"I can't believe Roxas came back." Ienzo looks up from his computer when Leon walks into the room with Cloud and Aerith
"Sora really is capable of just about anything." Cloud responds with a small smile.
Ienzo turns back to his project, trying to figure out exactly what the superior did on his little excursions here. But he hadn't told the Restoration Committee about that. Or the other apprentices of Ansem the Wise.
"Yes, it was quite surprising to find out Roxas was still alive." Aerith chimes in as she walks into the room with Aerith.
"It's not all that surprising if you think about it. And technically 'alive' isn't the correct word. He still exists. But he has no heart." Even butts into their conversation, being nosy as usual.
But Ienzo is relieved that Even is no longer trying to discover what he's trying to do, so he counts it as a blessing.
But Aerith doesn't look all that pleased with Even's interruption.
"And why isn't it surprising?" Leon asks before Aerith can scold him.
"Well, all of us are here." Ienzo sighs, hoping Even won't try to drag him into the conversation.
The computer throws up another firewall and Ienzo feels frustration flare up in him like a fire.
Stupid emotions, he thinks to himself, I miss being a Nobody.
His mind travels to the castle and his hands still over the keys.
Before his mind can travel far, Even calls his name.
"Don't you agree, Ienzo?"
"I wasn't listening." It's not exactly a lie, he hadn't heard the last part.
"Roxas' appearance is only unusual in the fact that he should have rejoined with Sora completely."
Ienzo sighs and turns around.
"Roxas is too stubborn, even without a heart, to give up. He probably held out some hope that he could be himself again one day. Sora releasing his heart was just the catalyst that Roxas needed to be free."
Even crosses his arms, looking upset, but Leon turns to Ienzo.
"Do you think Sora releasing his heart has something to do with his feinting spells?"
Ienzo closes his eyes and thinks about it.
"Perhaps. But I'm still curious as to how Sora's still alive and in one piece after that particular stunt."
"Perhaps Sora is just as stubborn as Roxas?"
Ienzo tilts his head to the side and lets a ghost of a smile grace his lips, "I highly doubt someone could keep their heart after freely releasing it through sheer force of will. But it is a nice thought."
"I just hope Sora gets better." Leon mutters, perhaps a bit louder than he intended.
Sora's very lucky to have friends who care for him so much. I can see why he's so formidable if they're his power. Ienzo turns back to his personal project.
It's training time and Kairi has just finished her round with Riku and the two of them have practically thrown themselves onto the bench off to the side where Sora and Roxas are.
"So, your turn?" Kairi asks, flapping the end of her long pink skirt about to create a breeze.
"Well, Ven and Axel aren't here -"
"Lea." Sora corrects, trying to be helpful.
"Whatever," Roxas rolls his eyes, "They're not here, which only leaves me and Sora. And even if Riku has the stamina to go again, Sora and Riku can't train together because there's no real challenge."
"That's true." Kairi hears Riku comment.
"And we all know I can kick Riku's butt six ways from Sunday."
"Didn't he beat you in The World That Never Was?" Sora asks, confused and a bit uncomfortable with the subject.
They were all a little uncomfortable with that subject, mostly Riku and Roxas. But Kairi and Sora always feel awkward talking about it because they know what Riku did was wrong, but they're also his friends and they know why he did it. They feel a bit…guilty. For…accepting that as easily as they did.
"He cheated. After I kicked his butt." Roxas rolls his eyes.
"Also true." Riku says, looking in the opposite direction of Roxas.
"Which leaves Kairi." Roxas looks her over, "And you look exhausted, too."
"I do not." Kairi protests, but falters, "Can you really tell?"
Her fight with Riku had been exhausting. Riku was fast and strong and he had way more practice under his belt. Kairi ignores that and watches Roxas' face filter between amused to confused and then finally rest on neutral.
"Yeah." He looks away, brows knitting together in frustration or confusion.
It was rather hard for her to read Roxas. She couldn't do it nearly as well as she could read Riku.
"So you wanna go a round? You're probably not as rusty as I am despite you disappearing for a while." Sora smiles and tucks his hands behind his head.
Roxas looks up at him and it's like whatever was bothering him never existed in the first place.
"I don't know if you can still beat me, Sora." Roxas teases.
"Only one way to find out!" Sora exclaims as he hops up and walks to the center of their little arena.
Kairi rolls her eyes as they banter a bit and eventually start their fight. She turns to Riku and compliments him, "You were good."
Riku blushes and tries to use his bangs to cover it up, "Thanks. You were really good, too. You're improving amazingly well."
Kairi smiles and tosses her hair over her shoulder, "I know" She jokes.
