A/N: I wish people reviewed this book more. It wants way more love than it's getting… Yay for 18 pages?

Up Ahead- Whipping winds, battling heartless, and Anti-Sora!

Through the Looking Glass

Chapter Three

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Sora awoke, confused and disoriented, for the second time that day.

This time, though, instead of lying in the middle of the desert under the scorching sun, he was apparently cuddled into a bed of furs near what felt like a decent fire.

"Mmmn." Sora groaned, rolling onto his side and burrowing into the furs more. The cracking of the fire was soothing, and he was so warm and nice... it was fantastic. The boy mumbled incoherently, fighting the pull of the waking world as he buried his face into the crook of his arm.

"Silintia... I think he's waking up," a voice somewhere above Sora sounded. "Hey kid, c'mon, wake up." The brunet grumbled in his sleep, swatting distantly in the direction of the voice. His fingers brushing something smooth before falling back to his side. He snuggled deeper, ignoring the loud, indignant cry of, "He just hit me! In the face!" Sora rolled onto his back, happily wiggling into the comfortable bed. Nothing could wake him up. Nothing in the world. He was going to sleep for all eternity...

Until something icy cold splashed over his face and gushed up his nose, sending the brunet scrambling to the side while he choked and sputtered. "What--what was that?!" he gasped, trying to blow the water out of his nose.

"Payback, you runt!" was his only answer.

Sora groaned, blearily wiping his eyes and looking dumbly in the direction of the voice. To his surprise, it wasn't Silintia looming over him with a large pitcher of water, but a small blonde elf he had seen somewhere before. The boy coughed, remembering she had been the last person he had seen before passing out. "Who.. who are you?" He asked weakly, eying the half-empty jug.

"Morphinia," the elf answered, before dumping the rest of the jug over Sora's head. She smiled widely, looking behind the boy's head and saying, "Just to make sure he's awake."

"I'm awake." Sora said indignantly, straining to look over his shoulder. Silintia was sitting there, white hair pulled back into a bun and an amused smile plastered onto her features. He almost smiled at the elf, before scowling instead and turning back towards Morphinia. "What happened?" he said, realizing that his head didn't hurt quite as much as it had earlier.

Of course that wasn't saying much.

Morphinia leaned back, standing up and looking down at the boy. "You passed out," she said simply. "We had to carry you back, and for someone so small... god." The elf looked like she was about to ask him how much he ate, but was interrupted when another, taller elf with long blonde hair a glowing green eyes cleared her throat.

"The potion..." she said softly, quickly handing a vial filled with red liquid to Morphinia. The elf scampered off before Morphinia could thank her, but Sora followed her with his eyes and found that they weren't in someone's house…

They were in what appeared to be a bar.

He was in the corner of the room, sitting on now wet furs and looking about helplessly. There were tables everywhere, filled with Orcs and Elves and other strange creatures. And everything seemed to be staring at him with interest, watching as the human boy shrank back towards the fire and away from their eager eyes.

"What's wrong?" asked Silintia, who, now that Sora looked closely, was sitting at a table with what appeared to be two living corpses. Sora scooted away, pulling the furs over himself and feeling self-conscious. He had to be quite a sight... with a huge, dirty gash on his forehead and all the sand on his skin. The boy realized he was practically caked in the stuff, and he shook it off absently.

Morphinia leaned down onto the furs, forcefully pulling them from Sora's death grip and laying them back on the floor. "Hey kid, drink this," she said, thrusting the vial of red liquid until Sora's nose.

"My name is Sora..." he said softy, taking the vial hesitantly and sniffing it."Is it poison?"

The blonde elf laughed, "It's a healing potion… for your forehead. We're going to take you to Thrall, and we can't have you passing out or dying along the way." Sora decided her voice was much too cheerful to be saying all of that in one sentence. He drank the potion anyways, distantly wondering what had happened to all the ones he had in his pockets. The brunet sighed, realizing that his pockets felt particularly empty...

They had robbed him?

Great.

Sora decided that that didn't really matter, because as the potion worked its way into his system he was starting to feel all kinds of wonderful. It was like he could think properly for the first time in days, and he liked that.

A lot.

"That stuff is good," he said happily, dabbing at his forehead and finding that instead of a large gash, there was only coagulated blood mixed with sand. He scraped the substance away with his nails, smiling broadly at Morphinia who was grinning back.

The blonde elf continued to smile even as she ripped Sora to his feet and shoved him away. "I know, isn't it wonderful?" she was saying, dragging him forcefully over to Silintia. "If he passes out again he's sleeping on the floor," the elf said to her white-haired friend. "I can't believe I had to let a human in my bed..."

Morphinia continued to grumble, moving back to the furs and laying down on them, completely ignoring the fact that they were soaked. "If anyone wakes me up before first light I'll chop their head off!" she yelled, before rolling over to face the fire and promptly passing out.

