User Profile

- Keybearer
- NOT a role-reversal so much as a what-if-- simply, if the Keyblade had chosen Riku. Yes, Sora worked for Maleficent, but his actions and intentions were a bit different, as were Riku's.
- Taken post-KH1 timeline
- Detailed info below.
- Info on other characters here.

Character: Riku
Series/Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Original or Alternate: AU

Age: 15
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Appearance: Riku is a somewhat tall, slightly muscular teenage boy whose most notable features include his silver hair, which reaches his shoulders, and turquoise eyes. He dresses in a sleeveless, yellow and black top, dark blue waders, strapped shoes, along with black wrist bands and half-gloves.

Personality: Riku tends to come across as sarcastic, laid back, and an all around ok person. He has an adventurous spirit, and he loves getting out there in exciting situations. At the same time, he’s come to appreciate the importance of those close to him, and also has developed a strong sense of right and wrong. If you’re close to him, he’d be the type to help out in a jiffy. However, get on his bad side, and you’ll regret it.

Abilities/Strengths: Riku is a fairly strong individual physically. He’s had plenty of practice when it comes to sparring and fighting with a sword, or, in his case, Keyblade. Strong and agile, Riku would be a fairly formidable opponent, though not invincible by any means.

His fighting style tends to be straight and to the point, typically offensive, though, if need be, he will take a more defensive tactic. However, he prefers to take down his enemy quick and easy. This, paired up with a few of the techniques he’s learned, such as throwing his weapon and having it rebound, or simply pulling some combos make his method of fighting useful.

Other than straight on fighting, Riku has also picked up a bit of magic along the way. A few examples include basic spells, such as fire, blizzard, and thunder, but also more obscure techniques, like gravity, reflect, and aero. The first four speak for themselves, though in the case of aero, a gust of wind is used in a defensive way. Added onto this is cure, which heals him when he’s to injured. None of these spells can be used constantly, though, and over time he’ll be unable to use magic until he recuperates a bit.

Weapons: Riku’s weapon of choice is a large key-shaped weapon with a golden handle and a silver point called the Keyblade. Its main purpose is no different from that of a sword; it’s a close range weapon that can pack a punch. Other than that, though, Riku’s magic is projected from the Keyblade as well.

Weaknesses: One of Riku’s greatest weaknesses is the fact that he comes across as uncertain. Though he had wished to leave his home and to taste adventure, after facing the heartless and seeing what other worlds are really like, he almost wishes that he wasn’t the chosen wielder at times. Along with that, he feels responsible for his best friend losing his heart, and there are moments when he is overwhelmed with guilt and questions his heroism.

Also, it’s important to note that he’s relatively gullible, though not as much as when he first left Destiny Islands. All the same, give him an offer he absolutely can’t refuse, and he may still pull through with it, even if the consequences are dire.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, even with his fighting skills, Riku is far from invincible. Everyone has stamina, and it’s very likely that, if Riku were to tire, defeating him would be a cinch. Also, at times, he can be hot headed enough in combat to not think things through, which would definitely hinder him greatly.


History: For all his life, Riku had lived in a world called Destiny Islands. There, he, along with his best friend Sora spent their early years together going on pretend adventures, perhaps fighting with wooden swords, and wondering what else was out there. For the longest time, he had always been looking towards the horizon, hoping to someday leave his island home and go on ‘real adventures’. However, for the longest time, such was nothing but a dream that would never come true. At least, until one faithful night in the middle of a meteor shower…

It was then that the girl, Kairi, arrived on the island. She was very strange in the sense that, for one, she was clearly from a place far from the islands, but also because she had no memories of her original home. This seemed strange to Riku, but also proof that maybe, just maybe, there were really other worlds out there, and so, given new determination, he, along with Sora and now Kairi, would begin to dream bigger, so to speak.

