I'm back, and for the new chapter. Just so we're clear on who came out with this chapter, the tournament was inspired off Faermage—KH Junkie's oneshot Invisible… which was inspired off my fic Ghost Rider, which… ugh, never mind, you get the picture.

I'm also introducing Sora's Redemption Theme; the song is Right before your eyes by Hoobastank. Weird band name, good song, I hope the lyrics fit our hero's path to redemption.

Chapter 14: Right before your eyes.

A small boy made his way across a field of green grass, his light brown hair waved with the wind as he ran. He was playing a little game he made, a child's game, a lonely game, for the small boy had no friends to play with. He was pretending he was a racer on his bicycle… he was going for the finish line… he was going to be the world's greatest bike racer. Until he felt the air turn cold, he thought it was going to rain because he saw the gray clouds above him; he turned around to go home when he saw him. The man with the skull cane, he was looking at him, staring at him as if he was nothing but a trophy in his prize case.

The small boy turned to run but his legs tripped on something, he looked behind him and saw a tentacle wrapped around his leg, pulling him… dragging him into the depths that await him. Little Sora was so scared; he began to cry as the thing dragged him away from his home, away from his mother. He heard voices around him and he looked up, he saw a bunch of people standing above him, glaring at him, hating him.

"You're a failure," Riku stated.

"You're a monster," Aerith told him.

"You're evil," Namine glared.

"You deserve no mercy," Tifa said.

"You deserve eternal pain," Vincent growled.

"You deserve to rot in Hell!" Kairi yelled.

Then someone seized Sora's shoulders and turned him around to face the sky, or in this case; the Ghost Rider.

"You're going to die Sora! And no one will weep for you! No one will care for you! No one will love you!" Ghost Rider told him, the small boy trying to break free from his grip.

"No please, I can change, please give me another chance!" Sora cried, the small boy trying with no avail to break free.

"It's too late!" Ghost Rider shouted; throwing him into the hole he was being dragged in, falling into Hell.

Sora could only scream, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sora screamed, sitting up in a cold sweat.

"Mr. Shimomura, please relax," A woman consoled him, standing above his bed, gently laying him back down.

"W-Where am I?" Sora coughed, looking around to realize he wasn't in the school hallway anymore.

"Nurse's office," The woman said, "A girl came up to us and said you were in hall and losing a lot of blood."

Namine, Sora remembered, he would have to thank her later.

"We found you, and you did lose a little blood, but…" The nurse paused.

"But? But what?" Sora repeated, fearing the worse.

"But the puzzling thing is there was no wound to lose blood from," The nurse frowned. "We thought you may have had internal bleeding but there was no traces a blood from your mouth, I was about to call the hospital—,"

"No!" Sora yelped; waving his arms frantically. "No, not the hospital, I'm fine, really."

"Well, okay," The nurse said, startled by his quick response. "But what about your mother—,"

"Not her either!" Sora yelled, getting out of his bed. "I'm fine really, I-I think I had a nose bleed and someone overreacted, that all."

"A nose bleed?" The nurse asked skeptically, "I just there was no traces of blood from—,"

"Yeah gotta go, late for something!" Sora shouted; running out of the room before the nurse could pry deeper.

"Sora!" A voice called out from behind him.

Sora turned around and nearly gasped; Vincent Valentine was behind him, he was still wearing the track suit from when he visited his house. He walked over to him and looked back at the nurse's office.

"I was stopping by to check up on you when I heard you were in the nurse's office," Vincent explained, a worried look was on his face. "What happened exactly?"

Sora spent the next five minutes recapping to him the events that happened this morning (he left out Aerith seeing him in his undies and the whole raccoon incident), he started feeling worried when Vincent frowned when he told him about his back bleeding out.

"You were slashed in the back right?" Vincent asked, "And you said you felt the pain last night, even though there was no visible scar?"

Sora nodded and Vincent made a funny noise, it was between realization and fear, "I think you have a cursed wound."

"A curse?!" Sora yelped, "Being the Rider was a bad enough curse! Now I have this one?!"

"It looks bad yes," Vincent nodded. "But this curse can be removed; I have the ingredients to do it."

"Great!" Sora sighed, feeling like he dodged a bullet. "Well, where is it?"