Sora was too busy staring at the particularly large axes strapped to the blonde elf's back to ask what had just happened. He sent Silintia a panicked look, but found that she was smiling broadly in her friend's direction. "She didn't get much sleep last night..." the elf explained, before looking Sora over."So, your name is Sora, is it?" she questioned, watching the boy nod hesitantly. The high from the potion had worn off, and now Sora remembered that these people wanted him dead.

He gulped.

"So, um, who is this Thrall guy you're taking me to see?" he asked, hoping upon hope that it was a nice gentle pony or maybe the name of a spaceship they were going to give him.

The elf in front of him looked bored. "You really are a great actor, huh?" She said, black eyes staring distantly at the fire. "Well, since you 'don't know' who the great Thrall is, I guess I have to explain. Thrall," Silintia began, her eyes looking almost starry, "is the Warchief of the Horde, and the ruler of Durotar. He's a great warrior, and he's killed hundreds, maybe thousands of humans just like you. From what I suspect, Thrall will be the last thing you see in the world of the living."

Sora shifted uncomfortably. "So, you're taking me to this guy? And he's going to kill me?"

"Probably."

"But there's a chance he won't?"

"Hey, I never said that-" Silintia started.

"But you said 'probably', and that implies that he won't necessarily kill me." Sora cut her off, looking excited.

"Well, I guess. But probably means there is a good chance of it."

Sora shoulders deflated a little, and he sent Morphinia's axes a rueful glance. "And if he doesn't, you will. Right?"

Silintia had the decency to look away.

"Well?" the brunet boy pushed, feeling his heart speed up.

"I'll do whatever I'm ordered to do, Sora," the elf said, turning back to her table and taking a swig of a strangely colored, bubbling liquid. "If that means killing you, yeah. I'll kill you. I have no problem with killing you."

Gee, hadn't he found himself the nicest people to stay with?

Sora sighed, lowering himself down onto the floor and staring gloomily at the fire. How am I going to get out of this? He wondered, making a mental checklist of how much his current situation sucked. He was in a town that was surrounded by huge, spiked gates; that was crawling with monsters and hated him and guards that would kill him on sight, and the only people he had that were even close to companions were the people who would chop his head off the moment they were told to.

Just great.

"Hey, Silintia?" he asked, turning back towards the elf that was chatting away animatedly with the dead people at her table. She looked down at him, eyebrow arching delicately.

"What?"

Sora bit his lip. "Where is Thrall? He obviously isn't here, or you'd have already taken me to him.."

Silintia took another gulp of her bubbling drink and smiled crookedly, "How observant you are! Thrall is in Orgrimmar, but don't worry my little flower..." the elf swayed a bit in her seat, "it's not far! A day and a half of walking and the doom of Thrall shall be upon you."

The threat of that sentence was impaired when Silintia began giggling, and gushing to the dead people who were with her about how great the drinks were. Sora looked away uncomfortably, wondering if she had really called him her 'flower'. Either way, it didn't matter. Sora knew that outside of this town was open desert, with no walls or people around to capture him.

He would be able to escape from a drunken elf and her sleepy friend with ease.

Smiling, Sora watched the fire burn.

Morning came far too quickly for Sora's tastes. The boy had managed to fall asleep against the wooden leg of Silintia's table sometime in the night, and what felt like a few moments later the white haired elf was shoving his shoulders and telling at him to wake up. I cannot wait to get away from this woman, Sora thought to himself, groggily wiping his eyes and stumbling to his feet. A little ways away Silintia was toeing Morphinia into consciousness, the blonde elf cursing and mumbling about the horrors she would wreck upon the world if she didn't get five more minutes.

"We're wasting daylight, you useless bag of bones," the taller of the two muttered, jabbing the steel of Morphinia's armor with her boot.

The blonde elf gurgled something along the lines of, "Don't the words 'I will kill you' scare you at all?"

Silintia laughed and replied, "Not when coming from you."

Morphinia pulled herself out of the furs and cursed, crawling to her knees and sending Sora a dirty look. "This," she raised a hand weakly, "is all your fault. Stupid humans and their stupid existence."

"I'm.. sorry for existing, then…" Sora said, watching as the elf pulled herself to her feet and wiped her eyes.

The double axes on Morphinia's back clanked noisily as she readjusted them; the elf muttered a quick, "As you should be," in Sora's direction before shoving past him and join Silintia. The white haired elf was talking quietly with the tall, blonde elf from the night before. Sora lagged by the fire, which was only a small pile of embers now, but still warmed him in the cold of dawn. The boy was lost in thought when suddenly a hand gripped him by the hood of his jacket and pulled rather abruptly. "We're going now," Morphinia said, watching in amusement as Sora stumbled and almost hit the floor.

The brunet sent his captor a particularly dirty look, straightening up and shaking the wrinkles from his clothes. "Right then," he murmured, the only thing keeping him from 'accidentally' tripping and shoving Morphinia were the spikes that protruded from her armor.

They didn't look too fun.

Sora followed Silintia and Morphinia out from the tavern, squinting and shielding his eyes from the morning sun. It was still cold outside from the night, and Sora shivered when a gust of wind whipped at the entire group. His spikes fluttered in the wind, specks of sand flying up into the boy's eyes.

