Welcome back for Chapter 10. Thank you for reading this far. Eh, more things are explained, then subsequently torn apart. :3 Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Ritual

Seifer shoved his hands in his pockets as he trailed behind the flowing coat of Xemnas, struggling to keep his feet silent on the hard wood of the dock. Rai had managed to collect himself and was also scurrying to keep up while remaining quiet. He kept sending sideways glances at Seifer as they walked, possibly because he was unsure of why Seifer had insisted that they head to the Organization's private port—Seifer supposed numbing fear of meeting with Xemnas might have a negative effect on his memory. He ignored Rai and focused on moving forward.

Axel had also accompanied the three of him, much to his borderline violent disapproval. Axel had a knack for fiery things, and nearly burned Seifer alive when he had entered his comrade's chambers to relay the news that Xemnas had requested his presence. Seifer couldn't hide that he was silently pleased that even though he may have barely escaped irreparable bodily damage, Axel was being forced into the same humiliation as himself.

Axel wasn't even attempting to walk quietly, and was tromping down the harbor like a disgruntled elephant. He made a few faces behind Xemnas's back, and folded his arms. "Where are we going?"

Seifer swallowed. He never would have spoken to their supervisor in such a way, but then again, Axel did a lot of things he would never do.

Xemnas regarded Axel with an eerie calmness. "We are heading back to the harbor in which this whole event took place."

"Why?"

"To go correct a wrong that shouldn't have happened."

Axel folded his arms and snorted. "Please. Doing wrong is what we do. If we start correcting everything, then all of us will be unemployed."

Xemnas chose not to reply and continued walking, so Axel chose to bother Seifer instead. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't gotten so excited, none of us would be here, and I'd still be asleep."

"Shut up," Seifer hissed in reply. "I don't remember you standing on the side lines begging us to stop. In fact, you and Luxord were taking bets as to who could land the most hits. If anything, it should be me who gets to go home."

"Right, because it wasn't you who killed him? Hmm, somehow that sounds wrong."

"It was an accident!"

"Because you're an idiot! Even Demyx knows people die when they stop breathing, and he's one brick short of a load."

Seifer pursed his lips. "I had a moment of intense emotional stress. I don't remember anything about that."

Axel nearly fell over. "Are you kidding me? Is that what you told Xemnas? Well, looks like someone wasn't being honest. Lucky for you, I'm here to fill in the blanks."

"Yeah right. You don't even know how to tell the truth. My story was one hundred percent accurate."

"Except the part you don't remember, right? So it's more like ninety-eight percent?"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

Xemnas growled, which silenced both of them in a matter of seconds. Rai, who had already been silent for the trip was trembling. As far as he was concerned, he didn't do anything to really warrant coming along. In fact, it was all Axel and Seifer's talking to Xemnas that had gotten him into this predicament in the first place. Why he continued to stick to Seifer's side so readily was a mystery even to himself…

Xemnas's growl was followed by a quiet sigh. The four of them had reached the harbor where one of the Organization's vessels bobbed up and down in the water, a quiet reminder that they would spend the next several hours together as it sailed across the sea without the means to escape. Xemnas took a moment to take another deep breath before stepping on board, and waited for the others to follow.

The vessel was black, sleek and short, designed mainly for swift and silent night travel. It was a stealthy boat, one which Xemnas fancied for urgent matters and delicate operations. In fact, stealth was of so much importance for the majority of the Organization's business deals, that the only identifying information that any of their vessels was its number, stamped out in white Roman numerals on the stern. It was indeed morning, and while they were making the trip back to Destiny Islands on black boat that may have looked a little suspicious coasting across the waves, this vessel, number XIII, was one of the faster boats the Organization owned, and haste in their actions was definitely a necessity.

Seifer kicked Rai in the ankle. "Hey, prepare the vessel to disembark. Our supervisor doesn't have all day you know." He looked up at Xemnas with eyes alight with innocence as Rai trudged off to release the ropes that tethered the vessel to the harbor. "Let's hope this trip doesn't take long so that he doesn't have to waste more time on such a trivial venture."

Axel snorted. "Which wouldn't have occurred if you hadn't been so proud."

"No one was talking to you, Axel."

"Doesn't matter. My opinion is always ready to be given. I don't even need a request."

