The bark of the paopu tree felt soft beneath his fingers, and the leaves brushed gently against his back. Pushing his hair off his forehead, he sighed. An ocean breeze soared past him, wrapping him with warm caresses, like a blanket, carrying with it the salty smell of the water and the dry air that promised rain the following day. The water was calm, showing off its resplendence as it sparkled in the mid-afternoon sun.
Sora smiled. Living here was like a dream, and he never wanted to wake up.
"Riku, I wish...we could stay like this forever, you know? It's perfect. We're so lucky..."
He thought he saw a small smile tug at Riku's lips, as he stood there, so stoically crossing his arms. He could remember a time when Riku would have smiled and laughed, just like him. It seemed that those days were coming to an end, but that was alright. Sora knew that the Riku he loved was still around; it just took a bit of prodding to make him surface.
"Where do you think we are, Sora?" Riku asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh?"
His best friend looked out on the ocean, steeping the moment in a quiet that had become familiar in the past few years.
"You never did get it, did you? Didn't they tell you? All of this," he opened his arms, turning to take in everything around them, "has always been a complete lie. Destiny Islands...what a crock. Did you really think either of us was ever going to find our destinies here?"
"Riku, you're not really making any sense."
He smiled, a fake smile that left Sora feeling bereft and, somehow, terribly lonely.
"I never could find the courage to tell you. There were so many times that I almost did, when I was just a second from letting it slip out of my mouth, but I never could. You would never hesitate to tell me, if the situation had been reversed, and I think that's why I never did it. You had her now, you didn't need me anymore."
The words caused a sharp pain in Sora's chest, though he wasn't quite sure why. Riku had always been his best friend—always would be, as far as he was concerned—and no one could take that place.
"I'll always need you..." he trailed off as Riku reached a hand out to him, offering him something that had a significance he couldn't even begin to understand. He didn't—couldn't—accept the offer. He didn't know what his friend was asking of him.
"It's funny, Sora," Riku said as he pulled his hand away again, "That even after all this, I still..."
He stopped, looking down at his hand with an unconcerned expression on his face.
"Huh, that's odd, my hand's cold." Sora looked down too, eyes widening at the black substance that had cunningly made its way onto Riku's wrist.
"Oh my God, Riku, you have to get it off! It's the darkness, it's not healthy!" he tried to pull it from Riku's skin, wrapping his fingers around it, tangling them in nothing.
"Um, Sora? I don't think it's going to matter all that much"
"Wha-" Riku smiled at him, ruffling his brown hair with his free hand, before holding it between them. It had become translucent, and what seemed like little bits of light were peeling off of it in sections of skin.
"Look, Sora, I'm finally disappearing..."
And with another gust of the beautiful ocean breeze, Riku was gone.
Sora woke up instantly, his heart beating so rapidly that he thought it might jump completely out of his chest. That had been, undeniably, one of the most terrifying dreams that he could ever remember having. The image that lingered in his mind, along with the horrible fright of seeing Riku just...disappear, was filling his stomach with nausea. It had seemed so real, and that had been the most unsettling part about it.
He could remember that tree with such clarity. It had been in their secret cove—bent over like the force of a thousand winds had taken away its integrity—and had been the perfect height for sitting and watching the sunset. How many times had he and Riku sat there together, talking about whatever came to mind? The most serious conversations they'd ever had together had taken place by that very tree.
To be completely truthful, it had been where he'd told his friend that he was going to ask Kairi to be his girlfriend, and where they'd both gotten utterly drunk to celebrate their captaincies on the last day of finals, junior year.
It was a special place.
So why did my subconscious decide to ruin it like that? Sora couldn't help but wonder.
As his mental lethargy began to lift, and the discontent left over from the dream was filed away in the back of his mind, the discomfort in his shoulders brought him back to reality. It seemed like he'd learned to rely on Donald and his cures a lot more than he'd thought. His pain tolerance could get him through a battle, but apparently it wasn't that effective on a long term scale.
When was the last time he'd had a drink of water? There was no way of knowing for sure. The last time he'd been this thirsty had been when Aladdin had dared him and Goofy to spend a day in the desert and they'd forgotten to bring water. He tried to swallow around the cotton in his throat, but it just made him all the more aware that there wasn't anything to wet his parched mouth.
