A/N: Hey, guys. It's almost over... We have like one more chapter and then an epilogue. That last chapter was rough. This one should be fun though... Maybe... We'll see. Hey! I've already started brainstorming another story idea. It's KH based. I've got most of it mapped out in my head already, and I'm thinking High School AU. Yes? No? Type up your thoughts in a review! Anyway... Enough from me. Enjoy!
"Shit! Fuck! Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!" Riku had his hands clamped around the area where Sora had been shot. He tried to slow the bleeding, but he didn't want to press too hard with the bullet still in there. He couldn't take it out without fear of hurting him even more. He was freaking out. He had never paid attention during those stupid seminars where they taught you what to do when you or someone else was shot. "What do we do?"
Kairi was cradling Sora's head and crying, but she seemed to notice Riku's distress as she looked up. Riku had a look of worry and despair on his face that reminded her of something... It had been her first day practicing at a Hospital. Medical Students were allowed to shadow real doctors to learn what to do in certain situations. A man had brought in his brother who had gotten into a bar fight. He looked panicked and worried as all hell, but the doctor Kairi had been shadowing remained calm and handled the situation. Both brothers went home good spirits after that.
It was then that Kairi's training really kicked in. She dried her eyes and looked Riku dead in the eyes. "Move your hands away so I can examine the wound. Also, take off the cloak and tear off as many long strips as you can. We don't have anything to sterilize the wound, so no matter what I do here, we're gonna have to move him to a real facility as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
Riku sat dumbfounded for a few moments. What was she..? How did she..? When? What?
"Do you understand?" Kairi repeated.
Riku finally snapped out of it and nodded his head quickly, "Yeah. Got it. Uh... Great." He immediately removed his hands from the wound and stripped his jacket. Meanwhile Kairi inspected the wound for depth and placement. Sora had been shot just below the chest. That meant that there could be damage to the diaphragm or the lower part of his lung, but the bullet didn't seem to deeply penetrate. The angle that it had entered ensured it had to pass through more of the outer tissue before entering the body. It hadn't even made it much more a few millimeters in.
Riku was tearing apart the borrowed cloak. He'd taken it off one of the thugs that he'd found wandering the streets. He'd seemed harmless enough with his guitar, but Riku still held a lot of resentment, so he smashed the guitar, took the guy into custody and stole his cloak. You know... Just 'cause. He'd gone to the hospital and met up with Kairi and Roxas right after that.
He thought he had a sufficient amount of strips when Kairi began to speak, "Alright. Now, normally a more skilled surgeon than myself would remove this, but we don't have a lot of time and the sooner we take this thing out the better. Do you have a knife?"
Riku nodded, "Yeah..." He reached down to his waist and took out his prized 12 inch Bowie Knife. He'd affectionately named it 'Soul Eater'. It had a six inch blade that he sharpened just about every night. Why? Made him feel like a badass.
Kairi gave him a horrified expression, "Don't you have anything smaller..?" Riku opened his mouth to answer, but Kairi just waved her hands to signal that there was no need, "Fine. Whatever. Just give it to me. I'll just have to make do, I suppose. Is it clean?"
Riku scoffed as he handed it over, "Of course it is. Do you really think that I'd-"
"Not important right now." Kairi was already getting to work on the bullet.
Riku's shoulders slumped, "Right..."
Kairi inserted the tip of the blade into the wound and Sora's entire body jerked as if rejecting it, "Hold him down. If he moves too much this will be a hell of a lot worse." Riku nodded and did as he was told. Normally, he didn't listen to anyone about anything... Well, except for Xion... But Riku knew that Kairi knew what she doing, so he figured it was best not to question her.
Kairi dug the blade just deep enough so she could work it in behind the bullet and then she just gently lifted to slide it out. Meanwhile, Sora's body kept convulsing as Riku struggled to keep his friend pinned. He'd never imagined Soul Eater's first victim would be Sora. Okay. He had imagined it, but he'd never, ever intended for it to actually happen. And certainly not like this.
Thankfully, the bullet appeared to be in one piece. That meant that Kairi didn't have to dig around inside of Sora to find other, smaller pieces and they could just wrap up the wound until a real professional took a look at it. "The cloth strips, please." Together, Kairi and Riku tightly wrapped the makeshift guaze around Sora's lower chest and upper midsection to assist in stopping the bleeding.
