[Team 1] Rite of Passage

[mousapelli.livejournal.com]

Hey, Team 1! Somehow I generated an entire team of KH writers, so that's pretty awesome.

Riku, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, PG-ish, ~1900 words.


"Is this seat taken?"

Riku looked up from his drink, where he'd been stirring his melting ice cubes idly, to find Aqua sliding onto the empty bar stool beside him. "Aqua! This is a surprise."

"A pleasant one, I hope," Aqua teased, patting Riku's shoulder. Aqua turned to Tifa behind the bar. "This is a nice place. Yours?"

"You bet!" Tifa said, puffing out her chest proudly, hands on her hips. "Just finished rebuilding her! Nothing keeps Seventh Heaven down for long."

"Hear, hear!" Aerith agreed from Riku's other side, lifting her glass. After a beat of her expectant gaze, Riku obligingly clinked his glass against hers.

"Are you even old enough to be in a bar?" Aqua asked Riku; Aerith spluttered a laugh around the straw of her drink.

"It's lemonade," Riku said.

Aqua made a show of glancing down at Riku's drink and grinned knowingly. "Sure it is, bubbles."

"It's carbonated!" Riku protested. "That's a thing here!" Tifa and Aerith were openly laughing now, and Riku wondered wryly if this was what having older sisters was like. No wonder Ariel had wanted to leave the ocean.

"Ok, ok, don't tease my reconstruction help too much, he won't come back," Tifa said, reaching for a new glass. "But you seem like a lady who can handle something stronger, am I right? Aerith, what do you think?"

Aerith tapped her chin, eyes sparkling. "Golden Chocobo, definitely."

"Summery, refreshing, excellent choice." Tifa held up her free hand and Aerith leaned halfway across the bar to high-five it. "Can I trust you with gin? If this one gets any in her, she dances on the bar, and I just waxed it."

"I always take my boots off," Aerith said, not at all embarrassed by this call out. "Don't worry, Aqua, you're in good hands with us."

"I'm sure I am," Aqua answered gamely. She watched Tifa start mixing her drink with interest, before asking Riku in an undertone, "What on earth is a chocobo?"

"It's like a big chicken," Riku answered; he was fuzzy on the answer himself, but Sora had a set of animated Gummi stickers of chocobo that he used often in his texts to Riku. "I think you ride them?"

"You race them!" Aerith piped up, Gummi phone already out. "And they make the cutest noises, here, look."

Aerith's adorable chocobo video kept them occupied until Tifa slid Aqua's drink across the bar. The Golden Chocobo was bright yellow, serving its name well, and when Aqua took a sip, her eyebrows shot up.

"Wow!" Aqua chuckled. "Any stronger and I'd be saying 'kweh kweh' too!" Aerith, Tifa, and Riku all laughed as Aqua took a longer pull.

"Gimme that." Tifa leaned across the bar on her elbows to snatch Aerith's phone. "Show them the one where one knocks Leon onto his butt."

The conversation wound pleasantly around Riku without exactly including him, Aqua asking about the Radiant Garden's restoration progress, Aerith asking Aqua nosey questions about herself. Riku was content to quietly stir his ice cubes, half-listening. The white noise of them chatting kept Riku from losing himself too deeply in his own thoughts, just like the glass in his hands kept him from checking his Gummi phone ceaselessly, uselessly.

"And that's why Merlin's not allowed to use Cid's teakettle anymore," Tifa was saying when Riku drifted back in.

It was Aqua's laugh that had caught Riku's attention - he wasn't sure he'd ever heard Aqua laugh loudly before, a solid belly laugh. Riku found himself staring, blinking in surprise; when Aqua caught him staring, Riku dropped his eyes.

Aqua threw back the rest of her drink, setting her glass down with a satisfied thunk. "Well, ladies, it's been lovely to see you, but I'm actually here to borrow Master Riku for a bit."

Riku's ears went warm at the casual use of his title and the way Aerith and Tifa grinned at each other.

"Come back any time!" Tifa said. "Tuesday is ladies night, but Saturday karaoke is more fun."

"No kids allowed on karaoke night," Aerith added sweetly. "Sorry, Master Riku!"

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving!" Riku put his hands up in surrender, sliding off his stool. "Just see if I come back to help paint tomorrow."

Aerith and Tifa's laughter followed them out of the bar. Outside it was late afternoon, the sky pink and gold above the gray stone walls.

"You're a good sport," Aqua said, still chuckling. Riku shrugged, feeling awkward at the praise.

"Did you actually need to talk to me, or did you just roll into town to help the Restoration Committee tease me?" Riku asked. He winced at how it came out sounding sharp rather than like banter, but Aqua didn't seem to mind.

"To talk to you," Aqua answered.

"About what?" Riku went on alert immediately, joking forgotten. "Is it something about Sora? Or about the Land of Depature? Or—"

"It's nothing that serious," Aqua interrupted gently. Riku tried to keep neutral, but he couldn't help the small huffed sigh of disappointment. "Take a walk with me. Have they started fixing the fountains yet?"

