It'd been a week, the doctors for that entire week had been forced in and out of the ER more times than humanly thought possible, he kept going under and having to be resuscitated almost on the hour every hour, everyone was obviously tired. Tidus and the rest of the group made way to visit Yuffie since Sora was out of the woods finally and they felt the need to put him in the same room as the young ninja for convenience, course the curtains of his bed were closed – until today, he opened his eyes around nine am eyes shining like miniature blue suns.
"Well don't you just seem full of life" Tidus looked at Yuffie's sleepy expression she couldn't help but glare holes into the blonde
"Well, at least you're looking better, you got lucky, still what happened to you seems better than What Tidus got; a concussion" Rikku scoffed at her remark
"Oh, hush, I may've gotten that but it's still better than what Squall got" The trio nodded
Squall ended up in the hospital soon after they left the night of the incident, luckily for him; Cloud didn't have his fusion blade otherwise he'd be in worse condition, but he was bruised all over and had to get stitches and they made him stay overnight, for fear Cloud Strife would kill the young man. He was lucky it happened right outside the hospital.
"He's not a happy camper, but at least you're feeling better" Yuna smiled at her raven haired friend
"Course, Yuffie's made of harder stuff than most!" Yuffie boasted
"How…are we related again?" Rikku asked herself aloud
"Surprised you didn't ask that of Yunie," Yuffie commented off-handedly
"Oh yeah, she did spent almost all of her time nursing Tidus back to health, for whatever good that did!" The two girls laughed, Tidus couldn't help but pout
"Hey, I'm not that bad, I'm pretty awesome if I say so myself, don'tcha think Yuna?" Tidus smiled and she blushed hard
"Y-Yeah" Yuna muttered softly, Tidus smiled wider
"Must…you guys be so loud" The weak voice was barely registered
"S-Sora?" Yuna squeaked
Sora slowly sat up, machines poking out of almost every end of his body and he winced in pain the fact that he was uncomfortable wasn't much of a help either he pulled back the blinds to see his friends who gasped in shock
"What? What is it?" Sora asked
Right where he was stabbed his skin was pale the wound itself was closed but his legs remained in braces that were held together at his spine, Yuna's eyes weld shut with tears and quickly grabbed a hold of Tidus for comfort.
"S-Sora, don't freak out okay?" Rikku walked over to the brunette placing a hand on his skin only to shoot back, he felt…cold
"Oh…" He looked down sadly "This…is a little different than what I'm used to, but I should be okay right, I mean did they say when I'd be able to come back to school or when I'd be able to-"
Sora…" Yuffie looked guilt stricken
"You…you might not even be able to walk Sora, as much as it hurts me to say, you may not even be able to go back to attend like a normal student could…I…I'm sorry." Rikku being bold wrapped her arms around the brunette but it didn't register, his eyes void of emotion, he could clearly hear Yuna sobbing but all he heard was ringing in his ears.
"B-But…" The shock was now kicking in
"Wh-What about all of you, what about my dad, I can't let him down, I…I worked so hard for him…to prove to him that… that I could be strong just like him I…I can't show myself like this to them I can't let my mom cry because of me, I can't let anyone down!" Sora chocked back a sob looking away from the group they all honestly felt bad Yuna especially so. Rikku as much as she wanted to keep holding him let go and stepped a few inches back in defeat.
"It, should've been me" She whispered
"You shouldn't bother trying to whisper, Yuna, I can hear you, and no…it shouldn't have!" Sora looked stress ridden and angry at her remark
"But, if you didn't defend me you'd still be fine, you could've defeated that thing and – if only I wasn't so weak I'd-"Sora glared at her with the same feral intensity as his fathers
"Shut up! You didn't do anything wrong I should've gone about that differently, but I didn't all I could think about was protecting you, making sure you didn't get hurt, or killed I'd be worse off if I had to come in here and see you like this." He looked away shutting his eyes hard
"This pain, is nothing compared to the thought of having to see you – any of you in this condition, I'd let myself fall to those bastards before letting any of you end up like this!" They looked at him with guilt, for not being strong enough and sadness, for seeing tears slide down his face with distraught thoughts over his teammates.
"Don't feel bad for me, I…I'll be fine this, I'll beat this, I'll-" The door opened with a doctor a stern looking man with a hardened gaze obviously not looking too keen on being here he had bags under his eyes and looked…to be frank angry, he walked over to the brunette and raised up his shirt the rest of his team looked over to the man as he did so, Sora felt rather embarrassed at the action and looked out the window until he put his shirt back down.
