Chapter Two: He's Gone.
Everything was happy the next few weeks for the six kids. (A/N: I made a typo last chapter; there are six kids, not five. Riku, Sora, Wakka, Tidus, Kairi and Selphie.) They went about their daily routine happily, not having too many concerns. Tidus was finally back on his feet and, true to his word, he helped out every Friday afternoon at the doctor's office to pay off his debt.
After much bugging, puppy-eyes, begging, pouting and downright embarrassing behavior, Sora finally got Riku to teach him sword fighting. But of course, since Riku was teaching Sora to fight, that meant he had to teach Tidus (who had been asking way longer then Sora) as well. This was one of the primary reasons Riku had kept saying no, that, and because he was lazy and didn't want to spend his free time from work teaching his friends how to use a sword.
But alas, poor Riku could only resist Sora's pout-of-unimaginable-cuteness for so long before finally caving. So the three were often found on their days off at the beach by the docks fighting each other with wooden swords so that no one would get hurt…too badly. Riku had a very powerful hit, after all.
Wakka, Selphie and Kairi enjoyed coming with them to the beach and watching Riku trying to teach the other two to fight. His method was pretty much showing them what to do once then attacking them until they got it right. A little inhumane, but it worked.
Whenever they got knocked down, Tidus would get angry and start cursing before getting up. Sora, on the hand, would get this really determined face and glare at Riku stubbornly. This supposedly angry look was ruined as each time they saw that face, Kairi and Selphie would burst into girly squeals and gush over how cute Sora looked like that. Sora would then blush a nice crimson color, effectively ruining the look.
Despite the setbacks, Sora and Tidus learned rather quickly. They were nowhere near Riku's level of skill, but at least they would now be able to defend themselves if they were ever attacked. The two had taken to sparing with each other when they could, for more practice. Sora usually won these bouts, but on occasion Tidus did pull off a move that won him the match.
They were all at the beach that day, watching as Sora and Tidus spared and Riku called out helpful hints or corrections from the sidelines. The two were evenly matched and no one was sure who was going to win, making it very entraining to watch. Unfortunately, before the fight could finish, Wakka called out and pointed to the water.
"What's that, ya?" He asked.
The boys stopped fighting and everyone turned see the sales of a ship appearing over the horizon. As they watched the ship got closer and even from this distance, the six kids could tell it was huge. Before they could speculate though, a young man appeared on the water dock near where they were standing.
"Sora, Riku," he yelled to them.
"What's up, John?" Riku asked, the teen looked a little flushed.
"That ship that's coming in," he said, waving at it. "It's coming in fast and we're supposed to get ready to load it up."
"Ok," Riku agreed. "If that's all, then why do you look so freaked?"
"…It's flying a pirate's flag," John answered and ran off.
"Wakka, Tidus, take Selphie and Kairi back to the house and stay there until we come home," Riku ordered. The two nodded and began leading the girls away.
"Be careful, you two," Kairi called. They smiled at her reassuringly but the smiles faded as soon as they were out of sight.
"You think we should worry?" Sora asked.
"No, not yet," Riku replied, as they headed towards the docks. "We've loaded pirates before. So long as we keep our heads down and do the work, it should be fine."
One reason the shipping company they worked for was so successful was because they served the pirates of the seas dutifully. The pirates got anything they wanted cheaper then everyone and were allowed to dock in the ports and venture into the cities when usually they were chased off by the royal navy. This way, the pirates got what they wanted, and the shipping company didn't have to worry about pirate attacks on their ships or towns.
While it may all work out fine, it made being a dock hand slightly dangerous when pirates came though. After all, who in their right mind would tell a pirate that they couldn't kill the dock hands for slipping up in some way? No, it was best to do your work as quickly as you could and then leave.
Riku and Sora joined the line of nervously waiting dock hands as the pirate ship sailed up. The flag was a picture of the skull and crossbones, but instead of being on black background, it was painted red. The men whispered and shifted nervously when they saw this.
"Riku…" Sora whispered.
"Shh," Riku ordered. "Just keep your head down and don't make eye contact with anyone."
