Hope you like this chapter!
Chapter 10: Lift-off
Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy walked rapidly along the corridor, Riku in the lead. All muffled their footsteps, and only spoke when necessary. Riku, although part of the Organization, had not been in the castle very long, and was regretting leaving Belle behind. Though keeping her with them disabled them more in case they were found, she at least knew her way around the castle.
Riku let loose a long stream of curses under his breath as they collided against each other at a darkened dead end, Donald completely losing his footing and toppling over. He groaned deep in his throat, not bothering to hide his frustration. Kairi heard him and touched her hand to his shoulder to get his attention.
"Riku?" she said questioningly. His head turned slightly toward her, his hood concealing his expression.
" I don't know, Kairi. I don't know the way out. I can't do it. All I'm useful for right now is for leading you into even more danger and trouble, again. I…I can't let them find you…" his voice trailed off. Embarrassed at revealing so much and that he was so ashamed of his past actions, a sudden redness suffused his cheeks.
Kairi looked up at him, slightly shocked. She had no idea that Riku harbored such emotions towards his past and to herself. She wished to reassure him that she didn't care, but as she opened her mouth to tell him so, another thought struck her. She still was not fully sure whether to trust Riku or not. He did turn himself over to darkness willingly. She did care. Her mouth snapped shut again. Before either of them could say or do anything more, Sora joined them at the head of the group.
Sora had been observing the pair of them for their entire conversation. As he noticed their proximity and Riku's blush, an odd feeling grew in his heart. He quickly moved up to join them, standing closer to Kairi than usual. A hard glint appeared momentarily in his eyes as he stared at Riku. Then, ashamed of himself for thinking such a thing of his friend, he asked him, "What's going on?"
"He's feeling guilty," Kairi murmured quietly, glancing at Sora sidelong.
Sora made an odd sound that could have been the beginning of a statement, but then found he wasn't quite sure what to say. Every time he looked at Riku now, he could still remember the mad glint in his eyes and the mangled voice that had threatened him in Hollow Bastion. It was a memory that was reluctant to be cast aside.
Their pace slowed considerably as Sora looked at Riku's downcast profile, partially in shadow by his black leather hood.
"It's just…" Riku began, trailing off.
"Yeah?" Sora asked, determined to crack his shell. He had always been able to tell when something had been bothering Riku. Despite his cool and collected outward appearance, real emotion or deep thought was prone to shine through.
"I've nearly killed you both before," Riku said, his voice at a low and unsettling level, almost as if he were punishing himself with his own words. Kairi looked at Sora uncomfortably; what their friend had just said was undeniable. "I don't plan on screwing up again. They told me…he told me…"
Riku seemed to be tripping over his own words. He fell silent for a second, and paused at the top of a grand staircase. Sora didn't anticipate it and stumbled into him, stepping back to look at him questioningly and somewhat pityingly. Kairi looked forward and began to exclaim that they had found the entrance hall and the way out, but silenced as soon as she caught sight of Riku's face.
"I was sick of being an islander. I wanted to get away, to see other worlds…and I destroyed the Islands…it was me. It was me who let the darkness in…"
Kairi and Sora looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering why on earth he would blame himself for the island's apocalypse.
"I'm…I'm sorry, guys. I'm really sorry."
Riku seemed beyond comforting, his shoulders slumped and his hands grasping the rounded top of the railing firmly, his shadowed face downcast and his voice low and sorrowful.
Sora scratched his head for a moment, his eyes casting about the ground as if thinking hard. Finally, he stepped up to Riku's side and took his shoulder firmly in his gloved grip.
"Hey. Hey, look at me. Snap out of it!" he said, shaking Riku's shoulder. "It doesn't matter what happened before. We're all together now. Isn't that enough?"
Riku took the beating and glanced slightly toward Sora, not convinced.
"I mean, sure, you tried to beat me up a few times. Well, more than a few. But we know how to handle you."
He grinned as he said the last part.
"Now who the heck told you that crap?"
Riku muttered something indistinguishable.
"What?"
"I, um…"
"Spit it out."
"Zexion."
