Sassy's Note: Wow, I'm just not giving them any breaks, am I? Sorry for all the romantic drama going on recently. We'll get back to the action-suspense in a bit.

The World's Heart

If Demyx had been freaking out before, the poor boy was about to have a conniption fit now. He had gnawed all his fingernails completely away and had just recently taken up pulling at the stray locks of hair framing his face. Riku had never really noticed the Nocturne's caring and concerned nature until now. No wonder he had found his heart so easily.

Kioshi had been gone for nearly fifteen minutes now. It was decided that he should be the one to call Valeria, who was worlds and worlds away. She was his older sister, after all. Maybe Kio could dull the shock for her.

He had been gone for so long, though, and everyone was on edge. Kairi looked close to tears. She knew just as well as Riku did that Valeria would not likely take this news easy. The girl was very sensitive. Riku just gulped on his drink; it seemed the right thing to do.

When the bar door opened and Kioshi finally walked back in, his face was drained of all color. Everyone looked at him, waiting for any explanation whatsoever.

"Kio?" Demyx asked softly.

"She…" Kioshi started, then swallowed and tried again. "I've… got to go see her."

Riku winced at that. No, Valeria obviously hadn't taken it well at all. Demyx slid off his stool and approached Kioshi. His hand brushed his boyfriend's.

"I'll go with you," he said, but Kio shook his head.

"The fastest gummi I can use only seats one, Dem. Sorry, but I've got to go alone." Demyx looked a bit put out, and he chewed on his lip for a moment, but eventually conceded.

"Okay. I understand." He then grinned at the silver-haired man. "Can I at least walk you to the gummi garage?"

---

Demyx and Kioshi had been gone for half an hour. Riku was now sufficiently buzzed, and he had the feeling he wasn't the only one. Kairi's cheeks were a nice rosy color, and she was giggling at almost everything anyone said. He found himself glad the alcohol had lightened her mood considerably. Too bad it wasn't working for him.

When Tifa offered to refill his glass for the third time, he declined. He'd never been fully drunk before and didn't exactly want his first time to be now. He gulped down some water as soon as Tifa had given it to him, hoping it would diffuse a bit of the alcohol in his system.

Demyx returned not long after that. He slid back onto his original stool and returned to nursing his drink, a little more vigorously than before. When he noticed that everyone was looking at him, he sighed. "Kio's going to call me when he gets there."

"How long will that take?" Aerith asked.

The Nocturne shrugged. "I dunno. Probably not until early tomorrow morning. His home world is pretty far away."

Riku sighed, and drank a bit more water.

---

"Hey, Riku?" asked Kairi from beside him. He looked over at her. "Let's go… I don't think I can stand to be here anymore."

"Can you even stand at all?" he teased, sliding off his stool.

"I'm not drunk!" she protested, wavering a bit as she got to her feet as well. Riku shook his head and put an arm around her shoulders. Drunk, maybe not. Tipsy, hell yes.

"Going home?" Aerith asked, swiveling around.

Riku nodded. "If it's okay, I think I'll stay with you tonight." He had a feeling Cloud and Leon's place wouldn't be the best place to be tonight.

With an understanding look, she nodded.

---

"Told you I wasn't drunk," Kairi said, closing the door behind them once they had reached Aerith's house.

Riku snorted. "…Because you only tripped a few times, right?"

"I didn't miss you stumbling a few minutes ago."

"The ground was uneven."

"And I'm sure that poses a problem to you as well when you haven't been drinking," she said sarcastically. She flipped a switch, and light flooded Aerith's nicely furnished living room. "Aerith probably won't be home until she hears from Cloud or Leon."

"Probably not." He looked outside. The sun would be setting before too long, and it had been a long, long day. The tedious hours of going through books and books and occasionally trying out a password or two with Tron had caught up with him, not to mention everything that had happened today.

"Kai, let's take a nap," he said.

"And sleep off a perfectly good buzz?" she teased with a grin.

"Yeah, I don't really like the feeling."

"Me neither," she admitted with a slight frown as she rubbed at her forehead. "Come on."

She led him upstairs and down the short hallway. He was more than a little surprised when she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside her room. He raised his eyebrow at her. Sure, they'd slept in the same room, the same bed before, but they had been at most eight years old with a snoring Sora nestled between them.

She must have been thinking the same thing he was, for she smiled almost sheepishly. "I don't want to be alone right now."

That tugged at his heart, and he found himself unable to say no. Instead, he flopped ungracefully down onto the bed, and Kairi, with a smile, fell down beside him. They shuffled around to get comfortable, kicked off their shoes and pulled pillows under their heads. Lying side by side was oddly comforting to Riku as well, and he felt his drowsiness increase tenfold.

"I miss Sora," Kairi said quietly after a few minutes.

"Me too," he admitted. "It's almost… surreal that he's not here."

"That's a good word for it." She closed her eyes. "Riku?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think it's like where he is?"

Riku frowned. "What?"

"Sora's not dead," she whispered. "So… is he in a coma? Or can he feel and hear? Is he aware of where he is? Does he know where we are and that we're trying to get him back?"

The silver-haired teen's throat tightened. Those questions had never come to his mind. He always assumed Sora was… sleeping. He'd seen his body, after all, and while that horrible, shrunken corpse was indeed Sora's, Riku never believed that Sora was still in there. His subconscious – soul or heart or whatever one wanted to call it – had to be somewhere else. Floating, maybe – somewhere in the ruins. That seemed like the right idea: Sora was just in a state of coma.

