A SOLDIER's Will

A Kingdom Hearts Story

Chapter 2:

In the Infirmary

As the tendrils of darkness wound their way from around Lexaeus and Vexen, they found themselves in the infirmary of the Castle. Vexen quickly moved over to one side of the room gathering supplies to try and save Amaterasu while Lexaeus gently laid her on a bed. Vexen turned and drug over a machine and without any discretion, grasped the front of her coat and ripped it open. The zipper broke and the zip itself split down the middle until her entire chest was showing and a little of her stomach. She wasn't wearing a shirt underneath so Vexen was treated to the sight of her red bra and rather large breasts.

However at that moment he didn't have the time to appreciate the sight. Creating a knife out of ice, her cut the bra from her chest. He knew she was going to be angry at him for it, but he had no choice if he was going to save her. Pushing it out of his way, Vexen pulled a few wires from the machine over and placed pads from it onto key locations on her chest. At that very moment several corridors opened and Marluxia and Xemnas, followed by Saix walked through and their eyes found Amaterasu.

Marluxia's eyes hit her just as Vexen sent a jolt of electricity through her body and her back arched up off the bed and her face seemed to contort in pain. A gasp flew from his throat and he made to fly over to her, but two strong arms wrapped themselves around his middle and held him back. He looked over his shoulder and found Saix clenching his teeth as he held him, his eyes also focused on Amaterasu.

"Let me go you bastard! Ami needs me!" he cursed, clawing at the arms around him.

"Silence XI!" Xemnas' voice snapped, as he also watched Amaterasu.

She hadn't responded to the jolt of power that had flew through her body trying to restart her heart, so Vexen upped the amps and set the machine to go off again. Pressing the button, Amaterasu's body jolted again, then slumped back to the bed. They all waited again, their breaths caught in their throats. Suddenly, Amaterasu took a deep breath and coughed hard. Marluxia threw off Saix and bolted to her side.

He pulled her up against him and buried his face deeply into her long hair. The auburn strands, though they were caked with mud, still soothing him. He had her back. She was with him. She was safe, and he wasn't going to let her go ever again.

Fuck the Superior and his missions. He wasn't letting her out of his sight ever again, and woe be to the person who tried to take her away.

"Ma-mar-luxia...I can't. You're ho-lding me too...Mar-marly I can't..." a muffled voice was heard.

Realizing what he was doing, Marluxia pulled back from smothering Amaterasu against his chest and looked down at her. Her eyes, thought they were dim, were the normal clear violet color that he had come to love.

"You are here. You've come back to me, Amaterasu." Marluxia whispered down to her.

A smile slowly spread it's way across Amaterasu's face. She had known that Marluxia was going to be worried bout her when she hadn't come back on time. But she didn't want to disappoint Xemnas. So she wasn't going to come back until the mission she was sent on was finished. She was going to have to make it up to him later.

However right now... Slowly Amaterasu reached up and curled her hand into a few locks of Marluxia's hair. Gently she tugged on them, telling him she wanted him to come down to her level. She wasn't as tall as he was so to do what she wanted, she needed him to lean down. Once he was down on her level, she slid her hands onto his cheeks and gently pressed her lips to his in a loving kiss.

Pulling back after a second, she smiled again, then whispered, "Of course I'm here. Of course I came back. I promised you I always would. You know that I love you, and I will never leave you. We might part ways, but my heart is always with yours. You know I have something for you."

Reaching into the pocket of her destroyed coat, she pulled out a red velvet box. Opening it, she showed the contents to Marluxia. Inside were two silver necklaces, each one with a charm on it. The charms were silver hearts with a brown and yellow stone in the center of them.

"These may look like silver, but they are actually made of mithril. A almost indestructible metal. The stone inside it is tiger's eye. This is one of the reasons I'm so late getting back. I went back to my home to have these made.

I wanted to have a way for you to know that am always by your side even if I'm not there physically. A sort of symbol that I'll always come back." she whispered, pulling out both necklaces and then closing the box and slipping it back into the pocket of her coat.

Slipping one of the necklaces over Marluxia's head she watched it fall into place, then she did the same for herself, moving her hair out of the way once she had the necklace placed right. Marluxia touched the charm as he pulled his hair out from under the chain as well. It was beautiful. Suddenly, Amaterasu fell forward.

"Amaterasu!" Marluxia cried, his arms going around her supporting her so she didn't fall to the ground.

"I-I'm fine. My body...It's tired..." she whispered trying to support herself.

"Marluxia her body had been through a lot and it need to rest. Either leave her here, which would be best. Or take her back to your room and watch her like a hawk. But either way, she needs a lot of rest. Her body needs to recover her strength.

I would prefer that she stays here though." Vexen said starting to walk over.

Marluxia lifted Amaterasu into his arms and walked over to one of the larger beds in the infirmary. Laying her down on it, he lifted himself up on the bed next to her.

"I'm staying with her. I don't care what you say Vexen." he said settling down next to her.

Vexen nodded, pulling over a different machine and started pulling off electrodes and pressing them to Amaterasu's body. Soon after, a steady beeping filled the room. Looking at the machine, Marluxia saw a green line going across a screen jumping up and down each time the beep would sound. It must have been her heart beat. Then Vexen drug over an IV poll along with an IV kit and set up some fluids so that Amaterasu wouldn't become dehydrated.

She was going to be out cold for a while and she needed the liquids in her body.

"Keep an eye on her. If you fall asleep, just be careful." Vexen warned him, before Dark Corridoring out of the room.

"Watch her Marluxia. I still need her report, and she is nice to have around." Marluxia heard Xemnas grumble before another Corridor open.

Finally Marluxia heard a growl before another Corridor opened and then he knew that he and Amaterasu were alone.

"I'm not going to let anyone have you, Ami. Not even the darkness..." he whispered in her ear, laying his head down next to hers and closing his eyes.

He was exhausted from all the worrying he had done. He needed sleep too.