Riku followed Mimi unusually silent up some more narrow stairs that she claimed led to the rooftop. He had no clue why he lifted her up from the stair, from what she’d said as they were walking, she often got stuck there, and he was sure even before that she could get out on her own. It puzzled him, why he was even following her, why he even bothered to ask where he could find her. It was all so bizarre! Maybe it was because she stood out so much. Her cheerful attitude and happy smiles seemed out of place in the gloomy atmosphere that surrounded him.
“So, how was your talk with Maleficent?” Mimi asked randomly as she forced open a door, the same heart crest adorning it’s front.
“Maleficent?”
“The witch that came earlier, the shrieking one,” Mimi described, closing the door behind them as the bright sunlight flooded their eyes.
“Ooo, right, her. Pssh! Hell if I give a rat’s rear end about her! She goes on about how she wants me to be happy and that she’ll help me find my friends…but I dunno…she seems kinda….” Riku trailed off, trying to think of the appropriate word that described her.
“Evil?” Mimi filled in for him, as she climbed a large ladder. She turned around and grinned. “Hope you’re not afraid of heights!” she jumped on top of the shingles.
“As if!” he smirked, jumping up onto the fifth step, and then jumping right next to Mimi.
“We made it time for the sunset!” Mimi said happily, her gaze becoming distant. Riku stretched out, lying down and staring at the lofty purple clouds just floating carelessly in the orange streaked sky. It was the same sky that he saw right before he left Destiny Islands, the last time he, Kairi, and Sora were together.
“Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Riku turned and stared curiously at Mimi. “It’s the only thing that’s kept me going these past few years in this God awful place…This place…Riku, it’s as cursed as the people and the shadows who reside in it. Once you…” Mimi paused, as if she was going to regret what she was going to say next, but still continued. “Once you find your friends, or find a way to find them, leave. You shouldn’t stay here any longer than you have to,” she said, fidgeting with her hands, Riku suddenly became baffled.
“Why? If it’s so awful, why haven’t you left?” he asked, getting up and staring right into her eyes. Mimi shook her head.
“You don’t understand, I have! Extensively! Too many times to count! But it seems…” Mimi trailed off, staring distantly at the receding sun. “It seems that I’m bound here against my better judgment. It’s simply a matter of that I can’t leave. And even if I did, where would I go? I don’t have anyone that cares about me to take me in if I did,” she stated sadly. Riku shifted his position, now worried and curious at the same time.
“You…you don’t have any family, or even friends?”
Sundown faded into the frothy twilight, glimpses of stars twinkling in vast sky. Mimi curled up into a tight ball, as if to hide from the darkness that was about to blanket her world.
“I don’t know. My memory…I can’t recall anything beyond two years ago. I’m just Maleficent tool to use as she wishes, I remember being sold off to her, or given to her, something like that.” Riku blinked and as tears welled behind her eyes, and despite her effort, streamed down her rosy cheeks as she buried her head in her knees and starting sobbing uncontrollably.
Riku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and lifted her head, “Come on now, we’ve only just met, I can’t have you crying on me,” he added with a playful smile, trying to lighten the mood, hoping he could cheer her up. It was then that she looked up at him, and the sight of her almost put Riku in tears. Whether she realized it or not, she had the appearance of a lost child, one that you just wanted to scoop up into your arms and hold tight. He wiped the tears from her delicate face, and smiled sadly. Mimi’s lips trembled, as she dove, clinging tightly to Riku, as if she was afraid to let go. Riku was taken back by this action, but came to a realization that he was probably the first person that heard her complaints, cared what she thought, the first person that feelings were confessed to.
And as twilight turned to night, and the purple clouds turned into a dark grey, he merely let her cry and offered a comforting hand.
It bewildered him how fragile her heart was, he felt as if all he had to do was touch it, and it would shatter into a thousand pieces.