"The Prince watches over his world."

Upon hearing the voice, Riku jerked upright, and Kairi immediately sat up as well.

"What's wrong?" she asked, but Riku held up a hand to silence her.

"How does he watch?" he asked the voice quietly.

"He is not always asleep."

"So he is aware of his surroundings?"

"He is aware of his entire world."

"His world? Destiny Islands?"

The voice did not reply. "Hey, wait a minute!" Riku demanded. "Don't just spout all this then leave!" The voice didn't come back. Riku made an angry noise in the back of his throat and ran a hand through his hair.

Kairi stared at him, eyes wide. "R-Riku? What…?"

He shook his head with a growl then turned to her. "Sorry. That was… the voice. I guess it was listening in on us."

"What did it say?"

"It said that Sora… is aware of what happens on his world – on Destiny Islands, I guess."

"So… he knows that you tried to save him." It was a statement, not a question, and Kairi's voice was steady. She did this sometimes, Riku noticed. She just knew some things.

Riku bit his lip. "Maybe…"

"No, I know so," she said firmly. "I'm a Princess of Heart. I know these things. My heart tells me, and I know."

He grinned slightly. "Princess of Heart and Prince of Destiny. Wonder what that makes me."

Kairi smiled at him. "You're Riku, and that's all you need to be because we love you."

"Oh, I'm touched now," he said with a smirk, but he really was touched at her words.

"You should be." She stifled a yawn. "Well, I'm glad your voice friend came for a visit, but I really want that nap."

"Yeah, me too." He settled back against his pillow and she did the same.

"Is it strange that I'm glad your little friend had something to say?" she asked after a moment.

"No. It made me feel… better, knowing Sora is aware of things."

"You know, we're blindingly trust this voice," she said casually. "What if it's lying to us? What if it's been lying to you?"

Riku just shrugged. "Then it is, but… it's just reassuring, and you just said yourself that you were sure what it said a moment ago was true."

"Yeah…" She yawned.

"Heh, goodnight, Kai."

"Night, Riku."

They drifted off to sleep.

Some time later, long after the sun had gone down, Kairi latched onto Riku and rested her head on his shoulder, and they slept on.

---

Rain was pitter-pattering on the window when Riku opened his bleary eyes. It was still dark, that much was for sure, but he wasn't sure what time it was or how long they had slept. His buzz had sufficiently gone away, though. He figured it must be after midnight.

Then, he heard quick footsteps. Strange, he thought, until he listened harder. Someone was knocking at the front door.

Careful so not to awaken Kairi, he slid out from the bed. He blinked and rubbed feeling back into his shoulder, which she had been using in substitute for a pillow. He didn't know Kairi was such a cuddle bug in bed, but his mind didn't stay on it. He was more concerned with who was knocking on Aerith's door in the middle of the night.

As quietly as he could, he opened the door and padded out into the hallway. Slowly, he peeked over the railing to see Aerith scampering to the door. She was in a housecoat and probably had been asleep. Riku glanced at the clock on the wall behind him. It was three in the morning.

His attention was drawn back to the scene below him when he heard the door open and Aerith gasp. Honestly, he wasn't all too surprised at what he saw. Dripping wet and looking utterly miserable, Cloud stood there, staring desolately at Aerith with shining blue eyes. He looked like he'd been out in the rain for hours. Riku thought he probably had been.

Without a word Aerith stood to the side and ushered Cloud in, where he stood still, looking for all the world to Riku like an abused puppy. Aerith ran off and returned a second later with a stack of fluffy towels. She threw one over Cloud's head and wrapped the other around his shoulders. He stood there and let her, making at least a bit of an attempt to towel his soaking hair off. She deftly pulled his gloves off and threw them down near the door and helped him out of his boots and other items of clothing that could be taken off his person. Riku noticed he didn't even have his Buster Sword with him.

It was only after a few minutes of fussing over the blond man and stripping him of all unnecessary clothes, including his shirt, that Aerith spoke. She rested her hands on his shoulders and looked up into his mako eyes.

"Cloud?"

The blond wouldn't make eye contact but kept his gaze trained on the floor. Riku knew that wasn't a good sign. Of course, just seeing Cloud like this wasn't very promising either.

"Cloud, come on, what happened?" she prodded gently, giving his shoulders a comforting squeeze.

He sighed, and Riku had never heard anything sound so sad before in his life. He suddenly had the urge to beat the ungodly hell out of Squall Leonhart, and while he was at it, get Reno too, just because he could and just because those two bastards deserved it.

"It's over," Cloud said simply, and neither Riku nor Aerith wondered what that meant.

Riku silently slipped back down the hall toward Kairi's room, his heart hammering against his rib cage. He shut the door behind him and was careful when he crawled back into bed. When he looked at Kairi, though, her wide blue eyes were open and worried, shining in the darkness.

"What's going on?" she asked in a whisper.

"Cloud's here," he said, snaking his arm around her.

"And?"

"He and Leon are over."

Her eyes fell and she let her forehead rest on his shoulder.

To be continued…

Sassy: I DON'T hate Leon, I really DON'T!! I've just got to mess with him a bit.

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