Kingdom Hearts fic: All Strange Wonders - Epilogue [fic complete]

[mistressofmuses]

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They couldn’t ignore everything else forever. And once they had to start paying attention to things, there were an awful lot of things that required their attention.

Getting Leon and Aerith back to Radiant Garden was the first thing, so that they and Riku could make their official reports to the king and the rest of the council. The Warlock of the Wasteland had been threatening the kingdom for more than a hundred years, and defeating him was not a small thing.

Despite doing everything he could to get away from it, Riku had fulfilled all that the king had asked of him as Royal Wizard. Sora wasn’t there for all of it, but according to Riku, he had to dodge quite a few attempts at making him a very public hero.

They also had to go back to the Warlock’s fortress to make sure he hadn’t left any dangerous surprises.

While Riku dealt with most of that, Sora stayed with Kairi.

Her grasp over her physical form had stayed strong, giving her the chance to fully enjoy her new freedom. She could walk around the garden, pick things up, open doors… all without setting anything on fire. She had a little trouble with the finest motions—she’d singed some pages when she tried to read on her own—but even that was getting better.

She could touch, and be touched. For as long as Sora had wished he could hug her, or hold her hand, or run his fingers over her hair… now he could. She was warm, but never burned him.

Sora asked her about it. He’d watched her work on holding her form together the whole time he’d been in the castle, so proud of gripping something, of being able to walk out onto the extended hearth he’d built. She’d made progress, but it had been slow.

“I think maybe I have Xehanort to thank for it. And you, of course,” she said. “Having my own heart helps me have a stronger sense of self than I’ve ever had before. But it was also seeing him. He controlled his shape so easily, enough to even pass as human when Riku met him as ‘Tae.’ And seeing that, it’s like it showed me how to do it. Or at least mostly.”

She did still glow like a star, not that Sora and Riku minded that in the slightest. Even when she lit their bedroom up like a nightlight.

It took a couple days for Riku to deal with everything that was being classed as an emergency, but as soon as he could, he came back to the castle.

They had a funeral for Terra.

None of them had really known him. Sora had known of him as a hero, and Riku had looked up to him even more, but they’d only ever met him as a puppet of Xehanort’s. But in the end, he had helped to save them. That bit of his remaining will had destroyed the husk that Xehanort had left in the fortress, severing just a bit of the Warlock’s power.

Beyond the admiration for him, Sora understood the sort of kinship Riku felt for Terra. He didn’t think Kairi could ever have become what Xehanort had been, but even so. Terra had been a hero, betrayed by a bargain he’d made; the dark side of what could have happened to Riku, had his bargain been with some other star. Or if Kairi hadn’t been who she was.

They buried Terra’s heart in the gardens. The gardens hadn’t been there when Terra had been alive and free, of course. But Xehanort had hated them, and that made it seem fitting.

It gave all of them a sense of closure.

Riku was still being pulled back to Radiant Garden almost daily. He grumbled about having moved the castle entrance that would have made it an instantaneous trip. Even so, he didn’t even hint at moving the entrance back, and Sora suspected he didn’t want to be so accessible to the capital again.

In the evenings he came back exhausted, unable to do anything more than stagger upstairs to collapse into bed once he made it back to the castle, but unwilling to spend more nights away from Sora and Kairi than he had to.

“Being in possession of my own heart again has made me unbearably sentimental,” he lamented, as Sora and Kairi slid into bed beside him.

“As if you weren’t perfectly unbearable before,” Kairi teased.

“As if you’d have me any other way,” he answered, already half asleep.

“Of course we wouldn’t,” Sora agreed.

In the evenings, they fell asleep in a tangle, just to get up and do more of the same the next day. But eventually the responsibilities were all dealt with, granting them the freedom to make plans of their own.

---

Sora had definitely learned to appreciate having a home with multiple magical entrances.

If nothing else, it made it almost absurdly easy to visit friends and family, or have them come to visit. Like for a party.

Riku held up a glass of sweet wine in a toast, his fourth or fifth of the night. “To abdicating from one’s responsibilities!”

