Chapter Text
Darkness…
Darkness surrounded him as he continued his trek forward. For what felt like days, Riku walked through the realm of darkness, alone. But he hadn't been alone the whole time. He met King Mickey while closing the door to darkness, and from there, they decided to travel together and try to find a way out. For a while, with the king by his side, he actually thought they'd be able to escape, however hard the journey might be.
They would walk and walk until they were too tired to keep going. Resting, if you could call it that, was them taking turns while the other one slept some. Something they learned about the realm of darkness was that there was no real sense of time. They could only assume how long they had been there, and it felt like an eternity.
While his majesty had remained optimistic, the darkness was getting to Riku. Every time he opened his eyes to the dark world they were in, killed some of the hope he had. The light within him was fading into the dark, he could feel it. He hadn't meant to, but the darkness just seemed to call him, and like a fool, he listened to it. The more he listened to the darkness, the further away the king seemed, sometimes he could barely see him or keep up. He shouted for his new friend until his voice was hoarse, but nothing.
After a while, he couldn't find him at all, leaving Riku all alone. The only thing he could do was keep moving forward and hope he found someone or something at this point. That was how he made it here, in this never-ending tunnel of blackness. At some point, he gave up looking forward and only concentrated on his feet and steps. At least while looking at himself, he could see some light, but even that was starting to fade over time. It was like his body was beginning to fade into the darkness. Maybe it was better this way, he had done nothing but caused harm to his friends and world. If he just stopped and let the darkness take over, then he could just fade away. A dark part of his mind whispered, but his body refused to listen and kept moving forward.
Step… Step… Step… Step…
The sound of his footsteps echoes while his feet made contact with a ground he couldn't see. At least he had ground under him, though for all he knew at any moment he could walk off a cliff. No one would ever know, would they? No one would ever find him. Would his friends miss him? Would they even remember him? Or would the memory of him, fade like he was doing. Slowly, his movements came to a halt. Now instead of his footsteps, he could only hear himself pant as he struggled to breathe. Breathing in the realm of darkness, he found out, was difficult. No matter how many breaths he took, he never felt like he could catch it fully. The deeper he made his way into the darkness, the harder it was to breathe.
Don't stop. Keep going. You're almost there.
A soothing feminine voice whispered in his ear. Ever since he was separated from the king, this voice had guided him through the dark. Whether it was to his doom or salvation, Riku wasn't sure. He was startled the first time he heard it and confronted the voice, trying to find out who they were, but every question remained unanswered.
Raise your head. The light is there. Can you see it?
Slowly, he lifted his head after what felt like a lifetime to see a small glimmer of light in the distance. His feet started to move again, driving him towards the small light that was growing in size. The light was pure white and hurt his eyes a bit as the shadows around him faded the closer he got.
Go to it. You will find help there.
Any other time he would have argued with the voice. Questioned why or just flat out refuse, but now it felt like his body was on autopilot. Did he finally find a way out? Without a second thought, he used what little energy he had left to rush towards the light.
He expected the light to be warm; light was always warm and welcoming. However, the light that consumed him was freezing, bitterly cold. The unseen floor he had been running on gave way as he landed face first in the cold light with a loud crunch. His vision started to clear some; he realized he had fallen face-first in the snow. He tried to move but could barely manage to turn his head to the side so he could least breathe. His body was finally giving out to his exhaustion. Even the shock of landing face-first into the snow, in the clothes he was wearing, wasn't enough to get him to move.
The frozen ground around him seemed to be swallowing his vision, but he could barely see the outlines of the world around him. Trees maybe? Yeah, they were trees. He saw a tree line across the barren field of white he laid in. Without warning, a blast of cold air rushed over him. He could only shiver, and he felt snow start to cover him and made his exposed skin burn. It was a blizzard, it had to be. Of course, being an islander, he wouldn't know what one felt like, but he was sure this was one. The wind roared in his ears as his vision started to fade back to the darkness. Along with his fading consciousness came the sweet relief from the pain in his body.
