Well, this is what I've come up with. I suppose it could be considered
Alternate Universe, perhaps. But it actually takes place at the time of the
secret ending. The city they are in is the place that was shown in the
secret ending, but really, the plot is nothing like suggested, really. Just
whatever I felt like writing. Yaoi warning, tho I can't say how much,
really.
This is for Three Wings, who got the 199th hit at my site.
Enjoy.
"We've looked all over, and still nothing," complained Sora. He sighed and leaned against a brick wall. "I still don't know what this place is, or why it's here."
"There has to be a reason," muttered Riku. His long silver hair shone in the moonlight, and he had closed his green eyes to think clearly. "There has to be a reason why we're here."
"I thought we would stay on the island for good," Sora said, sighing. "Where's Kairi, by the way?"
"She'll be along soon, I'm sure," Riku replied, opening his eyes and looking around. "She knows how to protect herself against the heartless."
"Yes, but . . . . . . " Sora trailed off.
"If you're really worried, you can go look for her," Riku said.
"I think I will if she's not back in, oh, an hour, I guess."
There was a pause. And then, Sora said tentatively, "Riku, I want you to know something."
"Yeah?"
Sora paused again, trying to get the right words. "If, if I ever need your help, I want to know that I can trust in you to help me. Sometimes, I worry that - that I'll need help and there will be no one to help me."
Riku nodded, "Of course Sora." Although his words sounded lighthearted, he was promising fervently in his heart that he would always protect Sora.
"If I ever need help here, I'll go to the open area in the middle of the city, ok?" Sora said finally, "So that if you know I need help, you can help me, ok?"
"Of course. Don't worry, Sora."
The two walking into the hotel, and stood in silence in their room. They had only enough munny for one room, but luckily, it had two beds. The room itself was bare, a beige room with cream. The curtains were pulled back, and the rain was pouring outside.
"It always rains here," commented Sora after a very long pause. "I wonder why."
"Probably just the rainy season."
"No, seriously. . . when it rains, I think it's the heavens crying for us. . . I think something bad is going to happen."
The door banged open. "Oh, Sora, you worry too much!" Kairi said cheerfully as she stepped into the room. Her red hair was longer now, and she had grown taller. Now she wore purple shorts and a white tank top with a purple duster.
"Well, you don't worry enough," retorted Sora. He was wearing dark jeans and a yellow t-shirt. His hair had stayed the same, more or less.
"Don't bother arguing, lets just get some sleep," called out Riku.
Kairi and Sora nodded. "Another day, and still nothing," sighed Sora, as he moved to lie down in the bed he shared with Riku.
"Something has to happen soon."
"True."
The three of them all closed their eyes and tried to fall asleep. It took some time, but soon all three of them, even Riku, was asleep.
~~~
"Where are we?"
"I don't know!"
"You should know!"
"Well, I don't!"
The girl with long brown hair sighed, "Squall, you *should* know!"
"Well, Yuffie, I don't."
"Guys, don't fight now, we have to figure out why we're here," said the blonde-haired man. Next to him, the figure in all black with silver hair nodded.
"That's what I'm TRYING to do Cloud!" Yuffie said angrily. Cloud shrugged.
The silver-haired man spoke up, "It's late. Perhaps we should get some sleep now, and try to figure this out in the morning."
"How can you tell? This bloody rain has been going on the entire time we've been here, and I don't even know where we are!"
"Yuffie, calm down."
"I don't want to!"
"You're acting like a child."
"Am not!" But Yuffie quieted down, nonetheless, and the group began looking for a hotel.
~~~
Early next morning, Sora woke up. Kairi was asleep, and amazingly, Riku was too. Sora smiled. They both looked so peaceful sleeping. 'Then again, doesn't everyone?' he thought briefly, changing out the clothes he wore to sleep into another pair of dark jeans and a red t-shirt.
The sun still wasn't out, but the rain had let up some.
Sora took a minute to reflect. They had been here for three weeks now; they had all woken up to find themselves in this gloomy world. It was a very dark gloomy world, and there seemed to be very few people. The hotel they were in, for instance, had ten rooms, and only six of them were occupied.
Each day, they went out to find something, anything, that could clue them in to why they were here. Each day, they found nothing. Except heartless.
But most of all, Sora noticed that Riku and Kairi were always trying to get him to pay attention to them. Kairi, it was blatantly obvious sometimes, but Riku. it was harder to tell, but Sora was pretty sure that's what the silver-haired boy was trying to do.
'If only I could decide . . . '
A few weeks after they all united at Destiny Islands, Sora had noticed Kairi and Riku were acting a bit different. Then, one day, they both came up to him and simply asked him who he liked best.
Sora remembered he had said to them, "I like both of you guys. . .equally. . . "
"There has to be one you like. . . more," Kairi had pressed on.
Sora had shaken his head. He couldn't choose, not then.
Back in present time, Sora shook his head. He still couldn't choose, not now. Kairi was really beautiful now, with her just-past-the-shoulder-length auburn-red hair, and curious eyes that saw everything. Riku, however, was stunning. His silver hair was about the same length, perhaps a bit longer now, and his green eyes shone with an excitement you could feel any time he entered a room.
It wasn't that Riku was a guy that made Sora not able to choose, it wasn't the fact that he was trying to play hard-to-get, it was the fact he didn't want to ruin his friendship with either of them, and to say he liked the other. . . well, that was grounds for losing one of them.
"Hey Sora. Ready to do some exploring today?" Riku got off the bed, and stretched. He had on no shirt, Sora noticed, and he looked really good. Thin and lithe, with muscles well-defined, but not overly huge. There was an aura of strength about him.
Sora turned to the window to keep from staring, "Yeah. . . and maybe it'll stop raining today; the rain looks lighter."
"Huh! It does," Kairi said, sitting up. She had just woken up in time to here Sora's last comment. "I really hope it does stop raining; it's so depressing!"
"What's the plans for today, Riku?" Sora asked as he turned back to the other two.
"Well, I figured we've gotten through the town well enough." Indeed, the three of them had drawn an incredibly detailed map of the town, but still . . . there did not seem to be anything outside of the town, just endless gray mush. "I thought . . . maybe we're not the only ones here. I mean, from different worlds. Maybe . . . maybe someone else we know is here . . ."
"That would be like finding a needle in a haystack!" exclaimed Kairi.
However, Sora said, "Maybe . . . maybe you're right, Riku. I think we should try. Maybe . . . go to the other hotels or something. There's only, like, two others, right? And I doubt anyone we know would already have bought somewhere to live or something like that . . ."
"Exactly. Come on, let's get going!" In his excitement, Riku put on his boots and was about to run out the door when -
"Dude! Put a shirt on first!" Sora threw him a dark green shirt, "Much as I enjoy seeing you half-naked . . . "
Riku grinned, and rolled his eyes jokingly.
~~~
Yuffie tied her hair back in a loose ponytail, and turned to Sephiroth, Cloud and Squall. "So," she said, "What's on the agenda for today?"
"Actually, this hotel has a library . . . we thought we'd check out some books today," said Squall.
"Great, reading," Yuffie rolled her eyes. "But it could be worse, why not?" She followed the others down to the small library.
