Twenty-Eight Days
"Sora, we're dying." Post KH 2 RikuSora When you know the end is coming, do you think you can find a way to save yourself? Or must someone else step in and lend a hand?
"Oof!" Sora fell to the sand and shook his head to clear it of sand, even though it was laying in the substance.
"Nice try Sora. But I win." Riku smirked. Ever since their adventures off of the islands, the wins had come and gone. Sora had gotten stronger, but so had Riku.
Sora sat up, ignoring the pain in his head. He narrowed his eyes at Riku, and for a moment, Riku thought Sora was going to yell at him or something. Then the look turned to confusion.
"Riku?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "Why're you all fuz-" Sora's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell back down into the sand. Riku's eyes widened.
"Sora?" he knelt by his friend. "Sora!" he shook the brunette before looking around. Everyone else had gone home!
-
'What's going on?' Sora asked, eyes closed tight. 'My head hurts so much...I couldn't even see!'
"It's the beginning."
'Wha?' Sora opened his eyes and looked around. He was standing in total darkness. Light sped by and he glimpsed a white room with a container in the center before a blonder kid popped out and it was gone. 'R-roxas!?'
"Yea. What? Did you think I was gone forever? I've just been here, inside you." Roxas shrugged, flicking his finger. Lights flew by and Sora recognized them as memories. "I like your memories...But I love my own." he turned to the other side and more lights flew by.
The lights mixed, separated, and went around one another. They had similarities, but they were altogether different. Sora spotted red in most of the memories Roxas was staring at as they zoomed past, but it was too fast to see.
'What's going on?' Sora asked. Roxas turned from the memories and raised his hand to the black sky, he lowered his hand and a screen came down with it.
It looked like one of the memory screens, but it showed Riku shaking Sora and looking around for help. Sora's eyes widened.
'I'm unconscious?' he asked, watching as Riku lifted him off the ground in the screen.
"No." Roxas shook his head. "It's much more than that."
'What's much more?' Sora asked in confusion. Roxas waved his hand and the screen vanished. Sora took a step after it before stopping and looking confusedly to Roxas, his other half. But Roxas was looking to the side.
"It'll start with headaches and mild sickness. Then blurred vision and recurring blackouts followed by...death." Roxas looked to Sora with an almost pleading look. "Sora...We're dying."
'D-dying!? But...But why!?' Sora asked in a sudden panic.
"I don't know. I just know that something happened to us during your adventures. I'm not sure what. I've searched these memories countless times. All I know is that in about a month...We'll be dead." Roxas looked to his hands, then closed his eyes.
-
"Sora...Sora come on, wake up." Riku's voice met him in a daze and he blinked slowly. "Oh thank god."
Sora blinked a few more times and turned his head a bit. He was sitting in the shack on the beach. It was kinda dark and Riku was sitting next to him with a bottle of water. He squinted a bit and everything become perfectly clear instead of kinda fuzzy.
"Riku?" he questioned, looking at how Riku relaxed just with one word. "What happened?"
Riku helped him sit up and handed him the bottle, as if saying 'Drink.'
"You passed out right after our spar. No one was around so I carried you hear, out of the sun." he explained. "You have any ideas?"
Sora stopped drinking water and stared blankly at the far wall. The stairs to the bridge were to his right and the door to his left. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Roxas.
"I don't know." Sora shrugged and Riku helped him stand up. "Maybe I got dehydrated or something."
"Well, get home and rest...Alright?" Riku seemed to be pleading with him to listen, and Sora knew he was incredibly worried.
"Right." Sora walked over to the boats and Riku hopped into his own boat next to him. Just before taking off for home, Sora turned to the silver haired teen. "Sorry for worrying you." he smiled half-heartedly, and Riku noticed.
"It's alright. Just don't do it again." he joked, trying to take the half-heartedness from Sora's smile. Sora laughed and they began paddling back to the main island.
-
"Sora!" a loud call from his mother woke him up and Sora blinked. He sat up. "Sora!!"
"Whaaat!" he called sleepily.