Not far ahead Silintia was talking with Thor, resting a hand on her hip and looking rather annoyed. She had changed robes sometime in the night, and was now wearing a silver breastplate from which thick, white robes sprouted and fell shapelessly down to her boots. The robes were sleeved, but didn't cover her shoulders and completely hid the girl's hands. Her hair was still pulled back into a bun, but the bangs that hung free were flying awkwardly in the morning wind. The elf tried to keep them tucked behind her strangely shaped ears, but eventually gave up and instead focused on demanding something from Thor. When Sora got closer, he could hear her shout, "I know you have it. I know Deatheye fixed it, and I want it before we leave."

Finally, a large, blood red pendant fell into her outstretched hand. Thor smiled broadly, speaking loudly over the whipping wind. "It wasn't easy to repair, just so you know! But Nargal swears it'll help with your fire magic, so I guess it's worth it." Silintia nodded, clipping the pendant around her neck before turning to Sora.

"Ready?" She asked, again attempting to keep her bangs from impaling her in the eye. Sora was tempted to mention that he didn't have a choice, but instead nodded and hurried to the elf's side.

Morphinia sidled up to the two, a bulbous pack slung over her shoulder and a large pole gripped loosely in her left hand. "I thought you'd want this.." the blonde shouted, grimacing as sand got in her mouth. She held the pole out to Silintia, who took it gratefully and slung it over her back. It began to glow a soft red color when she touched it.

Silintia situated a white hood over her head and was the first to exit the gates, her face angled down against the wind. Morphinia followed, gloved hand unnecessarily dragging Sora along behind her.

The large, spiked gates slammed shut behind Sora's back, leaving him alone with two people who hated his guts and a desert that would kill him if they didn't.

Fun, fun.

They walked quietly for most of the morning, Sora waiting for the opportune moment to make his escape. He tried a couple times, lagging behind Morphinia and inching to the west, but each time he did the elf would take two steps, stop, pull out her axes, and threaten to chop his head off. That in itself was enough motivation to keep him glued to the blonde's side, watching in dismay as Silintia trudged ahead of them. He wished the white haired elf had been the one in back, because all she had for a weapon was a glowy, over sized stick.

Sora could take a stick, but he wasn't sure about the axes.

And so they traveled on, heads braced against the wind as the sun traveled higher and higher in the sky. It wasn't cold anymore, and Sora could feel perspiration dripping down the nape of his neck when he looked around. Sand was sticking to his sweaty skin, and he felt absolutely disgusting.

According to Morphinia, he looked it, too.

When midday came around, and the sun pranced overhead, the strangest weather phenomenon occurred. One moment they were hurling themselves into the wind, and the next the desert was calm as death. Sora was so taken off guard that he took a step forward, cried out, and fell over. The boy hadn't been ready to find no resistance in his steps, and from where he was, face down in the sand; he could hear Morphinia laughing heartily.

"It does that," she said, actually taking the time to help Sora up. The brunet spit out a mouthful of sand and grimaced, wiping and his tongue. "Here," Morphinia mumbled, rooting around in the pack on her shoulder for something. She pulled out a canister of water and offered it to Sora, who took a greedy swig from it and sloshed the water around in his mouth.

"Thanks," he called, spitting onto the ground and hurrying after the elf, who had already started to walk away. He handed her the canister, which she shoved back into her pack as they walked slowly together. Morphinia glanced up at the sun, shielding her eyes and looking dazed. She wiped at the sweat on her temples, which was making the sharp edge of her armor chafe against her neck. "So what's that thing you gave Silintia, anyways?" came Sora's voice. The elf looked suspiciously to her left, watching the boy smile easily.

"You know, it's almost easy to believe you really aren't from this world." The blonde sighed, sending Silintia a cautious glance.

"Because I'm no-" Sora started, only to be cut off.

"I know, I know. Whatever you say." Morphinia said, smiling. "It's called a staff. It's a magical weapon that mages use to channel their energies." Sora's distant, wide-eyed stare made the girl continue on. "You know what mages are, don't you?"

Sora shook his head.

And so, Morphinia spent the rest of the afternoon explaining to Sora all the wonders of magic. She told him how certain children were born with 'The Gift', which they trained and could use to cast spells and create things like fireballs and ice storms. She told him that there were different variations of The Gift, and that some people with it could inflict deadly diseases, others could contact spirits, and how a special few could even control animals. Sora listened attentively, his eyes round as he imagined how amazing having powers like the ones Morphinia explained would be. Sure, he could do a few spells with the keyblade... but it sounded a lot more fun to be able to shoot fireballs from his hand.

"So, do you have The Gift?" he questioned, watching as the elf twisted her shoulders uncomfortably under the weight of her axes.

"I..." Morphinia's emerald orbs tracked onto Silintia's back for a moment, before she leaned close to Sora and whispered in his ear, "I do."

"Why are you whispering?" Sora mumbled, wondering if Silintia wasn't supposed to hear this.

The elf next to him chuckled. "Because I can control animals," she said lowly; so much so that Sora had to strain to hear her. The boy tilted his head, confused.