~~~
Sora sighed, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head to protect himself from the rain. It hadn't let up anymore, really, but he figured it wouldn't.
Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it.
"No, not anyone there," Riku announced. The man at the counter had looked at him funnily, but after some 'negotiations' let them look at who was there.
"Well, that's two down, one to go," said Kairi, "I bet we could get this done before lunch!"
"Yeah. Hey, I saw a restaurant down the road that we could try out maybe." Sora said as the group set out to go to the last hotel.
"This rain is really annoying," said Riku, and they went into the last hotel.
~~~
Conveniently, the library was in plain sight of the lobby. Sora glanced over, and caught a glimpse of silver hair.
"S-sephiroth?"
Sephiroth turned as he heard his name, instinctively. "Wh- who- Sora?!"
This, of course, produced one of those long chain reactions; "It's really you. . . how'd you guys get here . . . why. . . wow you look so different. . . "
"How long have you been here?"
"Three weeks. And you guys?"
"This is only our second day."
"Wonder why we're all here."
"There has to be some reason."
"I want to find out!"
"Why don't we go upstairs to our room to talk this stuff over," Squall suggested, in his usual calm way.
And so, they trekked up the stairs into the room. This room had pale green walls, with cream trim, which looked slightly better than the hotel Sora and Riku and Kairi were staying in. There were also three beds, which made Sora suspect it was a bit more expensive too.
"So, we've been here three weeks; we haven't found anything really; we have very little munny; am I missing anything?" Sora recapped events as fast as he could. "There has been heartless, but they're really only around the edges of the city. They're rather strong, but not that bad. People here generally are quiet and there's not much activity."
"Yeah, that about covers it," Riku nodded.
"We just got here," Yuffie said, "And we're looking through old books in hopes of finding anything related to why we're here. . . I dunno about you guys, but I want to go HOME!"
"Hmm, maybe we should go back to the library downstairs and start looking," suggest Kairi.
"We have to pay rent for the hotel in three hours," Riku reminded her, "We need to go fight some heartless to get the munny, so we'd better go soon."
"Ah, stay with us!" Yuffie shouted, "The more, the merrier. Plus, we've got way more than enough munny to last us!"
Sora, who could do basic math, could tell there was no way seven people could fit in a room with three beds, "No, we'd be imposing."
"We'll bring up cots if need be," growled Yuffie, "You'd better just say yes."
"Yeah, you'd best agree with her," added Cloud, "She never gives up."
"Stubborn as a mule, she is," Sephiroth said.
Yuffie glared at them, but smiled at Sora, "They're right. Just say yes."
Sora turned to Kairi and Riku. "Well?"
"Oh . . . I'd rather like that," Kairi said, "My bed at our hotel is so lumpy!"
Riku nodded his approval. "Okay," Sora said.
"Great," said Yuffie, and then turned to the room. "Hmmm, we'll get up a cot, and you guys can take turns sleeping on it."
"I'll share with Sora," Riku said, trying not to sound too eager. Sora nodded his approval.
"I suppose Cloud and I could share the other bed if you do not mind a cot, Squall?" Sephiroth added.
Squall thought about it a minute. In truth, he suspected it would be best if he slept on the cot. "Yeah, I'll sleep on the cot." He was very observant; he could tell the four other guys defiantly wanted to sleep in the same bed as who they were, even if they didn't realize it.
"Let's go to the library now," Yuffie said then, and the group went downstairs.
~~~
"Bloody hell," grumbled Yuffie one hour later, "I can't find anything."
"This is rather discouraging," agreed Kairi, "I haven't found ANYTHING either."
"Heh, I found something that says why it rains all the time," Riku said.
"Ohh, really?" Sora asked excitedly.
"Yeah," Riku replied, looking over the article, "But it really doesn't make sense."
"Oh?"
"It's a myth," explained Riku. He showed the story to Sora, who began reading over it eagerly.
"Oh!" suddenly Cloud's voice cut through the gloom of the small library, "I think I found something."
Instantly, of course, everyone was crowded around him, looking to see what Cloud had found.
" 'I've been in this place for a month, and I've noticed the weirdest things' " Cloud read from the book, " 'It seems that there are gathering spots for these amazing creatures, that I can't understand. These meeting places are usually gathered at once a week, particularly on the days when the rain is the hardest.' "
"Wait, who wrote that?" asked Sephiroth.
"Hmmm, I don't know," Cloud skimmed over the article, "This seems to be written about two years ago, according to this date. 'When these creatures gather, amazing energy is produced; I can feel it in the air. I do not know why, but it intrigues me to find out.' "
"This had better not be Ansem all over again!" complained Yuffie.
"No, I don't think it is. Let's see," Cloud skimmed some more, "Here, he continues, 'I have finally found something out, something worth knowing. These creatures hold a key to getting back to where I came from. But I do not know why; I must find out.' "
"Ah, this is great. He just keeps telling us he wants to find more stuff out." Kairi sighed.
"Well, anything else, worth of interest?"
"Umm," Cloud looked over the entries one last time. "Ah, the last one says, 'I can now go back to my world, but I think I shall stay here. If anyone else comes upon this, and needs to know how to get back to their worlds, I shall always be here, I shall never leave.
'You will find me where sun and shadow play together in the rain. Do not look too hard; the answer is right in front of you. I apologize for the riddle, but I can't have everyone looking for me.
'Now, answer me this; Why do you look for me? I hold answers. You just need to ask.' "
"Wow."
Sephiroth sighed, "Well, besides being totally cryptic, what do you think it means?"
There was a big of confusion as everyone began talking at once.
"It means we have to start looking."
"Great, what fun."
"Better get your cloaks; the rain got harder overnight."
"I wonder if this is one of those 'gathering' nights that guy was talking about."
"Maybe we can check it out later."
"I just want to get back HOME!"
As Yuffie shouted out the last sentence, everyone turned to look at her.
"Thank you!" she said, "Now, shall we start looking?"
After running upstairs quickly to get their cloaks, everyone was ready.
"Ok, Sora, what should we do?" Yuffie asked the minute they were outside.
'Yeah, sure, make me do this,' thought Sora, but in truth, he didn't mind TOO much. He thought, however, that Riku would have made a better leader but that wasn't important right now. "Ok . . . let's see. . . first, let's go by the hotel we were staying at to drop off our key, get our stuff and our map."
"Yeah, our map could be really helpful," Riku told everyone, "We've got every freaking building in this town, plus alleyways, streets, etc."
"Wow, you guys must have had a lot of free time on your hands!"
"Yeah, try every minute of the day for three weeks."
Getting to the hotel was easy enough, but it was trying to read the map that was the hard part as the rain was so hard, they couldn't bring out the map lest they risk ruining it.
"There, let's go to that restaurant," Kairi pointed out, "We can eat and look at the map."
"Sounds like a good idea," came the general agreement.
They sat down in the small restaurant, in a large corner booth. Sora sat down next to Riku, and pulled out the map.
"Do you suppose he's referring to an alley or something? Perhaps a hidden place?" Sora pondered. He and Riku were talking together while everyone else discussed what they would have to eat.
"Well, what gets me is that he says 'don't look too hard.' I'm guessing that means that we really don't have to look too hard, that the answer is somewhere where most people would just pass it by." Riku said, slowly considering what he just said.
