Author's notes: Y'know, I have the first chapter of Leera and Leran's side story, 'Twilit War', finished? I'm just not posting it because it is spoiler-littered. It'll start when Leera and Leran are five.
Missed
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
"T.o.D?"
"Time of death… three twenty four PM."
Kairi looked at the clock again. It was approaching three thirty now…
"Any news?"
Sam shook her head. "I'm afraid not. They took Riku into the E.R. and Rachael into surgery two hours ago." She looked over at Sora, who was asleep in the corner. "We had to give him sleeping pills just to knock him out." Kairi hummed, and crossed her arms. She glanced up when a nurse entered and looked around with a solemn look on her face.
"Are you family of Rachael?"
"I'm her sister." Sam replied. "Our father should be back soon."
Sure enough, a couple minutes later her father stepped into the room.
"What's happened?" He asked the nurse. She took a deep breath.
"Rachael was taken into surgery two hours ago… the Heartless was destroyed successfully but I'm afraid that she did not survive." She paused, as if letting the news sink in. "I'm sorry. If there's anything we could do to help just let us know."
"Yeah, thanks…" Sam's father sighed, rubbing his temple. Sam's mouth was agape – Rachael, the girl who had left the islands at nine years of age and was kidnapped by Organization XIII at the age of then, was dead? Dead. Kairi was in shock. The next thought that came to her mind was poor Riku. He was going to be really upset when he found out, she knew. The nurse apologized again and left the room.
Half an hour later Riku was brought back into the room. He was still asleep, but at least he was alive. Having a Neoshadow tear itself from your lungs was not an easily survivable thing. Sora woke up soon after, and moved to sit at his brother's side after he was told about Rachael. Riku awoke at about four P.M. He groggily opened his eyes and glanced around.
"I'm… alive?"
"Don't sound so surprised." Sora smiled. Riku seemed to notice the half-hidden sadness in his eyes.
"What happened?" Riku glanced around at all of them. Sam bit her lip, and looked at her father.
"He needs to know…"
Riku looked around again. "What? What do I need to know?"
"We'll tell you later, after you've recovered a bit more." Sora replied. He didn't want Riku getting stressed out this soon after being sent to the E.R. Riku seemed suspicious, but didn't comment, relaxing slightly.
"What happened?" He asked finally.
"After the Neoshadow tore out of your lungs, Roxas killed it quickly while I tried to keep you from bleeding to death. The doctors rushed in and carted you off to the E.R, and that's all I know."
"Hmm…" Riku hummed, shifting positions slightly. He felt the skin around the stitches on his stomach pull slightly, and he relaxed again. "Any chance you have permission to use a cure spell or something on me?" Sora laughed and shook his head.
"Tomorrow, if you're lucky."
Riku laughed, and ruffled his younger brother's hair. Sora swatted at his hand and pushed it away. Kairi smiled at the brothers. But it wasn't long before Riku had to ask.
"How's Rachael?"
It quickly became dead silent in the room. He glanced around nervously, wanting to know what had happened. "Wh…what's wrong? What's happened?"
"Riku…" His father sighed and placed a hand on his oldest son's shoulder. "Riku, when they took you into the E.R, they also took Rachael into surgery to get the Neoshadow out of her lungs. The procedure was risky, we all knew that. Riku…" He bit his lip, trying to figure out how to word it. "Riku, Rachael died on the operating table. No matter how hard they tried, they were unable to revive her." Riku froze, his mouth ajar, eyes wide in shock.
"N-no..." He stuttered. "No! I don't believe you, I won't!"
"But it's the truth."
"No! Prove it to me!" Riku snapped, sitting fully upright. Sora and their father forced him to lie back down.
"I will, in time." His father then turned and left the room. Sam and Kairi followed. Riku turned his head away from Sora and closed his eyes. The Keyblade Master's best guess was that his brother was crying, just didn't want him to notice. Sora sat there in silence and waited for Riku to say something. When the Keyblader of Darkness finally looked back at Sora, his eyes showed no sign of him having been crying before. Riku sat up again and looked down. Sora moved to sit on the edge of the bed, beside his brother, and wrapped his arm around the silverette's shoulders.
"Rachael was my sister, too remember." Sora reminded him. Riku nodded. Sora slid off the bed and pulled out the Kingdom Key, and pointed it at the older Keyblader. "Curaga." Riku closed his eyes as he felt the healing spell wash over him, and the stitches vanish. He stood up and stretched, feeling as good as new, physically.
"Let's go… I need to get out of here." Riku said. Sora nodded, and the two left the hospital, avoiding any friends and family. Soon they were on the beach, at the docks. Riku jumped into his boat, and Sora got in with him. It wasn't long before they were at the island. They sat on the bent-over tree, and watched the waves. Riku calmed down visibly, Sora noticed. They both lay down, and looked up at the sky. It must've been about four thirty by now. They both found themselves drifting off to sleep.
"Ah, shut up already, Kaz!"
"You're no mouse yourself!"
Riku stirred and sat up. The sky was black and dotted with stars. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was in the forest on the island… with no idea how far in he was. He gulped and got to his feet.
"Sora!" He yelled. "Sor-ra!"
"I can help you find him."
Riku did a double-take. "B-but… you're dead!"
He was looking straight into Rachael's eyes.
"I'm a ghost, a spirit, a lost heart, whatever you want to call me." She replied.
