders, feeling Riku's warmth even through her own coat. "Aren't you cold?" she asked softly, breaking through the story with that one comment. She could see his breath, and now that she spoke, she realized that she could see her own as well. She didn't want Riku being freezing because of her. He didn't deserve it. As he continued with the story, he just kept on proving how incredible he was.

Riku shook his head. "I'll be fine," he promised. He was used to the cold; he had to run through it in just a tank and pants once. He was okay for now. Riku kept his place in front of Lightning as he looked at her, but then he lowered his gaze to her legs. "...Anyway," he started again, "I sent Kairi to Twilight Town, to a group of people I knew I could trust. But she was captured, and used to anger Sora. That in turn set me off, so when I found out Sora was at the Organization's headquarters and distracting them, I slipped in. Namine had already rescued Kairi, but they were face to face with an Organization member, Saix, by the time I showed up. I got him to back off and nearly went after him, but Namine revealed my identity to Kairi, so I couldn't just leave." Riku couldn't help but smile. "Her face was priceless when she heard my name, but...I could tell she was thrown off when she saw my face. ...I wasn't who she expected."

Even if Riku smiled a moment ago at Kairi's priceless expression, Lightning felt sad for both him and Kairi. He was still reflecting Xehanort's Heartless at that time. Riku was shorter than Lightning was while she was sitting on the tree, so before she could stop herself, she reached out a hand. She lightly set it atop Riku's silver hair, her thumb playing with a strand. It was a surprising move even for her, but she didn't regret it. She kept her eyes and hand on him, waiting for him to continue.

Riku lifted his gaze to Lightning at the touch, slightly surprised by it, but also moved. "...Um," he tried, attempting to get rid of his shock so he could continue. "...Kairi and I moved through the castle to try and find Sora, and when we did, Kairi got reckless. She jumped from a balcony to try and help him when he was surrounded by Heartless, but she ended up in the same position. I helped her, and gave her a Keyblade I gathered from a memory. She...was fearless after that, which surprised me, but...by the time we were done fighting off our own enemies, Sora reached us. He and Kairi reunited, and it was sappy." Riku made a face at the memory, remembering how lovesick the two had been. "I teased Sora forever about it, but..." Riku focused on getting back on track, gathering his thoughts once more. "...I made a break for it once those two were distracted with each other, but Sora caught me. Not knowing who I was, he called me 'Xehanort's Heartless', which was expected. But Kairi got him to see the real me."

Lightning kept her eyes on Riku in silence, seeing how he was remembering the more personal details of the story. But then again, it was that way for a lot of the story. His friends were really important to him. He did everything for their benefit, even becoming Xehanort's Heartless. She kept her hand on his head despite the raw cold air. She didn't want to withdraw now. He needed to know that she wasn't afraid of who he was in the past.

Riku focused on continuing, his eyes leaving Lightning as he focused on the sand. "We managed to get past the other Organization members, and that was when we ran into DiZ, or Ansem the Wise. He had a machine, and it did something to change me back to this." He motioned to himself with his hands. "After getting over the shock, we met up with Xemnas. Sora and I fought him alongside the others, but...eventually we got stuck behind. Sora and I had to fight him on our own, in all these different forms. And at one point, he tried turning us against each other, trying to get into our heads." Riku looked back up at Lightning. "It failed, and Sora and I were forced to face him one last time. Sora nearly died...and I knew the worlds couldn't be saved without him, so I took a bad hit for him. At that point, Sora was furious, and I was too weak to do much else. We ended him together, but...we almost got stuck in the Realm of Darkness afterwards. We were okay with it, really, since our friends were safe. But...Kairi wrote a letter...and once Sora read it, the Door to Light appeared, and we got to come home."

Lightning nearly asked what the Door to Light was, but she didn't bother. She already had a lot of information to take in, especially concerning Riku. All the danger that he was in...All the pain that he experienced... "I'm glad you came back," she declared softly, lowering her cold hand to her lap to be with the other one. Her words had a lot of meaning behind them. She was glad that he was able to conquer his past and make it back to his friends, but she was thinking more personally. She was glad that he came back...and that she was able to become his friend.

Riku gazed at Lightning, and he smiled weakly. "...Me too," he replied softly. He could sense the meaning behind her words, but he took the other way with it. He was glad to be home; it was where he belonged, even if the worlds did need him from time to time. But he could have done without the paparazzi being on his tail when he got back. He and Sora told their story, and after that, things weren't ever the same. They were legends now, or so people said.

Edited August 2, 201213 yr by Forever Love

Lightning nodded faintly at the simple comment, lifting a hand to Riku's coat. She couldn't keep wearing it; he needed to keep warm too. She took it off her shoulders and held it out to him, not that there was much distance between them. She should have realized already that they were sharing body heat, even if they weren't up against each other.

Riku looked from the coat to Lightning, shaking his head. "Keep it," he told her. He realized that she was cold, colder than he was. He would be fine for a while. It wasn't too bad just yet, anyway.

Light shook her head as well. If Riku wasn't going to grab the coat, then she wouldn't just offer it to him. She'd force it on him. She leaned forward and set it on his shoulders in silence, leaning back and looking at him when the move was done. Just because she was cold didn't mean that he had to be too.

Riku gave Lightning a look, but after a second he grabbed his coat and started to put it back on. Once the sleeves were on, he looked back up at her. "So...I guess now you know the truth," he said softly, hearing only the waves. "...About everything." He had never talked about that with anyone, ever. His parents didn't count; they were family. But as far as friends went--especially potential girlfriends--it hadn't happened.

Lightning nodded faintly, keeping her eyes on Riku. "I won't tell," she said softly. But he already knew that, because he wouldn't have told her otherwise. He trusted her as much as she had trusted him before Ashe. He just shared his life story with her, dark as it was, knowing that she could go tell the world about it while she was still angry with him. But she wouldn't, no matter what.