Hi guys! As you've probably gathered, this is a X-2/Kingdom Hearts crossover. For those who haven't played Kingdom Hearts, there may be plot spoilers, so be warned. For those who have (hopefully a lot of you), there should be a few surprises just the same.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters dont belong to me, they belong to Disney and Square. Same for Final Fantasy X and X-2, minus the Disney.
This will be a Riku/Rikku pairing. I've taken Riku from just before Kingdom Hearts 2, i.e., Sora is still in deep sleep. Because this is before KH2, the Gullwings appearance as fairies won't be happening. I've made a few other extremely small changes, such as the fact that Tidus and Wakka never got turned into 7 year olds by Square and dumped on Destiny Islands. Other than that, enjoy!
The sun spread its fingertips over the murky horizon, the light mingling with the dark before slowly pushing it away into nothing. The tendrils of gold creeped over the surface of the planet, revealing a deep, sapphire blue sea glinting beneath it. The light edged closer, and closer, and it reached an island. A small island, tropical, with a small, cosy village set in its heart, waterfalls tumbling down over pathways to meet the meandering river. This river journeyed what little length the island had to reach the beach, sprinkled with fine sand like icing on the most delicious cake you could ever find. This was Besaid.
Sand wasn't the only thing on the beach. Fishing and shipping equipment lined the grassy banks where forest merged onto the shore, and small huts dotted the area preceding the pier. There were people here, too. The Besaid Aurochs were training hard under the eye of their new captain and star player. While the athletes sweated, their 'coach' egged them on from the sidelines with his wife and child, and three girls watched the sunrise from the sand.
Rikku fidgeted as she looked at the natural beauty unravelling itself in front of her. She liked watching the sunrise, but watching every morning was tedious, to say the least. Rikku wore a simple yellow bra, some very short brown shorts, and had two yellow pouches strapped to a belt encircling her waist. Her arms were covered in thin white sleeves tied with several ribbons. A blue bandanna tied part of her blond hair, with a few braided locks hanging down. The rest of it was free to blow wildly in the wind, if there happened to be a wind. One of the most unusual things about her was her vibrantly green eyes with a swirl pattern, though this was becoming more common throughout Spira as Al Bhed were more accepted, for Rikku was an Al Bhed.
She glanced at two girls to her left. One had short, brown hair which had been braided into a long rattail, and donned a rather revealing no sleeve white top, which had a large, spiky black 'J' embedded into the stitching. The top was lined with pink lace at the bottom. She had navy pants and two belts, yellow and blue, onto which a blue and white half skirt was attached, covering her left leg, and both legs were covered with knee high boots. On her left wrist she had a blue armband, and a yellow one on her upper right arm. A 'T' shaped pendant hung around her neck. Her eyes were even stranger than Rikku's: one sapphire blue, the other emerald green with the swirl pattern. This was High Summoner Yuna, Rikku's cousin.
The other girl was unnervingly still as she watched the horizon. She had short, grey hair, Her clothes consisted mainly of black leather held together by various red and black straps, clips and belts. Her hands and feet were encased in elbow length leather gloves and knee high boots. Leather was this girl's specialty. On much of the leather, silver studs and rings shone red in the rising sun; a large silver cross was pinned onto the folds of leather over her chest, and she too had a silver pendant, though the symbol was not recognisable. She had the strangest eyes of all- red. This was Paine, by name if not by nature.
Yuna saw Rikku looking at her, and smiled before turning to laugh at antics of Tidus and the Aurochs. Tidus, who had returned not a month earlier, had dirty blond hair and aquamarine eyes. He wore a pendant around his neck with the same 'J' as on Yuna's stitching, but other than that he had a complete change of wardrobe. He was wearing a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, and sported a light brown jacket over the top. At first glance his blue jeans appeared normal, but on closer inspection they were made of slightly harder denim to act as guards. Even in this time of peace, one could not be too careful. Rikku couldn't help but think his outfit looked a bit ridiculous, but the good friendship he offered was worth his odd dress sense, and after all, he was the reason Yuna had been smiling so much lately.
