musefic | Kingdom Hearts fic: Doppelganger

Just after midnight again! Though barely, this time.

This is the fill for Day 11: Doppelganger AU.

This one was only a struggle because I kept wanting to make it longer!

It starts with a feeling of being watched. Then seeing motion in the shadows. Then a figure standing in front of the mirror...

It had started weeks before. It had seemed like nothing at first; Riku was walking alone down a quiet street just after dark, when he was suddenly certain that he wasn’t alone after all. He’d looked around, but there hadn’t been anyone there.

Then it happened again: entering an empty room, certain for a moment that there was someone else already there. And then again: the creeping feeling that someone was looking over his shoulder while he was alone at his desk.

He chalked it up to other things. Stress, mostly. He figured he was over-tired and needed some extra rest. Except no matter how many attempts he made to get more sleep, it didn’t stop the feelings. Instead, they grew more and more frequent.

Now he found himself alone, after dark again, trying to hurry back to his apartment. He didn’t want to look like he was hurrying, because that felt silly. Bordering on pathetic. What grown man was nervous walking home alone through a quiet neighborhood? Still, he was definitely walking briskly.

The cobblestone walkway, lit mainly by orange-tinted streetlamps, typically struck him as peaceful. Maybe even “quaint” at times. Now it didn’t feel as peaceful as he wished it did. It felt like he was being followed.

He took a deep breath, and forced himself to slow down. He would not dignify the stupid little feeling with a reaction.

He heard a scuffing sound behind him, like a footstep just slightly slipping, scraping sand across the paving stones.

Riku spun around. He thought perhaps he saw motion in the shadows between two of the streetlights, but no. There was nothing there.

He turned back around to keep going.

The sound repeated. It was so identical to the sound before that it seemed deliberate. Like someone kicking the ground on purpose.

When he turned around, he definitely saw a figure, in the dark between the circles of light from the streetlamps. It wasn’t moving. Just… standing. It looked probably masculine, about the same height as him, though with long hair, about the same length as Riku’s own.

After that, he stopped caring what it looked like, and walked faster all the way to his building.

Inside his apartment, he turned on all the lights. He still half-hated that he was giving into what was clearly a ridiculous feeling, except that feeling felt anything but ridiculous.

He hesitated over his phone. He wanted company. He wanted someone to actually be here, instead of just feeling like someone was.

He set the phone down. He wanted company, but what he needed was sleep.

Riku woke up a few hours later to sounds in the hallway. He stayed still, hoping it was remnants from a dream. Then the sound repeated. A slow, shuffling sound, like someone walking down the carpeted hall.

He rolled out of bed, trying to be as silent as possible. He wished he slept with a baseball bat or something. He did the best he could, unplugging and grabbing his desk lamp. He could probably hit someone hard enough to hurt with that.

Creeping to his open bedroom door, he slowly leaned out into the hall, looking toward the source of the sound. His bathroom light was on, a hint of shadow disappearing around the corner into the room.

Riku stepped forward, and steeled himself to confront whoever was there. He brandished the lamp as if it was a real weapon.

And for an instance he saw… himself. Or, something like himself. A man with long silver hair standing in front of the sink, facing toward him, but looking down. The other figure looked up, and he swore he saw gold eyes instead of green-blue.

Then it was like the lights flickered, just briefly enough for everything to go dark for half a second, and the figure was gone.

Riku could see himself, his reflection, in the mirror over the sink. No other figure. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“Does Riku seem… okay to you lately?” Sora asked. He didn’t take his eyes off the road.

Kairi tapped her fingers against the armrest for a moment. “He’s been jumpy. I’ve definitely noticed it.”

Sora nodded his agreement. “That’s exactly it. Jumping at shadows.”

Riku had sounded casual when he invited them over, just asking them to come over for the evening, to spend some time there. He promised he’d order dinner, and they could do whatever. They could drink and talk, or play a game, or watch a movie… he just felt like having them over, he said.

Maybe it would have been more accurate to say he tried to sound casual. It more sounded desperate.

He wouldn’t have had to sound desperate in order for them to come over, but that certainly made them move a little faster.

The evening was fine. Riku had ordered takeout, and the three of them had a few drinks. Nothing seemed wrong, except Riku was still distracted and fidgety. He bounced his knee, or kept spinning his drink in his hands.

Since they’d all had a bit to drink, Riku suggested they stay the night. That was also perfectly normal; they’d all slept over at each others’ houses and apartments regularly since they were kids.

Riku offered his room, but neither of them wanted to take it from him. Especially not when he looked exhausted. Sora took the reclining chair, while Kairi sprawled on the couch, and Riku kept his bed.

It was early in the morning rather than late at night when Sora woke up. There was a sound in the kitchen, though everything was dark. Sora sat up, clicking the chair’s footrest down. He figured Riku must be up, getting something to drink or the like.

Sora stood up and stretched, walking toward the kitchen. It was open onto the living room, so he could see Riku easily enough. The whole apartment might be dark, but Riku’s hair was pale enough to stand out despite that. He’d assumed Riku would be getting a glass of water, but instead he was just standing at the counter.

“Riku?” Sora asked.

He didn’t move.

“Are you awake?” If Riku was sleepwalking, then at least that would be something for Sora to give him crap about the next day.

Instead of an answer to the question, Riku let out a low laugh. It was deep, barely audible, but very wrong.

Sora took an involuntary step back. “Riku? Are you okay?”

The living room light clicked on, and Sora spun around.

Riku was standing in the short hallway that led to his room.

Sora spun back around to the kitchen, but the room was empty.

“What…”

“You saw it too?” Riku asked.

All Sora could do was nod.

The light coming on had woken Kairi up. Sora had nudged her to the side so they could sit down.

Now all three of them were seated on the couch, Riku in the middle while he haltingly explained.

“I’ve been… seeing things. Or I thought I was. Hearing things, feeling things.”

“You have seemed a little off lately. Anxious,” Kairi said.

“It started with a feeling I was being watched. Then I started to see something. Just a shadow, maybe.”

“That thing wasn’t just a shadow,” Sora protested.

Riku bit his lip. “I saw it like that for the first time last night. I thought I saw it following me home, but maybe that was nothing. But I woke up last night, and it was standing in my bathroom. Then it was gone, but I swear I saw it.”

“I believe you,” Kairi said, no hesitation.

Riku shook his head. “I didn’t. I thought it had to be a hallucination. Maybe that I was just sleep deprived. Something. I thought it had to have been my reflection in the mirror, and I was just mistaking what I saw. But it hasn’t ever shown up around other people, so I figured if you two came over...” He trailed off.

“You could have just asked,” Kairi said.

“And have you think I was crazy?” Riku didn’t quite laugh. “I knew it had to be nothing, so...”

“But that wasn’t nothing,” Sora said. “I know I wasn’t hallucinating. I saw it standing there. And I heard it.”

“Heard it?” Kairi asked.

“It laughed. Like… almost a ridiculously evil laugh. Except it really did feel evil. It was just standing there.”

“What does this thing look like?” Kairi asked.

“Well…” Sora glanced at Riku. “It looked like Riku. I thought it was Riku.”

He nodded confirmation. “It looks like me. That’s why I assumed I’d just mistaken my reflection for something else.”

Kairi shivered. “So like a doppelganger?”

“Maybe. But isn’t that supposed to be a bad thing?”

Sora didn’t want to say it, but considering the way the thing had felt and sounded, he thought it was definitely bad.