A/N: Hello all and welcome to another chapter. We hit an awesome milestone by hitting 50,000 words last chapter. That's nothing compared to some other stories, but it's a good start. Here's to hoping for another 50,000.
…
(4 days after the battle)
Riku sat on crate next to his father as they both stared out at the sea, his father smoking cigarette as they watched the waves lap against the shore in the afternoon light. They said nothing, they both hadn't felt like talking after everything that had happened the past few days, there were enough people doing plenty of that. The moans of pain and woes of sorrow could be heard as the evacuees settled into their temporary home for the moment, a remote empty island several miles to the east of Destiny Islands, a fallback just in case pirates raided the island and decided to stay. There were thankfully supplies and rations to last them quite awhile and the IDF on the Hope Islands had been contacted and were en route, but that didn't mean they were clear of danger yet.
There was also Sora….
"I should probably get back to the others," Riku sighed as he got up, "we're gonna make a run to the Island and see if things there have calmed down."
His father didn't look back, only gave him a grunt of acknowledgment knowing full well that his son was somebody that could look out for himself, and continued to look out to the sea. Currently everyone that had made it to the retreat Island had set up a tent city, made up from reserve tent on the Island and made from the sails of the boats that had brought them here. Walking along the beach, Riku passed by several of these tents, most people he passed either waved to him friendly or kept to their own needs and ignored him. There hadn't been too many people questioning what the he and his friends had done to save them, the better part of the people were actually quite thankful, though there were a few who looked shamed whenever he walked by. Turning he walked inwards to the center of the Island passed many more tents and headed towards the one building that had been constructed on the Island.
A small shack sat in the very center of the Island, ramshackle at first glance, but hiding inside their actually resided a very large underground compound that stored food, medicine, and other supplies, as well as a place for the IDF and mayor to run things in the case of retreat.
Walking towards the door, he nodded to the two guards who stood outside and walked inside, down the ladder and into the bustling busy room filled. When their home had been attacked, the Island Defense Force had done their best to fight back against the Heartless, unfortunately they weren't well prepared to face off against the Darkness and many had fallen. The few that had made it were now working to guard their current home, to make sure that some form of law was kept, and also to help the mayor below the shack. Walking by busy people, he caught glimpse of his old teacher Mr. Mason, who had rejoined the IDF after prior events and had taken charge to keep things running, Sora's parents had also returned to duty as well, mostly to keep their minds busy.
He finally reached the back room where the Mayor was currently discussing plans for when the ships from the Hope Islands came with an IDF soldier, momentarily pausing when he saw Riku enter, before he finished his conversation dismissing the soldier. He looked tired behind the desk, emphasized by the sigh he let out when the soldier exited the room, and looked like he hadn't slept since the evacuation, which could be true.
"Hello Riku, are you here to see them?" he said pushing away from the desk and coming over to him.
"Yes sir." he said closing the door behind him, "We had planned on going back to the Island today to see if there were any survivors, and to try and grab some specific medicine some people left behind."
"I see."
Turning around the Mayor walked over to one of the bookshelves on the sidewall and pulled one of the books slightly out when it gave a small click and a false wall panel was revealed a hidden door. The two quickly made their way in before slowly closing the door behind them. The room they stood in now was where the mayor was meant to sleep, a small bed and side tabled pushed into the corner with a single light bulb swinging lazily above. Sitting next to the bed, Kairi sat snoozing with her head propped against the wall, and leaning in the corner whittling some driftwood was Cole.
And lying in the bed, shirt pulled open revealing a smoking claw print on his chest, slept Sora.
…
(flashback to 4 days prior)
A huge explosion sent all of them onto their backs as the force of the blast went all around them, and the brightness and noise blinding and deafening them all. Riku struggled to stand up, his previous wounds still bothering him now topped with the dizziness from the explosion and the loud ringing in his ears. Finally managing to get to his feet, he shook his head trying rid himself of the swimming in his vision, looking up he found the space where the two Heartless had been was now empty space. Looking back down he saw Kairi unconscious on the ground a small trickle of blood leaking out of her ear, but otherwise unharmed, and next to him in the boats his and Sora's parents were struggling to their feet as well.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-ugh." Riku finally heard as the ringing in his ears faded replaced by the sound of people groaning around him and the sound of the ocean rushing back from the explosion. Bending down, he picked up Kairi and carried her over to the boats and gently laid her down along one of the seats and went about helping everyone else who had fallen as well.
"What was that?" Sora's father asked coming over and checking on the two of them.
"Seems like we got saved, but I don't what caused that to happen." Riku said looking back to the beach. A more in depth look at the area showed that where the explosion happened, there was now a giant crater where sand and water were promptly filling up, bit of driftwood and ice falling to the ground below. "maybe Sora. . ."
"Sora?" a groggy Kairi said slowly sitting up and rubbing her head.
Riku quickly turned back to her, "Hey lay back down."
"But Sora, I swear I saw him."
"Where did you see him?" Sora's mother asked coming over and taking a knee next to the girl.
"From the ship." she said looking back to the crater, "I swear I saw him jump from the ship with someone else."
Suddenly a cry of help resounded through the air surprising everyone causing them all to jump to their feet. A burst of air could be heard as something breached the surface of the water nearby, and looking over the port side side the could see two heads bob out of the water one gasping for air and the other lying still.
"Help!" the voice called out again, before the two dipped below the water again.