"What was that other thing he said . . . 'sun and shadow play' or something, right?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, something like that."
Riku and Sora pondered over the map the entire meal, but didn't find anything until they were just about finished with their meal.
"Oh!" Sora nearly choked on the water he was drinking as he pointed to one neatly drawn, neatly labeled building on the map (which, by the way, Riku neatly drew and Kairi neatly labeled).
"What is it?" Yuffie asked excitedly while Riku looked where Sora was pointing.
"Of course!" Riku said, "The Sun And Shadow Bookstore. That is SO obvious."
"I feel like an idiot for not realizing before," Sora muttered, "We must have passed that place only about a million times."
"That could be it, that really could," Kairi said, eyes shining with excitement, "Let's go, right now!"
Sephiroth and Cloud quickly got out some munny and paid for the bill, and then rushed off to catch up with the others.
Sprinting through the rain, they came across the Sun And Shadow Bookstore. It wasn't very big, nor was it very bright inside, but everyone was sure THIS was the building they needed to go to.
Riku stepped into the bookstore. Inside, there were about ten shelves of books, and the room was a bit more bright than expected. The walls were a dark rose color, and contrasted nicely with the wine colored carpet. Plush rose and wine colored armchairs were scattered around the room, and there was a desk in the very middle.
He went directly up to the desk. "Excuse me," Riku called loudly, "But is there anyone here?"
There was some shuffling, and by the time the entire group had gotten to the desk, a man had come out of the back of the store. He was tall and thin, but it was hard to tell completely. He had black hair, which was about as long as Riku's hair, and wore all black, with a red cape.
'Must be a vampire,' Yuffie giggled to herself.
"Yes, do you need help?" The man asked. He had a quiet voice, and it was very deep.
Riku paused a minute. How to best phrase this? 'Ah, screw it,' Riku thought, and said, quite frankly, "We were told you could help us get back to our own worlds."
The man paused a moment, but said quickly, "Ah, yes. You need my help. Yes, I can help, but it might take some time."
"We've got all the time in the world."
"Ok. My name is Vincent, by the way."
"I'm Riku. This is Sora, and Kairi, and Yuffie, and Sephiroth, and Cloud and Squall."
"Wait," said Vincent, turning to Sora, "You said your name is Sora?"
"Ummm, yeah, that's my name." Sora said, confused. Was there something bad about his name?
"Wow, the legend . . . is true." Vincent said slowly.
"What legend?"
"Come on, come on, let's hurry to the back, I have to show you the others." Vincent motioned for them to follow, and disappeared into the back.
Sora shrugged, and followed him. The rest of the group was right behind him. The back room was also quite dark, but Vincent quickly turned on some lights. "Ok, guys, come on!" he called, but not to Sora and his group. A minute later, two other guys came out.
One was a tall man with light butterscotch colored hair, and piercing green eyes. The other had blonde hair, and wore a white trench coat.
Squalls mouth dropped. "Irvine?" He turned to the person in the white trench coat, and his mouth dropped even more. "Seifer??"
"Wait, you know these people?"
~~~
Half an hour later, Squall and Seifer and Irvine had finally gotten caught up on what happened.
"So, when our world was destroyed we were scattered. . . wow. . . I thought I'd never see you again Squall," Seifer said.
"I've missed you guys," Squall agreed.
"Hey Squall, do you remember Rinoa?"
"Oh, that girl. . . she was so clingy. . . "
"Oh? We thought you guys were like, destined, to be married or something."
"Nah, she's not my type."
At this point, Vincent cut in, "Why don't you three get caught up in the shop, and I'll explain the other stuff to these guys. We'll combine what we get and see what we can come up with."
Seifer and Irvine nodded, and brought Squall to the store.
"Ok, well," began Vincent once they were gone, "I'm not sure if you've read any legends or myths about this world, but there is one about why it rains all the time. . . "
"I read a bit about that," cut in Riku. "But I didn't understand it."
"Ah, well, still, that'll help." Vincent paused, "Let's see. . . "
"Why is Sora so important, by the way?" Kairi asked.
"Give me a minute; I'll get to it," Vincent said. "OK, long time ago, a man came to this world, and his name was Ansem."
"Ansem! He's been destroyed though; I killed him with the help of Kingdom Hearts!" Sora exclaimed.
"No, this is before that," Vincent said. "Anyway, when Ansem came, he studied the heartless here, and took on an assistant. I was chosen. He and I would study the heartless for days on end, and then one day, he made a discovery. As long as there are heartless here, it will continue to rain."
"Oh. . . the legend I read didn't mention that," Riku said, "All it said, really, was that rain was a constant punishment for something."
"Well, some people think that the rain is punishment. But Ansem knew it was the heartless. And when there was a lot of them, the rain would get harder, and when there weren't that many of them, the rain slowed, but it would never stop," Vincent paused for a minute.
"But if Kingdom Hearts is sealed, why do the heartless still come?"
"On his last day here," Vincent replied, "Ansem told me that this world was connected in a special way, and if anyone ever killed him, they would be strong enough to disconnect it, so that the heartless would go away."
"And I defeated Ansem, so I should be able to close the door?"
Vincent nodded.
Sora's eyes were wide, but even wider when Vincent pulled out two swords and gave them to him.
~~~
"I still can't believe. . . out of all places. . . I'd find you guys here. . . " Squall said.
"I can't believe you're here. So who are the people you're traveling with?"
"Well, the two girls are Kairi - that's the one with red hair - and Yuffie - the one with brown hair. Then there is Sora, the brown haired guy, Cloud, who has the spiky yellow hair, Riku, who has the short silver hair, and Sephiroth, who has the long silver hair."
"Ah." Irvine said.
"So," asked Seifer out of the blue, "If you didn't like Rinoa, who DID you like?"
At this, Squall actually blushed a little, and said nothing.
"Come on, you can tell us."
~~~
"Where'd these swords . . . come from?" asked Sora as he held them, one in either hand. One was rather intricately shaped, with hearts intertwining to form a blade, and the other was simple an amazing sword.
"Ansem left me a letter, attached to these swords. He instructed me to not open them until a year after he was gone. So I didn't. Then a year passed, and while cleaning up the store, I came across the package again. I opened the letter, and he had written, 'I hope this has been a year or I shall be highly disappointed. I want you to know, that one day, I will not return, I will not be myself again. I can tell the day grows close. I feel sometimes like I am a heartless. These swords are to be given to he who defeats me, if I am ever defeated.' "
Everyone paused a minute, to absorb the facts.
"These blades . . . are amazing."
""Use them to fight the heartless, I guess," Vincent said, "I'm sorry, but that's all I know. You just have to deconnect this world from the darkness, and you'll be free to leave"
Sora pondered this. "This could take awhile."
"Probably not," Vincent said, pointing to a window. The rain was coming down rather hard. "They're starting to gather tonight."
Which reminded Sephiroth of something. "When we read your reports, it said you knew how to get home, but chose not to."
Vincent paused. "I do know how to get back to my home, but I didn't want to at the time. And later, I realized that until this world was deconnected, I wouldn't be able to."
"Tonight, we'll find out what to do," promised Sora.