"This trip might be a lot more pleasant if you did."

"It might, but it might be even more pleasant if you hadn't given us the reason to make it in the first place."

Rai could feel Xemnas getting increasingly more frustrated, so he cleared his throat and tried to interject. "Xemnas sir," he started quietly. "I have a question, y'know?"

"What?" Xemnas, who was fixated on the controls of the vessel tried to begin speaking without the homicidal tone in his voice, but the way Rai shrank away towards the stern provided evidence that he wasn't that successful. He tried again. "What is it, Rai?"

"Um, yes…I was just wondering how we're going to fix things."

Xemnas turned from the controls to face the other three passengers, silently debating if disclosing the information was actually beneficial or not. On one hand, knowledge could potentially distract them long enough to keep them from bickering, but on the other hand there was the distinct possibility that it wouldn't, potentially exacerbating the conflict. It was times like these that Xemnas wondered if he was really the head of a world renowned and revered organization for underhanded dealings, or if he was just a babysitter for adults.

"We're going to go back to the harbor and find the body."

Axel's face twisted up in disgust. "No thanks. Hate to break it to you, but I'm not into that."

"You don't have a choice in the matter," Xemnas said folding his arms. "Do you all remember how long it took for you to become members here?"

Axel's knotted face became even more twisted as he was reminded of his training days. A lot of unpleasantness arose from that time period, most of which involved rituals and impromptu early morning meetings.

The statement did nothing more than remind Seifer of how much farther he still had to go, now even more given his recent setbacks.

Axel, Seifer and Rai nodded simultaneously.

"Saix, if you've had the pleasure, has been a member of this organization since its beginning. He is an excellent informant, fighter, and spy." Xemnas closed his eyes. "However, many of the training requirements we put the new hires through are the direct result of some of the…liberties he has taken prior to establishing them."

"Are you talking about the strict two weapon maximum for any given mission?" Rai asked.

"Yes, that and many other things. In this particular case, I'm referring to the preventative rituals."

"All that junk we had to do to prevent X-Y-Z from happening? I remember those."Axel rolled his eyes. "Something about keeping people from accidentally revealing the location of headquarters or whatever, right?"

Xemnas nodded. "In this case, I'm referring to ritual number 76."

Axel shook his head. "There are 233 rituals. After about number 15 it gets hard trying to remember what all of them are for."

"Right. Well, 76 refers to the accidental or unapproved termination of non-Organization members."

"We have one of those?"

Xemnas nodded. "Each member must complete all rituals prior to being sent into the field, even if they are still in training like you, Seifer and Rai. It is essential for many reasons, and given the recent circumstances, it looks as though I was not in error to establish mandatory completion of the whole set before sending you out."

Axel shrugged and moved to lean against one of the rails lining the edges of the vessel. "Great. You were paranoid enough to put a safeguard in place. How's it work?"

Xemnas pursed his lips at the informal manner in which Axel insisted on addressing him, but resolved to ignore it as he had for the past several years. "Once the trainee performs the ritual, he or she relinquishes a certain power to me as the head of The Organization. Think of it this way," he tipped his head to the side. "The members of The Organization are all employees of an elite and powerful retail establishment. I am the manager. If one of the members decides he or she has botched a transaction, such as accidentally killing the customer, I, as the manager am able to use my magic key card to reset the system and fix it. The customer lives, leaves, and we all pretend it never happened."

Axel's eyebrows shot up. "You have a magic key card?"

"That was an analogy."

Seifer's face lit up in excitement. "Let me get this straight, even if we mess up everything on a mission, we can reset things as though they never happened? Like a time machine?"

"No. I can fix certain mistakes in, as it stands now, 233 scenarios, provided haste is utilized and certain conditions are met. It does not mean that you can gallivant through the streets waving The Organization's name around on a vigilante flag as you do whatever you please with the expectation that I won't severely punish you. Furthermore, I said 'fix,' not 'erase.' If the subjects of this matter are unwilling to cooperate with our compensation…well, I'll let you imagine the potential consequences you will face."

Seifer was scared into silence after that statement.

Axel was not.

"What kind of conditions are we talking about here? Rainy? Wintery mix?"

Xemnas shook his head. "I'm referring to the condition of the target. Preferably, the body should still have the capability to sustain life. Ritual 200 addresses occasions when they aren't, but at the cost to a tremendous amount of energy and time."