"Hurry and get up! It's already late in the morning! 10 o'clock!" she called in an almost angry matter.
Sora held his head as he stood up, shaking it to clear it of drowsiness. He looked to his calender and sighed.
'It's been eight days already.' he mused softly in his head. 'And these headaches just keep getting worse. Am I really going to die?'
"Not yet you're not."
'Huh?' Sora looked around and saw Roxas standing next to him. 'But how?'
How could Roxas be standing next to him in his own bedroom? Roxas sighed as if he thought Sora were stupid.
"You passed out just now. We've moved on to stage Two." he held up two fingers, with a white and a black band on them. The black one was on his index finger, the white one on his middle finger.
'Stage Two?' Sora mimicked with his right hand, like he was an exact mirror to Roxas.
"Sickness." Roxas explained, placing his and Sora's hands within each others.
Roxas blurred and was gone a moment later as Sora finally felt the pain. His head felt like it would explode!
"Sora? Hunny?" his mom's voice was far away and he reached for his door, where her voice was coming from.
It was like he couldn't hold himself up anymore. He was on the edge of a cliff and falling off backwards. He fell and fell and soon Sora was wondering if he would ever hit the ground. Then it was all soft and comfy and he heard voices...
"I thought I told you not to do this again."
"Riku?" he asked, and it came out strangely weary sounding.
"Good, you're awake." Riku sounded a bit relieved.
"Riku?" Sora asked again. "Why can't I open my eyes?"
"Maybe your body is telling you not to. Your temperature is through the roof." Riku was trying to joke, and Sora knew that. But his head hurt so bad.
'Mild sickness, eh?' he questioned.
"Hey. I was guessing." Roxas argued.
'Well what's your guess for how long I feel this crappy?' he asked angrily, but that just made his head hurt worse.
"Two or Three days. But then Stage 3 starts." Roxas sounded worried. "Sora...Are you really just going to let us die?"
'What else can I do?'
"Ask for help! Something! This isn't right!" Roxas didn't want to die, well ok, that's a lie.
Roxas wanted to die. He wanted to move on and be with Axel. He hated having to sit in the back of Sora's mind and see Axel die before his very eyes. He hated sitting there even now, when all he could do was sit and replay memories...Memories of Axel.
'I don't want to pull them back in to this.' Sora started. 'They've been through enough already. It'd be great if they could all, even Riku, move on and forget about this entire adventure.'
Roxas sighed sadly and left Sora alone. Sora didn't deserve to die. Sora deserved to live and forget. He should have been free to live a normal life again. But he couldn't because he was going to die at the early age of 17.
Sora meanwhile, had slipped off into quiet, dreamless sleep. And Riku had tried holding a conversation with Sora, until he realized that the brunette was fast asleep.
"Right. You sleep, I'll worry." he smirked and stood from his chair next to Sora's bed, leaving the room quietly and telling Sora's mom that he was leaving.
-
For the next two days, Sora felt like he would die, but he knew that wasn't for another 10 days. On the third day, which just happened to be a Wednesday, Sora was feeling better but his mom wouldn't let him out of bed.
She was so worried that he'd collapse - Which he must admit, he did a few times while trying to get to the bathroom. But he was kind of glad that she wouldn't let him up, as he was afraid to open his eyes.
"If I open my eyes, I bet it's got black spots all over it."
"Wouldn't matter, your room's completely dark. You can't see anything anyway." the voice in his head named Roxas commented.
'Wow genius. Now tell me what time it is.' he groaned. Roxas scoffed.
"You've got this angry disposition about you now."
"I'm dying here. What, you want me to smile?" he gave a creepy grin and Roxas cringed.
"Don't do that. It's creepy. Like a lunatic creepy." he shivered.
"I need to get out of my room. The spots aren't that bad, and the fuzziness only lasts for a few moments. I'll be able to handle it. I just have to convince my mom to let me go." Sora sat up and looked around.
Roxas was right, it was pitch black in here. He looked out his window and saw the dark clouds covering the early morning sky. Even without them there, it was still only 5 in the morning, so it was pretty dark. Sora got out of his bed and went to forage for food.
