My shaky legs were carrying me down the sidewalk alongside Roxas. I had no words that could comfort me, or Roxas for that matter. Roxas had begged me to go with him to the hospital because he was afraid to see what kind of state Axel would be in. Of course, not much persuasion was needed to make me go. I agreed without question to go with him for support, but also, I was concerned about Riku. There was something that bothered me though. Roxas had told me that the police said alcohol had been involved in the accident. Way back when we had been at the school dance, Riku had said that he didn't drink, and I hadn't believed him then. But I had long ago changed my mind about him and trusted him. Apparently, my friend had betrayed that trust. A horrifying thought nagged at me. Riku, don't tell me you were drinking because you couldn't be with me... please, I'm not worth that... Visions of Riku, unconcious and wounded, surged through my mind like an avalanche. I could see his silver hair matted and drenched with blood, his body bruised and damaged beyond repair. My stomach turned uncomfortably. He'll be okay. He has to be, I told myself. The deserted roads and dimmed streetlights didn't help me feel better, but only helped to make a feeling of dread and anxiety settle in like a cloud swallowing my whole body. Finally, I found the strength to stutter out the question that had been circling around in my mind.

"R-roxas...? T-they're not dead... are they?" Roxas regarded me, worriedly. He looked just about as shaken by the question as I was.

"B-by the time I got called to the scene, Riku was the only one left in the car. The rest had already been taken away."

"But, they got him out, right?" I asked, trying not to panic.

"Yeah, they got him out. But you wouldn't have wanted to see it... T-their car had to be taken apart just to get everyone out of it. And Riku... h-he didn't look so good... all covered in blood..." Roxas said, shakily.

"Okay, okay. That's enough... W-what did the police say?"

"Alcohol was involved... that's pretty much all they would tell me," he replied.

"So, they could be-?"

"They weren't dead," Roxas jumped in, obviously not wanting to hear the unthinkable.

"They weren't dead when they were taken from the scene of the accident," he said. I nodded, uneasily and continued to hurry down the street.

"And they'll still be alive when we get to the hospital..." I heard Roxas whisper to comfort us both.

We made it to the hospital, and a nurse, to our great relief, assured us that our friends were all alive and told us that Raijin and Seifer had also been in the car during the accident. Roxas and I wandered down the hall until we found Axel's room. The red-head was lying in a hospital bed with his eyes closed when we entered. Roxas panicked and ran to his friend's side.

"Axel!" he cried, grabbing Axel's hand. The older boy moved a bit at Roxas' touch.

"H-hey, Roxy..." Axel answered, weakly, opening his eyes very slightly.

"Axel," Roxas whimpered again. I came a little closer to the bed and put a hand on Roxas' shoulder.

"How are you doing, Axel?" I asked, softly. His eyes closed again, but he still spoke.

"Heh... they say my arm's broken," he mumbled. It was then that I noticed that Axel's right forearm was in a cast.

"How bad does it look?" he asked Roxas.

"I-I can't tell. It's all bandaged up," Roxas answered, and I could tell from his voice that he was holding back tears.

"Oh yeah... Hehe..." Axel replied. Other than his injured arm, his lack of energy, and his pale face, Axel, thankfully, didn't seem to be badly hurt.

"H-he seems pretty drowsy, doesn't he?" Roxas asked me. His white checkered sweater trembled with the rest of his body.

"Yeah. He probably just needs some rest," I assured him.

"Y-you're right," Roxas nodded.

"Hey, Roxas, are you gonna be okay here for a little while?" I asked.

"I guess so. Why?" he asked, turning around to look at me.

"I might go see Riku, if you don't mind..."

"Sure, I don't mind," he said, sitting down on Axel's bed.

"Okay. Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Alright. I'll be back soon. And Roxas?"

"What?"

"Keep your chin up, okay? He's gonna be alright," I told him, smiling.

"Yeah," he answered, giving me a worried smile back..

I made it to the end of the hallway, and my heart lifted a bit when I saw the living proof that Riku's injuries weren't nearly as horrifying as I had envisioned. Riku was in a state much like Axel had been; lying down, eyes closed, dressed in white hospital clothing.

"Riku...?" I asked, quietly, walking through the doorway into the room. He grunted slightly before replying.

"Sora?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I told him, softly, sitting down beside him. His head had a bandage around it, and I was thankful I couldn't see the injury, or injuries, that lay underneath. He had small cuts on his face, and also on his neck and arms. His face was pale, and his eyes had dark circles beneath them.

"M-my head hurts," he whimpered.

"Headache?" I questioned.

"Yeah," he answered. "The doctor said I got cut pretty badly." My stomach turned at the thought.

"H-how long have you been here?"

"Long enough to get bandaged up," he replied. "I can't really remember much of the accident."