"Is that... bad?"

The two were so busy whispering that they didn't notice Silintia had stopped walking until Sora crashed into her back. The white haired elf turned around slowly, watching Sora stumble backwards a few steps. "It's bad, Sora," she said, startling both of her companions. "It's bad because it's considered dark magic, just like the magic of the Warlocks who inflict terrible diseases on people. It's bad because Morphinia can control any animal, even Elves or Orcs... or Humans." Her hands were trembling as she muttered, "I can't believe you actually told him about it, Morph. God." The elf whirled around and stalked off, the white hood that had covered her head falling down from the force.

"Um..." Sora began, looking at the suddenly crestfallen Morphinia. "Should you... not have told me about it?"

The elf's fists clenched at her sides, and she looked away. "Most children with that gift are killed at birth, because it's considered too powerful…" She wet her lips and started walking after Silintia. "I'm alive because my parents kept it a secret, and because I have, too. I shouldn't have told you.. Oh, god."

For a moment Sora imagined using this information as blackmail to get away from Silintia and Morphinia, but one look at the elf next to him told Sora he couldn't. "Hey..." the boy said, grabbing Morphinia's fisted hand. She looked up in surprise, ceasing to walk and instead watching as Sora's easy, disarming smile fell into place. "I won't tell anyone, I swear. You can chop me up and feed me to an Orc, but I won't tell!"

The boy paused. "Though.. I'd really rather you didn't do that..." Morphinia chuckled as Sora continued, "But what I'm trying to say is that it's kind of my job to protect people, you know? And even though you've threatened to cut my head off thirteen times now... I wouldn't tell anyone."

The elf smiled for a split second, before awkwardly pulling her hand away from Sora's and scratching the back of her neck. "Ah... you are probably the worst human ever, talking like that to a Blood Elf."

The two set off after Silintia, trudging through the endless sand and quarrelling rather companionably about whether or not Sora was a failure as a human. They talked until dusk, ignoring the reproachful glances Silintia sent over her shoulder as they marched along.

Finally the orange sky of day bled into a peaceful, ambient lilac color as the moon replaced the scorching sun. Sora heaved a sigh, rolling his hips awkwardly as the ache of walking nonstop all day finally set in. "Are we going to stop anytime soon?" he asked, glancing over at Morphinia and watching as she rearranged the axes on her back for the umpteenth time that day. "Those must be heavy…" the boy mused, bracing his hands behind his head and staring up at the starry sky.

"They are," Morphinia sighed. "And I don't know if we're going to stop. I thought we would, but I think Silintia wants you dead as quickly as possible, so maybe we'll just walk through the night."

Sora shivered.

"We're going to stop," said Silintia, not bothering to look back at her companions. "Though I do want Sora dead, I don't want to die of exhaustion in the process. Here is fine." The elf stopped walking, turned around, and gracefully lowered herself onto her bottom.

Morphinia shuffled past Sora quickly, stopping a few feet in front of her white-haired friend and limberly pulling the bulky pack off of her shoulder. It hit the ground hard, making sand billow into the air as Morphinia dropped to her knees and began to rummage though the bag's contents. To Sora's surprise, the blonde elf produced a relatively large log, roughly the same size and width of the girl's forearm. She dropped it onto the ground behind her, and then proceeded to extract two more logs of the same size.

"You were lugging those around all day…?" Sora asked, watching with large eyes as Morphinia quietly situated the logs into a teepee.

The elf smiled, "Yeah," she said, jerking her head to the side to keep blonde strands of hair out of her eyes. "Silintia?" she questioned, looking over at her friend. "Could you light this?"

And then, for the first time since he had come to this world, Sora witnessed The Gift.

One moment Silintia was sitting there, watching blankly as Morphinia arranged the wood, and the next her palm was facing the sky and burning crimson. "Sure," the mage muttered, her pristine features glowing softly. A quick flick to the wrist was all it took, and then the ball of flame in Silintia's hand was hurling towards the logs Morphinia had set out. They immediately began to blaze, probably coated in some kind of chemical that made catching fire easier.

Sora watched the entire spectacle with a mystified expression, curling his palms slightly in the hope that they would suddenly be engulfed in flames. Morphinia was rummaging around in her pack again, while Silintia had fixed Sora with an aggressive stare that practically read, 'Haha… I can do magic and you can't!'

Oh, he so wanted to pull out his keyblade and give her a real show. Maybe fire didn't come from his palms, but he could do magic and… and… lock worlds.

And stuff.

Sourly, the brunet shuffled over to the fire and plopped down, sand shifting awkwardly under his bottom and tipping him off balance. Sora fluttered for a moment before slamming a gloved palm into the ground and steadying himself.

Silintia was smirking, a pale hand tilted towards the sky and glowing slightly. The air around her palm wavered for a moment, and then was distorted by a clear sphere of undulating liquid. The white-haired elf flexed her fingers, watching in distant amusement as the ball in her hand twisted and turned at her will. She paused, looked up, and smiled sickly at Sora. "For the sand," she explained, guiding the orb of what Sora assumed was water over the sleeve of her now tan looking robes. It attracted the sand like a magnet, seemingly sucking the substance from wherever Silintia guided it and leaving in its wake white fabric.