The walk to the kitchen was entertaining to say the least. Sora's vision kept turning black, but he never passed out. Heck, if he didn't know about this illness he had, he'd think he was perfectly fine. No, better than fine actually! But as he pulled out the milk from the fridge, his vision turned completely black for a full minute, even after he'd closed the fridge, and all Sora could find himself doing was sighing.
-
For the next 5 days, Sora lived normally. His vision faded often, more often as the days went by, but he could live out a normal life like he always had. On the 16th day, his vision stopped fading and everything seemed to be normal. Sora almost dared to hope.
"It's just the calm before the storm." Roxas had warned him, and on the 17th day, Sora was packing his bags.
"Where do you think you're going?" Roxas asked rudely.
"I leaving. I can't stay here and let them watch me die." Sora seemed quite determined as he swung his bag over his shoulder.
"So you'll let them worry instead?" Roxas glared. "You'll let them search futilely for you until the end? Until they find your decomposing body somewhere?"
This was pissing the blonde Sora off. What had happened to 'look on the bright side' Sora? He wanted to punch the brunette right now! But as Sora opened the window and let himself feel the breeze, he said something that made Roxas pause to think.
"I'd rather them think I ran away from home, and maybe never find my body. Then...then they would think I was still alive. They would worry, and hope that I'd contact them...But at least the hope that I was still alive would be there. Then...then everyone can move on with their lives and be happy..."
Sora jumped out of his window and scaled down to the ground, sneaking around in the fading light of the sunset. He made his way to the dock and hopped inside his boat, picking up the oars and beginning to row.
"I hate the idea of leaving everyone behind. I don't want to leave. I just want things to be the way they were before." Sora said sadly as he pulled his boat up onto the shore of an island Roxas couldn't find any memory of.
"What about Riku?" he asked suddenly. Sora started.
"What about him?" he asked softly.
"Riku remembers his adventures with you. He remembers everything that has ever happened." Roxas explained. "He'll think something is wrong. I know he'll come searching for you. He may try to visit other worlds again if he can't find you here. Are you willing to let him sacrifice a happy future searching futilely for you!?"
Sora didn't answer, and Roxas just glared from inside his head. Sora covered his boat with branches to hide it from passing boats, and then headed off to find someplace to stay for a few days...forever.
"I'm sorry for Riku. I wish he didn't have to remember." Sora said after he'd set up camp in a small cave. "I really wish for him to forget all about me...so that he won't worry. And if he leaves and tries to find me...Maybe he'll find someone out there that will take his mind off of me and help him make a better life for himself. God knows he deserves it."
Sora's voice was sad, but what surprised Roxas was the sound he heard from inside Sora. He doubted that Sora heard the noise, though the brunette was crying now. It had sounded like a giant shattering noise...like glass had been hit by a rather large rock. Roxas knew that sound. He'd heard it before, from himself, back when Axel died.
Sora's heart was breaking.
-
Ding dong!
"Oh my god!" a frantic looking woman who resembled Sora in a way answered the door and Riku stared at her in fright. "Riku! God no..."
She suddenly lost her vigor and Riku wondered what was wrong. Had Sora...Oh god! Had Sora died?
"What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling next to her now sitting form.
"Sora..." she started. "Sora ran away from home..." she let out a sob. "He's been so sick lately, and I'm worried...Something's going on that he won't tell me about, and I don't understand him anymore! Now my baby boy has run away...I can't stand it...I thought you were the police, telling me you'd found him."
Riku was merely staring at her now, hardly taking in her words.
"Don't worry...I'll find him." he stood up and walked away numbly.
He'd had a bad feeling ever since Sora collapsed on the island all those days ago. That feeling had been growing. He'd become scared at everything, always worrying that Sora's movements spelled disaster. If Sora tripped, his breath hitched in the belief that Sora was going to fall over unconscious right where he was. But even worse was that...for the past 2 days Riku had begun imagining life without Sora in it...