"I am hallucinating. You're some figment of my imagination." Riku muttered, rubbing his eyes again. "No, I'm dreaming, yes, dreaming, and when I wake up I will be on the beach."
"You're not dreaming."
"That's what all dreams say." Riku rolled his eyes. "If I'm not dreaming, then I'm going insane."
"You're not insane, either."
"I'm sure hallucinations say that too."
She sighed, and then disappeared. Riku glanced around. Next order of business… finding Sor-
Sora groaned, and tried to move his hand to rub his forehead. One problem – it was tied to a large wooden platform, as were his other hand and his feet. He glanced around. The birds were watching him, almost accusingly.
"Lemme go!"
Sora recognized that voice – Riku. A moment later the teenager was pushed through the tree line into the small clearing, where he fell onto his hands and knees. His wrists were bound by a rope, and there was another around his neck. The woman with the other end of the rope in her hands was no stranger.
Leera.
"Let him go!" Sora snapped at her. Leera glanced up at him.
"Sorry, no can do." She yanked on the rope, and Riku let out a gurgling sound as his windpipe was blocked. He reached up and tried to pry the rope away from his neck, with limited success. Sora pulled at the ropes binding his hands and feet.
"Stop, you're hurting him!"
Leera didn't reply, before, suddenly, the rope slipped out of her hands and she stumbled backwards. "I… I can't… why can't I? It seems so simple in my mind…" She looked at Riku, who was limp on the ground, breathing heavily to fill his lungs. Leera turned and bolted away, not wanting to be around when the Keybladers got lose. Riku's radio materialized in his hand, much like his Keyblade would, and he tried to send a transmission through.
"R…Roxas?" He breathed.
"Riku?"
"Y-yeah…"
"You okay? Everyone's freaking out."
"I'm alive… if that qualifie-EE"
The rope suddenly tightened, yanking Riku's head back. Someone hiding in the darkness tied the rope to a tree branch. They stepped out of the tree line, their face obscured by a navy blue hood of a medieval cloak, and tied a rope around the one binding Riku's wrists, just in between them, and tied those to a branch above the one the rope tied around his neck was secured to. Once the figure was satisfied that the ropes were tight, he ran off. Riku had dropped the radio, and it was now several feet away from him. He grunted, trying to pull his wrists free, with no result. He looked over at Sora. The Keyblade Master's hands were tied together above his head, his ankles bound together as well.
"Where do you think we are?" Sora asked.
"Still on the island – I can smell the salt water." Riku replied, trying to shift positions so he wasn't lying down. He wasn't very successful, and ended up back on his side. "I wonder how long we'll be here for."
"They'll come looking for us." Sora replied. Riku hummed.
"When?"
Sora didn't respond.
Eventually, somehow, the two found themselves falling asleep.
Riku was awoken by a rough kick, and his eyes shot open. Leera was standing over him, something glinting in her hands. It took him a moment to realize that it was a syringe, and that was not registered as good. She gripped his arm, tightly, and stuck it in his arm with out a word. Almost instantly Riku felt his world began to spin. Suddenly, the needle was pulled out and Leera ran off. Sora was desperately calling his name, and pulling at the restraints, but to no avail.
After awhile, Sora's voice became coarse and he stopped. He watched his drugged older brother, until he heard several sets of footsteps dart into the opposite side of the clearing, so he turned his head in that direction. Sam was already sawing at the ropes binding his hands with her pocket knife. Their father untied Riku quickly, and Roxas circled the edge of the clearing, looking for anyone suspicious. Kairi and Namine stood away from the edge, but away from the goings on. Sora was now cut loose, and he darted over to Riku and gently shook him.
"Riku, Riku!" He called, getting no response. Riku's pupils were dilated, clouded over. Sora's father put a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll deal with it later – let's just get home."
Sora nodded.
"Roxas!" His father called to his Nobody, who looked over. "Time to go." Roxas nodded, and a portal opened in the center of the clearing. Sora lifted Riku into his arms, but, when he was about to stand, two leopards, a brown one and a snow leopard, darted in front of the portal, snarling. Everyone tensed. Sora's father looked at their eyes. It was… peculiar, he noticed. The snow leopard's eyes matched Riku's, and the brown leopard's eyes matched Roxas's and Sora's. He tried desperately to remember names, to no avail. Namine closed her eyes.
"Leera, Kazuya, move." She spoke. The leopards looked at her, then at each other. "You cannot kill him, because it would destroy you in the process. It's quite simple, actually."
"Namine," Sora looked over, "who is Leera, anyway?" She'd been following them for awhile – he wanted an answer. The snow leopard snarled warningly at the Memory Witch. Namine bit her lip, frightened by the unspoken threat.
You tell them and I will kill you here and now.
"Move or I will tell them." Namine said, blocking out her fear. The leopards looked at each other, than snarled as they reluctantly moved aside. Sora picked Riku back up – having set him down while Namine was talking to the leopards, and was the first to leave. Kairi and Namine followed him, then Sora and Riku's father, and then Roxas and Sam. The leopards ran off as the portal closed.
Sora laid Riku down on the couch, and put a hand on his forehead. The older brother had a slight fever, he noticed. He glanced at the others as they stepped into the room. "Namine, what did she use on him?"
"Nothing too potent, it'll wear off in a day or two. It's supposed to be a warning to us." Namine replied.
"Namine," Sora's father spoke, "I think it's time we found out who Leera is."
Namine took a deep breath. "I'm not telling you this…"
