Title: The Lost One
Pairing: SoraxRiku (that's if for now)
Warnings: Violence, flashbacks
AN: this sucker's been driving me bonkers for a while. It's rated M because it's going to get a little darker later.
The boy scrambled along the rocky terrain, gasping when he turned his ankle over. It hurt, but he ignored it. If he stopped now...
He kept moving, wincing every time he put weight on his hurt limb. His hand grasped his shoulder, cut from an earlier fight. It throbbed, he also ignored it.
His head snapped to attention. In the distance he could hear the approaching sound of hoof beats. His pursuers were coming up on him, and fast. He sped up. He turned around a rocky alcove.
It was a dead end. A cliff dropped to the stormy ocean below.
He spun around just as several horse and riders came down the same pathway. The leader stared at him coldly.
"Where is it?" The boy smiled.
"Hidden, thoroughly. You'll never find it."
"Don't try my patience. Tell me where it is, and you'll die painlessly." The boy backed up, shaking his head. There was no other way.
"She died to protect us. Now, I'll do the same." Before anyone could stop him, the boy flung himself over the cliff edge.
Sora sat up, rubbing at his head. The same dream. It was always the same dream. He sighed, and flung the covers off of himself. He never saw the kid's face, but couldn't help get the feeling he had met him somewhere before. The brunet shook his head, and wandered to the kitchen. His parents had to leave to go to a conference earlier in the morning. The teen found a note explaining they had left money for his lunch and that they loved him very much. He smiled despite himself. That was definitely his mom. Checking the clock, Sora saw that he had about fifteen minutes until the bus came. Quickly changing into some clean clothes, he grabbed his bag and ran out the door. He saw his friend Tidus waiting for him and went to join him.
"I thought for minute you weren't coming. What took you so long?"
"Sorry, man. I had that dream again last night." The blond frowned at him, concerned.
"Really? Hey, maybe you should talk to someone about this." Sora gave him a look. He raised his hands in surrender. "It's just a suggestion." The bus pulled up to their stop. For some reason, Sora glanced back at his house. Maybe if he had known, he would have taken a harder look. It would be a while before he saw it again.
Radiant Gardens High School was a rather large building. In the middle of it all, there was a big courtyard used by students as a place to hang out, eat lunch, finish up on homework, or in Sora's case, waiting until their friend decided to come back from getting food. Sora glanced around impatiently. Tidus was taking such a friggen long time. Finally, he caught a glance of his friend and grinned. Of course, he was
talking to Yuna. The pretty girl was holding out a paper, leaning in close. Tidus was trying to remain cool and calm while pointing something out. The brunet teen sighed, wishing those two would just get over themselves and get together. Tidus came back over, a lovesick expression on his face. Sora rolled his eyes and flicked him in the nose. The blond came down from his cloud and glared at his friend.
"Going to get food, hmm?" Tidus blushed brilliantly, muttering at Sora. The brunet laughed, eyes going around the courtyard. His eyes caught on three kids he knew he had never seen before. A tall redhead, a shorter blond, and a silver haired kid. A brown haired adult came over to them, and spoke to them. Tidus followed his line of sight and said,
"So those are the visiting people." Laughing slightly at the confused look on Sora's face, he elbowed him. "Weren't listening were you? Anyways, there visiting from some fancy prep school." Sora nodded, barely hearing. Was it his imagination, or did all the visitors attention just focus on him?
First period, history. Usually, he liked it and had no problem paying attention. But, he felt unusually...restless. He flipped through his textbook, hoping to find some story to absorb himself into. The teacher droned on.
"...the remaining survivors came back, disoriented and confused. The claimed their boat had been sunk by a great beast. They called it, The Ramigin." Sora flipped his page and felt a shiver go up his spine. The picture was of a hulking beast. A pair of narrowed yellow eyes stuck out. Pincers stuck out at random intervals on the body. A whip-like tail protruded from the back. Even if it wasn't real, Sora turned the page quickly. He lost himself in the teacher's droning lecture. Until, there was a knock at the door. The decrepit woman opened it. There stood the people from this morning. The brunet adult had a scar across his face. Sora wondered where a teacher got a mark like that.
"I am sorry to interrupt, Mrs...?"
"Simmons. And it is Ms. now." Sora rolled his eyes at the subtle flirtation in the teachers tone. Sora rolled his eyes. She was ancient. If the man gave any indication that he heard that, he ignored it.
"I am Mr. Leonhart. These are my students." The three teens shuffled in. "We are just going around on a tour of your school." His grey eyes scanned over the assembled people. His eyes lingered on Sora for a moment longer than anyone else. The look in them was sharp. The others seemed to pick up on this. Sora resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Ha ha ha, let's all make fun of the scrawny kid. He was used to it by now. He put his eyes back to his book, ignoring them. Finally, the door opened again. Though he wanted to ignore them, something made him put his head up. He met hard, jade eyes. The silver haired teen raised an eyebrow, smiled, and then left. The brunet shook his head. He wasn't often he disliked someone before even knowing their name.
As soon as the group was out of sight, the "teacher" rounded on the others.
"It's him."
"We know that Leon." The redhead spoke. "But how do you want to go about this? It's not like we can just drag him away. There are rules."