I swallowed hard and tried not to think about how easily Riku could have bled to death if he hadn't been brought to the hospital in time. I stared at his weak body, and although the thought of him being hurt made me sick to think about, a part of me still couldn't give him a lot of sympathy because I knew the accident had been his own fault.
"...Riku, why would you?!" I asked him, desperately. He looked up at me, startled by my sudden outcry.

"Why would I what?" he questioned, his aqua eyes staring into my own.

"D-don't try to pretend, okay?!" I tried to prevent myself from breaking down, but I couldn't hold back after I said, "...I know you were drinking."

"What...?"

"I know you were drinking! You were the cause of the accident!"

"What are you talking about? I-" he tried to cut in, but the conflict going on inside me right then was too much for me to handle. I was thinking so irrationally that I couldn't even make myself listen to what he had to say.

"I trusted you, Riku. I was sure you were different from those other guys!" I cried.

"Sora, I wasn't drinking," Riku spoke up, defiantly.

"Don't lie about it!" I yelled.

"I'm not lying! D-did you come here to see if I was alright, or did you just come to yell at me?" Riku asked, seeming like my words had hurt him.

"You probably don't even know what you're talking about... You're probably still drunk," I sobbed.

"Sora, will you please just let me explain?" he asked. But I refused.

"No, I don't want to hear it. You already said you don't remember much of the accident. And anyway, I don't want to hear those words come from your mouth... that you drank because you wanted to be with me..." I whispered.

"What? Sora-" I knew then that I couldn't stay any longer. I was out of control. I didn't know what I felt right then. I was relieved that he wasn't too badly injured, and I was so thankful that he was alive, but I never wanted to think about him being drunk. I knew that he was a good person deep down, and I never wanted to see that good disappear, transformed into something horrible because of such a stupid thing. Right then, I didn't want to see him or listen to him or even be near him. I'd had enough of Riku, for good, for real, because of all the pain he caused me.

"I hope you feel better soon, Riku, but I-I can't see you anymore," I said, getting up. Riku sat up quickly in bed, as I tried to leave.

"S-sora... Would you please stay with me?" he asked, grabbing me with his soft hand, his long, slender fingers gripping my wrist. His eyes had the sparkle of tears in them. I could tell that he had gotten weak from moving so fast, because he let himself fall gently back to the bed again, but still held on to me.

"I-I just can't stand to be disappointed by you again, Riku. ...It hurts too much," my voice came in a whisper. And with that, I pulled away from his grasp and fled from the room, tears blurring my vision as I ran down the hall.

I didn't stop sobbing and running until I had made it back to Axel's room. When I got there, though, Roxas was standing in the doorway of the room, speaking to a police officer.

"Sora, are you okay?" Roxas asked, when I approached him.

"Oh... Yeah, I'm okay," I sniffed, wiping my tears away.

"As I was saying..." the police officer spoke up. "Two passengers in your friends' car were intoxicated, however, they were not the cause of the accident. They were hit by another car, driven by an impaired driver."

"They were hit?" Roxas questioned.

"Yes," he replied, his voice so harsh and serious that it scared me.

"The two passengers... W-was the driver of our friends' car, perhaps, one of the people who was intoxicated?" Roxas asked.

"No, the driver was not one of them," the police answered. His response took a moment to register in my head.

"W-wait. What?! He wasn't?" I questioned, desperately.

"No, he wasn't. The boys identified as Axel and Seifer were the two that were drinking," the officer explained.

"Axel was...?" Roxas whispered.

"But, there must be mistake. Riku was... I thought Riku-" I stuttered.

"He was not intoxicated," the police announced once again. I swallowed hard and felt more tears welling up. These, I figured, were tears of guilt.

"Who was driving the other car?" Roxas asked.

"An older man. He's given us trouble before with impaired driving," the officer said.

"What happened to him?" I asked.

"He died in the crash." In that moment, I was more thankful than ever that Riku hadn't been the cause of the accident. If he had killed another person, he might never have been able to live with himself, and I might never have been able to look at him again. And right then, I wondered if I would ever be able to look at him again anyway. It was my own stupidity, my own prejudice assumptions that made me think this way. If I never saw Riku again, it would be because I was too ashamed of myself for accusing him of something horrible that he didn't even do.

"R-roxas, I need to go," I told him, my voice shaky.

"Okay... Why?" he asked.

"I just can't stay here any longer. I'm sorry," I said, breaking down into tears again. And I ran from the hospital, just as I had run from Riku's room. Never ceasing to cry, never looking back.

