Chapter 7

Tron met them in front of the IO Tower, looking relieved.

"The viruses have stopped pouring in. There's a few left, but they'll be easily taken care of," he explained.

"Good, then I think we should get out and check on Yuffie. Whoever tried to delete me had to get past Yuffie to do it, and I don't think that means good news for her," Sora answered.

"Didn't you say before that this Yuffie was the one trying to delete you?" Tron asked.

"I thought she might have been making a mistake, but not even Yuffie is technophobic enough to accidentally delete me. Someone had to have been doing it on purpose," Sora said.

"So whoever stole all of Ansem's research and put the system into lockdown in the first place must have come back to try to finish the job," Roxas observed. "You think they'll still be there when we get back into Radiant Garden?"

"I have no idea. But it's not like we're unused to jumping blindly into something dangerously stupid. Shouldn't be a problem," Sora replied, smirking.

Tron looked nervous. "Oh, alright… I'll get you back out. Give me a moment," he said, watching Sora warily.

Sora and Roxas stood back to back, Keyblades held in the ready as they flickered out of the computer.

The laser roared to life, and Sora and Roxas materialized into an empty computer room. Both looked around suspiciously, but there was no one to be seen.

"Where's Yuffie?" Roxas asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sora shrugged and motioned for Roxas to follow, sneaking quietly towards Ansem's study. He stepped into the room and a rustle in the silence alerted him of someone's presence. He spun around, lifting his Keyblade and knocking aside the enormous shuriken that came spinning towards his head.

"Sora!" Yuffie cried out, promptly following her weapon by throwing herself at him, forcing the air out of Sora's lungs and knocking him into the wall.

"I'm sorry! I thought you were one of the Heartless!" she explained. "The Heartless attacked just after you went into the computer. There was so many of them! They attacked the computer, and I tried so hard to get them all off before anything bad happened to you, but then more came and attacked me!"

"It's okay Yuffie! Now can you please get off me?!" Sora demanded, trying to sit up.

"Oh, right!" she got to her feet and helped Sora up. "Let's go find Leon and Arieth and that friend of yours…Tidus."

"If the Heartless are here, then they've probably been attacked, too," Roxas agreed.

The group of three made there way back towards Merlin's house, meeting no Heartless, but also no allies, on their way. Reaching the top of the stairs above the square in front of Merlin's, shouts could be heard from below, and the sounds of battle began.

Sora ran half way down the stairs, gave up on running and jumped onto the rail, sliding down it at a far faster speed. Yuffie and Roxas jumped on after him, liking the idea. Heartless were pouring into the square from all directions, and five fighters were standing in a circle, fighting off the onslaught: Tidus, Leon, Aerith, Cid and Cloud. Sora leapt from the railing to a house roof and jumped down to the ground from there, landing almost directly in front of Leon. He spun and backed his way into the circle between Leon and Tidus.

"Good of you to join us," Leon muttered, slashing into yet another Heartless Shadow.

Sora just grunted in reply.

Roxas and Yuffie slid both down to the bottom of the stairs, the ninja nearly colliding with the blond when he stumbled to an abrupt stop on the ground, cutting into the closest Heartless. She moved around him, to his opposite side, each covering the other's back and fighting their way towards the others. They cut a path through the twisting shadows, but as soon as they cut down one and moved forward, another would step in behind it. Eventually they made it to the defending circle.

Yuffie took a place between Sora and Leon.

Panting, Roxas stepped in between Cid and Aerith. "There's too many of them!" he gasped, taking out two more.

Cid swore loudly beside him, and stumbled backwards into the center of the circle. Roxas and Cloud closed the gap.

"You alright old man?" Cloud asked over his shoulder, brandishing his enormous sword as three Heartless ganged up on him.

"I'm gettin' too old for this!" Cid answered, hissing as his inspected the wound that cut into his thigh.

Aerith stole a glace at Roxas. "I'm going to help Cid. You'll be alright, won't you?"

"Fine," Roxas answered, widening his stance to prepare taking on Aerith's enemies. Leon, on her other side, did the same, and she stepped back into the circle, to tend to Cid and his injured leg.

A few moments later, a high-pitched giggle sounded from the roof of Merlin's house.

"GULLWINGS TO THE RESCUE! HY-AH!" came the shrieking war cry, followed by three figures that came flying down from the roof tops and entering the fray. There was a renewed vigor in the fight, and it was a relief to see victory on the horizon. It only took a few minutes after that for the Heartless to be dispersed. Once the numbers fell to about a third of what they had been, the Heartless seemed to sense defeat and retreated. It wasn't until then that Tidus got a look at the late-coming aid.