"Hm. There's an X in his name. Must be the Organization," Sora deduced, rolling his eyes. "Can't they get a bit more creative than that?"
"It's not funny."
"I--I know…I'm sorry."
"It's all right."
Kairi was watching both teenagers, slightly entranced. It was unreal, seeing her two best friends who had always been rivals acting…well, like the friends they claimed to be. Perhaps their adventures had changed them, even if only by a little.
"Hey, cheer up," Donald piped up out of nowhere, waddling close to Riku's right side and tapping his hip with his staff. "Like we told Sora, no sad faces allowed on this trip. The ship won't run."
Riku's expression was amused as he looked at the mage, his eyes flicking to Kairi as if to see her reaction. It was odd, seeing Donald actually acknowledging Riku when they had nothing but silence and enmity to show for their past.
"Fair enough," he said, his face breaking into the first true smile they'd seen from him in two years.
"Now let's get out of here, before that darn thirteenth order finds us ag'in!" Goofy said.
Donald and Goofy began traipsing down the staircase and the three teenagers made to follow.
"Thanks, Sora," a quiet voice murmured.
Sora stopped on the third step and turned to Riku, who had his hand on the banister again and was grinning slightly at him from under the dark hood. He returned the smile.
"No problem."
Kairi smiled brightly at Sora as she caught him up, and he offered her his hand. She took it, and they went down the stairs, her steps bouncing slightly and their arms swinging exaggeratedly forward and backward, as if they were in a parade.
Sora let her hand go to push the great front doors open, but paused for a moment as he did so. Had he just been holding hands with Kairi? And did…had she thought it was more than just a friendly gesture…
He shook his head at himself, and the group emerged into the dawning day.
"So…this is a gummi ship."
Riku stared at the brightly-colored space vehicle with mingled hilarity and awe. Comprised completely of flexible gummi blocks, it looked like a three-year-old had glued it together with no regard for its flyability or color coordination. Then again, Riku thought, Sora never had much of an artistic eye…
"Yup. This is it," Sora said rather proudly, trying to brush off the ivy they had used to obscure it in the forested area immediately behind the Beast's castle. The glass cockpit was slightly scratched, and there were dents in the armor on either side.
"We haven't gotten a chance to do much repair work lately, because we've been having trouble plotting a course back to Holler Bastion to buy stuff from Cid. We ain't seen a familiar world yet, not since we closed that there door to darkness," Goofy remarked, clambering up on top of the ship's domed cockpit to aid Sora. With a strangled yell, he slid off and into the brush on the other side. Donald chuckled heartily.
"You haven't been there since…since…erm, last time?" Kairi asked rather lamely, caring not to specify the events that occurred during their "last time."
"Nope. We couldn't find our way back," Sora answered her, catching the restraint in her tone. "We ended up in Castle Oblivion after Kingdom Hearts, and we had no idea where that was in relation to anywhere else. The next world we hit was Twilight Town, and that didn't help us much either."
"Twilight Town?"
Riku suddenly looked sharply interested.
"You've been to Twilight Town?"
Sora looked at him, a bit taken aback by Riku's urgency.
"Yeah, why?"
Riku considered for a moment.
"Never mind. I just…I've heard of it, that's all."
Sora looked curiously at Riku for a few seconds, but then shrugged and dropped the subject.
"I was at Hollow Bastion only yesterday!" Kairi exclaimed. "It's gotta be close."
"What! You were there?"
"Yeah!"
"Well…then how did you get here?" Sora asked incredulously, abandoning the ivy and giving his full attention to Kairi. It struck him as odd that he hadn't asked this before—maybe the shock of seeing Kairi again had distracted him sufficiently.
"I…I don't really know. I…I believed I would find you guys again, and…I ended up here!" she stammered, throwing her hands up in bewilderment.
"The Beast did that once," Sora said, suddenly thoughtful. "He said, it worked because…because he vowed…"
Sora went slightly red and shook his head.
"I guess that doesn't matter. You're…you're here now," he finished, turning and busying himself unlocking the hatch that led into the ship's interior.