The mage continued her cleaning treatment, removing the sand from her arms and legs and even her hair (which had turned a sickly yellow color) while Sora watched. The brunet looked away when Silintia uncaringly hiked her robe up her thigh and ripped her boots off; turning them upside down and watching in dismay as more than a handful of earth dropped out. "How does it even get in here?" the elf asked, looking off to the left where Morphinia was awkwardly hopping around on one foot and trying to remove her metal boot.

"I don- oh!" the blonde elf cried and lost balance, arms flailing wildly for a moment before she fell backwards and hit the sand with an, "Oof!"

Sora was at her side in an instant, nervous fingers fluttering. "Are you okay?" he asked, ignoring the obnoxious laughing coming from Silintia's direction. Beside him, Morphinia laid spread eagle, with her arms thrown out and head lulling. The elf was shaking, and just before Sora could repeat his question she rolled onto her side and gripped at her ribs, laughing shrilly along with Silintia.

"I'm-I'm fine," Morphinia gasped out, gloved hand grabbing Sora's shoulder and using it as leverage to pull herself into a sitting position.

The brunet blanched when Morphinia proceeded to rip her shoes off and empty them, wiggling sandy toes in his direction. "Really," Sora said, moving back to his spot across from the blonde, "I thought you were hurt... twitching like that." He pulled off his own oversized shoes and watched the sand fall, pursing his lips. "I have the craziest captors ever."

"At least we haven't eaten you!" Morphinia replied in a chipper tone, sending Sora a twisted smile. "..yet." The semi-threat, mostly-joke was ruined when the blonde elf's stomach gurgled loudly, making her looked down in surprise and announce rather bluntly, "I'm hungry."

Across the fire Silintia was laughing again; a grin lighting up her features better than the fire ever could. "No, really?" she asked, cobalt eyes shining the in flame's depths.

"Silintia," Morphinia called in a sing-song voice, "conjure me some bread."

The mage didn't reply, but she began swaying her delicate hands around in a rolling motion that seemed to please Morphinia. The blonde nodded happily, watching along with Sora as the heaving of Silintia's hands grew faster and faster, a white spark-like thing catching between her palms and swelling, purple energy crackling at its edges as it engulfed the elf's hands and illuminated her features. Onyx eyes flashed white for the briefest moment, and then the light dissipated; leaving a large loaf of bread cupped in Silintia's outstretched hands.

"Nothing more," the elf gasped, throwing the loaf over to Morphinia. She caught it expertly, and was breaking a piece off happily when Silintia gripped her side and grimaced.

Morphinia nibbled at her bread, looking at her friend. "Worn yourself out already?" She gulped down another bite of bread, "I can see why. You maintained that water spell for quite a while." Beads of sweat formed at Silintia's hairline, and the elf's expression intensified. Sora watched with wide eyes, crouching low in the sand and beginning to move in her direction. "Don't bother, Sora." Morphinia called, breaking off a piece of bread and giving it to the boy. "She's just overexerted herself. If you were more like a warrior…" she addressed Silintia, "You would just put up with the sand instead of putting so much effort into being clean. You'll be ruined by morning, anyways."

Silintia's shaking hands wound away from her sides, and she uneasily grasped them in her lap. "I'm okay with not being a warrior, and I bet if you could you would clean yourself off, too. Sand is disgusting."

"Not really," replied Morphinia over a mouthful of bread. "Makes me feel alive."

Sora (who was switching between munching on his bread and looking between Silintia and Morphinia) chose this moment to speak up. "Sand feels gross…" he said, avoiding the daggers Morphinia glared at him.

"Whatever. Get used to it." The blonde muttered, gulping down the last of her bread before swiftly removing the axes from her back and placing them carefully to the side. Sora eyed them warily, but relaxed when it became apparent that his head was in no immediate danger. "I'm pretty tired…" Morphinia said, stifling a yawn while uncrossing her legs and letting them sprawl.

"Food has a tendency to do that," was all Silintia said before un-strapping the pole from her back and throwing it off to the side. She tucked white bangs behind her ear, sent Sora an uncalled-for hateful glare, and proceeded to fall backwards in the sand. "'Night," the elf called, earning a low mumble from Morphinia.

Both elves had curled up near the fire, Morphinia with her head in the sand and Silintia using her own arm as a pillow. Sora sat there, watching distantly.

Silintia+Morphinia-weapons+unconsciousness=…?

Oh.

Oooooh.

A sneaky smirk worked its way onto Sora's features, but he quickly smothered it when Morphinia glanced at him. "If you try to leave… well, you know. The head and axes thing… yeah."