Everyone present at the garden party held up their own glasses and laughed or cheered.

Xion nudged Sora. “Been a good party. And I take it everything else has been going well?”

He nodded.

Riku’s toast to abdication was a little flippant. With the council members returned and the Warlock gone, there wasn’t much of a need for a Royal Wizard any longer, and King Ansem the Wise had officially dissolved the position, as he’d promised. Riku had been spared the effort of actual abdication, and instead just got to gracefully retire.

“So what are you going to do now?” Xion asked.

“I think we’re going to travel a little,” Sora said. “Now that Riku is free to do whatever he wants, and the whole Warlock of the Wasteland thing has been wrapped up. It would be nice for Kairi to get to see places she hasn’t been.”

“After being tied to a hearth for five years, I bet she’d like that.”

Sora nodded again, and sipped at his wine. All three of them had made a list, all the places they’d never gotten to see.

“Come dance with me again!” Naminé interrupted, grabbing Xion’s arm and pulling her into the clear space that was serving as an outdoor dance floor.

The sun had set hours before, but just a few weeks after midsummer, it was the perfect temperature to be out. Riku, Kairi, and Sora had all magicked light into glass spheres that floated around the whole front yard of the mansion that housed the castle’s cream door, keeping it well-lit enough for their celebratory party to continue on.

Riku had somehow charmed something to play music, sounding like an entire troupe of musicians and singers. Sora suspected the trick may have something to do with Riku’s odd island home. Someday he planned to learn more about the world on the other side of the black door, but beyond one quick visit to make sure Riku’s parents were all right, they hadn’t had a chance to spend any time there.

But there would be time. There would be plenty of time, for all three of them.

“Do you want to dance, Sora?”

Sora smiled and set his wine glass down. “Of course.” He loved how often people were deliberately tossing his name out in conversation now.

Kairi grabbed both his hands in her own, and pulled him into a dance that mostly seemed to involve spinning each other around as many times as possible.

She glowed as brightly as any of the magical lights, feet moving easily over the grass, and not even close to singeing anything.

On one of their spins around the little dance floor (moving past Naminé and Xion, who were dancing in a more organized fashion, if no less enthusiastic), Sora spotted Riku talking to Leon and Yuffie. The rest of the council hadn’t been able to attend, off ensuring the last of the Warlock of the Wasteland’s actions had been undone.

Another spin around, past Roxas and a crowd of his friends, and this time Riku was being slapped on the back by Yuffie as he extricated himself from the conversation. Sora just barely glimpsed his mom moving in to talk to them, and then Kairi spun him away.

“Good thing stars don’t get dizzy,” Sora teased, twirling Kairi around again as they kept moving. There was no way this was anything resembling a real, formal dance, but as long as she looked this happy, he didn’t care.

She giggled. “And neither do heart-workers, apparently.”

It was strange to have people calling him that. People talked to him and about him like he mattered, like he deserved to be in the company of sorcerers and fallen stars and royal council members and the like. But as strange as it was, he was starting to believe it, at least a little bit.

“As the subject of the party, I’m pretty sure I get to dance, too.”

“Subject of the party you threw yourself,” Kairi laughed. But then she let go of one of Sora’s hands and flitted a few steps to the side, leaving just enough room for Riku to join them. Riku obliged by grabbing onto each of their hands, and effortlessly managing to match the speed of the circle Kairi was still spinning them in.

“Ah, a traditional star dance, I see,” Riku said.

Sora frowned. “Really?”

At the look on Kairi’s glowing face, he sighed. “Not really. I see how it is.”

“For all I know, it could be.” Riku shrugged.

They very nearly crashed into one of the small tables set with drinks and little finger foods, though Kairi managed to lurch them out of the way. After just a couple more spins, she slowed, laughing a little breathlessly.

The three collapsed to the lawn. Sora was wearing the nice clothes Riku had brought him to visit Radiant Garden the first time, but he wasn’t worried about getting grass stains on them. He’d sternly told the outfit that it would not get stained or torn, so that was that.