"I'm serious." Riku looks at her, "I never improved that this rate. It took me ages to get what you're getting in…hours."
"Maybe I just have a natural talent?" She laughs, "Or maybe it's all that time I spent wishing I could join you guys in your fake sword fights as a kid and just watching from the sidelines."
Riku stops and looks at her in shock, "I had no idea you even wanted to join. Why didn't you say anything?"
Kairi shrugs and looks out towards the skyline, "It wasn't ladylike to want to fight." She sighs, "I tried to talk to my dad about it, but that's what he told me."
"Then the mayor's an idiot." Riku spits, surprising Kairi a bit, "You can do whatever you want to do, gender has nothing to do with it. You saved Sora. You saw me as me when even Sora didn't. You're amazing, Kairi. You shouldn't let what other people think hold you back."
Kairi feels her face heating up and pushes gently on Riku's shoulder. He doesn't even move.
"Thanks. And I'm getting that. After a few years…I'm beginning to get that." She picks at her nails.
"Would you like it if we sparred together more often?" Riku asks her, smiling gently.
"I'd like that, but I don't want to get in the way of you wooing Sora through sparring." Kairi teases.
Riku stiffens up and stutters a bit, blood rushing to his face, before choking out, "I don't – I never – How did you!?"
"Oh please, you're transparent. You gush over Sora. You act like he hung the moon and the sun shines out his ass at the same time."
"I do not."
"No," Kairi admits, "but you want to."
"I do not." Riku gives her a petulant look which she returns with what Selphie called a bitch-face.
"How did you even figure it out. I thought I was hiding it pretty well."
"From Sora maybe, but you know he's denser than the main islands forest when he wants to be."
Riku groans and lets himself fall against the back of the bench they're sitting on.
"You're not going to…" He gestures to the dual-blade fighting going on.
"Tell him? No. I can keep your secret. But you should -"
"I'm not telling him." Riku cuts her off in a no-nonsense tone that Kairi knows he inherited from his dad.
"Why not?" Kairi asks, half-knowing the answer.
"I'm not good enough for him. I'm not good enough for him or our island or a family or -"
Kairi hugs Riku, despite knowing his predisposition against touching, and stays there even as he tenses up at the touch.
"You're 'good enough' for Sora. You're 'good enough' to have a million friends, and the Island is your home just as much as it is mine and your family loves you, Riku. You need to stop thinking you're a bad person. You're not Riku. You're really not." Kairi hears her own voice crack as she backs up to look at Riku, who fidgets in his seat, "And I'm sorry about hugging you, but you need it. You've been alone long enough, Riku. You've been punished enough for three sentences and you didn't do anything wrong."
"I invited the darkness in and destroyed our home." Riku mutters, looking away with something dark in his eyes.
"You were afraid of losing us and you wanted to go to other worlds, it's understandable. You learned from your mistake."
"I betrayed Sora."
"You were manipulated into seeing things a certain way by Maleficent, Riku. That's not your fault. You didn't have all of the information."
"I let the darkness in!" Riku turns his body away from her.
"Ansem – Xehanort's heartless, whatever – he tricked you! You were possessed and everything you did while possessed ISN'T your fault. He forced you."
"But -" Kairi leans forward again so that the front of her chest is resting on his back, her chin is on his shoulder, and her arms are around him.
"No one blames you, Riku." She tells him, "But if that's the way you feel, I'll tell you something that might help. And I'll say it again and again, no matter how many times you need to hear it."
Riku hangs his head, as if he knows what she's going to say and he doesn't want to hear it. Riku is so easy to read. Like an open book.
She wishes Sora were so easy.
"I forgive you, Riku." She whispers, "I forgive you for everything you did and everything you think you did. You're one of my best friends Riku, and I'll always forgive you for the mistakes you make, so long as you realize those mistakes and learn from them."
Riku clasps one of his hands on her arm and squeezes, showing her that he appreciates her physical affection and that he wants her to let go.
She squeezes once before letting go and watching Riku get up and leave. She thinks about going after him when she hears Ven call her name. She turns to see Ven and Lea standing on the other side of their faux battlefield and waving. Kairi sighs, knowing Riku won't go far and will come back soon.
The princess makes her way over to the pair and greets them, "Hey."
"What's up with Riku?" Ven asks, looking concerned.
"He's just being dramatic." Kairi half lies, hoping Ven won't ask more about it. He takes the hint and changes topics.
"I see we're late for practice." He nods towards Roxas and Sora's fight.
The two of them are still dancing around, but looking a bit fatigued. Roxas' blades are moving at incredible speed, which Sora is able to deflect with both of his own. They both hold a skill that Kairi is envious of.