"Right," Sora nodded, lowering himself onto the sand and yawning happily. He was pretty tired… sleep sounded so nice…

No, no... must stay awake. The boy chastised himself, closing his eyes and falling into a faux sleep. He listened carefully, the sounds of the night surrounding him. After only a few minutes he could hear obnoxious snoring coming from Morphinia's direction, and not long after Silintia was breathing deeply and rolling away from the fire. Sora peeked at their sleeping forms, but for almost another thirty minutes he stayed still as death, waiting for either of his captors to betray themselves as secretly awake.

They didn't.

Eventually, his muscles quivering with excitement, Sora slowly lifted his hands and placed them in the sand. He shot Morphinia a quick glance before pushing down, holding his breath as the crown necklace he wore clinked against the zipper of his jacket. The sound was almost deafening in the quiet. Sora froze, brunet spikes swaying as the wind picked up gently.

Just the wind… no axes flying at my face yet.

He really needed to get out of here.

Finally Sora worked up the courage to shift onto his knees, and the resulting symphony of shifting clothes and jingling chains was enough to burst his eardrums. Muscles clenched, the boy forced himself to his feet and held his breath, sucking in as if that would make him quieter. Paranoid cerulean eyes traveled over their makeshift camp, straying to his captors' sleeping forms before staring blankly at the distant horizon.

And then, never taking his eyes off of Morphinia (or, more accurately, her axes), Sora back-walked away from the fire and into the night. After he felt he was sufficiently far, the boy whirled around and set off like a bullet, fleeing through the sand desperately. I made it! He thought, grinning stupidly. Freedom had never felt so-

"Where are you going?"

Shit.

Surprised, Sora stumbled forward in the sand and face-planted. The boy yelped, jerking onto his back and scooting away.

Silintia was standing only a few feet away from him, palm blazing with a spherical orb of fire. Her onyx eyes were slit, a deadly glint shining in them as the fire flexed along with her fingers. "Trying to escape?" she asked, stepping towards the fallen boy. Sora shimmied away, looking behind the looming Silintia for her comrade.

Morphinia wasn't there.

"You came alone?" Sora gasped out, watching Silintia as she continued approaching. When he glanced down, he saw her feet were glowing a soft lavender color as they crunched through the sand. She had probably used a speed spell of some sort to catch him…

"Morphinia's assistance was not required for the capture of a simple human." The elf hissed; her voice as low as a whisper. "I suggest you come back now, because running is useless, and you have no weapon. I was told not to kill you unless I had to. I meant what I said back at the lodge. I have no problem with it."

Sora stayed on the ground, his breath dragging into his lungs raggedly. "I won't go back with you," he said, voice betraying none of his panic. The boy pulled himself to his feet, right arm shakily flying out to his side. "I don't want to fight you, Silintia…"

The smile that split Silintia's face was almost manic, her eyes dilating. "Like you could!" the fire in her palm roared to life, hissing and twisting violently. The force of it made her bangs fly up, her bun barely holding as the rest of her hair danced in the pressure. Sora stared in something akin to horror, wondering distantly if it had been presumptuous to think he could defeat this black-eyed madwoman if he had to.

As the boy watched, his eyes unconsciously strayed to the area just above Silintia's right shoulder. Something had moved there, a body darker than night shifting against the amethyst horizon. At first Sora thought Morphinia was finally joining the confrontation, but as whatever it was moved closer a familiar tingle worked its way down the boy's spine and engulfed his entire body.

"It couldn't be…" he murmured, earning a confused glance from Silintia. Yellow eyes, he could see them now, approached behind the elf as the fire in her hand brought the beings into sight.

Heartless.

There were heartless approaching a few feet behind Silintia, their yellow sets of eyes numerous. The mage seemed unaware, and was instead looking pleased at Sora's terrified expression. The boy himself was frozen, confused as to why heartless would be in this world, where they had come from, and what they were planning to do to the oblivious Silintia. It would be easy to let them engulf her; to flee while they launched a surprise attack…

The heartless reared up, and charged. Before logic could let Sora entertain any thought of letting them attack, instinct took over and he was hurling forward, keyblade summoned with a flash as he screamed, "MOVE!"

Silintia, who was busy being shocked at the sudden weapon in Sora's possession, didn't have time to react. The elf was frozen, watching with wide eyes as her captive charged to her side and easily shoved her to the ground behind him. The brunet's forearm brushed through the fire cupped in Silintia's palm, but he didn't seem to mind. As the mage stumbled onto her butt, Sora flew into the horde of heartless and danced around them, keyblade biting into their bodies of darkness with ease and banishing them to nothingness.

On the ground, Silintia's jaw was hanging slack. Sora, who back slashed one heartless while simultaneously kicking another in the face, didn't notice the elf force herself to her feet. He continued to fight, body arching forward to avoid the sharp claws of one assailant. The boy swung his keyblade back to point at the attacking heartless, unknowingly slashing two others in the process. Gripping the hilt with both hands, Sora willed a stream of fireballs to engulf the creature. Suddenly a hand was gripping the boy's shoulder, and Sora looked up to see a terrified looking Silintia. "What's going on?!" she asked, realizing they were surrounded by at least twenty monsters.