He was imagining life with Sora dead. That scared him. He couldn't even begin to imagine it, and the idea that it was becoming easier to see Sora's death was scaring him. What could possibly be going on that would mean that Sora would die?
Riku held the cloth of his shirt over his heart. It hurt. He had to find Sora and figure out what was going on! He had to save him! But...he didn't know what he was saving his best friend from, and he didn't know where to start looking for him.
"The dock."
Riku looked around suddenly, surprised. That voice had sounded familiar...
"Check the islands stupid!"
He couldn't place the bodiless voice, but he did run to the dock. Sora's boat was missing and he knew that whoever the voice belonged to, they were telling him where Sora was. He looked out over the ocean after jumping into his boat. Sora wouldn't go to play island, it was too obvious. So he'd search the many smaller islands around the mainland.
-
Sora was leaning against the cave wall a few days later. It had become more taxing on him to do even simple things like standing, so he just laid against the cave wall unless he had to move. A lot of the time he slept, trying to gain some semblance of the strength he used to possess. But still, he imagined that one of these naps...he wouldn't wake up from.
Sora knew that he would soon cease to wake up from his slumber. He knew that soon he was going to die. Though, he'd lost count of the days and no longer knew how long it was until Roxas's prediction day of death. His other self had become quite silent these past days.
-
Riku cursed as he hopped into his boat again. He'd been searching everyday, as far as he could go until sunset, when he would return home for sleep. None of the islands within that distance had been Sora's hiding place. He grabbed a sleeping bag and clothes and food, intending to stay out on the sea until all the small islands had been searched.
He'd slept at the last island that night, and now it was early morning and he was on the prowl again.
About an hour later, Riku's boat came up to an island out of view of the mainland. He wondered if it was possible to think Sora would come this far. But Riku knew that if Sora wanted to get lost, he'd go to the ends of the Earth. So he pulled his boat on shore and took a preemptive look around. His eyes came to rest on a large bundle of branches and...was that the front of a boat?
He rushed over and uncovered the boat with a gasp. Sora was here! The boat did seem to have been touched in days...Sora was still here...Riku's heart contracted. He raced off across the small island, looking around for any clues to show him Sora's whereabouts. When he came upon a small cave, Riku saw a small camp outside of it and hurried over.
"Sora!" he called, seeing the brunette leaning on the wall outside the cave and staring at the clouds. Indescribably blue eyes turned to look at him. For a moment, Sora thought he was dreaming, and then Riku was next to him with worried eyes and Sora started to cry. "Sora!"
Sora couldn't stop the tears. Roxas took a deep breath.
"He found us." he breathed in Sora's mind.
"R-riku!" Sora grabbed onto the older, taller teen and didn't let go. "I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to make you come look for me...I didn't want you to come look for me...I didn't want you to find me!"
"Why Sora? Why'd you run away in the first place? And why didn't you want to be found?" Riku asked, wrapping his arms around Sora in comfort. Sora shook his head and spoke into Riku's black shirt.
"I knew that...that it would make everyone sad...And they'd be confused...And I didn't want to burden them with that."
"With what Sora?" Riku was confused and trying to look at Sora's face. But Sora merely shook his head.
"Roxas." Riku gasped. "Roxas told me that...that there was something wrong with me, with us. He told me how it would happen, and how long it would take. And when we got to the calm before the storm, I couldn't take it. I couldn't let it happen with everyone around me!"
"Let what happen Sora? You're not making any sense." Riku's words were harsh with his worry. Sora was acting strange, and he claimed to have spoken with Roxas.
"Death."
Riku gasped and Sora pushed away from him and turned away to hide his face.
"Sora...?" Riku tried, but he was afraid to reach out to his friend. "What are you talking about Sora?" he hated the fear in his own voice.
"I'm dying Riku." Sora's voice was strangely calm and uncaring. "I left because I didn't want anyone to know. But in..." he paused. "How long ago did I pass out during our duel?"
"27 days." Riku answered after a moment. Sora took a deep breath.