Fast forward about nine years or so, and that dream was finally starting to come into place, for Riku and his friends were preparing a simple raft that would hopefully take them to faraway places, and maybe even Kairi’s home. For three days they worked tirelessly, though it was mostly Riku who did the work, gathering supplies, putting together the raft, and getting ready to set sail. During that time, he and Sora would also compete via sparring, racing, and then spend evenings together, Kairi included, sitting along the paopu tree and gazing into the sunset.

Soon enough, the time to depart would come, but, more often than not, dreams don’t become a reality. Such is the case with the raft.

It all began when Riku overheard Sora and Kairi on the evening before the departure. Kairi had mentioned that Riku had 'changed'... and jokingly said that the two of them should take the raft...without Riku.

Riku was too infuriated to listen any longer, and in his frustration he went to the Secret Place... and it was there that everything went downhill.

In that cave he saw a drawing from years back of Sora and Kairi...and a paopu fruit sketched on. This was enough to convince him that something was up, and the presence of a mysterious cloaked man (whom he had seen once before) in the cave didn't help. He told Riku of how his friends had disowned him, and how the only way to leave his home was to open the door. It seemed impossible, as the door had no knob, but the man told Riku to focus, and when he did a strange Key-shaped weapon appeared and opened the door...

A most regrettable mistake, for as soon as the door opened, strange, black creatures emerged, and they began to spread across the island. To say the least, something was very wrong.

The unusual weapon disappeared, and Riku had no means of fighting. Outside the cave he could hear footsteps-- Sora was there, attempting to fight off the creatures with a wooden sword and failing miserably. The two argued at first-- Riku was convinced that he and Sora were against him, but it was resolved quickly enough for the two of them to split up in search of Kairi. Sora remained in roughly the same area, while Riku searched the other half of the island in vain.

When he returned he spotted Sora, who stood outside the secret place, panting. It seemed that neither of them had located Kairi, and they were back to where they had started... The two then went back inside the secret place-- perhaps they had overlooked Kairi, and they had. She stood there, appearing dazed, whispered Sora's name, then...fell and vanished.

There wasn't time to think of what had just occurred, as the two of them were suddenly thrust onto a floating chunk of the island where a large, black beast stood... which was oddly familiar to Riku.

He had fought such a beast in a dream, and during this moment of realization he managed to summon the Key-shaped weapon from before...the Keyblade. With it, he was able to defeat the monster, but then both he and Sora were thrust into the air...and became unconscious.

When Riku woke up he was no longer on the islands, but in a different world. And, of course, being in a different world, he naturally wanted to check it out.

For some time he wandered around, fighting more of the black creatures, until he stumbled upon a man wielding a rather strange sword. He attacked Riku, and both fought, though Riku came out victorious. He managed to escape from there, only to be attacked by a large, armored heartless, promptly fainting in the midst of a fight.

Upon awakening he found himself being watched by some strange girl in ninja-attire and the man from before, as well as two strange animals, Donald and Goofy. The man, Leon, and the girl, Yuffie, explained that he was a Keybearer, chosen to wield the Keyblade, and that the black creatures, heartless, would continue to attack him as long as he wielded the weapon. Donald and Goofy also spoke of their mission, and Riku's importance.

Needless to say, this newfound news wasn’t exactly pleasing to Riku. Rather than being able to explore this new world and perhaps locate Sora and Kairi, he now had a burden placed upon his shoulders. But, before he could think things through, the heartless appeared, and both Riku and Leon, along with Yuffie, Donald, and Goofy went outside to face them.

While Yuffie and Leon fought up above, Riku, Donald, and Goofy continued into the second district again where the armored heartless from before returned. After the fight, Riku asked for more information, such as what happened to his world, and more about Donald and Goofy's mission. They offered to take him with them, but at first Riku declined, having enough of any “hero business”, but when they mentioned that they could go to other worlds, Riku became interest enough to tolerate them, and perhaps he'd bump into Sora and Kairi on the way (note: it was a bit of an afterthought for Riku who, unlike Sora, wasn't quite as focused on them, but still wanted to find them on the way.)