Vincent stared at Sora and mumbled, "At the Clock Tower."

Sora felt his hopefulness die away and folded his arms, "The Tower takes at least an hour to get to here and back. And I have a tournament to get to, and it would look really suspicious if I back down now."

"What are you talking about?" Vincent asked, "You could say you have an injury and—,"

"No," Sora cut him off, "I don't want to… this tournament only happens once a year, and if this is my last year to be alive… then I want to participate in this tournament."

Vincent looked in his eyes and saw the sadness, the look of a man who truly was approaching the end of his days. He sighed heavily and smiled a little.

"All right, but be careful and don't overwork yourself." He said, looking at the clock, "When does it begin?"

"Right now," a voice said from behind Sora.

He turned around and saw Yuffie standing there; she was wearing an athletic shirt with some workout shorts and a headband.

"The tournament is going to start now, and since my job is to get all the contestants or face no payment, it means I have to tell you it's time. Head out to the back of the school and to the Sports Dome," Yuffie explained, pointing to the doors behind her.

"Oh, okay," Sora nodded, "Thanks Yuffie—,"

"Save your thanks," Yuffie grinned, "I'm hoping you get knocked out the first round."

Sora felt Vincent twitch behind him, if Yuffie wasn't careful she could face the wrath of a soon to be pissed off vampire. She noticed Vincent too, but not in the way most people would.

"Hello there," She said, giving Vincent a once over, a small hint of flirtation was in her voice.

It took Vincent a full minute before he realized how she was looking at him, when he did he shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat.

"I'm Vincent," He said, giving the courtesy of his name. "And you're Yuffie I suppose."

"Yes I am," Yuffie smiled, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. "I haven't seen you around here before, what year are you in?"

"Y-Year I'm in?" Vincent stuttered, "I'm—,"

"A Senior!" Sora interrupted, quickly giving a plausible answer before it was too late.

Vincent gave him a look that read 'do I look like a teenager to you?!' However, he seemed to have no choice but to go with it.

"I'm in my senior year," Vincent nodded, hoping this would get rid of her.

"Oh really?" She asked, looking interested. "Do you go to this school?"

"No," Vincent answered quickly, the vampire looked like he was being back into a corner.

"You don't?" Yuffie frowned, "What school do you go to? What district do you live in?"

Vincent's eyes widened slightly, his mind racking for a fake address, "I live in—,"

"A submarine!" Sora shouted, yelling the first thing that popped in his head.

Vincent whirled on him and stared at him incredulously, and unfortunately for Sora it was the only thing he could think of. Vincent turned to Yuffie, put on a fake smile and answered her.

"I… live… in a submarine," He said, as if he had to force the words out of his own mouth.

Yuffie looked back and forth between the two of them and smiled at Vincent, "Don't be so shy, I'm not a judging person."

What did she say?! Sora thought, Not a judging person my flaming ass! He thought, folding his arms and glaring at her. She didn't seem to notice it and Vincent looked confused.

"Not a… what?" He asked, looking at her nervously.

"I'm okay with guys who are shy," Yuffie explained, moving forward a bit. "I mean, it's also a plus that you so happen to be—,"

"Okay now!" Sora interrupted, a little freaked at thought of a sixteen year old making moves on a thousand year old vampire. "It's time for you to go Vincent, go get the 'stuff' and come back here quickly."

"Gladly," Vincent answered, running down the hall and looking back to make sure he wasn't being followed.

Yuffie sighed as he disappeared from view, "Man, that guy's hot."

"Oh great," Sora groaned, now he had to deal with a Vincent obsessed Yuffie. Oh yeah, this was not good.

Cloud walked across the football stands to Aerith, who had a headset on and was singing along with the music.

"Aerith! Can I talk to you?" Cloud asked loudly over her music.

"…I just wanna show you, she don't even know you—, oh? I'm sorry Cloud, were you saying something?" Aerith asked, lowering her headphones off her ears and around her neck.

"Normally, I'm not a prying guy," Cloud began, scratching the back of his neck, "But I just have to ask you; did you ask Sora to come with you to the party at Kairi's place?"