"What else?"

Xemnas eyed Axel so as to give him an indication that the questioning was starting to get on his nerves, but Axel continued to stare as though he didn't notice.

Xemnas rubbed his eyes. "We'll talk more when we get there." Silently, he returned to the controls, wondering if he could possibly make the vessel go faster than its maximum speed. Interaction with Axel and his two trainees was starting to steadily pluck at his nerves.

Axel let out a disgruntled sigh. "This is really ridiculous. How much other stuff have I let you have control of?"

Xemnas chose to ignore him, so he leaned over the edge, and picked at the finish on the side of the boat. "How much longer until we get there?"

Sora was watching Riku out of the corner of his eye as he mopped the counter with a rag. He had disappeared some time ago to meddle in business that was not his, and had just recently reappeared by the tables, waltzing between customers and through chairs. Sora had seen Riku do this a few times already, but watching him pass through objects so easily still made a shiver run up his spine.

Riku maneuvered back around the tables, catching his eye a few times and smirking, and this was how Sora knew that he was determined to do something he didn't approve of. Unfortunately, the only people he could seek advice from were currently unable to see the source of his anguish, and furthermore, they were already convinced he was half out of his mind. Sora sighed, and threw the rag down to count the pastries behind the glass, keeping one eye on the food, and the other on Riku.

He watched as he headed over to Roxas and Kairi, watching them quietly for a moment, then he struck.

Sora had to put his hands over his mouth to keep from yelling.

Riku had slipped his hand between Roxas and Kairi to the napkins they were restocking, and had simply picked one up, holding it horizontally above the granite counter.

Roxas immediately stopped playing with the honey, and glanced curiously at the napkin, seemingly defying gravity.

"Woah," he said. "The static electricity is intense today."

Kairi watched for a moment, then plucked it out of the air and put it back in the napkin holder. "Looks like it."

Riku had a merry time giggling to himself about this, his mischievousness reinforced by a positive reaction. He grinned and reached for the sugar packets.

Sora heard a series of exclamations as the sugar packets began "dancing" on the table, and thought he was going to come undone. He didn't know what he did to deserve such mistreatment, but this stress was threatening to give him a heart attack. The moment the honey jar started moving on its own, was the moment that Sora launched himself across the café between Roxas and Kairi—subsequently through Riku—to snatch away the floating objects.

Kairi and Roxas looked at him incredulously.

Sora refused to make eye contact.

"…Uh…hey Sora…" Roxas started quietly.

"Don't talk to me right now." He sent a menacing glower to Riku who backed away sheepishly into the wall.

"Okay. When would be a good time?"

Sora stuffed the objects back into their respective locations and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Riku had disappeared again, preferably for the rest of the day. He spared another glance at the wall to make sure that his friend had indeed gone through it, then stood and straightened up his apron.

Roxas was still staring at him.

"What?"

Roxas shook his head. "You know what? Nothing. I'm just going to go over here," he indicated the other side of the restaurant and began backing up. "I've never seen you move that fast before. Kinda scary."

"I had to! Riku was—er…"

Roxas continued to back up, but Kairi looked at him pityingly. The emotion ran so deep on her face that Sora knew that he had no hope of salvaging his reputation, or trying to tell the truth.

"Sora," she said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come with me."

Sora felt his blood run cold from simultaneous worry about what it was she wanted, and where Riku had gone off to, but he followed her to the back of the café, with increasing dread.

She looked over her shoulder as she pushed the door open, to make sure he was still there behind her. Sora couldn't blame her. With the way he was acting today, she probably thought he was two steps away from bouncing off the walls. He swallowed as they entered the back room.

Cid was meandering around, also pretending to do work, but the hypocrisy of it all was lost on Sora who walked in with his head down. He Did, however; look up in just enough time to see Kairi work some of her magic.

"Cid," she said sweetly, lacing her fingers in front of her apron.

"Eh, what?"

"Sora and I were about to take inventory back here. Is that okay?"

"You're leaving Roxas at the front of the house by himself? I like my customers, thank you. No."

Kairi didn't even hesitate at the reply. "Actually, I think the source of Roxas's dysfunction here is because he doesn't feel included."