This began an adventure which would allow Riku to see different worlds, but not necessarily in a positive light. Whether it was Wonderland or Olympus Coliseum, heartless were easy to spot, and it seemed that villains of sorts were planning something for their own advantages, plus, both of them seemed eager to locate some ‘King’. With each visit, Donald and Goofy had to remind Riku not to meddle, though he didn’t seem to care all that much doing things such as insulting the Queen of Hearts and stubbornly wanting to compete to compete. He just did what he saw fit, as they went along, essentially. and cared little for Donald and Goofy's goals. Along the way, the Keyblade served many a purpose, from opening doors, to sealing keyholes as well.

Soon enough, they returned to Traverse Town, where they met up with Sora, who was perfectly well and overjoyed to see Riku. When Riku asked where his friend had been, Sora simply stated that he had been rescued by a woman named Maleficent, and that he’d made some new friends. But…something wasn’t right, and before Riku could get any clearer answers, Sora ended up leaving.

So, once more Riku, Donald, and Goofy went across the worlds, facing more heartless, locking more keyholes, and facing more villains. Though with each step forward, Riku began to become more accustomed to his duties as Keybearer and even get used to Donald and Goofy and the idea of helping others, he still couldn’t help but wonder where Sora and Kairi after that last meeting, and who these so-called ‘friends’ were.

Eventually the trio's Gummi ship was attacked by heartless, causing it to make a crash landing. Where it landed, to be precise, was in a strange and spooky world called Halloween Town. Upon their arrival Donald had to quickly disguise the trio, and upon exiting they found themselves in the middle of the town square where Sora, of all people, seemed to be dancing with heartless alongside a talking skeleton. Riku's arrival caught him off guard, however, and the two had a brief conversation in which Sora spoke of his adventures and his new friends, begging Riku to join him, only for him to decline. If that's not bad enough, the two barely got to speak further, as Sora ran off yet again, muttering something about an "Oogie" and the world's Keyhole.

Later, as it turned out, one of the residents named Dr. Finkelstein was attempting to create an artificial heart to help the heartless dance alongside Jack Skellington, but the heart had mysteriously gone missing. Alongside Jack, Riku, Donald, and Goofy searched Halloween Town for the heart, encountering more heartless, as well as Lock, Shock, and Barrel...and eventually Sora. When Riku asked why he needed a faulty heart, Sora replied that Kairi had become a puppet and that the heart could maybe help her. Once again, he asked Riku to help, only for him to decline a second time, which caused him to scurry off to Oogie Boogie's manor.

With no choice, the group pursued Sora, Oogie, and the others, being faced by Lock, Shock, and Barrel again, and Oogie himself, who faced the heroes in a casino-type arena. After his defeat, he was weakened, but not down quite yet. He returned to Sora, demanding the heart, which he reluctantly gave to him, suddenly growing in size and fusing with his manor. After his defeat, the entire manor fell into ruin, but the heart was lost, but the world's Keyhole appeared. Shortly after sealing it, Riku, Donald, and Goofy departed, as did Sora, saddened by his loss.

-more info to be added later-

After meeting Sora in Halloween Town Riku started to rethink things a bit taking a bit more responsibility than he had before. After all, his previous endeavors hadn't exactly been as easy as he had hoped, and if Kairi was like a 'puppet', then that gave him a reason to shape up and find her.

So they went from world to world once more with a new morale, at least, until they were attacked by a strange pirate ship. There Riku was taken, and once more Sora showed himself, trying once more to ask Riku to help, and even going so far as to show off Kairi, who seemed to be in a deep sleep... a 'puppet' as Sora had said in Monstro. He told Riku how his new friends could help, but Riku told Sora that he’d picked the wrong sort of ‘friends’, and that they were misleading him. To this Sora frowned and turned away, and Riku was sent through a trap door, only to meet up with Donald and Goofy, along with a boy named Peter Pan.

Apparently Peter was looking for someone too, a girl named Wendy. With this in mind, he, along with Riku, Donald, and Goofy went through the ship trying to find both Wendy and Kairi (they even learned how to fly, but it took Riku and Donald a considerably long time to do so).