"Then I'll probably die tomorrow." he let out his breath and turned to Riku. "Can I ask you something?"
The news that his best friend was going to die had left Riku in a state of shock and all he could do was nod.
"Will you...stay with me?" Sora asked softly. "I don't really want to be alone when I die. I know I have Roxas with me but...I need you."
"But Sora...Maybe I can find out a way to stop this! Maybe I can save you!" Riku was panicking. One look at Sora's face told him that the brunette had given up all hope. But Riku couldn't just sit here and let him die! "Sora!"
Sora gave him a pleading look.
"Please Riku. Please just stay here with me...Please." he was trying hard not to cry, and Riku watched as he turned away to hide the tears that escaped him. All his arguing vanished and Riku wrapped his arms around Sora from behind.
"But...this is all I can do..." he whispered into Sora's hair.
"It's enough." Sora whispered back, holding the arms wrapped around him.
Riku felt tears leaking from his eyes. How could he not help Sora? Sora had saved him from the darkness...Sora had brought him to life again...Sora had taught him everything he knew...Sora...Sora couldn't just die!
-
"Sora...I wish I had more time." Riku said after the duo had eaten breakfast. Sora was sitting next to him against the cave wall with his eyes closed. It seemed hard to keep them open anymore.
"I know Riku." Sora whispered. "I wish you did too."
"If I did...I could save you...I know I could..." Riku closed his eyes in frustration. "I hate just sitting here and watching you die! I can barely stand it! After everything you've done for me...I just can't imagine life without you anymore Sora." his tone was a desperate tone.
"I'm sorry." Sora breathed out, trying not to cry again.
For a long moment, Riku sat with his thoughts in the silence. He didn't even hear how Sora's breathing was becoming erratic. Then Sora leaned over on Riku's shoulder, and his breathing evened out to silence once more. Riku felt a blush creep up his face to his cheeks.
"S-sora?" he asked. Sora let out a soft noise. "I...I guess...since there isn't much time..." he took a deep breath. "Sora...I..."
-
"Sora?"
Sora opened his eyes to see himself standing in his mind with Roxas. Roxas looked sad and after a moment, Sora understood.
"We're dead...aren't we?" he asked. Roxas nodded solemnly. "Riku doesn't even know yet!"
"Sora...I'm sorry." Roxas said. "I wish there was something we could do for Riku...but there isn't! We don't have any time left...Look."
Roxas pointed. There was a stained glass path to a large doorway a little ways off. The doors were open to a bright light and Sora knew that past the door was the afterlife. He and his other self began walking, Sora a bit slower than Roxas.
-
Riku suddenly stopped talking and grabbed the shirt over his heart.
"Ah!" he gasped out, and Sora fell from his shoulder. The brunette hit the floor and didn't move, and Riku froze for a moment. Then his senses returned and he cried out. "No!"
Riku gather Sora in his arms and shook him. After half a minute, Riku just held Sora to him tightly and cried. Why? Why was Sora dead?
"Why Sora?" he asked softly. "Why'd you have to die? You didn't deserve to die!"
Sora's eyes remained pleasantly closed, as if he were merely sleeping. But Riku knew...Riku knew and he couldn't stop crying! He pulled away just enough to see Sora's face and he smiled sadly, with tears running down his face.
"Sora...Sora I..." he paused to take a deep breath and then let it out shakily. It was hard to talk when you were crying...
-
Leon stopped suddenly and dropped the books he was carrying. He fell to his knees, his breath short.
"What is this?" he asked. "Is it Sora?"
Aerith was leaning against the wall in Cid's computer room, and Cid was clutching his desk harshly. This pain...Cloud was holding himself up with his sword, clutching his heart painfully. Yuffie was curled up on top of a building, crying from the sudden shock that she'd felt.
-
Olette gasped, coughing a bit, and fell down. This pain...this excruciating pain! Hayner had managed to stay standing, but it was hard. He hurt all over! Pence shut his computer suddenly and leaned on the keyboard with his eyes shut tight.
The entirety of Twilight Town was in pain, and no one knew why. Hayner looked straight forward and took in a deep breath, trying to steady himself.
