Chapter 11
Sora
"I guess we should get going Sora, we still need to find Link." Ciara said Link's name... weird. There was a bitter hate underlying the sweet words.
"You alright? Aren't mad at Link or anything? 'Cause I thought we'd settled this!" I wagged my finger at Ciara in a teasing way. She suppressed a giggle.
"Nah, just thinking of someone I really, hate, when I was talking. I'll go get something for our trip."
We moved through the vast field at a steady clip, but hardly fast enough.
"Remind me, why did you have to bring the wagon?"
lagging our progress was a huge gypsy wagon we were borrowing from Renado with a few hammocks and storage spaces inside.
"It'll give us a little shelter, dum dum!"
"It's slowing us down!"
"We can't just go warping everywhere!"
"It'll take FOREVER to find Link!"
"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF WE WERE SLEEPING UNDER A TREE?"
the argument ended abruptly.
This was why I liked Kairi more. She wasn't so... hm let's see, fast to annoy, so darn stubborn, rash, so... Angry all the time. Honestly Ciara was a little too tomboy-ish for my tastes.
Hours passed. Hyrule Field remained empty and vast.
"Let's...let's set up camp." Ciara reined in the horse with a sigh. A few minutes later, the sun was going down, and I was helping Ciara with dinner.
"Been on your own for ages and still don't know how to cook."
"Well how many guys do you know cook?"
"Eh, a few actually."
Our laughter rang out in the night. Ciara could be annoying company, but it was better than none. When our meal was done, I volunteered
"I'll take first watch!"
"No, it's easier in the other half of the night. Trust me."
I shrugged. "Okay..."
I walked over to the wagon, and turned to say good night. The words wouldn't come out, I was too shocked.
Everything I'd known about Ciara had melted. Her normally sly smile a depressed frown, shoulders slouched with a nameless burden. Her hazel eyes were dulled, filled with pain, and things people should never see.
It made her look so... old.
"Are you okay?"
She blinked and the sadness washed away as fast as it had come.
She smiled, although it was halfhearted "I'm Fine, Sora."
"Well...Goodnight."
Ciara
No luck finding Link roaming around. Well I have to tell Sora something... I felt so guilty leading Sora around like this. Link was in the Twilight Realm, there was no way we could get there. I worried the entire day on whether or not I should tell him about Link.
I spent the next few hours preoccupying myself by sniping anything hostile that came within a few feet of camp. Shot a few Stalchilds, Kagoroks, but oddly enough there wasn't any Bulbins. It set me on edge.
I should probably get Sora up now. It's about midnight.
My hand barely touched his shoulder when he muttered something.
"A...Aqua...?"
My hand leaped back. How did he know who Aqua was? Unless... it was Ventus talking... I took a chance.
"Ven?"
I knew about the poor boy. Birth by Sleep was the last Kingdom Hearts game I finished before I ran away. He probably needed solace of some kind. He lost his friends, his life... And what Xehanort did... I guess we shared something: a past that's left emotional scars.
"Really...you?" Sora muttered again.
"No... sorry."
A tear slid down Sora's cheek. "Miss them...so much..."
I allowed my vision to slip out of reality and into the depths of Sora's heart. Sora was slowly replaced with Ventus, who was sitting up and bitterly bemoaning the loss of his friends. I stammered out a small sentence
"I-I'm not your friend, but I can be." I gently peeled his hands away from his face, revealing his stark blue eyes, now tinged with red from crying.
"T-thanks... It gets so lonely... I miss my old friends though." Ven looked at me funny
"What? Is there something wrong?" I didn't know why I was freaking out, but I was. Ven laughed,
"No, you just remind me of Aqua, only a little bit. You two have that same motherly worry." No one had ever used motherly to describe me before. It felt really weird.
Ventus looked away,
"I wish I could wake up soon. I hope they're okay." Moments later, he laughed darkly "But how can that happen? No one, let alone myself, knows where my body is... No one knows where they are..." I couldn't see his eyes through his bangs, but I saw the tears roll down his cheeks and fall into his lap. His fists tightened "No one ever hears me. No one ever knows I'm here. I try to talk with Sora, but he can't hear me..." His shoulders were heaving with his sobs now. "It's no fair... Why did that have to happen? WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME? TO US?" Ven yelled skyward.
Years of tears poured out. Ventus was crying so hard, I didn't even think it was possible. "WHY DOES FATE TORMENT ME LIKE THIS?"
I then snapped out of the vision as Ven's voice echoed out into the night. I sat there, shocked. I glanced at the clock. Only minutes had passed. A few more ticked onward.
"S-Sora. Your shift..." Sora mumbled and shifted over yawning.
"Aww... but I was having the best dream ever..." he whined. He opened one eye sleepily, folding his hands behind his head. "Oh, well."
Sora
I sat groggily outside, occasionally yawning. Wake me up if there's trouble you can't handle alone, or if dawn comes, Ciara's voice echoed in my head. I nodded, partially from sleepiness, partially agreeing with the voice in my head. I was so not used to getting up after only a few hours of sleep. There were a few things, but nothing looking too dangerous. My eyelids lowered, heavier than lead. Eh, a few winks won't hurt anyone.
THUMPATHUMPATHUMPA. I jolted awake, feeling the ground tremble with heavy foot steps. I looked around, adrenaline already pumping.
A massive dust cloud. No, a stampede maybe? I squinted at the thundering thing heading in our direction.
"C-Ciara!" The thing was a herd of boars, each one with a rider. Each rider had a bow drawn.