"No, they gather completely in the morning, earliest light. I suggest you sleep, and come back here when you're ready. If you don't mind, I'd rather like to come."
"Yeah," Sora promised. "We'll leave in a bit."
~~~
"Tell us," Seifer continued on, relentless.
"No, you'd laugh," countered Squall.
"No way, I promise I won't laugh."
Squall considered. "No."
"Just tell us," said Irvine, "And we'll tell you!"
"Don't you like Selphie?"
"I used to, but not anymore."
"Oh."
"So tell us."
Squall shook his head, and glared at them. Sensing they would indeed not give up, he sighed. "Immliknyu." He said incredibly quietly.
"What was that?" Asked Seifer, leaning in to hear better.
"Immliken," repeated Squall, a touch louder.
"Just tell us," said Irvine, a little impatient.
"I like Seifer," sighed Squall.
Seifer blinked. Once. Twice. "Heh, well, isn't that something. Guess who I like Squall?"
"Nnn?" Said Squall quietly.
"You."
~~~
Sora was trying out a feel slashing moves with the blades. He felt as if he had used them all his life.
"This is so amazing," He said.
Riku nodded. He pulled out his blade, and Sora and him began a sparring match.
Kairi turned to Yuffie, "Those are cool, aren't they?"
"Yeah." Yuffie looked out the window. The rain was steadily getting worse. "I hope they're not just cool, but that they work too."
Sephiroth, was also watching, but talking to Cloud. "This is amazing," Sephiroth said. Cloud nodded.
"Do you suppose, though, that Sora is good enough?"
"Well, we'll have to hope so, and go with him."
~~~
"You seriously. . . you're serious, aren't you?" Squall muttered, looking down. Seifer gently lifted Squalls head to force Squall to see him.
"I'm very serious Squall." Seifer gently kissed the brunette, and, cautiously, Squall kissed him back.
The kiss deepened, and Squall didn't realize what Irvine was doing until he felt his pants being pulled down.
"Ah!" he said, jumping back a little.
"eh heh, forgot to mention I like you too Squall, is that ok?" Irvine grinned, looking foolish, and, Squall had to admit, gorgeous.
"No. . . no, I don't mind," Squall said after a minute, and this time, he began kissing Seifer, deepening it this time, while Irvine resumed doing what he had been before.
~~~
About half an hour of fighting later, Sora nodded to Riku, and they both withdrew their blades. "Stalemate?" called out Sora, grinning. It was good to know that Riku still hadn't lost any of his talent with swords.
"Agreed," replied Riku, pleased to see that Sora had improved with his sword techniques as well. He hadn't had such a good time in years! (Well, if you didn't count the play fights on the islands that happened after Riku came back from behind the door).
"I see you can fight well, both of you," Vincent said, "That is good. You should probably go and get some sleep now, as we must be up early tomorrow." He turned to go to the front of the store; "I'll go get Squall for you."
~~~
Of course, not many things disturb Vincent, and walking in to see three naked guys on the floor of your bookstore did not disturb him either. "Better clean up Squall; your group is getting ready to leave."
Squall paused and then blushed, but had no time to think of much else as Irvine began kissing him again.
~~~
About forty-five minutes later, Sora and company were heading back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep before confronting the heartless.
"I would have never guessed we'd have met those three this morning when I woke up," commented Sephiroth.
"The rain is really hard," Kairi said nervously, "If that's true about what Vincent said, there's going to be a lot of heartless. . . it's never rained this much before."
"We'll be fine," said Sora, trying to sound comforting. He felt the weight of the two blades sheathed at his waist and actually felt quite secure for once.
They reached the hotel in about five minutes. It was raining harder.
~~~
After discussing possible strategy, they went to bed. It was eight and they set their alarms for 12:30 am.
At midnight, exactly, Sora woke up. Briefly, he wondered why he woke up before the alarm yet again, and got dressed. When he turned around, he saw both Kairi and Riku looking at him.
"Umm, yeah guys? Why ya up so early too? Couldn't sleep? I could," Sora said.
"Choose, Sora," whispered Kairi, "Because soon you're going to have to, and I want to know."
"Do you choose me or her, Sora?" Riku echoed Kairi's thoughts. "You're going to have to choose, why not now?"
"But. . . but. . . I don't want to choose, not now!" The words came out of Sora's mouth before he could stop them.
"You have to choose," Riku and Kairi said in unison. Sora shook his head, desperately. 'I can't choose,' he thought, 'not now, not now, it's too early. . . there's too many things. . . '
"I can't, alright! I'm sorry, but not now!" Sora jumped up and ran out the door.
"Oh shit," muttered Riku, quickly pulling on his boots, "Sora can't go out there alone, not now."
Kairi glanced out the window; the rain was coming down extremely hard. "Sora's going to get hurt!" She said, eyes widening. "You go Riku, and I'll get the others."
Just like that, they began working together to protect the one they loved.
Riku nodded, and ran out the door, catching glimpse of a fleeting figure. He charged after it, rain in his face, but he barely noticed.
'I have to get to Sora before he gets hurt,' Riku thought to himself, darting through alleys and jumping over the heartless.
He realized that he had lost sight of Sora. But then he remembered what Sora had said - 'If I ever need help here, I'll go to the open area in the middle of the city, ok? So that if you know I need help, you can help me, ok?'
Riku knew what to do. He ran as fast as he could towards the middle of the city. Although the rain was blinding him, it was also slowly settling down, but Riku didn't pay attention to why it would.
Throwing off his cloak, which just hindered his movement, Riku dashed into the building in the middle of the square, and began running up the stairs. The building was a TV station, and luckily, everyone had gone home for the night. Riku ran up the stairs as fast as he could.
'It'll be all my fault if he's hurt, I should have tried to force him, but he IS going to have to pick someday, and. . . ' Riku thought as he steadily ran up the stairs. Clunk, clunk, clunk. What if he was too late? What if he couldn't protect Sora?
He opened the final door, and found himself on the roof of the building, high enough he could see the entire square.
Sora wasn't in sight.
For a minute, Riku panicked. But then - he saw him.
With his cloak on, hood pulled up against the rain, Sora walked into the square, at ease, as if he knew Riku was there.
'Sora!' Riku thought, 'I'm here.'
Sora gave no indication of Riku's presence - yet. He walked into the very middle of the square, and then paused, looking as if he was about to look up.
And then heartless starting climbing out of the ground, many, many of them, all surrounding Sora. Riku watched, holding his breath, as Sora pulled out his two blades, and spun them, getting into a fighting stance.
'You can't take them all on at once!' thought Riku, "Sora!" he screamed loudly.
He turned his head to the sky, and then, power was rushing throughout him - the remnants of the darkness. Suddenly, the clouds parted, and a few rays of morning light shone through.
Riku poured his concentration and the last of the darkness in him into one thing - helping Sora.
Sora watched, amazed, as the ground around him began to shake slightly. A large heart became etched in the ground around him, and then he understood.
The heartless all disappeared.
"Riku," said Sora, looking up.
"Sora," acknowledged Riku, looking down at Sora. The rain had nearly stopped.
"I pick you, Riku."
Riku stared.
"You came when I needed help. I pick you."