Behind him, at the edge of the beach, stood Wakka and Lulu. Wakka had red hair that curved over his head, and he still wore the traditional yellow and black Aurochs uniform, despite being reduced to being their coach (which mainly involved yelling at Tidus from the sidelines). Next to him, Lulu stood stoically as ever, though a smirk was tugging at the corners of her mouth. Black hair, with four long braids trailing down her back. At first glance you would assume she was wearing a dark grey robe lined with fur at the neck and lace at the cuffs, but on closer inspection the front had been left open, but the gap was covered by an innumerable amount of belts. In her arms she cradled a young child, Vidina, who had red hair like Wakka.
Rikku turned around to face the sea again. She squirmed in sand, unable to sit still. Always the most bubbly of the group, when Yuna and Tidus had invited her and Paine to stay on Besaid for a while, she had been hoping for a bit more than waiting on the beach each morning. She wanted action!
She didn't have to wait long.
The water was dark. Out in the middle of the ocean it's like that naturally, but this was in the shallows, normally crystal clear. And it wasn't just dark- it was pitch black. It looked like a cloud of powder, like when sand is kicked in the shallows and it swirls in a dust storm. Was some strange substance being washed onto the shore?
Yuna and Paine had noticed it too, their hands straying towards guns and swords. As if in response to this, the dark water began to bubble and boil, but something told Rikku that it wasn't hot, it was deadly cold. She didn't know how, she just knew. The substance pooled out of the water and onto the sand, which began to shimmer and form into a strange shape.
The others had been alerted now. Wakka, Lulu and the Aurochs stood back, looking uneasy, while Tidus drew his blade, Brotherhood. Rikku reached down and unclasped her two knives from her belt, gripping them tightly. The shape was no longer odd and deformed, and was taking on a more recognisable form.
Something undoubtedly and disturbingly human.
This revelation was enough to stay the hands of the four warriors, and they watched as the person solidified out of the shadows. At first, all they could see was fairly long silvery hair that seemed to float above the pool of darkness. But as the pool receded, it became apparent the stranger was wearing a black trench coat with a hood, and wore gloves and boots. He was sprawled on the ground as if he had just been knocked around in a fight, and a bad one at that. Blood stained his hair and his cloak, suggesting he had several large gashes that were still bleeding. He was completely unconscious…dead, perhaps?
Suddenly, against her fighting instinct, Rikku was compelled to walk over and help them. She lowered her blades and cautiously stepped toward him.
"Careful," growled Paine. "It might be a trap." The Al Bhed ignored her, and bent down to feel for a pulse. She found it, but it was weak.
"He's alive- just" She told the others. "Come on, help with him, will ya?" She tugged at his sleeve, indicating she needed help to lift him.
"Are you crazy?" snorted Paine. "He just turned up in a load of dark energy- that's bad, really bad. How do we know he won't go psycho on us when he wakes up?"
Yuna frowned turned to the leather clad warrior. "So we're just gonna leave him here to die?"
"I never said-" she started, but was cut off by Tidus.
"I think we save judgement 'till later. Right now he needs our help, right?" Everyone nodded, even Paine, though somewhat reluctantly.
"You can take him to our hut," said Lulu. "We'll have room".
"Lu always keeps the first aid cupboard stocked, ya?" piped up Wakka. Vidina gurgled in what appeared to be agreement. As they all helped lift the enigmatic boy, Rikku noticed that his eyes were covered by a black blindfold. Had he been the victim of some kind of attack, where the enemy had blindfolded him and left him defenceless? Feeling a sudden chill that was nothing to do with the weather, Rikku felt a sudden urge to take the sick piece of cloth of the mans face, but again, against all instinct, a part of her told that she shouldn't. She didn't know how she knew that, she just did.
None of the others seemed to notice that the usually hyperactive Al Bhed was deathly silent the whole way to the village. Rikku looked at the stranger again, and turned her gaze to the creeping dawn.
Whoever you are, she thought. We'll help you.
Ok, you know the drill. That blue button is just waiting to be pressed!
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