When everything appeared to be done, Kairi finally collapsed. She hoped she never had to be the one to operate on Sora again. Hopefully, he would never have to be operated on after this, but still... She sighed in relief. She felt more confident that Sora would be okay, but she was still a little worried. What if they hadn't been quick enough? What if Kairi had missed some pieces of the bullet? What if the wound got infected and none of this even made a difference?
"Hey..." Kairi looked up at Riku who smile sympathetically, "You did great. Thanks to you, he's probably gonna be fine."
Kairi smiled slightly, "Thank you." She was happy he'd said it, but she still worried.
After a few seconds, Riku stood. Kairi looked at him questioningly. He just gave her a serious look, "I'm going after their boss. The guy whose responsible for all of this. And I'm taking him down..."
Kairi would have protested and said something about it being too dangerous, but she knew that Riku would never listen. Especially after Sora got hurt. So, she just nodded and gave him a brave smile, "Hit him extra hard for me, okay?"
Riku smiled and nodded back, "You got it." And at that he left. He disappeared back into the compound in search of the leader of it all. And he was gonna finish things once and for all.
Roxas was still sitting in the waiting area for word on Naminé. He'd long since abandoned his cloak. He no longer had to wear it with everything that was happening. He'd promised Kairi that he'd inform her the moment Naminé woke up, but it was taking longer than expected. He found himself wondering how everyone was doing. Were Axel and Sora okay? Did the rest of the force get there yet? Was it a good idea to let Kairi go? What if Riku freaked out again and went berserk on everyone?
"Mr. Strife?" A voice called from across the room.
Roxas immediately looked up at a nurse who was looking around for who Roxas suspected was him. He stood, "Yes?"
She met his eyes and smiled, "She's awake."
It took Roxas a second to process the words, but as soon as she he did, he smiled widely, "That's awesome!" The nurse just continued to smile sweetly at him, "Um... Do you think I could see her?"
She frowned slightly, "Well... We're not really supposed to let non-family members go in at this time of night."
Roxas's shoulders slumped, "Oh..."
"But I suppose we could make an exception this time." The nurse smiled sympathetically, and Roxas grinned again.
"Thank you..." She nodded and indicated that he follow her.
She led him to a small room where Naminé was lying fully clothed on the bed. She had a little meal on a tray on her lap: A sandwich, chips, a water and some pudding. Pudding... She looked up at the entrance and smiled sweetly. Roxas just about melted at the sight. She didn't appear to notice Roxas's mouth gaping and spoke with a soft voice, "I was told that you were the one that brought me in."
Roxas simply nodded. He was struck dumb by her. She was beautiful... He'd seen her back in the compound, but she'd seemed so empty. So close to death. She'd still been beautiful then, but now... With her body so full of life, she was radiant.
She giggled and Roxas nearly fainted, "Well, in that case, thank you." Roxas just nodded again, "Do you want my pudding?"
Roxas suddenly snapped out of his thoughts at the mention of the delicious treat, "W-what?"
Naminé looked amused, "My pudding. I don't want it. You can have it, if you want. It's the least I could do since you saved me."
Roxas shook his head, "I-I didn't save you... You were hurt. You needed help. I couldn't just leave you there." He eyed the pudding for a few seconds. Mmm... Pudding. He picked it up, "And yes. Thank you. I'll take it." She laughed again and Roxas smiled. He couldn't help but wonder though, "Why were you there?"
Naminé's face suddenly fell, "Oh... I, uh..."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." Roxas didn't want overstep any boundaries.
"No. No... It's fine. I should tell someone, right?" She smiled and then sighed, "Well...
It didn't take as long as expected for Riku to find the double doors that would inevitably lead to the leader of Organization XIII and the Nobodies. He'd been waiting for this moment. He gripped his shotgun tightly. He'd been keeping it on his back up until this point because he wasn't sure if it would be necessary, but now there was no question. This guy had to go down.
Way to the Dawn was a pump action, eight shot gun. He could unload them very quickly if he needed to. And he planned to. He wasn't going to give this guy a second to explain himself. He didn't deserve it. Riku took a deep breath and shoved open the doors and pointed the gun directly at the desk on the other side of the room. There was just one problem: It was empty.