“Congratulations on your successful abdication,” he said, leaning close. Even if it wasn’t exactly true, it amused Riku to think of it that way.

“And an excellent party to celebrate it!” Riku said, throwing his arm around Sora’s shoulders and hauling him in even closer, pressing a kiss to his temple.

On his other side, he tugged Kairi closer too.

The party began to die down after that. Yuffie did not succeed in goading Leon into a dance. They did talk extensively with Sora’s mother. To his surprise, they’d hit it off extremely well.

Roxas and his crowd of coworkers and friends were the first to call it a night. Most of them had jobs to go to in the morning. Fortunately, they didn’t have far to go. Heading in through the mansion door, spinning the dial, and going back out through the door behind the flower shop let them right back into Twilight Town.

Leon and Yuffie went back out the door to the garden, which was slightly closer to Radiant Garden itself. They could magic their own way back to the city from there.

Naminé and Xion went to stay overnight with Sora’s mom, in her mansion just down the road. They’d go back to their cottage in the hills in a day or two, after some time spent visiting.

Once all the guests had departed to their disparate destinations, there were the obvious signs of a party to contend with.

Not that any of their guests had been terribly drunk or rowdy, but empty wineglasses and discarded plates littered the small tables. Seats had been knocked askew, and even the enchanted fairy lights seemed to sag a bit where they floated midair.

Riku stood in the doorway and surveyed the mansion grounds for a moment. Then he gently shut the door and announced, “Well, that’s a problem for tomorrow.”

Sora fought back a smile. “Really? I refuse to believe that’s something you can’t just magic away.” He wiggled his fingers, though he now knew that was almost never a part of spellcasting.

“Like I said, a problem for tomorrow.”

“Thank the rest of the stars,” Kairi said, slumping forward in a way that would have left her on the floor if Riku hadn’t caught her. “I’m tired.”

“I thought stars were supposed to be awake all night,” Sora teased, though he was practically asleep on his feet, too.

“Well if the two of you didn’t insist on being up all day…”

“You were the most enthusiastic dancer at the party,” Riku pointed out. “Come on, we can head upstairs.”

She slumped farther down, refusing to stand under her own power, and leaning against Riku.

Riku sighed dramatically. “Do I have to carry you?”

“I carried your heart for years.” The words were muffled against Riku’s jacket.

“Fine.” He gave a long-suffering sigh, and crouched down, letting Kairi climb onto his back so he could carry her piggy-back.

Sora followed them up the stairs to their bedroom. It was already well lit by a full moon, shining in at the wrong angle from the window looking out on Destiny Islands.

Kairi lit up the rest of it. The jewelry and glass and other things Riku had covered the walls and shelves with all reflected her light back in little glittering fragments.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, she slid off Riku’s back, as smoothly and gracefully as if she hadn’t just demanded Riku carry her. In a few quick steps she made it to the bed, and threw herself down on top of the thick comforter.

Riku shed his jacket and kicked off his shoes before falling face first into one of the pillows. Sora didn’t bother with anything more than his shoes.

As the guest of honor at the party, Riku claimed the middle spot on the bed, scooting sideways enough for Sora to slide into the spot nearest the door.

“I am very glad this bed is big enough for three,” Riku sighed.

“Why do you have such a big bed?” Kairi asked.

Riku paused. “So it can fit all three of us, obviously.”

Sora suspected it hadn’t actually always been that large, though he couldn’t really remember well enough to compare it to the first time he’d been in Riku’s room. And he was pretty sure this was the first time Riku was sharing it with anyone, actually.

“Is there anything we have to do except clean up tomorrow?” he asked.

“Not a thing,” Riku said.

“So we can go?” Kairi asked.

“Anywhere you want,” Riku confirmed. He squeezed Sora’s hand too, making it clear he meant them both.

“The ocean,” Kairi said. “Is that still where you want to go, Sora?”

“To start with,” he said. “But we’re going to go everywhere.”

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