Sora and the Mayor
Sora was panting by the time he made it to the top of the hill. It was still early in the morning so he figured Kairi wouldn't have left home yet. He stopped to catch his breath and swallowed to wet his throat while he leaned on the low fence. Then he stood up and faced the mayor's house. It was actually a fairly quaint little house with white walls but the roof was so dramatically angled that it looked like someone had turned a few boats upside down and used them as roofing. There was a wooden deck before a door that was placed under a round window. Sora stepped up to the door and knocked twice.
The door opened immediately, drawing a squeak out of Sora. He looked up at the tall man standing in front of him. He was about as tall as Riku with the same fair skin and silver hair but with blue eyes instead of green. The mayor was only half dressed in casual slacks, since it was early and not a work day. Despite the fairness of his body, there was something darker about his presence that always made Sora feel half as small. It wasn't a menacing darkness like the kind that possessed Riku or the kind that Maleficent and The End of The World exuded. It was an awe-inspiring darkness, more akin to the coolness of having a deep reservoir of knowledge and wisdom. The mayor's eyes were so deep you would never see the bottom of them.
"Morning, Sora," the mayor said gruffly. "What do you want?"
"Uh, um," Sora said, shifting his eyes around to avoid looking directly at the mayor. "I just wanted to see if Kairi was around, that's all."
"She's still asleep," was the curt reply. "Most people are – it's a rest day."
"Yeah, I kinda noticed." Actually, he didn't. If he wasn't in school Sora had no idea when weekends and rest days came around since his mother often worked through them to finish orders before deadlines. "Can I wait here until she's awake?"
"You'll be here a while if you do that."
The mayor really didn't provide any room for argument. Sora stood on the doorstep while the mayor fiddled with the simple gold band he wore on his left ring finger, a habit he would probably never break. They shared a tense silence during which Sora fidgeted and cast his gaze around the garden, not really looking at anything in particular. He just didn't want to be looking at the mayor. The man had a way of being fiercely intimidating without even meaning to. Almost like Riku.
"However, since you're here, how was your trip?"
Sora blinked. His head whipped around to stare at the mayor. "Trip?"
"Yes," the mayor said, creasing his brow. "You've been away for about a year now. Was it a good trip?" The mayor turned his gaze away slightly and stared into space for a moment as if something had just come to him and he needed to mull it over. "And where did you go?"
"Oh… I… went to a lot of places," Sora answered nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "A lot happened and… some of it was good."
The mayor's crease got deeper. "Yet some of it was bad?"
It was phrased like a statement but it was definitely intoned as a question. Sora didn't answer immediately. He was stunned for a moment. If even the mayor didn't know that probably meant that nobody knew. Nobody had any idea of where he had been for the past year and a half. Of course they wouldn't remember the half-year he spent on his first adventure but nobody had any clue about his disappearance for the rest of the time and the mayor seemed quite nonplussed about it.
"I spent a lot of time just missing home and missing my friends," Sora offered as an excuse, hoping the mayor bought it. "It's pretty tough when you suddenly have to go away for a long time, especially if all you've known for your whole life is the little island that you lived on, right?"
"I see, homesickness." The mayor beckoned for Sora to follow him as he stepped out of his house and crossed the deck boards. The sun had just come far enough over the mountain ridge and treetops to wash the boards in warm, morning light. The mayor sat down at the end of the deck beside the stairs, looking down to the sea. Sora sat next to him and clasped his hands between his knees. "Tell me about the places you went."
Sora stiffened and gulped. "Uh, well… there were lots of cool places. There was a time where we were, uh, hiking! Yeah, hiking in a jungle. With gorillas. It was pretty cool. And there was also a safari. There was also this place that had a nice hedge maze." He added under his breath: "it would have been nicer if the queen wasn't so mean."
"Queen?"
Sora jumped and his hands flew up like a defence shield. "We just called her the queen," he lied quickly, "because she liked to be in charge all the time. And, um… a desert. I saw a desert for the first time. And snow too! I saw snow for the first time. I didn't think it would be so cold. And when it was falling – that was just, wow."
The mayor nodded but he still looked confused. "I… see… I suppose. And who did you go with? I don't remember anyone else going with you."
"Anyone else?"
"You keep saying 'we'."
"Oh… oh!" Sora forced out a laugh that he hoped didn't sound too fake. "Yeah, there were some others. I met them on the journey, they didn't leave the islands with me."
The mayor narrowed his eyes, glaring suspiciously at Sora. "You know, now that you mention it, I don't actually remember you leaving. I remember you building a raft with Kairi and Riku before you left but you can't have gone on that because Kairi was still here. And then Riku disappeared without a trace. Did he go with you?"
"Um, yes!" Sora said, looking straight at the mayor and nodding his head vigorously. "He was there. Yeah, I remember, we had all sorts of cool adventures."
Sora tried to keep the happy façade up but his heart was dropping into his stomach at the mayor's expression. He was confused before but now he was clearly suspicious. Sora's vague story didn't make sense in a lot of ways. Sora shuffled a bit and turned to look at the horizon, trying to avoid the mayor's stare.
"Would you like to come inside? I was just about to make breakfast."
Sora's whole body suddenly felt hollow. "Er… no. I've already eaten."
"Just some tea, then?"
"No… no, I'm fine. I'd rather just wait out here."
"Really?" The mayor fixed him with a hard stare.
"Y-yeah. I'll just wait for Kairi out here so that we can go out to play."
The mayor chuckled but it was a mirthful sound. Sora looked at him curiously. "Sorry," the man said, "but it's strange hear a person your age saying that they're going 'out to play' as if they were a child."
Sora turned back to the view wordlessly. The mayor's banter didn't make him feel any less dreadful inside.