"I think...It's Roxas...no...Sora..." he took a few deep breaths. "No..."
"It's both." Olette started crying. "It's both!"
-
Simba stopped short in his walk with his daughter and looked around. This feeling of sadness...The sky had suddenly turned dark and grey and his daughter ran back to his side in fear.
All across the galaxy, people whose hearts Sora had touched...They were feeling something terrible. Something terribly sad.
-
Sora paused. What was that? That feeling that had suddenly shot right through him. Roxas was at the door already, staring through it with shock. Then his other self ran through the doors and vanished. The doors started to close suddenly and Sora ran forward faster. He didn't want to stay in limbo forever!
"I love you."
Sora stopped running. Well, actually...he fell down 5 feet from the door. That voice was Riku!
"I'm sorry I never told you before..."
The doors, because of their size, were taking awhile to close. Sora didn't make a move to get up. He was staring at the ground in shock.
"But I really do love you...Sora..."
"Accept it Sora."
Sora lifted his head and saw Roxas standing just inside the doors. He squinted as another figure became clear from the brightness of the other side. It was Axel. Axel and Roxas were together again.
"Just accept it."
Sora took a deep, gasping breath as the doors got so close to closed that he could no longer see Axel standing there. Only Roxas was visible.
"It's too late."
With those final words, and a sad look, the doors shut and Roxas could no longer see Sora. Sora could no longer see Roxas. Sora was lost in the black abyss...And...And...
"So you think that...it was you?" Sora whispered, staring at where the door had been, still on his hands and knees. "It was all your fault then?"
He shook his head and let some tears fall.
"I won't accept that! I won't accept that from either of you!"
-
Riku let Sora lay down on the sand. He removed himself from the now cold corpse and looked to the skies. It was going to rain soon. How perfect. The silver haired teen slowly walked away from the corpse, back towards his boat.
"I refuse to say goodbye Sora." he whispered as he got in his boat. "I can't...I just can't."
"That's good then...I'm glad."
The voice was rough and dry, but it made Riku pause as if he'd died himself. The one speaking was obviously out of breath.
"At the gate...the door to death..." the voice said, and Riku heard lethargic footsteps nearing him. "He said to accept it...I think he realized what was wrong...It was our situation."
The footsteps stopped, but the voice continued, becoming more out of breath as it went on. And still Riku refused to turn and face the speaker right behind him.
"One body isn't meant to house two souls. Nobodies aren't supposed to have hearts, or beings. But Roxas had found one...he had one...And it was making us sick...And we died..." Sora's breath was extremely breathy now. "But he removed himself from the equation and...and he wouldn't let me walk through the doors."
Riku was shaking by this point. He heard Sora hit the ground with a grunt, but his breathing was still ragged and he knew that Sora must still need to say something.
"I heard you...just in front of the doors...Your voice reached me." Sora gasped. "It kept me from moving forward and...and I was able to come back to you Riku..."
At the sound of his name, Riku whirled around to face brown hair and blue eyes. Sora looked just like a dead person should. He looked tired and sickly. But still, his eyes were shining so brightly that Sora just couldn't be dead.
"It seems I'll go on...like the ever continuing sky I'm named after...and..." Sora smiled at Riku. "I love you too."
Riku gasped when Sora fell forward into his arms. It was all Riku could do to keep Sora from falling against the boat and hurting himself. Instead, he hoisted the brunette up and into the boat. Over an hour later, he hoisted Sora out of the boat and onto his back, trudging across the mainland toward Sora's house. And less than 10 minutes later, Sora was home and resting in his bed, where he would stay sleeping for 3 days in a coma-like state.
But it was ok. Riku was with him the whole time. Sora was alive. The worlds they had visited had gone back to normal and the pain had lifted. And the first thing Sora saw on the morning of the 4th day, when he woke up, was Riku's head in his arms on the edge of the bed...asleep.
"Riku." Sora smiled, squeezing his right hand, which was entwined with Riku's. Everything was going to be alright.
Fin