"Y-Yuna?!" he choked, gaping at the cute little brunette who was high-fiving a bikini-clad blonde.

Said brunette spun around when she heard his voice. She rubbed her mismatched eyes, blinking, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Then, she let out a loud laugh and sprinted towards him, jumping into his arms.

"Tidus, Tidus, Tidus!!!" She touched his hair, his hands, his face, as if she couldn't believe that he was actually there. "You're alive… What happened? How did you get here? How is this even possible?"

"I don't know, say thanks to Sora, and I don't know again," Tidus answered, grinning cheekily.

"Sora?" she asked, her eyes flickering from Leon, to Cloud, to Cid, to Sora, to Roxas, and back again, all in less than a second.

"Sora, meet Yuna," Tidus said, beckoning to him.

"I've met you before," Sora said, his voice oddly monotone.

Roxas watched him warily, the only one to pick up on Sora's change in mood.

"Oh, I remember you!" Rikku announced, bouncing towards him. "Geez, you changed a lot!" She grinned at him, skipping right up to him and coming to a stop very close.

Meanwhile, Tidus planted a quick kiss on Yuna's lips, and ended up being caught in a lengthy lip lock. Sora caught sight of them and muttered something incomprehensible. Then, he turned around to face Roxas.

"We're done here," he said, his voice acid.

Roxas just nodded. He knew what Sora was feeling, and he also knew that it would only be a matter of time for Sora to say something he'd regret if they stayed for much longer. He was incredibly jealous of Tidus and his connection with Yuna, since he had lost that connection himself. The wound of loss was as raw as it had been nearly three years ago, and the watching the reunion was only making it worse. Sora turned and started walking away, wringing his wrists.

"Where're you going?!" Yuffie asked, seeing Sora and Roxas heading out of the square, toward where they'd landed their gummiship.

"We have stuff to do, Yuffie. The Heartless and Maleficent still have to be dealt with," Roxas explained apologetically, before running to catch up with Sora, who hadn't even bothered to pause.

They reached the market square in only a few moments. Most of the stores had opened, but there were very few people milling about.

"I want out of this place. Everywhere I go, people always get to be happy. I fucking hate it!" Sora growled, picking up his pace.

"Sora?" a quiet, female voice called out from behind them.

Sora paused, but didn't turn around. "What's up, Aerith?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice even, his eyes shielded. He felt her touch his shoulder, and he turned to face her. His eyes widened in surprise when she pulled him into a hug.

"I know you feel like you're alone, Sora, but you're not. You're light is always with you. Remember that," she whispered before letting him go.

Sora smirked bitterly. "Thanks for the sentiment, but my light left me a long time ago."

A long silence stretched between them, as Aerith looked into Sora's pained eyes, plagued with indecision. Taking a deep breath, she spoke finally.

"He never stopped caring about you," she answered quickly, before turning and fleeing back towards Merlin's house. Sora watched her go, frozen completely. It was a long time before he moved. When he did, it was only to flex his hands, opening and shutting them into fists so tight that his nails cut into his skin, drawing blood. The emotions rushing through Sora were so intense they made his dizzy, and the reverberation through Roxas was so painful that the blond clutched at his chest, barely able to breathe. Suddenly, the onslaught of emotion released both of them. Roxas's head snapped up to see Sora's expression; face contorted in some mixture of pain and rage, Sora summoned his Keyblade and threw it across the market square with all his might, letting out a furious roar as he did to. The blade collided with the ground a good hundred feet away, shattering three of the cobblestones into tiny pieces.

Every single person in the market stared at Sora, fear in all of their eyes. He wheeled around, summoning his Keyblade back, and glowered at each of them. "What the hell are you looking at?"

Once they were safely off Radiant Garden and floating in the middle of the void, Roxas leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head.

"So? Where to now?" he asked.

Sora crossed his arms. "I don't care where we go. You decide. I just want to get the hell out of here," he answered sourly.

"Alright…ummm…" he paused, thinking. "Where would the Heartless present the worst problem?"

"Huh?"

"I figured we should go where we're needed most… and a good fight will probably help you get your frustrations out."

"Whatever. Port Royal probably needs us most. The piracy seems to attract more Heartless attention than most other planets. Will and Elizabeth are probably looking for a little help about now."

Roxas grinned. "If that's the case, then Jack would be looking for a lot of help."

Poor Sora's so emo :P Next chapter means some super excitement in Port Royal, and a mysterious encounter!! Dun dun dun!