Aerith froze, how did he even know? She only asked Sora just this morning; her face must have given away what she was thinking because Cloud frowned at her.

"I guess you did," He said, folding his arms. "Why did you invite Sora?"

"Um," Aerith frowned, how can she tell him if he won't even believe it?

"Do you… like him or anything?" Cloud asked, trying to get an answer out of her.

"Huh? No, no, no," Aerith stuttered, "I thought that he may want to come, he, well, he wants to talk to you guys."

Aerith knew he wouldn't believe her, the doubt on his face was as clear as day, "He… wants to talk to us, and you believed him?"

"Cloud…" She began, only to get cut off by him.

"Sora can't be trusted," Cloud continued. "The guy has schemed more plots to humiliate us than I can even count!"

"Are you upset that I didn't invite you?" Aerith scoffed, placing her hands on her hips.

"No," Cloud frowned, "I'm upset that you chose Sora, him!"

Aerith had to keep her cool, although she was losing it fast, "It's none of your business who I chose to be with, or take with me."

"I'm just trying to protect you!" Cloud shouted, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

That's it; the cool had just boiled over. Aerith took a step toward him and glared, "Listen here Cloud; I don't need your protection, I don't need to be saved, and I don't want you to talk as if Sora's some hardened criminal! He's just a guy looking to change who he is!"

"Sora can't change! He doesn't even have the heart to change!" Cloud shouted; he too had lost his cool. "He is just using you Aerith!"

"Shut up!" Aerith shouted, her voice had reached a high pitched screech. "Shut up now Cloud Strife, just shut up!"

That silenced Cloud, he had never seen her so angry before. She was huffing and puffing and glaring at him, she turned his back on him, slipped on her headphones, and continued to work on the stage. But unfortunately she heard his last words as clear as day, as if he spoke them in her ear.

"You do like him after all."

Sora sat in the waiting lobby, he breathed slowly to keep himself calm. It was about to begin, he read off the card to see who he was fighting first; Wakka. Just then he heard the bell ding and Sora stepped outside onto the stadium, the stadium was built on the football field, it was a perfect circle that wasn't too high off the ground. He stepped out onto the football field and onto the stadium, he faced Wakka as the referee walked up to them and handed them two wood swords. The game was simple; hit your opponent three times in the chest to win the round, anything below the waist or above the neck was not allowed and you would lose a point. There was a small time limit of seven minutes as well, if no one has scored three points when the time is up then the one with the most points wins. Basically simple, and yet challenging.

Sora and Wakka got into their stances, faced each other, and then the match began. Wakka ran forward and swung his sword forward; Sora sidestepped and swung his sword once, twice, and a third time. Within ten seconds the match was over, and Sora won. Wakka was never good with blades, Sora frowned, feeling bad for the guy. He heard the mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd, but it didn't matter, he wasn't here for the praise this year. He was there to fight.

When the door shuts, don't worry about me

It's not attention I want from you

I need you to trust who I'm going to be

And in everything I'm going to do

Cause I'm not afraid of what I don't know

For understanding is all that I earn

But what is for sure is that I'm going to go

I'm going to live and I'm going to learn

Sora breezed by the next few matches, Riku, Tidus, and Yuffie all lost. He was at the semi final match, and his opponent had made him nervous; it was Cloud. He had held the tournament championship for several years now, but not today, Sora was sure of it. The bell rang; he walked outside and onto the field. He saw Cloud coming out of his corner too, he tried to give a small smile but all he did was glare at him. Sora was puzzled, why was Cloud glaring at him as if he took something precious from him? It didn't matter though; he wasn't backing down, not now, not ever.

And I know there will be mistakes I will make

But I know none are worse than chances I don't take… take…

He walked up onto the stadium, picked up his wood sword and faced Cloud. Who was already in his battle position and waiting for the match to begin, the referee stepped out onto the sidelines, held his hand up, and waved it down and the match began. Both of them rushed forward and locked blades, there was a small struggle until Cloud pushed Sora back and landed one hit on his chest. The crowd roared with enthusiasm when Sora stumbled back, but he got right back into the game and began a series of rapid strikes. Cloud was quick though; he blocked the blows and launched a few of his own, throwing Sora off guard. He blocked most of the strikes, but one made it through and smacked him across the circle. The crowd was really getting pumped; people really wanted someone to knock Sora around. He just couldn't believe it, could he lose so quickly?