Kairi glanced at Riku, who had his arms crossed and a slightly amused look on his face. He met her eyes, and jerked his head slightly in Sora's direction. Kairi smiled, and ran forward to clasp Sora in an embrace from behind. She felt his arms suddenly stop their work in surprise, and he turned in her grasp to return it.
"We'll go together. We'll find Hollow Bastion, and a way home. I know we will," Kairi said brightly as they let go of one another.
Sora grinned at her. "You're right. We'll all go…together."
A sudden rustling from behind them made them all tense as they turned. But out of the brush emerged a short figure: the King.
"Your majesty!" Goofy and Donald exclaimed in unison, Donald startled so much that he slid off the front of the ship and into the grass facefirst. They both got up hurriedly.
"Hiya, fellas," Mickey greeted them, pulling off his hood and smiling at all of them. "Looks like you're ready for liftoff, huh?"
"Almost," Donald quacked, standing up importantly. "Your majesty! Where'd you disappear to after we met you in Twilight Town?"
"I had some business to finish with Riku here," the King answered, smiling at Riku and putting his hands in his pockets. "But it's done…for now. Where are you headed?"
"Hollow Bastion, if we can find it," Sora replied, fumbling with the lock and glancing at Mickey.
"The world map's no good anymore, not since we left Castle Oblobgin…er, Obs--"
"Oblivion!" Donald shouted frustratedly, losing his composure for a second and shaking his fists at Goofy.
"So you'll be needing one of these, then?" the King said, rummaging in his pocket and holding out a brightly-colored gummi piece in his gloved hand.
Donald let out an undistinguishable string of exclamation that ended with him running forward to inspect the piece.
"That there's a Navi-Gummi, isn't it?" Goofy asked.
"Sure is!" Donald said, holding it close to one eye and closing the other. "Where did you get that, your Majesty?"
"Found it out on the front bridge. Someone must've dropped it."
Kairi frowned. Hadn't she arrived on the front bridge…? She thought no more of it as Donald hurried to the ship to install the piece.
"Mickey, are you coming with us?" Riku asked, striding forward toward the ship.
"Naw, I'll catch you up later. Head to Hollow Bastion, maybe Cid can help you out. And if I don't get there in time…" Mickey said, looking Riku hard in the eye with a significant look. "Well, you know what you have to do."
"Yeah…I know."
They shook hands and Mickey set off back toward the castle.
Donald tapped his webbed foot impatiently, and Sora turned to find the hatch open and waiting. The three teenagers clambered inside, scaling the small ladder into the upper cabin. Kairi situated herself between her two friends on the bench seat under the glass domed cockpit.
Donald and Goofy climbed into their respective seats at the front of the ship, Donald taking the controls into his gloved hands. He paused for a moment, then leaned close to Goofy's ear. The three teenagers in back were chatting.
"Goofy…why hasn't Sora fought to be pilot yet?"
"I dunno. Sora's always like this around girls, a-hyuck!"
Donald let out a frustrated sigh and she ship roared to life.
"Well, whaddya know! There's Holler Bastion's coordinates, right there!" Goofy exclaimed, pointing to the navigation screen.
Donald shook his head in disbelief. "You're right! Well, it's awful far away…wonder if we'll hit any other new worlds on the way there."
"Gah!" Riku cried, jumping slightly and grasping his armrests firmly with his gloved hands as the ship lifted off with a lurch. Kairi giggled.
"What are you laughing at?" Riku asked her mock-sternly, letting go of the armrests as the ship found a wind current and its movements smoothed out. He crossed his arms and looked out the window.
As they slowly ascended, the morning sky darkened and at last they were among the stars, speeding along toward the coordinates that pointed to Hollow Bastion.
After an hour or so, Sora looked down, bored, out the window.
"Donald!"
"Whaa?"
The ship lurched to the right at Sora's outcry, Donald having been startled out of his wits in the silence.
"Down there!"
Kairi leaned over Sora to look out the window at what he was pointing at.
"Could it…?"
"No way," Riku muttered, his face pressed against his window. "No…possible way."
Yes, I'm going to be evil and give you a cliffie. Will update soon! I LOVE REVIEWS!