Chapter Text
On the second day while cleaning the stone floors of the monastery he dares to ask the question, "Am I going to be stuck here forever?"
He knows technically that he's supposed to be cursed, but he doesn't feel cursed if he's being honest.
The nun soothes him,"No no, my dear. This is just until you grow strong enough to resist the call. It might take a while though."
"How long?" If he's let go he can maybe build a ship of his own and sail away. Not without telling Sora of course.
The nun looks up at him with a calm smile, but he's pretty sure he sees pity, "You're making progress Riku. Don't you remember your first few days here?"
He leans back on his haunches. He does remember the panic he felt when they locked him up, when he cried to be let out and the eventual opening of the door when he exhausted himself, only to be put back in whenever he so much as looked in the direction of the sea. The rest of his memories about the first few days are rather foggy though.
But he didn't feel like that when he was on the beach, when he was with Sora, "I'm fine now though. Maybe it's broken?"
Sister Agnes wrings out the mop and continues cleaning, "No one has ever managed to break it and I have seen you looking at the ocean. There is no denying it."
Seen him looking at the ocean? How can looking at something indicate you're cursed? He just wants to get out of here and the ocean is the best place to go.
"The floor isn't going to scrub itself Riku."
"Sorry, sister."
She sighs, "Don't worry. You're not going to end up like the governess daughter."
The governor's daughter, locked up in her big mansion with only the staff and her parents. No one outside of them has properly seen her in years. He's pretty sure he's in the same situation, but instead in a monastery without his parents. At least sister Agnes promised they'd let him out one day. Maybe he should have Sora free her. But the idea of the unknown women getting to leave before him makes him sick with irrational jealousy. Yet he's curious,"Can I talk to her?"
"No. Her mind is too weak. She might influence you."
He wants to ask Sora about this but something in him tells him not to. He needs to talk to her on his own. The problem is that he has no idea where to even begin. The only way he has been able to leave was with Sora.
So the day passes into night and soon he finds himself whisked to the hidden beach again, Sora pulling him towards the ocean.
"Come on!" The look on Sora's face makes him slow. He's up to something.
Hesitantly he moves forward placing a foot in the water, or better said, on it.
"Whoah" he looks up at Sora, eyes wide. The boy grins back at him.
He takes another step and somehow he's still standing on the water, the little waves going around his feet. It feels weird on his bare feet.
"It's even cooler when you come further in!"
He wants to look so he swallows his hesitation and runs further in, towards his friends.
Stopping before him he notices that it's just like he's standing on a slippery mattress, the waves going around them.
He breathes out, "Cool"
"It will be even cooler!" Sora's smile brightens even more and suddenly the waves don't go around them anymore.
Instead they're lifted up and he can only exclaim, "What?" Before he falls over and slips down. Sora laughs and falls too, bumping against him as they slide into a sudden valley.
Then they're going up again as the valley rises under a wave and they're sliding away from each other.
Sora gasps between laughter at what must be Riku's completely bewildered expression as the rising hill slowly obscures their vision of each other.
"What is this?" He laughs and tries to climb a hill to reach Sora, but it's slippery and when he gets a bit of height the mountain deflates, revealing Sora, "A game I used to play all the time. Try to get to the top of as many hills as you can!"
Oh the competition is on!
It's way more difficult than it sounds as he keeps on slipping down or the hills deflate the moment he gets close, but watching Sora's hilarious attempts and silly faces makes the frustration of the game worth it.
His lungs are hurting from laughing as they collide again with a bit too much force.
Trying to help each other up is also ridiculous. It always ends up with one person slipping and taking the other down with him, but somehow it's even better.
He can't stop laughing at Sora's face, when he sees the boy sliding down a hill on his back, backwards. So much regret and panic as he can do nothing to stop from going into a deep valley.
He of course falls right after and they collide hard enough to leave a few bruises, but they keep on trying.
The cries of victories they make when finally reaching a top are maybe a bit too loud to be safe, but who cares?
He doesn't as he crows out another declaration of victory. Sora pulls him down and then accidently headbutts him again, leaving both of them groaning and laughing.
After Riku being declared the winner of the game they drop down onto the sand beach in exhaustion. Dee comes out of nowhere and tucks himself against Sora's side.
Riku rests his arms behind his head and sighs, "My parents would freak out if they knew I was doing this."
"You have parents?"
"Of course."
"Oh. I thought you were being raised by the nuns or something."
"I guess I am now. The two people who were yelling my name back when we first met were my parents. They put me in the monastery after arriving here since I'm supposedly cursed."
"Oh yeah. The whole me being dangerous thing."
He raises his brow, "Why else would I be stuck in there?"
It's silent for a bit, Riku looks up at Sora, the boys eyebrows are furrowed together
Then he tilts his head, his face turning away,"The humans back home are so different I forgot that I should have avoided you back then." He leans over wrapping his arms around his knees, "And then I searched for you again." The boy dares a peep at Riku, "Will they ever let you out?"
Riku shrugs, trying to be unbothered by the idea of forever being stuck there,"No idea. Maybe I should just run away. I want to see the world. I could build a ship and let the wind decide." A dream he has having almost constantly during the day. His mind tuning out the sound of prayer, his mouth still moving along and words coming out, only because he has been doing this for ages by now.
"Sounds fun." Sora's answer is dry, flat. The cheeriness he expected to have come back is still missing.
Why is he acting like that?
"Want to come along?"
Sora jumps up with a frustrated sigh, pulls a rock out of seemingly nowhere and throws it straight at the ocean, "I can't."
"Why not?"
Another rock is thrown,"I've got my future decided. All I've done for as long as I remember is train for it. Can't toss that all away." Dee is twirling around his legs, but Sora's ignoring it.
"I-" his words are interrupted by the ringing of the church's bells.
Ice and panic floods Riku's heart, all previous thoughts forgotten,"It's morning!"
The solemnes is gone from Sora's eyes, now filled with the same panic,"Get on my back."
"Wait. What if they see you?!"
"They won't, but you will be in big trouble if they find you outside of the walls."
The entire way back his heart is up his throat. The usual thrill is all but gone and his hands too sweaty as they cling to Sora.
Flashes of his early days at the monastery plaguing his mind. He shakes his head trying to ban the thoughts. They will make it.
They do, just at the nick of it. Sora has barely left the windowsill as the door opens, with Riku still standing at the window.
Sister Josephine looks surprised, "Already out of bed?”