Crunch…. Crunch… Crunch... Crunch...
This was it. This was the end, darkness was once again going to swallow him up.
Crunch… Crunch...
He could barely hear the crunching of snow over the howls of the wind be he knew it was getting closer. Were those footsteps?
Crunch...
He blinked repetitive, trying to clear his vision. Something tall and dark was in front of him. His instincts were screaming at him to move, but his body wouldn't listen. He tried to speak, but nothing came out as another blast of cold air hit him before he felt something warm brush his back, moving his hair to reveal his eyes. His vision was too far gone to make out anything other than blurry shadows. Though his sight and body seemed to stop working, his ears and mind were still at least somewhat aware.
"Well, your not what I expected." He barely heard the feminine voice over the wind. It wasn't like the one before. While it definitely belonged to a female, this new voice had more of a husk to it. He felt himself being flipped over onto his back. The shock of the cold snow on his back made him groan. "Come on, can't leave you to die out here." His body was suddenly pulled up by one of his arms as he felt his chest come into contact with something warm.
He could feel his arms being draped over the warmth while his face brushed against something with fur. Was he being carried? His mind was fogging but would clear some, with jerky movements of his savior's steps through the deep snow. That had to be it, he was being carried on this person's back. They felt about the same size he was, at least from what he could tell from the contact.
Crunch… Crunch…
Before the lights in his mind flickered out completely, he could have sworn he hear the voice from early the motherly one whisper.
You found it….
The Roar of Dawn…
His mind finally gave in to the beckoning abscissa of sleep the cold would provide.
Darkness…
Cold darkness...
No… He thought he had found a way out… didn't he? Was it all a dream?
He cracked open his eyes to see and a small light. His vision looked off as it faded in and out. Was it far away… or was it his eyes? It was like the light from before… No… this was different... This one felt warm… A shadow then obstructed his view from the light, blocking the warmth. He wanted the shadow to move. He wanted the heat back. He wanted the light to return. He started to move only to realize the pain shooting through his body. Riku couldn't stop himself shouting from the pain. How his body felt so cold yet burned so bad, was beyond him. His face and his arms felt like they were on fire.
"Easy, I'm gonna make it better. Just hold still." The husky voice spoke gently to him before a hand hovered over his face. A small glow emitted from the center of the palm; warm relief flooded his body. The burn from his body eased as did the pain, and with it came a blissful sleep washed over him, making his eyes close. For the first time in a long time, he slept peacefully and deeply.
The next time he stirs, he was warmer, and the pain was lesser. His body still hurt, but nothing like before. Slowly his vision came into focus. Where was he? He blinked a few times to clear his sight as he stared at the ceiling above him. Light danced off the stone coverage above him. Where was he? Looking around the area, quickly realizing it wasn't just the ceiling that had a stone texture. It was everything around him. He was in a cave, but the realm of darkness didn't have caves, did it? The cavern seemed small but roomy enough for two or three people to move comfortably. A large pile of tree branches and logs was stacked against one of the walls. There was also a black backpack sitting next to it. He glanced over at the campfire a few feet from him. A spit was built over it, and something in a small pot was cooking. The fire basked the cave in warm light, and the smell of food filled the air. The wind howled outside, but his view was blocked by a large blanket that was hung over the entrance. It was being held down at the bottom by some large rocks.
Movement from one of the cave walls caught his attention, something yellow and blue. He sat up quickly, maybe a little too quickly as he got light-headed and glanced over to the movement. He was expecting someone or something at this point, but quickly realized it was cloths but not just any cloths. His vest, pants, shoes, and socks were draped over a rope tied between two rock on each side of the walls. A quick glance down confirmed, yeap, he was naked for the most part. At least he had his underwear still on as he laid in a thick black sleeping bag. His eyes fell to his arms, which had been bandaged along with parts of his chest and legs. He didn't remember getting injured. What happened? He quickly undid one of the bandages on his arms to see the damage. There was no blood or cuts; however, his skin had turned a light brown in some spots on his arm and hand. What was this? It was painful yet strangely numb at the same time. He'd never had an injury like this before.
