Making their way back through The Castle That Never Was had an incredibly slower pace because of Sora's injury. He either had his hand trailing a wall or railing or had his Keyblade out as an impromptu cane. He occasionally fidgeted with his bandages, but would resume walking with a solemn, languid pace that didn't suit him. Everyone but him would handle the fights, and he would "stand on the sidelines" and provide as much help as he could.

Needless to say he felt fucking USELESS.

No one really noticed among the stains and liquids already on his cheeks that he refused to wipe up- perhaps to save the shattered bits of a healthy ego -but he was crying every fight. Wasn't HE the one who lead the party? Wasn't HE the one who held everyone up? Not to mention KAIRI was fighting now, the thought sending his stomach hurtling down the dozens of floors of the castle beneath him.

After some silence on the stairway outside, Sora accidentally knocked Kairi's shin pretty hard with his Keyblade "OW!"

Sora bit his lip, turned his head away, continued walking on, and mumbled "S-sorry I-I should... watch... where I'm going."

Kairi hopped on one foot while giving Sora a stunned look "Sora..." she sighed and set her leg down "Sora it's fine-"

He continued, the Kingdom Key swiping at empty air "It's not-"

She grabbed his shoulder and jerked him around "Sora it's FINE."

Sora still turned his head away from her "No, it's not-"

"Sora you listen to me right now!" Kairi snapped at him. Sora jumped at how forceful she was. Kairi sighed, then brushed aside one of his bangs "It's alright, you're getting use to... this." She refused to say the "B" word "Making a mistake like that means you're learning how to adapt, okay?"

Sora pulled away and resumed walking "As you wish."

Riku and Kairi looked at each other worriedly. They couldn't do anything with a downtrodden hero. They glanced back at Donald and Goofy, who'd been hanging around in the back while looking extremely guilty. Kairi sighed: Riku was a guilty mess over Darkness- which she really felt wasn't that much of his fault at all and it had lots of useful advantages -and now Sora, Donald, and Goofy all blamed themselves for Sora losing his sight. Was she the only one without any emotional problems? Well, actually there was a few: she really wanted to get out of this brooding atmosphere. It was starting to make her sick to her stomach.

She put her hands on her hips "Hey all you angsting boys, listen up!"

Everyone stopped and looked at her. Kairi made eye contact with everyone- well not with Sora for obvious reasons. She then resumed "Okay, I know what happened... I know it hurt a lot." She looked at Sora in particular as she emphasized "A LOT."

Everyone shuffled a bit.

Kairi resumed "But there's no reason to blame ourselves. At all." She walked over and grabbed Donald and Goofy's hands "You already had your hands tied up," she went over and also brought Riku "I don't care if you weren't able to get to him because neither could I," and then she very gently- with three pairs of hands shifting over to one -grabbed Sora's Keyblade to help him over "And no one has perfect reflexes."

Surrounded by her little party she said in a very final matter "The only person to blame for what happened is dead." her tone started shifting into anger "Heck, the only reason you got in that fight was because... b-because..." Kairi had to wipe at her eyes and take a few deep breaths. She finished her sentence with cold anger "The only reason that happened was because he was willing to make such a violent, cheating, absolutely unforgivable attack on a kid and then taunt at him about it right in his face."

Sora was turned away from her. He felt sad that she was slipping into so much rage and distress over the ordeal.

Meanwhile, Kairi grouped up everyone's hands in the center of their little circle "We've still got one more to take down, and Xemnas is just as guilty for creating this horrible Organization in the first place." she smiled at them "But we can take him if we just quit moping around, okay? No one here is to blame," she directed herself at Sora "There's nothing to fear," she shook everyone's hand "and we're all still strong."

Everyone's heart seemed lifted at her little speech, so Kairi got her Keyblade out again and began walking. Sora stopped, tilting his head to the side, then began running "Your majesty!"

Following Sora's now quite good hearing skills lead the group to King Mickey and Ansem the Wise. The old ruler took one look at Sora and frowned deeply, then said "Sora, the rest is up to you." he then muttered "Roxas, I doubt you can hear me, but... I am sorry."

Mickey reached for him "Ansem!"

"My heart is telling me what I must do! Please, allow me to do what it says!"

Mickey shook his head "No!" he jumped at Riku touching his shoulder, then exclaimed "Riku!"

Riku shook his head "His heart's decided, we can't change that."

Then a dark figure swooped into the scene through darkness "I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts." Xemnas turned to them "And look, here you all are." he grinned at Sora's disabled state "How convenient for me."

Sora knew that voice, and something... darker stirred in his broken state "You!"

Xemnas only chuckled and turned to his old master "Ansem the Wise... You look pathetic."

"Have your laugh." he sighed "I deserve as much for failing to see you for the fool you are." Xemnas merely countered his statement "Students do take after their teachers."

Sora suddenly interrupted everything with a low growl "Shut. Up." Everyone turned to the blind boy taking slow steps forward "Just SHUT. UP."

Xemnas watched him in amusement "Oh? Is that a challenge, Sora?"

Sora pointed his Keyblade at him "You act like you haven't done anything wrong and nothing makes me more mad."

Riku walked up to him "Sora-"

Sora barked at him "Riku I don't need you helping me!" Riku stopped abruptly, stunned by the change. Sora kept his nonexistent gaze on where he figured Xemnas was "Say, do you see these bandages? You see this blood? And don't tell me that you don't." Xemnas chuckled some more "No, all I see is a pawn-"

"SHUT UP!" Sora yelled at him. He felt his bandages get a little more wet from tears, but he continued "Guess who did this to me? Guess who did this to a guy who's honestly supposed to be living out an ordinary life and dealing with school and bullies instead of creeps like you?" his even voice broke into fury no one knew Sora possessed "ONE OF YOUR STUPID LACKEYS! BECAUSE NONE OF YOU PEOPLE SEE A PERSON ANYMORE! ALL YOU SEE ARE PAWNS AND EMPTY SHELLS!"

"Sora, you gotta calm down!" Goofy called over. Mickey and Donald quickly agreed

"This isn't like you!"

"Sora this isn't the right time to get mad!"

Kairi ran up to him "Sora, calm down-"

He shook away her hand "Do you know what else you've done?! You've killed our innocence!" He pointed at Kairi "You killed HER innocence!"

Kairi didn't know what to say about that remark as Sora continued "You had to drag her into this! You just HAD to didn't you?!"

Xemnas seemed unaffected by Sora's hysterics "Well you just had to meddle with things and be difficult with us." he laughed a little "Honestly I thought that even a dense child like you could see that."

Sora suddenly charged at Xemnas "I'M BLIND FOR LIFE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Riku stepped forward "Wait! Sora-"

Sora made a swing at Xemnas- it was unfortunately about five feet off and he ended up slamming into the wall behind him with a sickening crack. As Sora stumbled back from the wall and trying to tend to his bloody nose, Xemnas said with disappointment and anticipation "You missed."

Sora turned back and started swinging with more than physical blindness "JUST SHUT UP YOU MONSTER!"

That's when Riku went into overdrive "Sora stop!"

Sora was finally intercepted by Xemnas, who had pulled out a single ethereal blade "You're such an amusing child."

In all this drama, Ansem's machine had been ignored. It beeped alarmingly, causing Xemnas to suddenly flee. Riku grabbed Sora and rushed over to hold everyone back from the explosion that followed.

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