"As much as I hate to say this, Axel's right. Plus, he has no idea who he is." The silver haired one spoke.
"Thanks Riku." Axel said sarcastically. Leon sighed.
"Well, just keep an eye out. We're not the only ones who are interested in him." The all nodded and wandered down the hall. Axel fell back to the silent blond.
"He looks little like you, eh Roxas?" Roxas fixed with a stare, and made a non-committal noise. The redhead smirked and caught up with everyone else, leaving Roxas alone to think.
The rest of Sora's morning went by smoothly. The arrogant strangers soon left his mind and he was able to focus on his school work. Sooner than expected, the lunch bell rang and the brunet teen walked to his locker. Tidus was there, looking uncomfortable. Sora held up his hand,
"Let me guess, Yuna asked you to sit with her at lunch." The blond boy nodded, grateful that Sora had read him correctly.
"Is that okay?" Sora smiled at him, laughing a little bit.
"Of course, it's okay. I find something else to do." Tidus looked a little guilty.
"You could come sit with us, you know." The brunet shook his head, waving his friend off.
"It's fine, really. Now go." Tidus nodded, and ran down the hall. Sora laughed and grabbed the things he would need for his afternoon classes. Tidus really liked that girl, and he didn't want to intrude on the two. He had other friends he could sit with, but didn't feel like talking to anyone today. Besides, he had some things he could finish up on.
The hall to the library was, unsurprisingly, abandoned. With the weather being so nice, everyone took advantage of it by spending all their time outside. Sora walked down the hall, humming softly to himself. The lights above his head started to flicker. He frowned up at them, stopping. Then, all of the lights went out, plunging the hall into darkness. Sora glanced around, trying to get his eyes used to the darkness. What had happened? Behind him came a scuttling noise. He spun around, but there was nothing there. The teen moved down the hall, there was a dim light coming from one of the classrooms. The noise came again, accompanied by a soft growl. He spun around again, panic making his breathing quicken.
"Look, if someone's playing a joke, you got me okay? This isn't funny anymore." There was no response. Sora continued to back up, eyes focused on the darkness. There was a creepy silence. Then, something slowly emerged. Sora's eyes widened in horror.
This was what a monster looked like. It was at least three feet taller than Sora was. A scraggly mane of hair hung down over its face, obscuring its features save for one green eye that peered out. A snout protruded out, quivering in different directions, sniffing. Its chest was barrel shaped, the skin mottled gray. It had thick tree stump legs and arms, ropy muscles evident. In one hand it clutched a large club. Its head swung around, landing in Sora's direction. With an inhuman roar, it charged at him, club raised in the air. The noise jarred Sora out of his stupor. He flattened himself against the wall, narrowly avoiding the swing at his head. He nearly gagged at the stench that permeated the air. It was as like bad eggs and Tidus's gym locker combined. Keeping as close to the wall, he moved quickly. The thing looked confusedly around, trying to find Sora. It caught his scent again, and charged after him again. Sora exploded into a run. He panted with exertion and terror. He flung himself at a pair of doors, yanking at the handles. It was locked. Sora spun around, watching helplessly as the monster bore down on him, roaring. He closed his eyes, a sob clawing up at his throat. Then, all the noise stopped. Sora cracked open one eye. The beast stood still, the source of inactivity clear. A sword protruded from the chest. It fell down. Sora's eyes widened when he saw who stood there. The silver haired boy from before smiled grimly at him.
"That was fun." Sora just stared at him. "Are you okay?" Still, Sora didn't say anything. He approached the brunet cautiously. In distance, footsteps approached. The others appeared out of the gloom. The blond regarded the dead monster with a bored air, as if he had seen something like that before. The red head grinned,
"Hey! You found him, Riku." The teenager, Riku, nodded and gently grabbed Sora's arm. The brunet was feeling dizzy all of a sudden. He was hyper-aware of a sharp, but small, pain in his arm. He found a small object and pulled. A small needle came out. He held it up, frowning. The assembled group gasped in alarm. He felt heat creeping up now, making him even more lightheaded. He swayed, coloured spots appearing in his eyes.
"I think its poison." Sora felt like the statement should mean something, but he was focusing on just standing. Then, a fiery pain raced up his spine. He collapsed. Blackness edged along his vision. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw were concerned green eyes staring down at him.
A pretty auburn haired girl nervously fiddled with a pendant around her neck. Could she really go through with this? A boy her age entered the room.
"You summoned me, my lady?" She turned, giving him a false smile.
"Yes. I need your help." He stared at her, confused. Then realization struck. Tears fell from his eyes.
"My lady...you...you cannot do this. There must be another way!" She shook her head.
"There is no other way..." The boy interrupted.
"But you'll die!" Silence reigned in the small room.
"Yes, yes I will." She smiled again, wiping the tears that had fallen down her pretty cheeks. "But countless more will die if I don't do this." She focused on the boy. "I trust you more than anyone. Will you hide if for me?" The boy hesistated, torn between the order he was given and the sense of friendship he had with this girl. He nodded, tears coming to his own eyes.
"I'll prepare the necessary spells, my lady." She nodded, taking a steadying breath.
"Thank you."
Three guesses who the unnamed people are in the flashbacks/dreams. Cookies to anyone who gets it right. (Although I kind of made it obvious.) As always, reviews are appreciated.