It was rumored that the skull and crossbones placed upon a red flag was the mark of the deadliest pirate on the seas, Sephiroth. He had a whole fleet of ships under his command and it was also rumored that all of their flags were red because they had been dyed in the blood of the pirate's victims.
As soon as the ship was close enough, the ropes were thrown and it was tied off to the dock. A plank was lowered and Sora and Riku's boss stepped up it. A minute later, he was beckoned on the ship and disappeared. The workers waited anxiously for their boss to come back. He did a few minutes later and stepped up to them.
"All right," he called. "We're not unloading anything today, simply loading on new supplies and that's it." He then started ordering people to get certain things ready everything for loading.
The work went quickly as there wasn't the same amount of cheer that the dock hands usually had. Some pirates could be seen standing over the edge and watching, but no one dared looked up long enough to get a good look. They all wanted to keep their eyes in their sockets, thank you very much.
The hands had just finished reading everything and were about to start loading it onto the ship when they heard a loud yell. Not even a second later a body was thrown over the railing and into the water with a splash. Sora threw his pride to the wind and hurried to Riku's side. The other boy was frowning deeply and quietly, yet firmly, ordered Sora to stay close to him. The brunette obeyed.
Ignoring the fact that the pirates had just killed one of their men as best they could, the dock hands dutifully continued their work. They began loading the supplies onto the ship and spoke only when necessary. They were nearly finished when it happened.
Sora had done as Riku said and stayed close to him the best he could. But when Sora was on the deck dropping off one of the last crates, Riku was back on the docks already. The brunette placed the crate where it was supposed to go and turned to leave when he made the mistake of looking up.
His beautiful sapphire eyes locked with another pair of aquamarine colored eyes. For one fleeting moment, he thought he was staring at Riku, but Riku's eyes weren't nearly as cold and deadly as these were. The man was tall and muscular with the same silver hair as Riku's, only longer. Sora couldn't begin to guess how old the man was; he just seemed…timeless, eternal.
So caught up in staring was Sora, that he failed to realize that he had kept walking. He bumped hard into a person and fell down, landing painfully on his butt. Sora heard an enraged growl and slowly lifted his eyes up to see an angry looking pirate glaring hatefully at him. Sora gulped.
"Why you little brat," the man hissed. "How dare you run into me!"
Sora quickly stumbled to his feet and bowed his head submissively.
"I'm so sorry, sir," he apologized. "I wasn't paying attention and didn't mean to run into you." He had learned at an early age that kissing butt was the best way to get away from a pirate without harm.
"You had better be sorry, brat," the man growled. Sora thought he was going to let him go then, but apparently one of his buddies had other ideas.
"You should make the little cretin pay for that," another pirate yelled. "Teach the little bitch some respect."
The first pirate turned back to Sora with glare. "Nah, he's cute, but not my type." Sora gulped in fear and, not for the first time, thanked the gods that he was a boy. "Why don't you take him, Vincent?"
A man turned to spare a glance at them and for one terrifying moment, Sora thought Wakka's stories had come true and he was looking at a vampire. No one who supposedly traveled under the blistering hot sun on the open sea should be that pale. Heck, they shouldn't be pale at all.
"I do not want a scared little boy," he stated and turned away.
Before Sora could really stop himself, he spoke. "Who the hell you calling a little boy?" He snapped and instantly regretted it.
These people were pirates for goodness sake; they had just killed a person not even half and hour ago! Sora should not be provoking them; he should be groveling and running for his life! Well…perhaps not groveling, but definitely running.
"Well look at that," the second pirate sneered. "Looks like the little bitch has some spunk in him."
Oh, Sora had just dug himself into a very deep hole. Where was Riku?
Down on the dock, Riku let a breath of relief that the work was over and they could finally go home; he glanced around for Sora. The silver haired teen froze when he realized Sora hadn't followed him off the ship.
Oh shit.
Riku looked up at the ship and quickly climbed back up the plank. He was horrified to see Sora surrounded by sneering and angry looking pirates. Without much thought, Riku jumped onto the deck and ran over to his friend.
"Excuse me, sirs," Riku bowed politely to the pirates once he had their attention. "The loading is done so my friend and I will be taking our leave now so that you make continue on with your business." He motioned Sora to his side and the younger boy went to him hurriedly.