Riku still stared.
"I know I can trust you, I pick you Riku, I pick you."
Riku closed his eyes, only hearing on thing in his head. 'I pick you, Riku.'
This is for Three Wings, who got the 199th hit at my site.
Enjoy.
"We've looked all over, and still nothing," complained Sora. He sighed and leaned against a brick wall. "I still don't know what this place is, or why it's here."
"There has to be a reason," muttered Riku. His long silver hair shone in the moonlight, and he had closed his green eyes to think clearly. "There has to be a reason why we're here."
"I thought we would stay on the island for good," Sora said, sighing. "Where's Kairi, by the way?"
"She'll be along soon, I'm sure," Riku replied, opening his eyes and looking around. "She knows how to protect herself against the heartless."
"Yes, but . . . . . . " Sora trailed off.
"If you're really worried, you can go look for her," Riku said.
"I think I will if she's not back in, oh, an hour, I guess."
There was a pause. And then, Sora said tentatively, "Riku, I want you to know something."
"Yeah?"
Sora paused again, trying to get the right words. "If, if I ever need your help, I want to know that I can trust in you to help me. Sometimes, I worry that - that I'll need help and there will be no one to help me."
Riku nodded, "Of course Sora." Although his words sounded lighthearted, he was promising fervently in his heart that he would always protect Sora.
"If I ever need help here, I'll go to the open area in the middle of the city, ok?" Sora said finally, "So that if you know I need help, you can help me, ok?"
"Of course. Don't worry, Sora."
The two walking into the hotel, and stood in silence in their room. They had only enough munny for one room, but luckily, it had two beds. The room itself was bare, a beige room with cream. The curtains were pulled back, and the rain was pouring outside.
"It always rains here," commented Sora after a very long pause. "I wonder why."
"Probably just the rainy season."
"No, seriously. . . when it rains, I think it's the heavens crying for us. . . I think something bad is going to happen."
The door banged open. "Oh, Sora, you worry too much!" Kairi said cheerfully as she stepped into the room. Her red hair was longer now, and she had grown taller. Now she wore purple shorts and a white tank top with a purple duster.
"Well, you don't worry enough," retorted Sora. He was wearing dark jeans and a yellow t-shirt. His hair had stayed the same, more or less.
"Don't bother arguing, lets just get some sleep," called out Riku.
Kairi and Sora nodded. "Another day, and still nothing," sighed Sora, as he moved to lie down in the bed he shared with Riku.
"Something has to happen soon."
"True."
The three of them all closed their eyes and tried to fall asleep. It took some time, but soon all three of them, even Riku, was asleep.
~~~
"Where are we?"
"I don't know!"
"You should know!"
"Well, I don't!"
The girl with long brown hair sighed, "Squall, you *should* know!"
"Well, Yuffie, I don't."
"Guys, don't fight now, we have to figure out why we're here," said the blonde-haired man. Next to him, the figure in all black with silver hair nodded.
"That's what I'm TRYING to do Cloud!" Yuffie said angrily. Cloud shrugged.
The silver-haired man spoke up, "It's late. Perhaps we should get some sleep now, and try to figure this out in the morning."
"How can you tell? This bloody rain has been going on the entire time we've been here, and I don't even know where we are!"
"Yuffie, calm down."
"I don't want to!"
"You're acting like a child."
"Am not!" But Yuffie quieted down, nonetheless, and the group began looking for a hotel.
~~~
Early next morning, Sora woke up. Kairi was asleep, and amazingly, Riku was too. Sora smiled. They both looked so peaceful sleeping. 'Then again, doesn't everyone?' he thought briefly, changing out the clothes he wore to sleep into another pair of dark jeans and a red t-shirt.
The sun still wasn't out, but the rain had let up some.
Sora took a minute to reflect. They had been here for three weeks now; they had all woken up to find themselves in this gloomy world. It was a very dark gloomy world, and there seemed to be very few people. The hotel they were in, for instance, had ten rooms, and only six of them were occupied.
Each day, they went out to find something, anything, that could clue them in to why they were here. Each day, they found nothing. Except heartless.
But most of all, Sora noticed that Riku and Kairi were always trying to get him to pay attention to them. Kairi, it was blatantly obvious sometimes, but Riku. it was harder to tell, but Sora was pretty sure that's what the silver-haired boy was trying to do.
'If only I could decide . . . '
A few weeks after they all united at Destiny Islands, Sora had noticed Kairi and Riku were acting a bit different. Then, one day, they both came up to him and simply asked him who he liked best.
Sora remembered he had said to them, "I like both of you guys. . .equally. . . "
"There has to be one you like. . . more," Kairi had pressed on.
Sora had shaken his head. He couldn't choose, not then.
Back in present time, Sora shook his head. He still couldn't choose, not now. Kairi was really beautiful now, with her just-past-the-shoulder-length auburn-red hair, and curious eyes that saw everything. Riku, however, was stunning. His silver hair was about the same length, perhaps a bit longer now, and his green eyes shone with an excitement you could feel any time he entered a room.
It wasn't that Riku was a guy that made Sora not able to choose, it wasn't the fact that he was trying to play hard-to-get, it was the fact he didn't want to ruin his friendship with either of them, and to say he liked the other. . . well, that was grounds for losing one of them.
"Hey Sora. Ready to do some exploring today?" Riku got off the bed, and stretched. He had on no shirt, Sora noticed, and he looked really good. Thin and lithe, with muscles well-defined, but not overly huge. There was an aura of strength about him.
Sora turned to the window to keep from staring, "Yeah. . . and maybe it'll stop raining today; the rain looks lighter."
"Huh! It does," Kairi said, sitting up. She had just woken up in time to here Sora's last comment. "I really hope it does stop raining; it's so depressing!"
"What's the plans for today, Riku?" Sora asked as he turned back to the other two.
"Well, I figured we've gotten through the town well enough." Indeed, the three of them had drawn an incredibly detailed map of the town, but still . . . there did not seem to be anything outside of the town, just endless gray mush. "I thought . . . maybe we're not the only ones here. I mean, from different worlds. Maybe . . . maybe someone else we know is here . . ."
"That would be like finding a needle in a haystack!" exclaimed Kairi.
However, Sora said, "Maybe . . . maybe you're right, Riku. I think we should try. Maybe . . . go to the other hotels or something. There's only, like, two others, right? And I doubt anyone we know would already have bought somewhere to live or something like that . . ."
"Exactly. Come on, let's get going!" In his excitement, Riku put on his boots and was about to run out the door when -
"Dude! Put a shirt on first!" Sora threw him a dark green shirt, "Much as I enjoy seeing you half-naked . . . "
Riku grinned, and rolled his eyes jokingly.
~~~
Yuffie tied her hair back in a loose ponytail, and turned to Sephiroth, Cloud and Squall. "So," she said, "What's on the agenda for today?"
"Actually, this hotel has a library . . . we thought we'd check out some books today," said Squall.
"Great, reading," Yuffie rolled her eyes. "But it could be worse, why not?" She followed the others down to the small library.
~~~
Sora sighed, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head to protect himself from the rain. It hadn't let up anymore, really, but he figured it wouldn't.
Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it.
