"God…what's the matter with you Sora? He's your brother isn't he? All three of them are but…Roxas…he's the most important, isn't he? Isn't his happiness more important than…No…No, I can't think like that…"
Sora brushed his hair back away from his face but his spikes instantly sprang back into their original positions. He leaned his hands on the counter in the bathroom, staring determinedly at his reflection in the mirror in front of him.
"You promised yourself you wouldn't do this…" he told his reflection. "You promised yourself you wouldn't think about this anymore…but…I guess since I left…that's all I think about…isn't it?" Sora hung his head, eyes squeezed shut against the tears now threatening to blind him. "Don't…" he whispered to himself, but he couldn't help it. The more he tried not to think about it the more he actually thought about it.
He glared up at his reflection. "Damn you," he hissed. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't been such an idiot this would never have happened." His hands clenched into fists. "I hate you. I really do. If it weren't for you...she….Kairi would…" He choked on her name. It was too painful to say.
Sora growled deep in his throat and glared into his own deep blue eyes. He hated seeing his own eyes. They reminded him of two things – his own unending guilt and his twin's identical eyes that held no such thing.
Before he realized what he was doing, Sora raised a fist and smashed in the mirror. It cracked, forming a web of shards branching off around his hand, blood at its center.
Sora cursed and pulled his hand back. He ran it under cold water and, after making sure there were no slivers of the mirror lodged within the wound, he wrapped his knuckles in a strip of cloth torn from one of his spare shirts.
Then, being careful not to look at his reflection again, Sora lifted his pack and walked out into the lobby of the hotel he'd turned into. Without pausing, he walked out the front doors and onto the street. He wouldn't be returning there now.
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Sora wandered around town, looking for some place to stay. He felt so tired all of a sudden and his head hurt, though he didn't know from what. It almost felt like he'd be hit on the back of the head, but it was more phantom pain than anything.
He'd been wandering for almost an hour before he remembered somewhere he could stay. Someplace no one else would be. He made his way there, walking as quickly as his exhaustion would allow.
When he finally got there, he entered the dismal, tiny place with a smile on his face, though it was a small one. After locking the door, he dropped his stuff on the floor and looked around, not bothering to turn on a light, though he knew there was one. He went to the boxes stacked up on the left side of the room and pulled out a couple of blankets, laying them out on the floor. Sora kicked off his shoes and lay down, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.
"I wonder if they really miss me?" he whispered to himself. "I mean, obviously they're looking for me, but…is it just an obligatory thing or do they really want me back?" Sora sighed, breathing out through his nose. He closed his eyes and rolled onto his side, using his arm as a pillow. "Maybe Leon was just saying those things in case I could hear them. I mean…what if Roxas is really happier without me? Maybe I should just stay here…But…" Sora sighed again. "Maybe I should go back…maybe just for a little while…but then…Then if I decided not to stay…they'd never let me go again." He rolled over onto his stomach, pulling at his hair. "What should I do? God…What should I do…?"
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"Hasn't he woken up yet?"
"No…"
"But…it's been three days. Should we take him to the doctor or something?"
Fuu looked at Riku as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were unfocused, his hair hanging down in his face.
"Riku, what aren't you telling me?"
"Fuu please. Just go home."
"Look Riku, just because you haven't been drinking and we moved him here doesn't mean I trust you with him." She crossed her arms over her chest.
Riku didn't even twitch. "He's my brother and therefore my responsibility. Our mother will be home in a few days, so there's no need to worry. Your brother will be home soon, too, so why don't you just go wait for him?"
"Riku!"
"Look, I have some things to do before mom gets home, so I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me to do that."
Fuu huffed then finally left.
Riku waited until he heard the front door slam before he spoke again. "You can stop pretending now."
Roxas sat up, rubbing his eyes as he did so.
"Feeling better?"
Roxas nodded. "Yeah."
"So why were you pretending? I thought she was your girlfriend?"
Roxas glared. "Hey, don't patronize me."
"Sorry, sorry. But even so. Aren't you guys friends?"
Roxas sighed and looked down. "Yeah well…"
Riku stood up, pushing himself away from the wall, taking a few steps toward his own bed where Roxas currently sat. "So what's the deal."
Roxas was silent for a long time before he finally answered. "I had a dream about him," he said very quietly.
"Who?" Riku asked.
"…Sora…"
Riku's eyes widened for a moment. He recovered quickly and then sat down beside his brother.
"What happened?"
"…I don't know. It was just flashes of memory…Sometimes I was seeing through Sora's eyes and sometimes…sometimes I was just watching him."
"Did you see anything? Anything that could tell us where he is?"