Ventus, too, if his reaction had been any indication when Roxas had first shown his innate ability. It was only doubled when Sora mimicked his Nobody.
"Yeah. Just a bit." She teases.
"Sorry, princess, I had to make myself presentable." Lea leans his elbow on her head and she swats at him.
"Then I don't know how you ever show your face." She sticks her tongue out at him.
Lea places a hand over his heart and pretends to be wounded, "Still don't like me?"
"It takes a while to forgive someone for kidnapping." Kairi barbs, despite having forgiven him as soon as she'd learned of his plan to use her to see Roxas. She could understand that want. She would have done just about anything to see Sora and Riku again when that portal showed up.
"Ven, help, she's wounding me." Lea leans on Ven's shoulder and the blonde just looks confused and a bit concerned.
Kairi notices the peculiar absence of metal hitting metal and looks over the center of the field. She spots Roxas who looks like he's bitten a lemon and is about to throw up all at the same time. Sora's talking to him, but the blond in the center of the foyer isn't listening as he turns around and hurriedly walks off in the opposite direction.
The brunet almost goes after him, but stops himself and goes to meet them instead.
"Where's Roxas going?" Lea asks Sora as he reaches them.
"I don't know. He just stopped suddenly. I almost hit him in the face. Looked like he was going to barf." Sora gives Lea a peculiar look, "You should go after him. Talk. See what's wrong."
"Why didn't you go after him?" Ven asks.
Sora gives Lea a look, "I'm not his partner. I figured Lea'd like to talk to him."
Kairi watches Lea stand up straight and go after the blond. As soon as he's out of ear shot, Kairi asks what's really wrong with Roxas, but the brunet shrugs.
"He wouldn't say anything." Sora elaborates, "But, on another topic, where did Riku go?"
Kairi laughs. Of course he'd ask about Riku. She wonders just how lost on Riku Sora is, but she feels like she already knows the answer.
"We had a personal talk so, of course, he fled." Sora smiles fondly and laughs.
"Yeah, that sounds like Riku."
It's been two days since Sora had reunited the two; there shouldn't be trouble already. Lea decides to tackle this head on, so he sits next to Roxas when he finds him.
"You alright, partner?" Lea asks, leaning back on his hand.
He notes that Roxas still hasn't let go of his Organization cloak. He's not even sure where he got the damn thing. He'd woken up in his, but he'd also died in it. And Ienzo and the others from Radiant Garden had woken up in the clothes they'd lost their hearts in.
"I guess." Roxas mutters.
Definitely not okay.
"Want to talk about it?"
"I…" Roxas closes his mouth and glares off into the distance.
Lea tilts his head, "Come on."
Roxas pulls his legs up and hugs them, resting his chin on top of his knees.
"I feel like I'm forgetting something." Roxas whispers, "And I…"
He tucks his head into the nest his arms make and stops again.
"Well, if you're forgetting something…it'll come back eventually, right?"
"Maybe," Comes Roxas' muffled voice, "But I feel like I'm forgetting something important. I saw you with Kairi and Ventus and I just – my brain said something about that was so wrong."
"Roxas, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting jealous." Roxas doesn't laugh at his joke.
"It's stupid, I know." Roxas rests his chin on his knees and looks out to the horizon.
"It's not stupid." Lea lays back and watches as the clouds above them roll by with the wind.
They stay there for a while, long enough for the noon sun to pass by and start its slow descent past the horizon. Neither of them say anything and just enjoying each other's company.
"Hey, Ax – Lea." Roxas catches himself at the last minute and Lea knows everyone's getting used to it still but it irks him.
"What." He snaps a bit harsher than he meant to.
"What's that?"
Lea sits up to see his partner pointing out into the distance to a large blackness. It moves, as if alive, in the distance, and it takes a while for Lea's mind to process that it's not just one large blackness in the distance, but in fact a swarm of smaller blackness's pilling together.
"Heartless?!" Lea is on his feet in an instant and Roxas stands after him, black coat chiming to signal his movement.
"We have to get back." Roxas is racing off back towards the foyer and it's not a problem for Lea's longer legs to keep up with his partner.
When they get back to the HBRC's headquarters, Leon and some of the others are already rushing out.
"Good, you two, go with Ventus. We can't let the Heartless get into the city."
"I thought you had a defense system for this kind of problem!" Roxas spits out next to him, quickly making his way down the street after Ventus.
Lea races after him, barely catching Leon's reply which was somewhere along the lines of 'not a swarm of this size'.