"Kid, I'm going to be completely frank with you," His gaze met Sora's and the younger gulped
"You fighting, even walking after this is a near impossibility, even with all of our abilities we can't do much more for you," He looked up and over to the young ninja "You'll be discharged shortly, be a dear and inform his parents of what I told him" The man stood up straight
"You're the doctor, you should do it, you…should look them in the eye and tell them just like you did Sora how…how he won't be able to walk again because of some stupid test!" Yuffie's emotions grew and grew with each word she spoke
"I'm not at fault, here, and I have other patients-"He walked close placing his cold hand on her scar
"Don't let that stress get to you, you may've just healed but if you stress out too much you could reopen your scar on accident" The man smirked a bit before leaving when the door closed Yuffie held herself and shivered Sora clenched his bed sheets in sadness.
"Never…be able to walk or fight again…" Sora repeated to himself he looked down with an unreadable expression
"S-Sora don't listen to that guy, he's a quack I'm pretty sure if you work at it you'll-"
"He may be a quack but he's right!" Sora screamed as fresh tears fell
"I…I can't feel them, I can't feel my legs, Yuffie, I will be of no use to any of you, I'm a hindrance!" Sora gripped his sheets harder as his body shook with sobs
Rikku whipped away her tears and looked to the rest of the group, they had to be strong for him because he couldn't – they had to fight for him now too, because he couldn't. "C'mon, let's go, I'm pretty sure our p-parents are waiting for us…and they'll probably want to see Sora, so the sooner we get this over with, the better" Rikku rushed out first, Yuffie knew she was still hard pressed to call Cloud and Tifa her parents but what else could they call them, they couldn't call them aunt and uncle…no that wouldn't work. Yuffie sighed and forced herself up with Yuna's help and they slowly walked her out Leaving Sora alone with his thoughts.
"I failed them, please, don't let them come see me" he shook with sadness
In the hallway Tifa had received news and her eyes glazed over in sadness the original doctor gave them the news in such a way that it put Cloud in a frenzy of anger it took Tifa, Tidus, and Rikku and even then he was still pushing his way towards the man.
Hours later the four made way to school and met with the man who had forced this…test upon them none of them too pleased
"You four have a mission, and as such, all missions require you to have passing grades and since the year just started you're all in the clear, a semesters homework is stored in your bags and – you all have phones I'm assuming so you'll be – ah screw it you must protect a princess on her to a cultural festival and from there escort her to a treaty signing and from there home." Hojo hated explaining himself he really did but if he let someone else do it they'd screw it up and he knew it.
"Why us…" He felt the angry glares of the teenagers
"After that test of yours-" He brought up a hand silencing Rikku
"I already know, girl but you've already been selected and nothing more can be done, will deal with him later on, right now, you four have a mission to do, get to it" Hojo commanded, the group reluctantly left much to their displeasure.
Sora sat up in bed after his parents made a visit, they didn't stay long with the dead look in his eyes Tifa couldn't help but run out crying he sighed to himself at this point in time he wished the fall from days ago had been his end rather than where he's stuck at now…unable to move, fight and defend it enraged him.
"If I agree to help you, promise me something" The voice was…similar to one he heard before but he nodded wishing nothing more than to help his friends
"When you can take no more, that you'll call my name, and set me free" The words felt cryptic but…Sora felt encouraged by some unseen force to do as it asked
Tidus and the rest of his squad met the commander of this…escapade at the edge of town, he told them it'd take them at least a few weeks to reach their first destination and this was on horse yes they had cars and other modes of transportation, but going that route would be too costly that and once they left the town it was nothing but forests anyway.
"I heard we'd be having five people, not four" The man, Terra looked down at the four with concnern
"Our...fifth member was…"
"Late!" Sora shouted running up to the group
They gasped in shock – the group of teens at least Sora was sporting a simple jacket and jeans and black shoes he huffed a bit as he calmed his breathing.
"Well, then let me introduce you all to" He paused moving out of the way to reveal a silhouette with what appeared to be a girl
"Garnet Til Alexandros the 17th" The man announced with pride
"Huh...So….what's this all about? I just heard we'd be meeting here and I had a lot of homework" Sora asked
Terra slapped his forehead realizing…just how long this trip was truly going to be and how much he wished he'd had an aspirin.
A/N I intended to make this longer so much so…but me sleepy…next chapter tomorrow hopefully. A LONGER ONE!