Cid rubbed his finger beneath his chin and scowled. "I don't do hand-holding."

"That's not what I mean." She gestured for Sora to stand next to her, and put on her most sympathetic face. "Sora and I have a very special connection to this place. The pastries, the coffee, the customers, and of course, our reliable manager."

Sora nodded at Kairi's prompt—an elbow to the ribs.

"I think if you really showed Roxas why this place is so great, he'd be more apt team player."

Cid rubbed his chin even harder, skepticism washing all over his features. "And how are you proposing I do that? I'm not sure how 'get to work you three troublemakers' isn't inclusive."

"Well," Kairi tilted her head in mock thought. "Why not teach him how to use the espresso machine? There's no better tie to a coffee house than the coffee…er, espresso."

Cid grunted. "He seriously doesn't know how to use it? How long have you all been here?"

"See? No wonder he doesn't feel included. If I were you, I'd teach him how to use it before he stops working altogether."

"Then I'll fire him."

"Then you'll have to find and train someone else."

Cid paused. "Huh, you've got a point."

Kairi grinned, victory apparent. "Sora and I will work back here, and you can go train Roxas. It probably won't take you any more than twenty minutes. Right Sora?"

"Huh? Oh, right."

Cid glared at her, but her smile remained pleasant. "Ugh, I guess. But don't think you two can just play around back here. I'll know if you're slacking."

"Yes sir."

Cid spared another glare at them before huffing off to the front of the café to find Roxas who had no previous knowledge of his upcoming training session.

Kairi's pleasant smile evolved to a snide grin. "Awesome."

"Roxas is going to hate you," Sora pointed out.

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We can deal with it later. Right now, we need to talk."

Sora swallowed hard and watched her; watched her lift her eyebrow, fold her arms the way she always did preceding a lecture, the tilt in her hips. Kairi had been preparing this speech all afternoon, he thought bitterly. Her opinions on the matter had been very limited save for the occasional exclamations of anguish each time Roxas said something too enthusiastic until now.

He watched with dread as she closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply, and when they opened, they found his and locked on like the crosshairs on a rabbit.

"Sora, are people really after you?"

"Yes."

"That's what I was afraid you were going to say." She swallowed. "I'm really worried for you."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, but you don't have to be." He tried to smile at her, but he could feel the lines of his face making more of a grimace.

"How can I not? You're one of my closest friends." She clasped her hands together and looked up at him, and for a moment Sora was worried that she was going to cry. He tried to look anywhere but her eyes, but found that he couldn't.

"Sora," She put her hands on his shoulder. "If something happens to you—"

"Nothing's going to happen to me." He interrupted pulling away in an attempt to demonstrate his lack of panic. "I can take care of myself. I'm tougher than I look."

"Sure. When was the last time you've been in a fight?"

"Yester—"

"Arguing with Riku doesn't count."

"Fine. Last wee—"

"Or Roxas."

"Eh…a couple of months ago—"

"Or Cid."

Sora threw his hands up. "Okay, so I haven't been in many fist fights, but really I can assure you, I'll be okay." Sora left out the fact that the story was fabricated, and moved to the other side of the room to keep his face from showing.

"How many people are after you?"

Sora really had to think about this one. On one hand, a small number wouldn't really be that convincing, especially since he was supposed to be terrified out of his mind. Aside from that, Riku was supposed to be involved in the venture, and any number smaller then two would be unrealistically easy for both of them to take on. It would probably launch Kairi into investigation mode, where the authorities would be called. A number too large would bring his little white lie to cinematic proportions, which would defeat the purpose of trying to get away with it. "Five."

"There are five men after you?"

"That's what I counted…eh…yesterday when I looked out my window. It could have gone up, it could have gone down. Who's to say?"

Kairi clenched a fist. "And all of these people came from the harbor, because Riku started a fight?"

Sora was starting to dislike how this conversation was going. "Well, there's probably more to it than that."

Kairi marched over to Sora and turned him around, jabbing a well-polished nail at his chest. "Are you kidding me? I thought you talked to him!"

"Huh?"

"The harbor, Sora. You were supposed to talk to him about your concerns with him working down at the harbor. Now he's gone off and caused trouble for both of you. This is unbelievable!"