"If you're going to kill me, at least get it over with! I can't imagine that dying from dehydration is very pleasant, you know?" he yelled to the empty room, instantly regretting it as the words tore through his throat. Of course, no one answered. He slumped against the wall, uncaring that the cold was digging into his back like a knife, and that his lungs felt wet and tight. He closed his eyes against the darkness, feeling it creep in on him again like it had so many times before when he'd almost lost hope.
"I'm so sorry, Riku, for everything. I never wanted any of this to happen. Not to me, not to you...we had so much going for us, and then everything just got so screwed up. I'm losing my mind here, you know? Slowly, maybe, but I definitely feel like I'm going crazy. It's like I'll wake up any moment in my soft, warm bed, and realize that I'm late for school again. I'll run out the door, and you'll be there, waiting for me with that pissed off look on your face, but I'd know you're secretly happy to see me. I'd give anything for that, Riku, you have no idea. I'd be so happy if everything could just be normal again."
He rested his head on the cool stone behind him, sighing. If only it were as simple as wishing for things to change.
"Giving up already, Sora? I thought you were stronger than that."
Riku...
A sudden burst of realization pulsed through his mind, and he sat up again. Riku was coming for him, hopefully with reinforcements. He hadn't stood a chance against the concentrated darkness that had captured, and, if his dream was any indication, Riku wouldn't either. His best friend, and whoever he'd managed to track down, would get captured just like he had. Or worse, he could be killed.
There was no way he was letting that happen.
"I'm the fucking Keyblade Master! I'm not going to just sit here and lick my wounds until she comes back to give me more. Yeah, alright! Now, first things first..." he trailed off, closing his eyes. "The key to making magic work," Merlin had said, "isn't being strong, though some would swear otherwise. The spells work with your body, and finding that equilibrium is much more efficient than just relying on raw power. Because of this, no matter how incapacitated you are, you should technically be able to find enough material inside yourself to produce results. They may not be spectacular, but even the smallest spell can work wonders if procured at the appropriate moment."
He turned his gaze inward, looking for the well of power that was his magic. He was weak, he was tired and hungry, but he pushed all that aside. There was a place in his heart where physical discomfort made no impact on his thoughts—he'd retreated there during every battle—and he strove to find it again, hoping that it hadn't been lost from disuse.
He knew he had to be careful, though. He knew what he risked by doing magic when he was so weak.
"Think of it like...a candle. To make a candle glow, you need wax, a wick, and, of course, the flame to light it. The wax is your being, the wick is your innate magic, and the light is your will to create the spell. When the wick is gone, the wax will stop burning; if you have no more innate magic, you cannot perform. However, the wick will continue burning until the wax is completely evaporated. If you attempt to use your innate magic when you do not have enough physical and mental strength to sustain it, the spell will use what little you have and then take directly from your life force. Depending on how much you overestimate your capacity, that final spell may even be enough to kill you. You have my warning. Whether you accept it or not is your choice, in the end."
Taking a deep breath, he began pulling at the magic gently, mentally weaving it into the familiar pattern of the aero spell. The first thing he wanted to do was get his blindfold off, so he could finally get a look at his surroundings, and the right amount of wind concentrated in the right area should be enough to knock it off.
He could feel the magic begin to flow through him, ruffling his hair like happy fingers, and he felt it tug at his blindfold, the bit of cloth fluttering back and forth. It was a drain on his system, but finally the blindfold peeled away, and he could finally, finally, see something other than utter and inescapable darkness.
If he'd been expecting to see some sort of automatic, magic-activated escape lever, he was to be sadly disappointed. While it may not have been the quintessential 'dungeon cell', it definitely had the look of a disused basement. The walls were cement, just like the dirty floor, and there were several dark, wooden racks placed in neat rows along the perimeter.
A sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and, for a brief moment, he was afraid that he'd overdone it, that even that brief spell had been enough to completely drain him, but the feeling passed on as quickly as it had come. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he promised that he'd think about it later. Right then, there were other things that needed his attention.
"Right, then. How am I going to get out of here?" He looked down at his ankles, trying to figure out a way to break the bonds holding his feet neatly in place.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere. Like I said before, it would ruin the game."