"The…fountains?" Riku asked. Aqua turned to go, waving Riku along. She didn't seem to need any directions, and after a second, Riku remembered that she, Terra, and Ventus had all met here, years ago. "You've been here before, right?"

"It's been a long time, but the fountains were my favorite place here the first time we visited," Aqua explained as Riku fell into step beside her. "How are you doing?"

"I'm all right," Riku said automatically, the answer he always gave for that question. It was the truth, roughly; he wasn't hurt and his magic was back to full strength. He didn't feel amazing, and he didn't feel the worst, just somewhere in the middle. Aqua eyed him, obviously about to press, so Riku added, "It's too early to worry about Sora yet. It's only been a week."

"I'm sure you're right," Aqua said. To Riku's relief she didn't push it any further, and the two of them walked in companionable silence out of the residential area and into the central plaza. The plaza's mosaic had been repaired here and the flowerbeds replanted. Aqua stopped to take a picture of the mosaic, her expression nostalgic. "It's beautiful here. It's nice to know some places I remember are still here."

"Yes," Riku agreed simply. He never forgot that he was the reason other parts were gone, but at least he could help with some of the repairs now. He blinked when Aqua lifted her phone to snap a picture of him too. "Hey! Give a guy some warning!"

"Sorry not sorry," Aqua said, busily posting to Kingstagram. Riku groaned; he was always making a weird face in candid shots. "Lea taught Ventus to say that and now he's got Terra and me doing it, too." She tilted her head, listening. "Hey! I can hear the fountains!"

Only the bottom level of the fountains had been repaired so far, to Aqua's mild disappointment, but all the flowerbeds and landscaping had all been repaired. There were even some small Mandrakes poking around in the grass in the corners; Leon had wanted to scare them off, but Aerith had said they'd always been her and convinced Leon to leave them alone for the time being. There were a little bit cute, Riku supposed, like rabbits, so long as you didn't trip over one and get yourself Confused.

"I hope they fix the rest, they were such a sight," Aqua said, looking up at the middle and high tiers of the fountains. Satisfied, she sat down on the steps leading up to the fountains and patted the spot beside her.

"What is it you want to talk about?" Riku asked curiously, lowering himself to the marble with a grunt.

"I have something for you," Aqua said. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a small, cloth-wrapped square. "Here."

It was heavier than Riku expected the small bundle to be when he took it from her hands. He unfolded the cloth, and his breath caught when he realized he was holding a silver keyblade wielder's symbol, the same symbol that Aqua, Terra, and Ventus all wore. Light caught the curves and lines of it as Riku tilted it between his hands.

"It's—" Riku's voice caught in his throat. "Did you make this?"

"I did," Aqua said. "It's a present for passing your Mark of Mastery. Usually wielders get them when they start formal training, but better late than never, I hope."

"Of course." Riku turned the symbol over, noticing the soldered loops where it was meant to be attached to his clothing. "Thank you. I don't know what to say. It's silver, like yours. But Terra's is gold. Do the colors mean something?"

"Wielders can choose their own," Aqua explained. "Master Eraqus told us that often students started with the color of the wielder who passed them their keyblade, but I thought silver suited you better than Terra's gold. I hope that's all right."

"It's fine," Riku assured. A complicated knot of emotions was winding itself tight inside his chest, gratitude at being included, uncertainty that he deserved it. A slow, soft ache that Sora wasn't here to share it. "I really appreciate this. It doesn't seem real that I passed the exam, still, even though it's been weeks. But now that I have something in my hands, it feels a little bit more real. I guess that's silly."

"It's not silly," Aqua said, putting a hand on Riku's arm. Riku looked up and Aqua's eyes were serious, and a little bit sad. "Traditions and rites of passage are important parts of training as a keyblade wielder. Master Eraqus said that they help us learn about ourselves, and find our own paths. I'm sorry that you've missed so much of that up until now. Terra, Ven, and I want to pass on what we know to you, whenever you're ready."

"I…" Riku couldn't squeeze any more words out past the tightness of his throat. He shook his head, dropping his gaze back to the mark in his hands.

"You're not alone, Riku," Aqua said. She squeezed Riku's arm before letting her hand drop. "Not anymore." She stood up before Riku could work out an answer, dusting off her palms. "I should head home; leaving Terra and Ventus alone to start dinner is chancy at best." Aqua paused, considering Riku. "Do you want to come along?"

Riku thought about it, really thought, for a long minute. He was curious about the Land of Departure, about what formal keyblade training looked like, and about the legacy that he was a part of as a wielder. But for right now, he wanted to stay in Radiant Garden and keep fixing things that he'd helped break before. Using his hands and not thinking so much was what felt best, for now.

"Not yet," Riku told Aqua. "I think I need to finish what I'm doing here. But I'll let you know when I'm ready."

Aqua accepted that with a nod. "We'll be there, whenever you're ready." She tapped her armor release, offering Riku a last, warm smile before her helmet covered her face.

Riku swallowed a jealous sigh as he watched Aqua call her keyblade glider and zip off through a corridor in a flash of silver. Of all the things he wanted to learn, that one was certainly first on the list.

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Next up is Followyourwaytodawn!