"No, not anyone there," Riku announced. The man at the counter had looked at him funnily, but after some 'negotiations' let them look at who was there.
"Well, that's two down, one to go," said Kairi, "I bet we could get this done before lunch!"
"Yeah. Hey, I saw a restaurant down the road that we could try out maybe." Sora said as the group set out to go to the last hotel.
"This rain is really annoying," said Riku, and they went into the last hotel.
~~~
Conveniently, the library was in plain sight of the lobby. Sora glanced over, and caught a glimpse of silver hair.
"S-sephiroth?"
Sephiroth turned as he heard his name, instinctively. "Wh- who- Sora?!"
This, of course, produced one of those long chain reactions; "It's really you. . . how'd you guys get here . . . why. . . wow you look so different. . . "
"How long have you been here?"
"Three weeks. And you guys?"
"This is only our second day."
"Wonder why we're all here."
"There has to be some reason."
"I want to find out!"
"Why don't we go upstairs to our room to talk this stuff over," Squall suggested, in his usual calm way.
And so, they trekked up the stairs into the room. This room had pale green walls, with cream trim, which looked slightly better than the hotel Sora and Riku and Kairi were staying in. There were also three beds, which made Sora suspect it was a bit more expensive too.
"So, we've been here three weeks; we haven't found anything really; we have very little munny; am I missing anything?" Sora recapped events as fast as he could. "There has been heartless, but they're really only around the edges of the city. They're rather strong, but not that bad. People here generally are quiet and there's not much activity."
"Yeah, that about covers it," Riku nodded.
"We just got here," Yuffie said, "And we're looking through old books in hopes of finding anything related to why we're here. . . I dunno about you guys, but I want to go HOME!"
"Hmm, maybe we should go back to the library downstairs and start looking," suggest Kairi.
"We have to pay rent for the hotel in three hours," Riku reminded her, "We need to go fight some heartless to get the munny, so we'd better go soon."
"Ah, stay with us!" Yuffie shouted, "The more, the merrier. Plus, we've got way more than enough munny to last us!"
Sora, who could do basic math, could tell there was no way seven people could fit in a room with three beds, "No, we'd be imposing."
"We'll bring up cots if need be," growled Yuffie, "You'd better just say yes."
"Yeah, you'd best agree with her," added Cloud, "She never gives up."
"Stubborn as a mule, she is," Sephiroth said.
Yuffie glared at them, but smiled at Sora, "They're right. Just say yes."
Sora turned to Kairi and Riku. "Well?"
"Oh . . . I'd rather like that," Kairi said, "My bed at our hotel is so lumpy!"
Riku nodded his approval. "Okay," Sora said.
"Great," said Yuffie, and then turned to the room. "Hmmm, we'll get up a cot, and you guys can take turns sleeping on it."
"I'll share with Sora," Riku said, trying not to sound too eager. Sora nodded his approval.
"I suppose Cloud and I could share the other bed if you do not mind a cot, Squall?" Sephiroth added.
Squall thought about it a minute. In truth, he suspected it would be best if he slept on the cot. "Yeah, I'll sleep on the cot." He was very observant; he could tell the four other guys defiantly wanted to sleep in the same bed as who they were, even if they didn't realize it.
"Let's go to the library now," Yuffie said then, and the group went downstairs.
~~~
"Bloody hell," grumbled Yuffie one hour later, "I can't find anything."
"This is rather discouraging," agreed Kairi, "I haven't found ANYTHING either."
"Heh, I found something that says why it rains all the time," Riku said.
"Ohh, really?" Sora asked excitedly.
"Yeah," Riku replied, looking over the article, "But it really doesn't make sense."
"Oh?"
"It's a myth," explained Riku. He showed the story to Sora, who began reading over it eagerly.
"Oh!" suddenly Cloud's voice cut through the gloom of the small library, "I think I found something."
Instantly, of course, everyone was crowded around him, looking to see what Cloud had found.
" 'I've been in this place for a month, and I've noticed the weirdest things' " Cloud read from the book, " 'It seems that there are gathering spots for these amazing creatures, that I can't understand. These meeting places are usually gathered at once a week, particularly on the days when the rain is the hardest.' "
"Wait, who wrote that?" asked Sephiroth.
"Hmmm, I don't know," Cloud skimmed over the article, "This seems to be written about two years ago, according to this date. 'When these creatures gather, amazing energy is produced; I can feel it in the air. I do not know why, but it intrigues me to find out.' "
"This had better not be Ansem all over again!" complained Yuffie.
"No, I don't think it is. Let's see," Cloud skimmed some more, "Here, he continues, 'I have finally found something out, something worth knowing. These creatures hold a key to getting back to where I came from. But I do not know why; I must find out.' "
"Ah, this is great. He just keeps telling us he wants to find more stuff out." Kairi sighed.
"Well, anything else, worth of interest?"
"Umm," Cloud looked over the entries one last time. "Ah, the last one says, 'I can now go back to my world, but I think I shall stay here. If anyone else comes upon this, and needs to know how to get back to their worlds, I shall always be here, I shall never leave.
'You will find me where sun and shadow play together in the rain. Do not look too hard; the answer is right in front of you. I apologize for the riddle, but I can't have everyone looking for me.
'Now, answer me this; Why do you look for me? I hold answers. You just need to ask.' "
"Wow."
Sephiroth sighed, "Well, besides being totally cryptic, what do you think it means?"
There was a big of confusion as everyone began talking at once.
"It means we have to start looking."
"Great, what fun."
"Better get your cloaks; the rain got harder overnight."
"I wonder if this is one of those 'gathering' nights that guy was talking about."
"Maybe we can check it out later."
"I just want to get back HOME!"
As Yuffie shouted out the last sentence, everyone turned to look at her.
"Thank you!" she said, "Now, shall we start looking?"
After running upstairs quickly to get their cloaks, everyone was ready.
"Ok, Sora, what should we do?" Yuffie asked the minute they were outside.
'Yeah, sure, make me do this,' thought Sora, but in truth, he didn't mind TOO much. He thought, however, that Riku would have made a better leader but that wasn't important right now. "Ok . . . let's see. . . first, let's go by the hotel we were staying at to drop off our key, get our stuff and our map."
"Yeah, our map could be really helpful," Riku told everyone, "We've got every freaking building in this town, plus alleyways, streets, etc."
"Wow, you guys must have had a lot of free time on your hands!"
"Yeah, try every minute of the day for three weeks."
Getting to the hotel was easy enough, but it was trying to read the map that was the hard part as the rain was so hard, they couldn't bring out the map lest they risk ruining it.
"There, let's go to that restaurant," Kairi pointed out, "We can eat and look at the map."
"Sounds like a good idea," came the general agreement.
They sat down in the small restaurant, in a large corner booth. Sora sat down next to Riku, and pulled out the map.
"Do you suppose he's referring to an alley or something? Perhaps a hidden place?" Sora pondered. He and Riku were talking together while everyone else discussed what they would have to eat.
"Well, what gets me is that he says 'don't look too hard.' I'm guessing that means that we really don't have to look too hard, that the answer is somewhere where most people would just pass it by." Riku said, slowly considering what he just said.
"What was that other thing he said . . . 'sun and shadow play' or something, right?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, something like that."