I scrambled up the steps, arrows thudding against the wood, most missing me by inches. I wrenched open the door yelling "We have company!"
Ciara woke, as if she'd never been asleep in the first place. She glanced out the window and cursed as a arrow grazed her face.
"Damn Bulbins!" She ran outside "Come on Sora! Quit standing around like a idiot!" Outside she gave me another bit of advice
"Don't hit the Bulbos! Only the Bulbins!" I nodded, as if I actually knew what the heck a Bulbo was.
Absently, I slashed at one of the riders- something that looked kinda like a goblin, I guess. It howled and fell off in a cloud of orange-black dust. Guessing that's a Bulbin. I continued to hack and slash, hardly a strategy, I know. Hey, it's lasted me this long.
"Ciara, how are you-" I got out through the din of battle. At least, before something dealt a hard blow to the back of my head, causing me to slump to the ground.
The last thing I felt through my partial consciousness was a sickly, bandaged hand wrapping itself around my waist.
Ciara
"That's right! Run you damn cowards!" I yelled after the fleeing Bulbins. I swiped away a small string of blood on my cheek. I wasn't too hurt. Scratches and scrapes, but nothing fatal or serious.
"You alright Sora? Sora...?" I couldn't find Sora, not until I saw the marauding weaklings running off with the poor guy.
"THAT'S A LOW BLOW EVEN FOR YOU!" I screeched after them. I unhitched the horse as fast as I could and galloped after the hoard of Bulbins, the group starting to get smaller and smaller.
Sora
A rancid smell woke me up later. I groaned and wrinkled my nose, slowly coming into full consciousness. Wait, am I tied up? I blearily opened my eyes.
I was face to face with one of those things.
It's eyes were beady and red, loose wrappings, covering most of it's face, barely masking it's fowl breath. I could take a good guess whatever teeth it had were rotted. It wheezed and growled in some guttural language I couldn't understand. It sounded eerily like laughter.
"BACK OFF BASTARDS!" came a shrill war-cry. It was Ciara leaping off her horse, sword drawn, going absolutely berserk. Bulbins were shrieking left and right, ending up on the end of a sword blade or becoming a human pincushion. One of the arrows pierced the hide of a boar(Bulbo, perhaps?) and it went on a squealing rampage, killing more of the fiends. then it headed for Ciara.
"LOOK OUT!"
she did a graceful back-flip over the charging creature while slashing her blade at another monster. Moments later there was the stillness of post-battle.
Ciara walked over, puffing a strand of hair into place.
"You okay Sora?" She raised her sword and cut the ropes in a swipe. I cringed at the fact I was essentially a damsel in distress. Not a very happy feeling for a guy used to playing the hero. Ha, ha! Sora had to be rescued! Oh be quiet Roxas!
"I'm fine. Pride's hurt, but fine. How about you?"
I then noticed a not too pretty gash in her side, bleeding heavily.
"Fine... Just a flesh wound." She was gritting her teeth, yet smiling, as she said the words. Her skin paler than it was supposed to be.
"A flesh wound?" I was alarmed. The gash was pretty bad. I looked around, probably out of panic. The Bulbo was sitting placidly on the ground, but one of it's tusks had blood on it. I laughed weakly.
"You idiot. You just had to back-flip over the thing, didn't you? Lucky I'm around."
Ciara mockingly groaned
"Oh no! Anyone but Sora!" Her skin was still paling, she was now slumped against me, her eyes were closing. "Cure." the familiar spell healed Ciara instantly, what worried me was that she was still weak. Blood loss wasn't something that could be cured instantly.
I gently picked her up and sat her down on the horse, and followed after. It was interesting how small she seemed, sitting in front of me. She smiled and buried her head against my chest, sighing contentedly.
I got the horse galloping, hoping it would shake her off, but she only nestled in tighter.
It felt so awkward.
Okay, I thought, pretend she's Kairi. Roxas, being the snark guy he is, responded Yeah, of course she's Kairi. Will you just shut up already Roxas? I felt the Nobody's presence fade soon after.
My mind kinda went overboard and imagined a beautiful, pure, Destiny Island sunset. The horse was walking along the shore, the waves gently lapping at it's hooves. Kairi, beautiful, amazing Kairi, was smiling and leaning against me, every pore shone with pleasure.
"Sora..." she whispered. My mind went totally blank at the sound of her gentle voice.
"Yeah, Kairi?" I answered, in a daydreaming stupor. Ah, her voice is so wonderful...
"Sora...You're leaning to the left...And quit drooling..."
The vision ended. Ciara was awake and squeaked again
"Weren't you listening...? You're drooling and leaning to the left..."
I felt my face redden. I gestured the horse back on track, and wiped the spittle from my mouth, feeling embarrassed all the while.
"You were thinking of Kairi, weren't you?"
"K-Kairi? Who'sthinkingofKairi? I'mnotthinkingofKairi!"
"My suspicions are confirmed."
"Give me one good reason not to kick you off this horse right now!"
"...I'm sick?"
"It's your fault you're sick."
"Touche. I'll shut up now."
We must've had some luck tonight, because camp was just how we left it. When Ciara tried to get off, she just crumpled to the ground. I reached a helping hand to her, but she rejected it.
"I can get to my bunk by myself Sora."
She got back up, staggered a bit, and eventually made it to the wagon.
"See...? I can do whatever the heck I want to do if I set my mind to it... now goodnight, and hope things run better." with that parting word, she went inside for a deserved nap.
The rest of the night was silent and peaceful.
