Riku wasn't on the bus again in the morning. An anxious feeling twisted up in Sora's stomach, and he gave his other a look. The blond seemed to recognise that something was up, and gave him a steady nod. They'd talk about it when they had a private moment.
Roxas left Hayner and Pence to whatever their pre-school ritual was, following Sora through the hallways.
"What's worrying you?" His other asked as they reached Riku's locker.
"Riku and Lea aren't here again," he said, as he opened the lock. He stuffed his books in the locker.
"Axel probably got expelled again," Roxas gave an indifferent shrug.
"You share all your classes with him," Sora pressed, "did anything happen that would get him expelled?"
Roxas opened his mouth. His brows furrowed in thought, closed it. He gave a low hum, then shrugged. "Setzer kicked him out of math class. But no. Nothing serious." He turned. "If he's not coming, I'm using his locker. I'm not carrying my bag around all day again." He glared at the lock for a moment. He tried 3-4-73, then 3-47-3, then finally unlocked it with 34-7-3. He snorted. "I knew it."
"Knew what?" Sora asked, as Roxas shoved a few ratty notebooks aside to stuff his bag in.
"His lock-code is 'Fire'." He closed it and locked it again. "Come on. It's time for home-room. We'll talk more at lunch, yeah?"
Sora brought all the wrong books to his classes, getting lost most of the time. He hadn't realised how much he'd realised on Riku to get him through the school day.
At lunch, he found Roxas and led him out to the weeping willow. They sat hidden in the curtain of leaves, and Sora stared up at the odd knobbly face in the bark until he could arrange his thoughts properly.
"I'm worried about Riku," he worked out eventually. Roxas gave him a silent, level stare. "Everyone around here acts like they have no idea who I'm talking about. It's almost like he doesn't exist at all…"
Roxas hummed. "Well you didn't imagine him up. I've seen him, and Axel knows him. You know he's real. He's just not very friendly with most of the school." He leaned back, watching Sora quietly for a moment. "We'll go next door after school, okay? And if Sephiroth doesn't know where he is, we'll take my board to the station and go interrogate Axel until he coughs up where Riku is."
Sora beamed at his other. "Great idea! Thanks, Roxas!"
The rest of the day seemed to pass in a blur. It was like it passed in the space of a few blinks – he wondered if he'd actually dozed off in his classes without Riku to keep him awake. But eventually they were getting off the bus in front of their houses.
Sephiroth was peering over their fence again, and when they asked him where Riku was, he dismissed them with an annoyed: "I don't know, or care."
Neminem city it was. They changed out of their school uniform, pocketed some money from their piggy-banks, dug out Roxas' old longboard and left. He stood in front of his brother, who skated them forward with a few deft pushes with his feet.
It took ages to get there, and it was deep twilight by the time they reached the city across the bay. Something about the city, clinging to the edge of the cliffside, bathed in the pink-orange sunlight seemed all at once so familiar and very wrong. He glanced at Roxas who, by the set-stone look of his expression felt the same.
They got off the train and left the station, weaving between the crowd until they stood on the road. "I'll go intimidate Axel into finding out what he knows," Roxas volunteered. "Why don't you take the tram and check at that art shop? Check if they've seen him."
A thought occurred to Sora, that it really should be him checking on Lea. Something tugged at him, prompting him to do that. Roxas could make the trip down on his skateboard, it wouldn't take him as long.
But he shook the thought off. Roxas and Lea were due a big fight, and he didn't really want to be the one hanging around when they had it.
He walked with his other as far as the Starmunny, and then climbed down the staircase to make his way to Riku's art shop. He opened the door and stepped in – the blonde girl behind the counter lifted her head as he entered.
"Hello," she called in a soft voice. "You're Sora, right?"
He rubbed his head. "Uh. Yeah."
She smiled at him gently. "My name is Naminé. How can I help?"
"I'm looking for someone," he said, approaching the counter. "Taller than me, long grey hair."
She watched him for a long moment. "You mean… Riku, I suppose."
He startled. Someone actually knew who he was talking about. "Yes!" He gave an eager nod. "Have you seen him?"
She nodded. "He was here earlier, he went to walk my other home."
He perked up easily. "Where did they go? Was he coming back here after?"
She shook her head, soft blonde hair settling across her shoulders. "He was going back to Axel's place afterward."
"Great!" Roxas would make sure he stayed there until he got back. "Thanks, Naminé!" He turned to go.
"Sora," she called, halting him in place. "What you're doing…. What you're feeling for him, it's not supposed to happen."
He turned to give her a confused look. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You. And Riku." She looked at him, intense and sort of sad. "It's not supposed to be him."
Something twisted inside him, and he scowled. His hand clenched, but grasped nothing. "You're not making any sense."
She reached out to grip he sleeve. "That's not what you came here for. We all need you to fulfil your purpose."
He took a step away from her. "I guess you think you can psyche me out by saying really random stuff!" He turned away and ran away from her, fighting off the strange feeling twisting up his stomach. He needed to find where Riku was, that was the only important thing right now.
"Sora, please…" She called, but he was too far away to hear her after that.
