Chapter two:
The Messenger's a Ditz

The cobblestones were cool beneath his heated cheek. At first, the sensation was pleasant, soothing. He wanted very badly not to move. The street pulsed a warning, shuddering with the hurried footsteps of concerned witnesses who flocked to the site. Riku listened detachedly to their anxious drivel.

"What happened?"

"Is that Sora?"

"No, it couldn't be! He's never—"

"It is! That's Sora's ship! Someone call Leon!"

"What could have—"

"You don't think…heartless?"

"No! Those attacks are few and far between!"

"But if not heartless, then—"

"Don't just stand there, morons!" A clear, authoritative voice drowned out their scatterbrained gossip. "Dig them out!"

As the crowd shifted in accordance to the woman's request, someone exclaimed,

"Tera! You shouldn't be outside in this weather! You'll catch your death!"

"I can be where-ever I want to be!" Tera snapped in reply, her tone suggesting that she did not appreciate their protective tendencies.

The debris crushing Riku's back and legs shifted, the noise of the rubble drowning out the rest of the conversation around him. He felt the horrid pressure of the rubble lifted off at last, and then there was a pause.

"This isn't Sora…" Willing hands pulled him out, helping him to sit up once he was free. "Is Sora with you, son?" Riku studied his rescuer. The man was middle-aged, with chestnut hair that was graying at the temples. He nodded slightly, the motion causing him pain.

"Sora…" he muttered, almost delirious. He tried to stand up, to help them excavate the wreckage. He couldn't support himself, and keeled over with a muted curse.

"Donovan!" Riku opened his eyes as a foot stepped down right in front of him, the boot barely an inch away from his nose. He tried to get up, protesting, but the owner of the boot had already squatted down, helping Riku into an upright position.

The man who had dug Riku out turned back around, attending to the summons. "Yes, Leon?" It was obvious that Leon commanded some respect.

"Donovan," Leon repeated, "take him to Merlin. Have the wizard see to his injuries." Riku felt his eyes widen. A sorcerer? Here? He struggled weakly against Donovan's strong arms. No magic, he wanted to scream, No magic, unless it was Sora's. He could trust Sora's magic.

A hand on his arm signaled someone trying to placate him. His head lolled as he searched for them.

"Don't worry," the woman said. Riku heard her as if through a haze. He could barely see her. "Leon will get Sora out. And you can trust Merlin. He's a good man, and a skilled wizard." The woman was thin, small-boned, and dark skinned. She might have been tall, he thought, had she not been confined to a wheel chair.

Still, he couldn't bring himself to think of her as frail. Maybe it was the fever, but…it seemed…Her eyes, he tone, the way she presented herself…she had a power about her. No, this woman was not frail.

Himself, on the other hand…he sighed inwardly. His poor pride couldn't take much more of this, he thought, slipping into unconsciousness.

He awoke with a start. Sora's face was much too close to Riku's for the latter to feel any bit of comfort. Riku pushed the grinning countenance away, murmuring more curses. Sora continued to grin, his honest relief apparent on his innocent face.

"About time!" Sora laughed. His grin was lopsided due to a split lip, and bruises had closed his right eye. A clean bandage wrapped around his temple, mussing his chestnut hair, but it didn't seem to be causing him any extreme amount of discomfort.

"What happened?" Riku asked, sitting up. His fever was gone, but its aftereffects lingered in his spinning vision and shaking hands.

"The gummi ship had a malfunction." Sora informed him. Riku noticed that he didn't mention the fact that the malfunction had been linked to Riku's cloudy mindset. He didn't have to. They both already knew. "But don't worry!" Sora chirped brightly, "Cid's the best mechanic I know—he'll have it fixed soon. Then we can go home!"

Going home? Well, that meant they had at least made it Radiant Gardens. A small blessing.

"How long—"

"Half a day," Sora said. "You've been unconscious the whole time. Though, I'm not surprised you woke up now…Tutu's been making a racket ever since I shut him out…"

Riku deduced that Tutu was the dog that was howling on the other side The creature was damnably loud.

Riku sat up, examining his surrounding with a small smile. The room obviously belonged to a child—the bed was too small and the sheets (that feel liquidly away from his naked figure as he shifted) were pastel pink. Stuffed animals lined the floorboards and piled in the corners. He smiled wider when his eyes fell upon a large collection of stuffed moogles. They made him think of Kairi. His friend had a purple moogle charm on her key ring.

"Tera's washing your clothes," Sora told him apologetically, "But, if you feel well enough to get up, I'm sure we could find you something…" Sora himself was wearing a rugged pair of blue jeans and someone else's flannel workshirt.

Riku started to nod, but a giggly commotion outside the door interrupted his motion. As Sora went to investigate, Riku assured himself that the sheets covered him decently.

"Stoppit TootToot! Lemme through!" Sora opened the door to admit the small child—whom a large mastiff had been maulijng with his tongue. The dog also entered, against Sora's raised protests, and bounded to the bedside. Riku offered his hand for inspection. Tutu sniffed, his hackles risking as a growl rose in his throat. Riku quickly withdrew, unwilling to have his fingers snapped.