Sora's head whipped around, his eyes widening as he took in the figure leaning against the doorframe.
"You!" If he hadn't seen her with his own eyes, he never would have believed it. He began frantically pulling at the magic inside of him again, desperately trying to pool together enough for one more attack.
"I have to admit, I'm rather impressed that you managed to get as far along as you did. I didn't think you capable of it." She brought her hand up to her face, as if nonchalantly examining her nails.
"After everything you did, you have the nerve to capture me, to keep me here. Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now." He balled his hands into fists, feeling the energy gently leak from his skin.
"I don't need a reason, I should think. You are, after all, the one at my mercy. Maybe I should be the one asking you that question, hm?"
"You deserve this, and I hope it hurts." He pushed the spell outwards, the thunder crackling around them like an electrically charged blanket. When it hit her, laugher came from her mouth, the very same laughter that had sent many a chill through his bones.
"You really think that's going to work on me? Huh. You really are an idiot. Next time, try and use your brain."
Sora knew that he'd pushed himself too hard, and he could feel himself losing his grip on reality, but that didn't stop him from realizing that his last spell had, in fact, been an incredibly stupid one to use.
"Alright, we'll be coming up on Disney Castle in a few minutes. I don't know exactly what you guys plan on doing, but I think Chip and I should stay on the ship. We can keep everything ready in case something happens and we gotta split. Are you alright with that, Chip?"
Chip nodded, smiling.
"I can't say how bad it'll be in there, but you guys should definitely stay on your toes. It's probably been close to a week since Sora got captured They may still be there, or they may not. Sora took care of King Mickey before he went into the basement, and we believe him to be the only obvious casualty so far, but there's no way of knowing for sure."
The castle had come into view, and they angled downward towards the opening gate of the gummi hangar. They weren't worried about the large ship fitting into the small space—Chip and Dale were the best gummi pilots out there, excepting, of course, Cid Highwind—but that moment when the runners latched onto the ship to pull it into the docks was always mildly jarring
Even just looking out the windows, they immediately knew that something was wrong. Dripping down the walls was a strange black substance. It leaked from the ceiling in thin rivulets, pooling on the floor in opaque puddles.
"Oh man, it's everywhere! Is this what got Sora?" At the nod the pilots gave him, Roxas sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, I don't suppose we have much of a choice. We're just going to have to avoid it. We have to have a chance to look around, right?"
He stood up, pulling Axel to his feet with him. Demyx and Zexion rose as well, standing over by the door.
"As much as it pains me to say this, we should probably separate into groups. I suggest we reconvene here, in one hour, to discuss what our next actions should be." Those were the first words that Zexion had spoken in a good half-hour, and they were enough to gain a raised eyebrow from almost everyone in the group.
"Groups, huh?" Demyx tapped his finger against his chin, folding his arms. "And what would you suggest those groups be?"
"Demyx, you would be with Axel, Riku would be with myself, and Roxas would be alone."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Why is Roxas the one going by himself?" Axel turned his irritated gaze towards Zexion, but Riku cut him off, speaking in his stead.
"It makes sense. They obviously captured Sora for a particular reason, likely because he wields the Keyblade, because they just let Chip and Dale go. I find it unlikely that they managed to escape notice entirely. Roxas, as Sora's nobody, also has the power to hold the Keyblade. They will either take him as well, in which case there will likely be nothing we can do to stop it, or they will ignore him. Assigning a partner to Roxas would be pointless. The rest of us would benefit from the support."
"No." Axel grabbed Roxas' hand again, pulling him close to his side. "I'm going with him."
Roxas snorted, patting Axel on the shoulder but pulling his hand out of his grip.
"Nope. You're going with Demyx. I agree with Zexion and Riku. If I'm going to get caught anyway, there's no reason for you to get mixed up in it too." He walked over to Chip and Dale, who were currently perched on top of the captain's chair, and whispered something to them. Their expressions were suddenly overcome with seriousness, and they both nodded, saluting Roxas firmly.
Demyx clapped his hands together, loudly enough that it got everyone's attention, but not so loud that it bothered them, and placed his hand on the door.
"Right. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to head out." The door opened slowly behind him, and he swung his arm around Zexion's neck, leading him outside while his friend's face harbored a rather pained expression.