A swiftly as he could, Riku hopped overboard and swam out to the slowly drowning figures as bubbles continued to rise from where they sank. Diving below he looked around his eyes burning from the salt water, but thankfully found the two figures and swam to them, grabbing both and kicking to the surface. Breaching the surface, the still moving figure gasped for air and coughed out water from his lungs. It turned out to be Cole.
"Thanks man." Cole said weakly. He looked like he had been through the ringer, multiple cuts crisscrossed all over his body and the water took on a red tint around him where the blood leaked from his wounds. The person next to him was Sora who was currently unconscious, but seemed to have not taken in any water, though he seemed to be in an equally damaged state as Cole. Pulling them over to the boats, Sora's father promptly lifted his son out of the water along with Riku and Cole, and began to check over Sora.
"He seems okay." Sora's father said laying his head against his son's head to listen for a heart beat, before yelping in pain suddenly, "what the hell."
"Don't touch his chest!" Cole said pulling himself over to them. Reaching over, he pulled Sora's shirt up and took a look to find a wisp of black smoke leak out from under, "He took a pretty bad hit."
"What in the worlds." Riku said leaning down, "what happened… actually what were you doing with Sora on that ship."
"Long story." Cole said letting go of Sora's shirt, "I can explain later, but we should probably skedadle on out of here. Plus I think I have internal bleeding." and then he passed out as well.
….
(flashback 2 days later)
"So you're telling me that you knew about us from the moment you saw us." Riku said pacing in front of Cole who was laid out on a bed with bandages covering the better portion of his upper body. Kairi stood next to him casting a healing spell on the boy trying to speed his healing the best she could with the magic she had spared from all the other work she'd done. Cole had passed out when the boat took off from the Island and had been recovering from his wounds while Riku and Kairi were busy making sure everyone was set up on their temporary home. Only now did he wake up and answer their much awaited questions.
"I told Sora everything the morning you met us in the diner Kairi." Cole said, sighing in relief as the healing magic washed over him, "he happened by me that morning and we fought a Heartless that appeared. After that I told him my story and I promised I would keep your secret safe. It seems you took care of that though."
"And why would should we trust you on that." Riku growled angrily summoning his Keyblade.
"Look man, if I wanted to end you guys, why would I help Sora!" Cole tried getting up, but quickly fell back in pain, "I don't know what you want me to say to convince you, but I am on your side alright."
Riku still felt angry, but there was some truth in his words, and he wasn't going to get any straight answers from being angry. Kairi was still healing Cole, seemingly lost in a trance thought, ignoring their bickering and keeping her thoughts on helping out the one person who could tell them something about what happened.
"Then tell me Cole." Kairi said drawing his attention to her, "what did happen to Sora, why does he have that mark on his chest?"
He stared at the ceiling a couple moments, pondering her question before he answered. "When shit hit the fan, I ran into Sora with Mason, we sent him on his way and I helped him save people as best I could. When that ship showed up, he went on ahead and battled up there while I tried to figure a way up and when I did, we ended up battling endless amounts of Heartless. At some point, he suddenly turned into . . . something dark and wrecked the ship. After that you know the rest."
"You're absolutely sure he turned into this dark creature?" Riku asked curiously.
"Absolutely, I got a pretty good look at it when it started attacking me as well." he said pointing to a freshly stitched scar across his shoulder, "he did more damage to me than the Heartless."
Riku and Kairi looked at each other worried. Sora had told them about Anti, his Heartless half which showed up from time to time, and how he'd had little to no control over the dark being. Riku had wondered if it would be a problem, but the issue didn't seem to be major and some part of him hoped it would just vanish while they lived peacefully. Obviously that didn't seem to be the case.
…
(Present)
"Are you guys ready to go?" Riku asked.
"I'm good, but I'll let you wake the princess up." Cole said pocketing the knife and driftwood, "I'll go get the boat set." and walked out of the room.
Walking over to Kairi, he gently nudged her out of her sleep.
"Wake up. We gotta go."
"Ugh." Kairi groaned as her eyes fluttered open. There were dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, and her hair was a mess of tangles and puffed up from the humid air. "is it time to go already."
"Yeah, don't worry, you can sleep on the way their."
Kairi nodded and got up, stretching herself out before picking up her pack and walking over to Sora, giving him a kiss on the forehead and walking out the door with Riku in tow.
…
They found Cole waiting for them in the boat they had acquired for their mission, along with two IDF soldiers who would accompany them for the trip and help as needed. They seemed like a strange unit, three teens and two adults dressed in IDF uniforms. After everything had happened, their own clothes had ended up in tatters and was in major need of repair, so for the moment they were all dressed in IDF issued combat boots, pants, and a white shirt as the jackets were for official personnel.
"Good to go." one of the soldiers asked.
"Yep." Riku said hopping in.
"You know the mission?"
"Go home, scout the Island, gather supplies, and find out why the King never showed up."
…
Back in the underground compound, one wouldn't think it, but currently there was a battle being waged. A battle of epic proportions that had lasted four straight days non stop, between three individuals with the power that could destroy the very Island they sat on now. But it was hidden from everyone's eyes, no it was something nobody else was allowed to see until the victor came out on top. In the farthest corner of the compound, hidden in a back room, lying on a bed was Sora. And he was fighting for his Heart.
…
A/N: well guys I'm cutting it a little short today, but I promise you that you're gonna get a doozy of a chapter next time...I think. It should be good, hopefully my writing skills will be up to the task. As always let me know what you think and what you're feeling and I'll see ya next chapter.