The next morning, I sat at the kitchen table, staring into my bowl of soggy cereal, unable to eat anything. My mother watched me intently. I hadn't told her what I had said to Riku, or what I had found out about the accident. She probably thought I was just upset that my friends had gotten hurt. But in reality, that was only a small part of the pain I was going through. I didn't want to feel this guilt forever, and I didn't want Riku's mind to be lingering on the harsh words I had said to him. My heart was torn two ways for what seemed like the millionth time. I wanted to avoid Riku because it seemed like trouble was in store for both of us whenever we were together. It was like trouble followed him. But at the same time, I knew I still loved him. I couldn't forget how safe I had felt at camp when my body was cuddled up against his. And I sure couldn't forget his eyes, how beautiful they looked when just the two of us were together, and how sad and pained they had looked when he showed me his bruises. Riku needed me, and I was finally realizing that I needed him too.

Eventually, I decided that I couldn't stand to stare into my cereal bowl any longer. I got up and took my dishes to the counter.

"Where are you going?" my mother asked.

"Back to the hospital," I answered, emotionlessly.

"Are you going to be okay, Sora?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry."

Making myself walk through the doorway to Riku's hospital room was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It wasn't because I didn't want to apologize, it was because I was afraid he wouldn't forgive me. I tugged on the sleeves of my sweater, and tried to pull myself together.

"Riku?" I said, just like I had the day before. He turned his head to look at me.

"Oh... Hi, Sora," he answered, quickly staring back down at the bedsheets. I gulped, and then made myself enter the room.

"Riku, I need to talk to you," I told him, nervously, sitting down in the chair beside the bed. He still didn't turn his eyes to meet my gaze.

"What's there to talk about?" he asked, coolly.

"I know you probably don't want to see me right now, but I just had to tell you that I'm sorry!" I told him, urgently. He finally looked up at me, as I frantically tried to let him know how I felt.

"I heard it all from the police... You weren't drinking. It was the driver of the other car that was drunk, and he hit your car. I-I just really don't know what else I can say except I'm sorry for judging you. I'm really, really sorry!" I cried. I wished I could stop myself from crying all the time. If I could have counted all the tears that Riku had caused me, I might have had enough to fill a fountain.

"Hey... It's okay," he said, gently. I then felt a soft hand on my cheek. I closed my eyes and let him stroke my face.

"I'm so selfish..." I muttered.

"What?"

"I can't believe what I said yesterday. Why would I think you would drink because you couldn't be with me?! That's such a selfish thing to assume!" I sobbed.

"You can't blame yourself. You had no idea what extremes I might have gone to. Besides, it's not that strange a thing to assume," he said, still fondling my face.

"I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not. Don't say that." I stared at him for a minute before answering.

"I love you, Riku," I sobbed, practically melting down onto my knees, and lying my head down on his bed. He let out a gentle chuckle, and reached for my hand.

"I would tell you the same thing, but I don't think you'd let me," he said. I brought my head up a bit to look at him.

"No, please, Riku. Please, say it. I-if you still feel that way, I mean..."

"Of course, I still feel that way, but- I thought you said we couldn't see each other any more. You really want me to say it?"

"No, Riku. I need you to say it," I replied. Riku nodded hesitantly, then motioned for me to sit up on the bed. I did as he wanted, and then trembled as he ran a hand along my jaw.

"I love you... Sora," he whispered. And with that, he leaned in towards me, ready for the kiss. And I knew I was ready this time. Riku's soft face brushed against mine, and I could feel that warm breath on my skin again. Why did I always fight against this feeling? Why did I always try to resist? Why was I constantly denying myself of what I wanted? The feeling was clear. I loved him, I was ready for this. Our lips just barely touched when we heard movement just outside the room. We pulled away from each other quickly. I jumped back into the chair and I let out a shaky breath of disappointment and disbelief as a nurse entered the room. Riku eyed me embarrassedly, and quickly shrugged his shoulders. I felt my cheeks flush and I tried to hide the shy smile that was creeping onto my tear-stained face.

"I'll change your bandages now, Riku," the nurse said.

"Oh, okay," Riku answered, and I couldn't believe how well he pulled off his casual voice, just as if nothing had happened.

"Well, I guess I'll see you soon, Riku," I said, getting up.

"Alright, then. Will you be back to visit?" he asked.

"For sure. And when you get out of the hospital, I promise, we'll be together all the time," I told him.

"I'd like that," he smiled, and I nearly turned to a puddle on the floor. I had never seen him give me a smile like that before, and I loved it. I grinned and then waved goodbye before heading out of the hospital. I knew that Riku had understood what I meant when I said we'd be together all the time. I would be with him, as a couple, hopefully forever. Because now I was positive, more sure than ever, that I was in love with Riku.

A/N : And there it is. He's alive. Sorry that Riku and Sora STILL didn't kiss. But trust me, the car accident was just a way to bring them closer together. Please, review, my faithful reviewers. :) I really appreciate it.