Riku and Sora pondered over the map the entire meal, but didn't find anything until they were just about finished with their meal.
"Oh!" Sora nearly choked on the water he was drinking as he pointed to one neatly drawn, neatly labeled building on the map (which, by the way, Riku neatly drew and Kairi neatly labeled).
"What is it?" Yuffie asked excitedly while Riku looked where Sora was pointing.
"Of course!" Riku said, "The Sun And Shadow Bookstore. That is SO obvious."
"I feel like an idiot for not realizing before," Sora muttered, "We must have passed that place only about a million times."
"That could be it, that really could," Kairi said, eyes shining with excitement, "Let's go, right now!"
Sephiroth and Cloud quickly got out some munny and paid for the bill, and then rushed off to catch up with the others.
Sprinting through the rain, they came across the Sun And Shadow Bookstore. It wasn't very big, nor was it very bright inside, but everyone was sure THIS was the building they needed to go to.
Riku stepped into the bookstore. Inside, there were about ten shelves of books, and the room was a bit more bright than expected. The walls were a dark rose color, and contrasted nicely with the wine colored carpet. Plush rose and wine colored armchairs were scattered around the room, and there was a desk in the very middle.
He went directly up to the desk. "Excuse me," Riku called loudly, "But is there anyone here?"
There was some shuffling, and by the time the entire group had gotten to the desk, a man had come out of the back of the store. He was tall and thin, but it was hard to tell completely. He had black hair, which was about as long as Riku's hair, and wore all black, with a red cape.
'Must be a vampire,' Yuffie giggled to herself.
"Yes, do you need help?" The man asked. He had a quiet voice, and it was very deep.
Riku paused a minute. How to best phrase this? 'Ah, screw it,' Riku thought, and said, quite frankly, "We were told you could help us get back to our own worlds."
The man paused a moment, but said quickly, "Ah, yes. You need my help. Yes, I can help, but it might take some time."
"We've got all the time in the world."
"Ok. My name is Vincent, by the way."
"I'm Riku. This is Sora, and Kairi, and Yuffie, and Sephiroth, and Cloud and Squall."
"Wait," said Vincent, turning to Sora, "You said your name is Sora?"
"Ummm, yeah, that's my name." Sora said, confused. Was there something bad about his name?
"Wow, the legend . . . is true." Vincent said slowly.
"What legend?"
"Come on, come on, let's hurry to the back, I have to show you the others." Vincent motioned for them to follow, and disappeared into the back.
Sora shrugged, and followed him. The rest of the group was right behind him. The back room was also quite dark, but Vincent quickly turned on some lights. "Ok, guys, come on!" he called, but not to Sora and his group. A minute later, two other guys came out.
One was a tall man with light butterscotch colored hair, and piercing green eyes. The other had blonde hair, and wore a white trench coat.
Squalls mouth dropped. "Irvine?" He turned to the person in the white trench coat, and his mouth dropped even more. "Seifer??"
"Wait, you know these people?"
~~~
Half an hour later, Squall and Seifer and Irvine had finally gotten caught up on what happened.
"So, when our world was destroyed we were scattered. . . wow. . . I thought I'd never see you again Squall," Seifer said.
"I've missed you guys," Squall agreed.
"Hey Squall, do you remember Rinoa?"
"Oh, that girl. . . she was so clingy. . . "
"Oh? We thought you guys were like, destined, to be married or something."
"Nah, she's not my type."
At this point, Vincent cut in, "Why don't you three get caught up in the shop, and I'll explain the other stuff to these guys. We'll combine what we get and see what we can come up with."
Seifer and Irvine nodded, and brought Squall to the store.
"Ok, well," began Vincent once they were gone, "I'm not sure if you've read any legends or myths about this world, but there is one about why it rains all the time. . . "
"I read a bit about that," cut in Riku. "But I didn't understand it."
"Ah, well, still, that'll help." Vincent paused, "Let's see. . . "
"Why is Sora so important, by the way?" Kairi asked.
"Give me a minute; I'll get to it," Vincent said. "OK, long time ago, a man came to this world, and his name was Ansem."
"Ansem! He's been destroyed though; I killed him with the help of Kingdom Hearts!" Sora exclaimed.
"No, this is before that," Vincent said. "Anyway, when Ansem came, he studied the heartless here, and took on an assistant. I was chosen. He and I would study the heartless for days on end, and then one day, he made a discovery. As long as there are heartless here, it will continue to rain."
"Oh. . . the legend I read didn't mention that," Riku said, "All it said, really, was that rain was a constant punishment for something."
"Well, some people think that the rain is punishment. But Ansem knew it was the heartless. And when there was a lot of them, the rain would get harder, and when there weren't that many of them, the rain slowed, but it would never stop," Vincent paused for a minute.
"But if Kingdom Hearts is sealed, why do the heartless still come?"
"On his last day here," Vincent replied, "Ansem told me that this world was connected in a special way, and if anyone ever killed him, they would be strong enough to disconnect it, so that the heartless would go away."
"And I defeated Ansem, so I should be able to close the door?"
Vincent nodded.
Sora's eyes were wide, but even wider when Vincent pulled out two swords and gave them to him.
~~~
"I still can't believe. . . out of all places. . . I'd find you guys here. . . " Squall said.
"I can't believe you're here. So who are the people you're traveling with?"
"Well, the two girls are Kairi - that's the one with red hair - and Yuffie - the one with brown hair. Then there is Sora, the brown haired guy, Cloud, who has the spiky yellow hair, Riku, who has the short silver hair, and Sephiroth, who has the long silver hair."
"Ah." Irvine said.
"So," asked Seifer out of the blue, "If you didn't like Rinoa, who DID you like?"
At this, Squall actually blushed a little, and said nothing.
"Come on, you can tell us."
~~~
"Where'd these swords . . . come from?" asked Sora as he held them, one in either hand. One was rather intricately shaped, with hearts intertwining to form a blade, and the other was simple an amazing sword.
"Ansem left me a letter, attached to these swords. He instructed me to not open them until a year after he was gone. So I didn't. Then a year passed, and while cleaning up the store, I came across the package again. I opened the letter, and he had written, 'I hope this has been a year or I shall be highly disappointed. I want you to know, that one day, I will not return, I will not be myself again. I can tell the day grows close. I feel sometimes like I am a heartless. These swords are to be given to he who defeats me, if I am ever defeated.' "
Everyone paused a minute, to absorb the facts.
"These blades . . . are amazing."
""Use them to fight the heartless, I guess," Vincent said, "I'm sorry, but that's all I know. You just have to deconnect this world from the darkness, and you'll be free to leave"
Sora pondered this. "This could take awhile."
"Probably not," Vincent said, pointing to a window. The rain was coming down rather hard. "They're starting to gather tonight."
Which reminded Sephiroth of something. "When we read your reports, it said you knew how to get home, but chose not to."
Vincent paused. "I do know how to get back to my home, but I didn't want to at the time. And later, I realized that until this world was deconnected, I wouldn't be able to."
"Tonight, we'll find out what to do," promised Sora.
"No, they gather completely in the morning, earliest light. I suggest you sleep, and come back here when you're ready. If you don't mind, I'd rather like to come."