"Stoppit TootToot!" The child admonished, yanking the mastiff's tail. The dog whimpered and sat obediently, droopint his ears and appearing chagrined.

Sora stroked Tutu's head distractedly. "This is Erin—Tera's daughter. You're in her room."

Something about Erin was familiar. Her strawberry hair fell in long Shirley Temple ringlets around a face that was slightly too angular for a toddler, and her piercing green eyes seemed to stare into his soul without meaning to. Where had he seen those eyes before?

"Hey, M-mister!" Erin tugged on Sora's sleeve, "M-mommy said t-to g-give these to y-you." She handed up a bundle of clothes. "They were d-daddy's. M-mommy thinks they'll f-fit him." She pointed at Riku as if he were an object entirely separate from the speaking, sentient world.

"Thanks," Sora flashed a smile down hat her. "But, I told you! Call me Sora!"

"Mommy says its r-rude." She shook her head stubbornly.

"I'll just have to talk to her then, won't I? I want you to call me Sora! And this guy—" He drew her attention back to his friend, "is my best friend, Riku!"

"Hullo." She smiled shyly, clinging to Sora's hand and sucking on her free hand. Riku gave her a small wave, and did his best to mold his face into a cheery expression. He still couldn't place her, and it troubled him. Those eyes were so familiar.

"Hey mist…Sora? H-how long is he gonna stay in my room?"

"Not long," Riku promised, "I'll get dressed and be out of here as soon as you like."

Erin nodded, accepting that. "Bye!" she said, quite suddenly, pulling Tutu's collar and exiting hastily, dragging the large mastiff behind her.

"Cute kid," Riku offered, taking the clothing from Sora and examining it. Black, all of it. Ironic, he thought, as he pulled the shirt over his head, and no accident, he was sure. Their hostess was an intriguing woman.

"She looks a lot like her Dad," Sora said, "Even…" he paused, as if he had suddenly thought better of his statement. He revised it quickly, saying, "even in the pictures around the house."

"Her dad is tall," Riku noted. The pants were several inches too long for him, and he was no shrimp. Sora shifted as if the sight of Riku clothied all in black made him uncomfortable. "Will he mind me borrowing his clothes like this? I can wait for mine,"

"He won't mind," Said a voice from the doorway. Riku and Sora started, taken completely surprise. Tera laughed without humor. "My husband won't mind if you keep those clothes, if you rip them or burn them. My husband…has been lost in the Nothing."

- - -

"You!" Riku gaped, "The message…for you?" Now that his brain was not muddled by fever he knew her. This woman had been among the Nobodies—Riku himself had witnessed her last moments. How had she come to be here? What had kept her away from the Nothing when she had Faded?

"You two know each other?" Sora asked, bewildered, "Riku? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know her name—I just recognize her voice…and her eyes…" He apologized. He eyed Tera warily, feeling like a stag brought to bay.

"I didn't know your name or your face." Tera informed him, maneuvering her wheelchair through the door, "I had hoped never to hear your voice again."

"How?" Sora asked shakily. "Tera…you were in a coma…"

"No! I was not! I was in pieces—a Nobody in the Organization. You knew that!" She protested as Sora flinched back. Riku was mildly amused at this reaction. What? Where the Nobodies suddenly scary again? Or were they only frightening when they manifested in the souls of the people Sora knew?

"I…I didn't realize…Raxet?" Sora asked shakily. "So then…Axel and Alex…" Tera nodded, obviously surprised that it had taken Sora so long and so much prodding to make the connection.

"Tera?" Riku broke in softly, kneeling to make eye contact, and holding her hand. He looked quite dashing, sincere, and rather noble. King Mickey would have been proud. "I'm sure that forgiveness will be hard to beg of you," He began, "But what happened…what I did…it was for the better. Sora was successful, after all. And you yourself played no small part."

"I'm not upset," She waved his apology away, "Afterward, I returned here, became whole. It is what Raxet accepted."

Sora looked away.

"She accepted, obviously," Riku pressed, standing. Sora, he knew, was grappling with his thoughts, trying to bring himself to the point where he could fully understand the conversation. If Riku had to guess, Sora had only just now finished joining together the link between Tera, Raxet, Axel, and Alex. "But…I wonder…is it what she wanted? What youI wanted?"

"Of course not!" Tera snapped.

"Because he's not here?" Riku surmised. He took a picture off Erin's dresser, examining the man he saw there. Yes, those were the eyes. Erin had her father's eyes, deep, emotional, emeralds.

Tera did not answer the question. She spun her chair and forcefully released her brakes, wheeling away. "Your clothes are in the dryer." She said, shortly, "And you're welcome to stay here as long as it takes Cid to repair your gummiship.

Sora looked questioningly at Riku, but the other simply shrugged. After an awkward moment, Sora asked, "So…wanna tour the town?"