The remaining three boys looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but Demyx's horrified shout brought them all running to the doorway, wondering how they could possibly have managed to get into trouble in the few seconds they'd been gone.
"Oh man, that is rank!" Demyx was holding one hand over his nose, fanning the other in front of his face. As they entered the hangar, they immediately understood what he was talking about. The smell that assaulted them was so strong that it immediately tripped their gag reflexes. It was a smell like nothing they'd ever experienced, and none of them could really find a way to describe it. It was putrid.
"Awful. I don't know how long I'll be able to take this. Let's head upstairs; everything will have had more time to air out and hopefully it'll smell better." Axel nodded towards the staircase, and the group hastily made a retreat, the gummi ship door closing behind them to block out the odor.
As they emerged into the sunny courtyard, they were immediately struck by the same thing that had gotten to Sora.
"I didn't picture Mickey's castle being quite this gloomy," Demyx commented, folding his arms behind his head as he walked around, kicking at the dull gray grass.
"I would assume that it wasn't always like this. Riku, you've been here before, have you not?" Zexion brushed his hair out of his eyes, turning his gaze towards Riku.
"Not in any normal setting, no. I came here once, with Mickey, but we didn't really have time for me to go off sightseeing. We were in the hidden chamber beneath his throne, the same one that, I'm assuming, Sora was in when he was taken. If I wasn't pretty sure that it's completely covered in this black thing, I would suggest we head down there first, but, as it is..." he shrugged, trailing off. Riku knew that the chamber had seen enough dark portals during King Mickey's reign that it was likely to have become a permanently tainted area, or an area that was much more susceptible to dark infiltration.
"Well, I'm gonna get started," Roxas said, running his fingers through Axel's hair for a moment. "I don't really think I have any tangible connection to Sora anymore, so I doubt I'll be able to find him on instinct, but we'll see. Maybe being in this realm again will trigger something."
"Alright then. I guess this means me and Axel will head out too," Demyx said, linking his arm through Axel's. "Now, Mr. Cloaked Schemer, I don't want to hear anything about you dying. We didn't get resurrected just for you to kick it again." With a nod from Zexion, he smiled, dragging Axel with him into one of the many hallways that branched off from the main courtyard, carefully avoiding the collected puddles of darkness. Roxas chose a hallway as well, leaving Zexion and Riku alone in the courtyard.
Riku sighed. It was time to get some thing straight.
"Listen, not to be an ass or anything, but I can't help wondering why you're still alive. Demyx and Axel I can understand. Roxas, too. They were just stuck in something they didn't want to be a part of. But you? You were just a jerk, no matter how you slice it." He folded his arms across his chest, waiting for Zexion's answer.
"Despite the fact that no human being should ever be forced to justify his own existence, I will humor you. I was neither the most, nor least cruel member of the Organization. I cared little for the life I lead, and I doubt that is likely to change in the near future, but being dead was very unpleasant. I don't know if it was because I was a nobody, thus I hadn't earned the right to a pleasant afterlife, or if death is just disagreeable in general, but King Mickey offered me a chance to live again, and I took it."
He began walking away, gesturing for Riku to follow him, clearly displeased with the wasted time.
"I can't say whether he believed that I was never truly evil, or whether he hoped that I might change my ways were I given another chance, but he must have thought I had potential. 'Number VI, Zexion' he said, and those were the first words I'd heard in what seemed like an eternity. 'I'm offering you another chance at life. Will you take it?' I agreed, and now I'm here. Do I deserve to be? Probably not. But, like I said, I don't feel that I need to justify it to you. Now, I think it likely that Roxas will, against our better judgment, go down to the basement. Would you like to follow him there, or try our hand somewhere else?"
Riku sent him an appraising look, wondering what had incited King Mickey into allowing him a second chance. There was probably some aspect of the situation that he didn't understand, and he trusted the late king. Mentally shrugging it off, he thought about Zexion's parting question.
"I think you're probably right about Roxas, if he's anything like Sora. Going on what I heard from King Mickey, that room is really the hot-spot for dark activity in the castle. If we're going to find any clues at all, they'll most likely be there. I'd like to look around for awhile though, just to be sure."