"Yeah," Sora promised. "We'll leave in a bit."
~~~
"Tell us," Seifer continued on, relentless.
"No, you'd laugh," countered Squall.
"No way, I promise I won't laugh."
Squall considered. "No."
"Just tell us," said Irvine, "And we'll tell you!"
"Don't you like Selphie?"
"I used to, but not anymore."
"Oh."
"So tell us."
Squall shook his head, and glared at them. Sensing they would indeed not give up, he sighed. "Immliknyu." He said incredibly quietly.
"What was that?" Asked Seifer, leaning in to hear better.
"Immliken," repeated Squall, a touch louder.
"Just tell us," said Irvine, a little impatient.
"I like Seifer," sighed Squall.
Seifer blinked. Once. Twice. "Heh, well, isn't that something. Guess who I like Squall?"
"Nnn?" Said Squall quietly.
"You."
~~~
Sora was trying out a feel slashing moves with the blades. He felt as if he had used them all his life.
"This is so amazing," He said.
Riku nodded. He pulled out his blade, and Sora and him began a sparring match.
Kairi turned to Yuffie, "Those are cool, aren't they?"
"Yeah." Yuffie looked out the window. The rain was steadily getting worse. "I hope they're not just cool, but that they work too."
Sephiroth, was also watching, but talking to Cloud. "This is amazing," Sephiroth said. Cloud nodded.
"Do you suppose, though, that Sora is good enough?"
"Well, we'll have to hope so, and go with him."
~~~
"You seriously. . . you're serious, aren't you?" Squall muttered, looking down. Seifer gently lifted Squalls head to force Squall to see him.
"I'm very serious Squall." Seifer gently kissed the brunette, and, cautiously, Squall kissed him back.
The kiss deepened, and Squall didn't realize what Irvine was doing until he felt his pants being pulled down.
"Ah!" he said, jumping back a little.
"eh heh, forgot to mention I like you too Squall, is that ok?" Irvine grinned, looking foolish, and, Squall had to admit, gorgeous.
"No. . . no, I don't mind," Squall said after a minute, and this time, he began kissing Seifer, deepening it this time, while Irvine resumed doing what he had been before.
~~~
About half an hour of fighting later, Sora nodded to Riku, and they both withdrew their blades. "Stalemate?" called out Sora, grinning. It was good to know that Riku still hadn't lost any of his talent with swords.
"Agreed," replied Riku, pleased to see that Sora had improved with his sword techniques as well. He hadn't had such a good time in years! (Well, if you didn't count the play fights on the islands that happened after Riku came back from behind the door).
"I see you can fight well, both of you," Vincent said, "That is good. You should probably go and get some sleep now, as we must be up early tomorrow." He turned to go to the front of the store; "I'll go get Squall for you."
~~~
Of course, not many things disturb Vincent, and walking in to see three naked guys on the floor of your bookstore did not disturb him either. "Better clean up Squall; your group is getting ready to leave."
Squall paused and then blushed, but had no time to think of much else as Irvine began kissing him again.
~~~
About forty-five minutes later, Sora and company were heading back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep before confronting the heartless.
"I would have never guessed we'd have met those three this morning when I woke up," commented Sephiroth.
"The rain is really hard," Kairi said nervously, "If that's true about what Vincent said, there's going to be a lot of heartless. . . it's never rained this much before."
"We'll be fine," said Sora, trying to sound comforting. He felt the weight of the two blades sheathed at his waist and actually felt quite secure for once.
They reached the hotel in about five minutes. It was raining harder.
~~~
After discussing possible strategy, they went to bed. It was eight and they set their alarms for 12:30 am.
At midnight, exactly, Sora woke up. Briefly, he wondered why he woke up before the alarm yet again, and got dressed. When he turned around, he saw both Kairi and Riku looking at him.
"Umm, yeah guys? Why ya up so early too? Couldn't sleep? I could," Sora said.
"Choose, Sora," whispered Kairi, "Because soon you're going to have to, and I want to know."
"Do you choose me or her, Sora?" Riku echoed Kairi's thoughts. "You're going to have to choose, why not now?"
"But. . . but. . . I don't want to choose, not now!" The words came out of Sora's mouth before he could stop them.
"You have to choose," Riku and Kairi said in unison. Sora shook his head, desperately. 'I can't choose,' he thought, 'not now, not now, it's too early. . . there's too many things. . . '
"I can't, alright! I'm sorry, but not now!" Sora jumped up and ran out the door.
"Oh shit," muttered Riku, quickly pulling on his boots, "Sora can't go out there alone, not now."
Kairi glanced out the window; the rain was coming down extremely hard. "Sora's going to get hurt!" She said, eyes widening. "You go Riku, and I'll get the others."
Just like that, they began working together to protect the one they loved.
Riku nodded, and ran out the door, catching glimpse of a fleeting figure. He charged after it, rain in his face, but he barely noticed.
'I have to get to Sora before he gets hurt,' Riku thought to himself, darting through alleys and jumping over the heartless.
He realized that he had lost sight of Sora. But then he remembered what Sora had said - 'If I ever need help here, I'll go to the open area in the middle of the city, ok? So that if you know I need help, you can help me, ok?'
Riku knew what to do. He ran as fast as he could towards the middle of the city. Although the rain was blinding him, it was also slowly settling down, but Riku didn't pay attention to why it would.
Throwing off his cloak, which just hindered his movement, Riku dashed into the building in the middle of the square, and began running up the stairs. The building was a TV station, and luckily, everyone had gone home for the night. Riku ran up the stairs as fast as he could.
'It'll be all my fault if he's hurt, I should have tried to force him, but he IS going to have to pick someday, and. . . ' Riku thought as he steadily ran up the stairs. Clunk, clunk, clunk. What if he was too late? What if he couldn't protect Sora?
He opened the final door, and found himself on the roof of the building, high enough he could see the entire square.
Sora wasn't in sight.
For a minute, Riku panicked. But then - he saw him.
With his cloak on, hood pulled up against the rain, Sora walked into the square, at ease, as if he knew Riku was there.
'Sora!' Riku thought, 'I'm here.'
Sora gave no indication of Riku's presence - yet. He walked into the very middle of the square, and then paused, looking as if he was about to look up.
And then heartless starting climbing out of the ground, many, many of them, all surrounding Sora. Riku watched, holding his breath, as Sora pulled out his two blades, and spun them, getting into a fighting stance.
'You can't take them all on at once!' thought Riku, "Sora!" he screamed loudly.
He turned his head to the sky, and then, power was rushing throughout him - the remnants of the darkness. Suddenly, the clouds parted, and a few rays of morning light shone through.
Riku poured his concentration and the last of the darkness in him into one thing - helping Sora.
Sora watched, amazed, as the ground around him began to shake slightly. A large heart became etched in the ground around him, and then he understood.
The heartless all disappeared.
"Riku," said Sora, looking up.
"Sora," acknowledged Riku, looking down at Sora. The rain had nearly stopped.
"I pick you, Riku."
Riku stared.
"You came when I needed help. I pick you."
Riku still stared.
"I know I can trust you, I pick you Riku, I pick you."
Riku closed his eyes, only hearing on thing in his head. 'I pick you, Riku.'