Though they did eventually find the two, Kairi was dragged away, and the room with Wendy locked, and when the group entered the cabin, it was empty... Sora had left.

Shortly afterwards they found Wendy unconscious. Here they left Peter, while Riku, Donald, and Goofy went outside, where Captain Hook awaited them. He told Riku of how Sora went off to a place called Hollow Bastion in a hurry, to which Riku retorted that he’d get there, but not until he finished Hook and co. After a fight with him, Riku and the others made their way back inside.

There Riku thought over all that had happened, how Sora had been tricked so easily, and even how he’d gone from wanting to leave his home from missing it more than ever. He wondered why Kairi was so lifeless, and what she would have thought of this. With a sigh, he stated that he would find Kairi and knock some sense back into his best friend.

After receiving the Navi-G Gummi Block from the clock tower, Riku, Donald, and Goofy all returned to Traverse Town, where they got the block installed on the ship.

When they had arrived at Hollow Bastion at long last, they ran into Sora again, who was staring at the ground, an injured beast near by. When Riku showed up, he asked why he had refused to help his own best friend, and questioned whether he even cared about Kairi. To this Riku told Sora that he cared, but that didn’t mean he was just gonna let Sora screw things up. The two ended up fighting, but, somehow, Riku became uncertain due to facing someone that close to him, and the Keyblade disappeared, gone. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to summon it.

Unsure of what to think, Sora simply ran off, dropping a wooden sword as he went, while Donald and Goofy tried to cheer him up. Instead of being in a brighter mood, Riku shrugged it off arrogantly, stating that they had to get to Sora for answers.

They ended up entering the castle, but Riku was unable to fight any heartless with his wooden sword. Instead, both Donald and Goofy, as well as the Beast, had to take care of things, as they went to find Sora.

Further into the castle they met up again, Sora trying one last time to tell Riku that he was doing what was right, and that he’d save Kairi, even if he didn’t help. Pulling out a strange, wing-shaped sword, Sora also noted that, although he didn't want to, he’d fight Riku again if that’s what it came to. Riku finally came to the resolve that he had no choice anymore, even if they were best friends, it didn’t matter, because Sora was misled, and that he'd have to 'knock some sense' into him. If it meant having to fight to prove a point, he’d do it, and it was then that he was able to use the Keyblade again.

And so Riku, Donald, and Goofy faced Sora and, with their combined determination, they won. Sora, realizing his defeat stopped and accepted that he’d lost, but even so, he wouldn’t listen to what Riku said about Maleficent and his other ‘friends’. Instead, he ran again.

Afterwards, the trio met Maleficent herself, who revealed that she had planned to pull the world into darkness, and they ended up fighting before Sora stepped into the room with a Keyblade of all things. Grinning, he tried to help Maleficent by stabbing her with the Dark Keyblade, but she ended up turning into a dragon and attacking everyone in the room, including Riku and himself. Terrified, he turned to Riku, admitting that he was right…

However, this time Sora didn’t run away. Instead, he stuck with Riku and his two friends and together they fought Maleficent and she was gone… It was then that Riku asked where Sora got the Keyblade, which he replied that he got it from a strange man who told him that it would save Kairi.

He also explained what Maleficent had made him do, and how he kept on hearing and seeing Kairi at times when she wasn't really there... which made him wonder if her heart was inside him.

Needless to say, Riku was speechless. He was stuck in a situation where, no matter what, one of his friends would lose their heart. The two of them wandered into the next room, Donald and Goofy opting to let the two speak to without intrusion, and there lay Kairi's body, lifeless. Sora handed the Dark Keyblade to Riku, but he couldn’t do it. Sora then said that there was no choice, and that he’d willingly sacrifice himself to bring Kairi back. When Riku finally agreed, he and Sora had one final rematch, for old time's sake, and, though he didn't tell Sora, he let him win said fight. On a bittersweet note Sora then took the Dark Keyblade, apologized for being an idiot, gave one last grin, and freed Kairi's heart.