"What the-" The door slammed shut behind Riku and as he spun to face the culprit he felt someone jab at his right arm. His hand fell away from the gun and before he could react, the entire gun slipped from his fingers. And there, standing between him and the exit, pointing the shotgun at Riku, was Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII.
Xemnas had long gray hair and golden eyes. He wore the Organization cloak and his expression was completely vacant of emotion. "Nice of you to join me, Mr. Masamune. Take a seat," He spoke calmly and clearly.
"Why should I?" Riku scowled defiantly.
"You could take a seat and we could talk this out, or I could blow your head clean off right now..." Xemnas shrugged indifferently, "Your choice."
"We have nothing to talk about..." Riku clenched his fists in anger. He couldn't believe that Xemnas had handled him so easily just now.
"Oh. I think we do. Just take a seat and I can remove this wretched thing from your chin." To make a point he nudges Riku's chin up just slightly with the nose of the gun.
Riku gritted his teeth. "Fine," he spat.
"Great..." He nodded his head toward the chair near his desk and pulled the gun away just enough so Riku could walk. Riku reluctantly sat in the chair while Xemnas made his way to the other side of the desk where he sat in a tall, revolving that stood in front of an extravagant fireplace. He placed the shotgun at his feet, out of reach for Riku, and spun his chair so he could see the flames in the fireplace more clearly, "Amazing, isn't it? You know, it connects directly to the chimney that runs to the roof. Xigbar used to tell me all the time to stop lighting it to avoid attracting people here, but I never listened."
"What do you want, Xemnas?" Riku was very impatient. He didn't want to talk. He wanted to punch this guy's face in.
"Now, now, Riku... Let's try and relax, shall we?" Xemnas's face was still unfeeling.
Riku slammed his hands on the table, "Is this some kind of joke to you?!"
Xemnas shrugged, "If it is, then I guess this would be the punchline." At that, he decked Riku right in the face and sent him tumbling to the ground. "Now, if you don't mind. I'd like to have a conversation like two adults." Riku flew to his feet and was about to tackle Xemnas, but he already had Way to the Dawn pointed at Riku again. "Now, sit."
Riku growled, but obliged yet again, "Just tell me what you want to talk about so badly."
Xemnas didn't put the gun down this time, "I'd like to discuss a business negotiation."
Riku's eyes widened in shock, "A what?"
"A partnership, if you will," Xemnas reasoned nonchalantly.
Riku shook his head incredulously, "Why in the hell would I want to be partners with you?"
"Well, for one, I could ensure your protection. You wouldn't have to worry about any of my or anyone else's men being at your doorstep after this. I would disband the Organization and the Nobodies. No more problems for you and your department either." He paused and looked at Riku very seriously, "Also, I could use my resources to get that girlfriend of yours new legs."
Riku's jaw dropped, "How did you-"
"I knew she wasn't dead, Riku. I have tabs everywhere. It was just in my best interest to keep it to myself for the time being." Xemnas paused before going on, "As for me, I would, of course, be allowed to go free. I have enough money now to live comfortably for the rest of my life without worry. Naturally, as part of our partnership, you would inform of when the police were nearing my current location and I would relocate." He sighed, "You see, all I want is to have a chance to truly enjoy life. My life has been so empty until this point. I've felt as if I lacked a heart entirely for most of my existence." He looked Riku dead in the eyes, "Can you really deny me this chance?"
Riku sat there thinking about this offer. It was once in a lifetime. There weren't very many downsides. Xion would be able to walk... He'd snuck in to see her one night and he'd asked one of the nurses how she was doing. He'd informed Riku that Xion would never walk again. Riku felt awful, but now he could fix it. He looked back at Xemnas who looked at him questioningly, "You have my attention."
Xemnas smirked and laid the gun down on his desk, "Fantastic... I'm glad to see you have some sense."
Riku scowled, "I still don't like you, asshole, but I can't pass up the opportunity of having Xion walk again."
Xemnas nodded, "As I thought. So, what do you say..?" He reached out his hand, "Do we have a deal?"
Riku reached out his hand. Xion would be able to walk. They'd still accomplish the end of the Nobodies. He'd never have to see Xemnas again. Riku smirked, "There's no way in hell I'd ever strike a deal with the devil..." He wrapped his fingers around Way to the Dawn, cocked it and launched a shell straight through Xemnas's skull. "Sayonara, bitch."