They have a hard time keeping up with Ventus, who runs like he's raced marathons his whole life, but they eventually get out of the city and into the canyons just in time to stop a small swarm of Soldiers from getting inside the walls.
"You ready for this?" Lea calls out.
He's relieved when both blonds call out their affirmation and they charge right up to the oncoming heartless. He tries not to let his mind wander as he fights, but it's easy to do so. He and Roxas sync up so well that he doesn't have to think about where he's throwing his fire. Roxas knows his placement and fighting style as well as his own and fighting as a team is second nature.
But Ventus. He's reckless in Lea's eyes. He runs right up to where Lea's fire is going to land and he has to snuff out that attack. He spends so much time trying to focus on not attacking Ven that his entire fight system is messed up. Roxas, sensing the mess up, backs up a bit, taking out the heartless creeping too close to the red head.
Lea doesn't have time or need to thank the blond as more Heartless make their way towards them.
Sora races off to the farthest reaches of the canyon on his glider with Riku right behind him. He can see everyone else as they try to reach the center of the swarm and take out the heart. If they can disrupt the ranks of the Heartless, maybe they could break them up into smaller groups and make it easier to kill them all off.
But everyone else is already at work and Sora can see them struggling from his vantage point. Without even needing to look at his best friend, Sora knows Riku feels guilty for delaying them. When they'd gotten word from the early detection system, Cloud had told him to go after Riku and take out the heart. It hadn't taken him even ten minutes to find Riku, but ten minutes could mean life or death in a battle field and the brunet knows Riku's guilt complex all too well.
Sora flies low, slowing himself down to a reasonable speed and jumps off his glider. In the air he summons his Keyblade and calls for his Salvation spell as soon as he's close to the floor, knocking Heartless into the air and killing the few directly near him. Riku, just seconds behind him, cuts through the airborne Heartless he can reach.
He twists himself in the air and sticks his landing, Riku landing in front of him seconds later. He charges past Riku as he stands, taking out as many heartless as he can. He tries to be as efficient as possible because he knows his sparring match with Roxas tired him out, despite his rest.
With Riku by his side, it doesn't take much to wipe out the small heartless and from there, things only get worse. Bigger heartless show up. Large Bodies and Fat Bandits in waves and after Sora and Riku have tag teamed those to death, Defenders show up and start hurling magic this way and that.
The two take turns playing decoy and hacking at the heartless. As Sora spins out of the way of another fireball directed at his chest, the ground quakes beneath them and Sora loses his footing. Riku is by his side in seconds, steadying him.
The Heartless around them are still, until as one they turn and scurry off away from the city. The ones closer to the city than them rush past, not bothering to even try to attack them.
"Sora!" Riku calls, shifting his stance to, what Sora knows is, the starting position of their joint move; Session.
It's autopilot, almost, performing this with Riku. It takes a bit of energy, of course, but it's effortless in his mind. It comes naturally, even as they're slicing through Heartless after Heartless and creating a gravitational collision with their Keyblades. Any heartless that gets even anywhere near them is drawn in, dying almost instantly.
They land and Sora looks over to his partner to see his arm raised, waiting. Sora smirks and bumps Riku's arm with his own. Sora looks around to see few heartless running frantically and the cause of the previous quake. There are three Darksides gathered together in the canyon on the other side of the city.
"Riku!" Sora points to the scene.
"That's where Kairi went!" Sora can hear the panic in Riku's voice.
Riku's Keyblade disappears and he's on his glider in seconds. Sora keeps his own Keyblade out and hops onto the back of Riku's glider. They're off in seconds, ignoring the few Heartless that their friends have missed. If they were to go into the city with these numbers the defense system could easily take them out.
Sora has a hard time seeing clearly with how fast Riku's pushing his glider to go, but there's no mistaking one of the Darkside's dying or the heart that releases when it happens. The canyon blurs by underneath them but Sora can see people beneath them.
His main concern is Kairi.
When Riku slows his glider to a reasonable speed, Sora can see Kairi relentlessly attack the Darkside closest to her. Yuffie and Aerith are a small way off towards the city. From the looks of it, Yuffie took a beating and Aerith is taking care of her.
Just as Riku is about to descend closer, Kairi releases a light attack, much like a mix between Sora's Faith and Salvation but a ray of colors. The two stare in awe as she jumps out of the way of the last Darkside's attack.
"Maybe we should let her handle this." Sora tells Riku as the silver haired boy circles above the fight.
"Are you sure?" Riku worries.
"If she needs help, we're right here." Sora laughs, assuring his friend.
"Alright." Riku nods but Sora doesn't have to see his face to know he's worried something will happen to Kairi.