At the same time Silintia spoke the circle of heartless constricted, some launching themselves at the elf and others charging the keyblade master. "Ah!" was all Sora could hear from his companion as multiple claws tore her away from him.

"Silintia!" he yelled, forgetting that she had been ready to kill him a few minutes ago. The boy screamed loudly, thrashing the heartless off of his body and swinging the keyblade at them with malicious eyes. He turned to where Silintia was, and saw that the woman was almost completely covered with black beings. She writhed around, whimpering as they crushed her into the sand and tried to swallow her whole.

Sora rushed at her, legs catching in the masses of heartless that were charging him. It seemed as if there were even more now, and the boy swung carelessly at them. Finally he stopped even trying to kill them, and instead focused of shaking them off and at the same time getting to Silintia. The elf had stopped withering now, and was instead curled onto her side. "Get them off…" she was whispering over and over, covering her face in her hands and surrendering to the death she was sure awaited.

Just as the elf was giving into the heartless, Sora made it through the mass of black around her and dropped to his knees. "Hold on!" he cried, ignoring the heartless that launched themselves onto his back and instead focusing on ripping the ones clinging to Silintia off. The brunet threw them away easily; his own small body reaching over his companion's to pull away the monsters.

"Sora…" Silintia croaked, looking up at him as he shoved away the last heartless from her and smiled crookedly.

"You need to get away," he groaned, and Silintia realized that multitudes of the small monsters were crawling onto his back and up his front. "Just get away from here…" Sora said, planting the keyblade's head into the sand and using its hilt as leverage to stand. The boy turned away, struggling to raise his right arm. A heartless bit his hand and made him drop the keyblade, which fell to the ground and disappeared with a crack. Silintia, who was still sitting dumbly on the ground behind him, watched as Sora was engulfed by more and more heartless. "Get away!" the boy yelled again, and at the same time there was a blinding flash of light that blew the heartless off of him.

Silintia shaded her eyes, and by the time she could look up again Sora was hunched on the ground in front of her, his back facing her as black spread over his skin and clothes. The elf watched in horror, scooting away in the sand as the Sora before her howled angrily and suddenly sprinted at the hordes of heartless.

It slashed wildly into the center of the crowd, thoughtlessly dragging elongated claws through the malleable bodies of darkness around him. Silintia shakily got to her feet, trying desperately to catch a glimpse of the boy as the heartless around him began to slowly but surely be eaten away by his madness. Every now and then the woman saw Sora leap out of the group, his eyes glowing an eerie yellow when he looked at her. Each time he would regard her for a moment before hurling himself back into the pits of fighting, his howls sending shivers down the elf's spine as she watched helplessly.

Finally, after violently crushing the last scurrying heartless into nothingness, Sora turned to Silintia. His luminescent eyes were wavering, black spikes waving in the gentle winds of twilight as he took a few deformed, animalistic steps towards the woman. "Sora…" she said lightly, eyeing the way his shadowy skin stretched and bent over the twitching muscles in his calves. Silintia took a few unconscious steps back, whispering the boy's name again as he approached her.

And then, as quickly as it had come, the blackness of Sora's skin skirted away. His entire body shimmered slightly, as if reality had lapsed for a moment and allowed him to return to normal. Blue eyes wavered, and the boy took two shaky steps before stumbling forward into the sand. Silintia was at his side in a second, nervous fingers fluttering about his fallen form. "Are you okay?" she asked, gingerly helping Sora to his feet.

"I've been better..." the boy said, cerulean orbs locking with Silintia's onyx. "What happened?"

The elf deadpanned, white bangs whipping around as the wind picked up. "I was about to ask you…" she mumbled, keeping a hand on Sora's arm to steady him. "I mean, one second those black monsters-"

"Heartless," Sora interjected.

"-Heatless, whatever. One second they were attacking, and I mean they were everywhere… all over me, and you-you…" Silintia looked away, wetting her lips. "You pulled them off of me, and I guess that attracted them to you. Then there was this flash and you went all black and started ripping them apart… it was scary. I thought you were going to attack me."

Sora looked confused, as if she was telling him something completely unbelievable. "I remember the heartless," he said, absently scratching the back of his head. "M'not really sure what you're talking about with the-ah.." The boy's brows drew together, eyes welling up at the sudden pain all over his body. Hundreds upon hundreds of lacerations covered him, each stinging as Sora twisted to look at Silintia. The elf was in a similar state of disarray; her white robes ripped and bloody, her hair falling out of its bun in a tangled mass.

They looked like hell.

"What is it?" Silintia asked, sounding much too concerned for someone who had once threatened to incinerate the boy in front of her.

Sora shrugged away from her helpful hands, looking down in dismay at his pants. They were practically in shreds, and his shirt probably wasn't much better… he could feel the nighttime breeze drafting through it. "We're really ripped up, aren't we?" he asked, pulling at the pieces of his jacket. "Usually when I fight heartless they don't even touch me. I'm not used to so many…"

"You've fought those things before?" Silintia grabbed Sora by the shoulders without thinking, turning him to face her rather forcefully. "Those heartless things? I've never even seen them in my life! What are they?"