With that being said, he began to lead Zexion on a thorough investigation of the castle, looking for any signs, whatsoever, of his best friend.
'Don't worry, Sora. We'll find you.'
Roxas waited until Riku and Zexion had passed by before quietly pushing open the audience chamber doors, closing them behind him. The first thing he noticed was that this room appeared to be the origin of the horrible smell, and his eyes instantly began to water from it.
"Demyx was right, this is rank." He pushed his nausea down, and walked towards the chair in the middle of the room, careful to avoid the black puddles that seemed to be almost everywhere. The last people who had used the once-hidden passage, most likely Chip and Dale, had neglected to close it again, leaving it completely open for Roxas to use. It looked dark and ominous, a gaping black hole in the pristine white floor. He thought it might a product of his overactive imagination, but he thought he could feel a faint breeze coming through the opening, almost beckoning him in. Not that he needed the persuasion.
From the very first stair, he knew he hadn't imagined the evil feeling coming from the basement. It was like a tangible boundary. The foot that he'd placed below the floor was immediately enveloped in a cold unlike anything he'd ever felt. He didn't think it was a physical cold, more like a mental sensation so intense that he felt it in his flesh, but he decided to continue anyway. If Sora was down there, even if he wasn't but there was some clue as to where he was, he had to do it. In his mind, as when Riku had approached them about the death of King Mickey, he felt that he had no real choice.
Axel shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, still getting used to wearing them after so long stuffed inside an Organization XIII cloak. Truth be told, he wasn't really looking for anything. Unless Sora jumped in front of him waving his underwear, he was likely to miss him anyway. Neither he nor Demyx were known as being particularly observant. For the most part, he was just worried about Roxas. It wasn't as if his boyfriend was incapable of taking care of himself in a normal situation, but this was something entirely different.
Dammit, he'd just gotten back together with him!
"Calm down, Axel. Roxas knows what he's doing. Even if he does get caught, which, I hate to say, seems pretty damn likely at this point, he won't go down without a fight. He's not an invalid. Just because he's shorter than us doesn't mean he's any less capable."
Looking over at Demyx, Axel was once again reminded why he'd enjoyed his company back during his time with the Organization. Maybe 'Number IX' had come across as cowardly and naïve, but eventually they'd gotten to know each other. The number had become a name, and he'd realized that there was more to his friend than met the eye. What he'd thought had been naivety had really been a simple good nature, and a desire to make the people around him, that were filled with so much sadness, happy, in any way he could.
"Thanks Demyx, but I just can't help it. I don't want something to happen to him again. I'm pretty sure that we won't be getting another shot if we blow this one. Especially not with Mickey dead."
Demyx shrugged, continuing to walk beside his friend, happy, as he'd always been, just to have another moment that he could look forward to. A sudden thought entered his mind, and he smiled mischievously at Axel.
"I know you and Roxas were brought back, and me and Zexion, of course, but do you think anyone else was? I mean, I doubt there's any way we can know for sure, but it would be cool. I know Marluxia had some anger management issues, but I liked him anyway. Vexen kind of creeped me out a bit, and I always thought there was something a little off about the way Xigbar acted, so even though I wouldn't begrudge them another chance, I wouldn't really want to be around them. But I loved playing cards with Luxord, even though I always lost unless he was drunk."
He closed his eyes, obviously thinking of something that he remembered fondly, because he let out a snort of laugher, elbowing Axel softly in the side.
"I don't know. I can understand why Mickey would bring you back, and Roxas, but I can't think of what his other criteria might have been. Unless, by some miracle, we run into them eventually, I don't think we'll ever know for sure. It's a pity about Luxord, though...I never could manage to beat him, even when he was drunk. I think the only one who managed it with him sober was Sora. And I don't suppose that really counts."
"No, I don't think it does. To be honest, I never did like that punk. He was an ass," Demyx said, a small pout forming on his features.
"He wasn't so bad, once you got to know him. I think he was just like us, really, thrown into a situation that he didn't like and had no control over. It's enough to make anyone a bit of an ass, really."
Demyx nodded a hesitant agreement, and they continued down the hall until it ended, walking around an empty castle until the clock told them an hour had gone by.
After waiting with Zexion and Riku for exactly fifteen minutes, it became clear that Roxas wasn't going to be joining them.