A blast of cold air signaled that someone had arrived through the makeshift door. The figure was dressed in a long black jacket that reached just to the wearer's knees. The coat was decorated with some small silver pendants and buttons. The hems of the hood, sleeves, and bottom were lined with a light gray fur, no doubt perfect for this kind of weather.
"Hey! You're awake." The stranger sounded cheerful yet surprised to see him up. "How are you feeling?" She squatted down in front of the fire while dropping a small satchel near it. He couldn't see her features from under the hood, but he could feel her eyes on him. She started at his face before making her way across his exposed body, stopping at his now unbandaged arm. Her gaze made him feel uncomfortable as she checked over his body.
"Where am I? " While he was grateful to be saved from freezing to death, it didn't mean he was just automatically going to trust the stranger. Something about her made him nervous, and that made his tone a little harder on his next question. "Who are you?"
"Straight to the point, huh?" She chuckled and casually pulled her hood down. She looked to be about his age with long black hair. Her face was slim, and tone, no doubt like her body was, and her complexion appeared to be a medium tone that glowed in the fire's light. She was attractive, to say the least, but what caught his attention the most was her eyes. Her eyes were a pale color, silver maybe, that seemed to radiate light. From what he could tell, they were darker towards the outside of her irises but got brighter closer to pupils. Staring into them gave him an ominous feeling like she was able to see right through him. Her facial expression didn't match the uneasy glow her eyes were giving him. She had a neutral smile as she looked over him in a friendly way. "You're in a cave, in case the walls weren't a giveaway, just outside of Bridgepoint. I found you passed out in a field and it was closer to bring you here then try and make it back to town. You would've died from the cold before we made it halfway, even getting you here gave you pretty bad frostbite."
"Frostbite?"
"Yeah." She gave him a bewildered looked as she pointed to his arm that he had unbandaged. "You know, frostbite..." She stared at him while he waited for her to elaborate. "Man, you really aren't from here if you don't know what frostbite is." She laughed softly as he glare at her, but she just shrugged it off as she stood up and walked over to him. She knelt down next to him and grabbed his now unbandaged arm to bring it closer to the fire to see. Despite her just coming from outside, he could feel the warmth from her touch through her gloves. "Frostbite is this." She pointed to the brown parts of his skin. "It's what happens when your skin gets too cold. The exposed area starts to freeze and die. It was pretty bad when we got to the cave, but it's looking better now." She smiled at him before releasing his arm and grabbing a small canister from one of her jacket pockets. "This should help it heal faster. Hold your arm up for me."
He did what she asked and watched as she took some of the gooey cream and rubbed it on some of the damaged skin. It stung a bit as he tried not to flinch too much. She then pulled the glove off her left hand and chanted something in a language he didn't understand. Her hand started to glow from her palm, just like before. The goo quickly absorbed into his skin, relief filled him as he saw the skin turn back to its natural color. "Guess, I should have known you weren't from here. No one in their right mind would be out in weather like that dressed the way you were." She nodded over to where his clothes hung. "They should be dry by now. Once I'm done, you should probably get dressed. Frostbite aside, don't want you to get hypothermia." She got more of the goo and repeated the process again on another spot on his arm. "So. Where are you from?"
"Far away." He wasn't sure if this was still the realm of darkness or not, but his majesty told him not to tell anyone about other worlds or where he's from. Something about keeping the world order.
"A place that doesn't know about frostbite?" Her tone was dripping with humor and sarcasm.
"Pretty much." He snorted. She paused as waiting to see if he would say anything else.
"Not going to elaborate, are you?"
"Nope."
"Ok.... can you at least tell me your name?" Despite his short answers, she didn't lose that friendly tone.
"Riku."
"Nice to meet you, Riku. Mine's Luna." She grinned at him before continuing the treatment. "Now that we got that out of the way, why don't we cut to the chase. You're from another world, aren't you?"