"I don't know…maybe…" He paused, thinking. "I saw Leon."
"You did?" Riku's voice got a little sharper, though it was unintentional.
Roxas nodded. "Yeah. He was with two girls that look about his age. One had brown hair…it was braided and she had on a pink dress. I think I've seen her before…somewhere…but where?"
"And the other?"
Roxas shook his head. "She didn't even look vaguely familiar. She had short black hair and she was real thin…big boots…Kinda looked like a ninja."
"Yuffie and Aerith…" Riku muttered to himself. "That must be it…"
"Who?"
"Yuffie Kisaragi and Aerith Gainsborough. They're Leon's friends. Remember when he went on they study abroad? He lived near them. He never talked about them much but…He really trusts them."
"Do you think they know something?"
Riku shook his head. "If he really went there he probably just wanted to ask for their help in looking for Sora. Your dream was probably just a coincidence."
"But how could I know about Yuffie and…Aerith…" Roxas stopped. "Cloud."
"What?" Riku looked at him.
"Cloud left a note before he left. He said Aerith was here…"
"So what? There was a girl named Aerith here. She probably wasn't the same Aerith that Leon's friends with. She would have stopped by."
"Not if she knew Leon was out looking for Sora," Roxas contradicted.
"No, I guess not…"
Roxas yawned. "I'm kinda tired. Think I'm gonna sleep again."
"You've been sleeping for three days!"
"Yeah I know, but I'm exhausted." Roxas thought for a moment. "Want me to go back to my room?"
Riku shook his head. "No, you stay here. I'll stay there." He stood and walked to the door as Roxas lay back down. "Night Roxas." He reached for the light.
"Hey Riku?"
Riku stopped, his hand frozen in midair.
"Thanks…for staying sober this time."
Riku glanced back and winced slightly when he saw Roxas' bangs resettle over the gash in his forehead. He sighed softly to himself, clicked the light off and shut the door. Roxas was right, he knew. Life would be so much better if he could just stop drinking. He wished he could, but…but then…he'd have to remember…He'd have to remember about…everything. And especially…
"KAIRI!"
Sora sat up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat. His hands shook as he pushed his bangs back away from his face. He shivered and put his head in his hands.
"Not again," he moaned. "Why did I have to dream about it again?" He lay back and stared at the ceiling, his wet hair falling onto his forehead. "Why? Why won't this ever stop?"
Sora glanced up and out the window. It was dawn already – time for a new day.
He got up and changed quickly before heading out the door. He ran over to First District, bought a padlock and key, then came back, adding the new feature to his temporary home.
Once he was done with that, Sora decided to take a nice walk around town. Since he'd gotten there so late the day before, he hadn't really had a chance to take in any of the changes since his last visit.
Traverse Town hadn't changed much, he saw. There were new faces, but that in itself was normal. The shops still looked the same. The main square hadn't changed, except…
Sora stopped when he passed a bulletin board that was a fairly new addition to First District. It looked a lot like the ones they had in Twilight Town. He didn't stop, though, just because it was there. He stopped because of what was on it.
Sora stared at his own photograph, big letters spelling "MISSING" printed above it on the piece of paper. Below was a short description of Sora and how to contact his family if he were found.
Sora walked up to it slowly, placing his hand on top of it. He hesitated, then ripped it down. He crumpled it up and stuffed it in his pocket.
So Leon had been here, too. But that was better. It just meant he wouldn't be back for a while. Sora figured he could wait a couple of weeks and then head back to Radiant Garden for a while. His brother's friends would have forgotten about him then and it would be a good city to hide in.
Sora turned away, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He didn't like running very much. It would be so much easier if he could just hide in a big city like Twilight Town.
Sora stopped. Why not? No one would ever think to look for him there, right? The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He decided to leave within the week.
Once that was decided, he headed home to get better settled in and then maybe look for a temporary job to earn a little extra money.
As he considered it, Sora decided he'd go back, but before that, he had one more place he wanted to go. Someplace he hadn't been in a long, long time…
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A/N: Once again it's shorter than I'd hoped, but I have loads of homework. I put it off for sleep and hang-out time with my brother (who just left about a half an hour ago for the airport to go back to school).
So how's my story going so far? I think Sora's bits are going pretty well. Do you all? I certainly hope so.
Anyhow, just wanted to let you know I probably won't be able to update more than once this week if at all. I have rehearsal for my school's musical every day and then SAT's on Saturday as well as a full-day rehearsal for the musical. I'll do my best though.
Please review so I know what things you like and what you don't. I can't fix anything if no one tells me what's wrong.
Thanks to all of you who read this and double thanks to all those that review.
See you next time!
Eevil Hero