Sora struggled to hang onto her words. A train crashed in his brain somewhere, but he didn't understand why. Somehow though, things had clearly made a turn for the worse. "Um, wait…"

"No," Kairi fumed, marching about the back room. "This is inexcusable. I can't believe he would be so reckless as to get on the bad side of some underground crime ring. Now both of you are in danger!"

"Uh…hang on…"

"It's one thing to get himself into these kinds of problems—and believe me, I have an opinion or two about how little he cares about his own personal safety—but now he's gone off and thrown you into his little fairy tale along with him. Stories like these don't have happy endings, Sora. They just don't!"

"Maybe this time it will. Miracles and all that."

"Sora, this is serious. When I get my hands on him, I'm going to strangle him. I might even turn him in to the people who are after him in the first place!"

"Please don't do that." Sora said holding his hands up defensively. There really wasn't anyone to turn him in to for that matter. "Let's just calm down."

"I'm not going to calm down!" She yelled. Kairi inhaled once, and both of them looked towards the door to make sure that Cid didn't come through the door.

Three seconds ticked by, and Sora was about to turn back around to continue trying to assuage some of her anxiety, but someone else walked through the door instead.

Literally.

Sora's face whitened and he had to take a calming breath to keep his heart rate from skyrocketing.

Riku, who Sora hoped had disappeared for the rest of the afternoon, wandered into the back of the store room to find out why Kairi was shouting. As far as Sora was concerned, this might have been the most catastrophic thing to happen all day.

Riku could not find out that Kairi was mad at him.

That Sora—arguably Roxas—had lied.

That he was going to be blamed for something he didn't really do.

Sora swallowed hard and tried to make a face in such a way that Riku would get the hint and leave, but he knew before he even did it that it would be a failed attempt. Riku never took his frantic facial expressions (warnings of impending danger, advice, helpful suggestions, etcetera) seriously. Instead, he strolled all the way into the back room, took a quick glance around the various shelves, then locked a pair of highly entertained eyes onto Sora's panicked ones.

Then he sat down and watched with a smug look on his face.

Sora wanted the ceiling to fall on his head so that he would not be conscious to witness the impending disaster. He swallowed hard and rubbed his hands together. "You know what, let's change the subject. Want to teach me how to make something out of…eh…other stuff?"

Kairi violently shook her head. "I mean it, Sora. How many times have you told me about Riku coming to crash on your couch because he's gone off and hurt himself? How many times have you tried to hide how worried you've been about this whole thing?"

The smug appearance on Riku's face instantly vanished, as did his eyebrows beneath his bangs.

Sora was pretty sure that his heart stopped beating. "Not that many. I'm worried yes, but I don't complain about it. Ever." He spared another look at Riku. "Ever."

"Stop sticking up for him. It's officially gone too far. When I find him he's getting serious piece of my mind. Sora, you could be killed!"

Riku stood up at this, mouth agape in outrage, fists balled at his side.

Sora took in the expression on his face and felt utterly helpless. "Kairi, calm down. It's not really like it sounds. Look, remember what you asked me earlier? I lied. Everything is really fine."

"You're just saying that to calm me down, but I refuse. I mean it, Sora. This has got to stop! As soon as we get off work, I'm going to go ring his neck!"

Sora watched several expressions meld over Riku's face, most of which portrayed intense anger. Sora's chest felt heavy, and his heart, which had come to a frozen halt earlier, was hammering against his ribs far faster than what should have been considered healthy. "Kairi…"

"No," She said, turning to him, eyes matching the same ferocity as Riku's. "I care too much about both of you to let one of you mess with the other. Neither of you listen to reason, and just like I knew it would all along, it's gotten out of hand. This is beyond acceptable, and I refuse to listen to these excuses!"

Sora was silently begging the floor to open up and swallow him whole, but since his life was turning into the cosmic joke of the ages, he was granted no such reprieve. "Kairi, Riku didn't do anything. It's fine."

Kairi just stared at him and shook her head. "You've just told me everything I need to know. I'm going to help Cid train Roxas on the espresso machine to cool off."

"Um…"

"I'll teach him to make a Ristretto. This should be entertaining." She marched off through the door and left Sora standing in the room with a seething Riku.

Sora barely waited for the doors to close before he threw himself at Riku's transparent feet. "I can explain!"

.

Thank you for reading. Chapter 11 will be up shortly.