"You're little friend here has disrespected us," the first pirate, the one Sora had run into, growled at Riku. Riku highly doubted the man knew what disrespected meant.
None the less, he didn't say anything. "I apologize then; Sora really doesn't understand when to shut up sometimes." Which was true, and no one, not even Sora himself, would ever disagree with that statement.
"We'll take him," a deep cold voice interrupted their argument before more could be said.
Riku and Sora froze at the ice-like voice and turned around. Riku's eyes widen as he looked upon the older version of himself. He could have sworn he was looking into a future seeing mirror, like the ones in Wakka's fairy tales, except those types of things didn't exist and this guy did.
"I beg your pardon, sir," Riku asked, after getting over the shock of their similarities.
"I said we will keep him," the man answered, sounding annoyed at having to repeat himself.
"What?" Sora and Riku double-toned. Keep Sora?
Riku shook his head. "You can't keep Sora!" He exclaimed. This was not the right thing to say though, as Sephiroth turned a harsh glare, which sent shivers up Riku's spine, down upon him.
"I can do whatever I please," he stated coldly. "Vincent, take my new possession down below and prepare to leave."
The vampire-man from earlier nodded and stood up. He headed towards Sora but Riku was not giving up that easily.
"No!" He yelled at the other's retreating back. "Look, I'm sorry he bumped into your crewmate, but come on! It's not that big of a deal! You can't just take him!" Riku had completely forgotten all the rules about dealing with pirates in his fear of loosing Sora.
The man glared down at him. "Remove him from my ship and let us be off."
Before Riku could do anything, many pairs of hands were grabbing him and forcefully dragging him to the side. Sora called out to him and made a move to run to Riku's side, but the man, Vincent, caught his arm and held him back.
Riku thrashed at the pirates dragging him and managed to knock two of them down before they hurled him down the plank and he rolled to the docks. The pirates then pulled the plank up and cut the robes anchoring them and the ship began to sail away. Riku could hear Sora's shouts of his name but there was no way for him to follow the ship or get back on. He could only stare helplessly as they sailed away, Sora's shouts getting fainter.
Before they had completely left the dock, a small pouch of money was hurled over the railing and landed at Riku's feet, then the ship was out of the harbor and sailing to the open sea.
Riku stared after them, not acknowledging anything around him. The other dock hands hung their heads in despair; Riku and Sora's friendship was legendary. Things would never be the same with the happy little brunette gone, for Riku or any of them. Sora would truly be missed.
The sun started to sink beneath the horizon before Riku finally snapped out of his daze. He didn't bother to wipe away the tears that had escaped his eyes. The teen glared down at the sack of gold that had been thrown at his feet; payment for taking his Sora away from him.
What the hell? Did those damn pirates think he was property? That it was ok to take Sora away like that and leave nothing but a small sack of gold in his place? What was Riku going to tell Kairi and others? He had failed. Failed to protect his younger friend, the boy he had always been with. Riku couldn't remember a day he had not been with Sora and now he was supposed to accept the fact that the brunette was gone from his life forever?
Leaving the gold without a thought, Riku slowly headed back to his home. The home he and Sora had personally fixed up for everyone to live in. He arrived back just as the sun was about to disappear completely. Kairi and the others were standing on the porch, waiting for him anxiously.
"Riku!" Kairi shouted, as he walked up to the porch and stopped. "Thank goodness, we were getting so worried. Are you all right? You look like you were crying." She glanced around worriedly. "Riku…where's Sora?"
Riku said nothing as he felt hot tears sting his eyes again, but this time he refused to let them fall. He simply stared up at his family sadly, his eyes filled with grief and guilt.
Kairi swallowed hard, her hands starting to shake. "Riku, where's Sora?" She repeated.
The sun set completely, dousing them in darkness.
"He's gone."
And just like that, Riku's world came crashing down around him.
A/N: Did you know there wasn't a single scene change in this entire chapter? Well, I ain't got much to say about anything right now. I started working on the next chapter for Forgetful Darkness today and the next chapter for Dying Happily, Living Lonely is half-way done (I think), so maybe I'll be updating them soon. Not this weekend, though, I have to work 12pm-9pm this Saturday, which I am NOT happy about. The fuckin pay isn't even worth it…