Small note:In order to understand the symbolism in the story, one should know that "Sora" is the Japanese word for "heaven". "Kairi" means "sea" and "Riku" means "earth".

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The sun laughed out of the brightest blue the sky had to offer. The sea reflected the brilliant blue and made the spray flash as if it wanted to share in their joy. She also made the silver-haired boy blink at the sky, but he didn't return her beam.

Riku dropped his head again and dug his bare toes into the fine sand. Sometimes, when sky and sea cheered in such perfect harmony, he fled from the bright glare into the shadows of the rocks, but today he had faced the light. But he did not dare to face sky and sea completely alone and so he slowly sat down on the cooler ground, ran his fingers over it and let himself be soothed by the sand and earth.

I want to go down to the water. Will you help me?

He had always longed for the sea, for her blue, intelligent eyes, her playful cheerfulness, her curiosity and helpfulness. But she loved the wide, free sky, which bent over her in its carelessness, promising her everything that the cool earth could not give her.

A shadow flew over his face, but when he looked up he found no darkness, only her eyes, deep and blue as the sea. Kairi smiled at him and knelt beside him on the sand. A wave gently touched her feet and tried to lure the sand out from underneath, but it stayed where it was.

"I saw you left," she said softly, then giggled happily. "Sora is trying to show Wakka how long he can hold a ball in the air. Selphie and I haven't had that much laughing for a long time, but something was missing. That's why I was looking for you."

Riku stared motionless at the sand between his toes."I'm not much good at being a joker."

She laughed again. "If you only knew how many laughs we've had thanks to you," she teased.

He didn't react and with a sudden sense of guilt he saw the smile fade out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "There are days when I wonder how you can bear me at all. How you can look at me so happily without making me feel like you're thinking about the things I've done, about the darkness that I gave myself to . "His hands clasped helplessly on his knees. "Kairi, you almost died because of me! Because I gave in to Xehanort's heartless, because I wanted the power he promised me, he almost got your heart! I was so busy being better than Sora, you without him." to save that I almost destroyed everything that was ever important to me! That you survived is not even my merit, because without Sora I would have come to my senses much too late. With all this, how can I even dare to myself to call your friend ?! "

He pressed his lips together and waited for some reaction, but Kairi was silent. When he finally dared to raise his head, her face was very serious. She lowered her eyes as if she suddenly didn't dare look at him anymore.

At last she answered, but her voice was as flat as his had been before. "I've always feared you Riku. Even if I sometimes didn't want to admit it to myself, there was a gloom in you that scared me, very scared."

Riku closed his eyes. It was as if he were meeting again the illusion of Soras that Zexion had shown him. A friend who no longer wanted him. His greatest fear, which now spoke from Kairi's words and made him retreat inwardly.
But Kairi continued undeterred. "When we built our raft, this fear grew and even though I tried to keep laughing and being happy, it ate me up inside.When I didn't know what to do next, I asked Sora to go away with me and leave you behind. "

Riku had been convinced he knew what pain is, but when an iron hand was now around his heart, he wished the earth would open up and take him to itself. But suddenly he felt a small warm hand on his shoulder, soft and almost pleading and without knowing why he managed to look at her again.
Her deep, sea-blue eyes swam with tears. "That just wasn't the way you deal with a friend. A friend who had never met me with anything other than kindness. A friend who would go into the greatest darkness for Sora and me without hesitation. I would never be allowed to do it to you, because you, Riku, are one of the most loyal friends there is. I have no other excuse than my fear, but I beg you, can you forgive me? "

He stared at her for a long time. "I ..." he began, "should I forgive you? After all I've done wrong, do you ask me for forgiveness?"

"Yes," she said simply.

At that moment something broke in Riku that he had been dragging around with him for a long time, that had pushed him to the ground and hurt, and the sudden relief hurt so much that he sank on her shoulder with joy and exhaustion and was not ashamed when he did cried and laughed and she begged him to forgive.

Kairi just stroked his hair and even if he didn't see her smile, he finally found what he had been looking for for so long.

When they finally got up, Kairi's knees were red and full of sand, but she made no move to wipe him away. She smiled wider and winked at him as she turned and walked lightly down the beach.

"Are you finally coming?" she called back over her shoulder. "We can't miss Sora's greatest triumph!"

Riku started moving and sprinted after her.The sand splashed into the air behind his feet and reflected the sparkling light of the sun, which laughed down from the radiant sky on sea and earth.