The brunet winced as his captor shook him, the wounds covering his body making him yelp. Silintia took notice of this, her white eyebrows winding together as she gingerly let go of him. "Sorry," she mumbled, "You can explain later. First we should get you back to camp and get you patched up…"

Sora went rigid, muscles tensing as his head snapped up. "I'm not going back," he said incredulously, eyes narrowing. "Are you crazy? I did not run all the way out here, get attacked by heartless, save you, just to-"

"Sorry," Silintia mumbled, pressing her palm suddenly to the boy's forehead. A small flash of light ignited there and made sitting up seem to suddenly require all of Sora's attention.

"What…" Sora woozily looked at the elf, his vision going fuzzy.

The boy went limp, muscles turning to mush as he fell forward against Silintia. The woman caught him, wrapping her arms around his torso and pressing her face into his brown spikes. His body was involuntarily twitching, and Silintia embraced him more forcefully to soothe it. "You'll be okay," She whispered against his hair, pale hands running down his back as he continued to shudder. "Everything is okay…"

Sora finally lost consciousness, cerulean eyes unwillingly sliding shut. Silintia straightened, lacing one arm behind the boy's back and the other under his flaccid legs. The elf hurled him up, bracing him against her upper body as she struggled to keep balance. The wounds covering her body itched, but they weren't nearly as bad as Sora's. Silintia sighed, shifting him in her arms slightly before trekking back to camp.

Sora woke up to Silintia speaking, her voice lacking its characteristic harshness as she urged him to drink from the vial she was forcing between his lips. The boy gagged, liquid going up his nose from the shock of waking up.

"Oh-ugh! W-what?" the brunet shook his head, looking around deftly. They were back at the camp, the night sky still a light purple while the fire crackled off to his right. Silintia was crouching in front of him, knees buried in the sand and a surprised expression marring her features. "You!" he yelled, moving to point accusingly at the woman and instead finding that his hands were bound behind his back. Shocked, and more than a little hurt, Sora glared. "What did you do to me back there?!" he screeched, struggling against his binds even though it aggravated his wounds.

Soft hands stilled his arms, "Stop it," said Silintia, making Sora struggle even harder. She tightened her grip, nails digging into one of the scratches on the boy's upper arm. "You're not going to break them, they're magically bound. You're just going to hurt yourself…"

"Oh, and it's not like you're hurting me." Sora said, childish obstinacy making him continue to twist his wrists. The nails on his arm dug deeper, finally making the boy go still. "I can't believe you," he whispered, looking across the fire and spying Morphinia's sleeping form. She slept through all of that? He marveled, turning back to the woman before him. "I saved your life, and you go and tie me up. That's got to be the most ungratef-"

"I am very grateful, Sora. Please drink this." Silintia cut him off, forcing his vial between his lips again.

This time the boy was ready, allowing the hand behind his head to keep him steady as he swallowed the liquid. "Healing potion?" he asked, feeling the fluid go to work at once. The capillaries in his lacerations fused back together, skin grafting into place as the warm feeling that always accompanied a health potion bubbled in Sora's stomach and made his head spin. "Doesn't that sort of set you back a bit in the whole 'killing me' department?" he asked, head lulling forward when Silintia removed her hand and shifted away from him.

"I do not want to kill you…" She was staring into the fire, skin already smooth and wound-free.

"Well," Sora rolled his wrists again, the initial head-rush he got from drinking the potion wearing off. "You could've fooled me."

Silintia finally bothered looking at him, her onyx eyes a bit watery. "I don't. I mean it when I say I am grateful. In fact, I'm indebted to you for my life." The mage moved over to her charge, settling in the sand near him and crossing her legs. "I simply cannot pay that debt in the way you wish me to. I was ordered to bring you to Thrall, and my orders come before my life, or my honor."

Sora didn't reply. He only sighed, letting his body lag to the side before dropping like a sack of bricks into the sand. The elf beside him looked away, soft fingers rubbing circles into her temples. After a moment of hesitation she stood, eyes staying off to the horizon. "Thanks again. Too bad you really haven't changed anything." Silintia crossed their make-shift campsite and settled down near Morphinia, who was sprawled on her back and mumbling incoherently. When the white-haired elf spoke again her words were callused, as if she had already lost all sympathy and gratitude towards Sora.

"Goodnight. If you try to escape again I will kill you."

After that Sora was much too cold to sleep, and Silintia stayed awake stoking the fire.

Note: I feel a bit bad for Silintia. Elves on a whole are a very prideful race, very bound to duty. From what I see, she wants to repay her debt to Sora, but simply can't because once set on a mission she must see it through. Anyways, Morphinia is win. I've always adored her, but I really enjoy writing her exchanges with Sora. It occurred to me she and Silintia have a good cop bad cop thing going on... haha. When I decided to put them into the WoW world I was more planning to have them both be friendly Donald and Goofy replacements (because Sora can't get two feet without someone's help), then they sort of took on a personality of their on.

Anyways…

All the cool kids are reviewing. ;D