Though Kairi woke up, the reunion was short lived, as a man named Ansem appeared, stating that he had tried to use Sora as a vessel, but because of Kairi’s pure heart, he had been unsuccessful and instead used him as a pawn. He also thanked Riku for allowing the Keyhole to be opened, for the world would now be swallowed into the dark.

With the incoming heartless, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy all ran as far as they could, until they had escaped to Traverse Town.

Unfortunately it was impossible to return to Hollow Bastion due to the amount of heartless, thus the Gummi Ship had to be modified once again. Agreeing to this, the now foursome left to keep themselves occupied until the ship was ready.

It was there that Kairi and Riku spoke privately about all that had happened. Riku sighed, now feeling discontent after what Sora had done and almost wanting to stop being a hero, but Kairi told him that he had to go on for the sake of others. To boost his spirits, she gave Riku her good luck charm and said that, no matter what happened, she’d, at least, believe in him. She also said that they should all get going, and although Riku at first said she shouldn’t come until he finally gave in, figuring that protecting her would be better than just leaving her alone.

And so they reached Hollow Bastion and sealed the Keyhole before reaching the final world before the end of their journey, a place where all the worlds swallowed by darkness had went. It was here that Riku, Donald, and Goofy would battle several heartless, while keeping Kairi safe, until they reached what appeared to be Destiny Islands, only…it was starting to disappear.

And in the midst of it all was Ansem, who taunted Riku about Sora, and how, in the end, his friend was lost to darkness, even though it was he who had opened the door, inevitably causing Sora to lose himself. Though at first he was uncertain, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy all reminded Riku that it couldn’t be helped, and that he’d done so much, and with his inspiration regained, they faced Ansem, beating him several times before he dragged them all into a place called the Endless Abyss.

This was the last time they faced Ansem, now attached to a large, heartless ship. Though this was a tough battle, in the end, they came out victorious, and, as Ansem attempted to open Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds, only to be burned up by the warm light within. The battle was done, and now the final Keyhole could be sealed…or so it seemed.

Riku, along with Donald and Goofy, and Kairi as well approached the door, ready to close it, when out of the blue, King Mickey, the one whom Donald and Goofy had been searching for, appeared, along with many heartless. They all tried to close the door with all their might, while Mickey faced the heartless inside, but in the end, it was no use, and they were all sent off, only to reappear in a grassy place called the crossroads. There they wandered for some time, until it was night, and they all fell asleep.

That night, they were confronted by a man in red, who spoke of a great danger, and how the worlds were slowly being swallowed by the darkness, all due to the fact that Kingdom Hearts remained open. Though it took some persuasion before the entire group believed, they eventually accepted this, and the man, DiZ, took them in, to a place known as Twilight Town, where he further informed them of the situation. Things explained included the state of affairs in other worlds, the fact that King Mickey had mysteriously gone missing, and how a new threat, the Organization, was on the rise. In addition to this, they were given a new Gummi Ship and a new mission indeed; they would need to stop Organization XIII at all costs.

To do this, though, they would need to prepare. Kairi was now with them, and she would need to learn how to defend herself in order to keep up. What’s more, the King would have to be found, the heartless stopped, as well as the Organization. And to make matters worse, there was a lack of trust, for when Riku and the others paid a visit to Hollow Bastion, not only did they find the place packed with heartless itself, but the people, even their former allies, treated them as enemies. In order to prove themselves, it took Kairi’s persuasion as well as the defeat of several heartless, but soon after, a strange boy in a black cloak appeared.

Riku confronted this boy, who had an uncanny resemblance to Sora. He spoke as if he knew Riku, and even seemed wary, but before anything else could be done, Riku suddenly felt an immense pain and was knocked down. Donald, Goofy, and Kairi rushed to help, but found themselves blocked by barriers, and now, standing in front of the boy was… an exact lookalike of Riku, wielding the Kingdom Key as if it were his own.

Before a fight could commence, though, Riku found himself back in the dressing room..

Friends (0)

Also Friend of (161):