Right before your eyes, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

You laugh on the inside, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

No, not yet,Sora thought, getting back on his feet. He faced Cloud, who was holding his sword out in front of him, a confident look on his face. Sora ran forward and Cloud swung his sword, but Sora had ducked, rolled behind Cloud and struck him on the back. Cloud stumbled forward and looked back at Sora, his face full of shock; he wasn't expecting that trick at all. But he was still ready to fight; he turned and launched multiple strikes at Sora. Who blocked them all and launched several attacks of his own, this time Cloud was the one who was having trouble dodging them. He blocked a few and tried to counter them, but Sora was quicker this time around, he dodged his counters and launched more attacks forcing Cloud to be on defensive.

When the door shuts, it shuts finally

A new person that I have become

I'll follow my heart to my destiny

But living in fear and the sorrow is done

There will be no more feeling that I'm all alone

I will surround myself with things that help me grow… grow…

Cloud didn't know how this happened, but he was going to end it. He ducked a strike from Sora and swung his sword at his gut, it looked like there was no way it could miss him… he was wrong. Sora saw the strike and he felt his body react to it, he dodged it with almost an inhuman speed and countered with a strike that sent Cloud sliding across the floor. The crowd was in shock, how could this be happening? Cloud should be tougher than Sora, how is it that he can battle him and be a perfect match up? Each opponent had two hits on each other, and there was only four minutes on the clock, this was going to be a close battle. Sora and Cloud rushed at each other and began a furious dance of blades, the sound of the wood slamming against each other in an almost savage way got everyone tensed up, waiting for who would deal the final blow.

Right before your eyes, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

You laugh on the inside, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

The sound of thunder loomed over the field, but the contestants battled on. Each one fighting as hard as the other, not one of them was backing down. There were two minutes on the clock, time was growing short, and the crowd would grow anxious with every second that passed. Sora and Cloud were breathing heavily now, the two of them ran at each other once again and got into a blade duel. But then just in the middle of it Cloud spun around and slammed his blade in the worst place he could hit him in; his back. The moment the blade hit his back, the moment he felt the intense pain shot through his body, he screamed. No one noticed at first, but even Cloud turned his attention to him when he fell on the floor, blood seeping from under his clothing.

"Sora!" A voice yelled from the field.

Sora craned his head and saw Vincent dash across the field, run onto the stadium and pushed Cloud away from him, he sailed off the stadium and hit the ground.

"Sora!" Vincent yelled, pulling out a bottle from his pocket, "Drink this, hurry!"

Sora lifted his head as Vincent tipped the contents into his mouth, he gagged at first, the taste was terrible but Vincent was forcing him to drink the contents. But soon he felt weak, and his head fell over and rested on the ground, he was facing the stormy sky as rain began to fall.

Right before your eyes, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

You laugh on the inside, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

He heard people yelling, the fear was beginning to set in. He struggled to keep his eyes open and saw Tifa coming up to him; she sat down next to him and lifted his head up.

"Sora! Hang on, I'm calling an ambulance!" Tifa reassured him, but suddenly he saw a gloved hand grab hers as she reached for her cell phone.

"No," Vincent stated, "Just wait for a minute."

"Are you crazy?! Can't you see he's— huh?!" Tifa gasped, she couldn't believe what she saw or more like what she didn't see; the blood was gone.

It was just gone; there was no stain on the ground or anything. Not even his clothes were damp from blood.

"H-How? He was bleeding, I swear…" Tifa muttered in awe, she was completely at loss for words.

But her words were dull to Sora's ears; he continued to stare at the rainy sky as he felt sleepy and tired. He closed his eyes and his thoughts drifted back into his dream.

Right before your eyes, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

You laugh on the inside, I am changing!

(Changing…)

Changing!

You're gonna die Sora! And no one will weep for you!

I'm… I'm so alone.

No one will care for you! No one will love you!

It's so hard, I can't keep fighting anymore.

You have a second chance Sora; you just need to take it.

Yeah, I can change, I'll show them… I'll show all of them. I can change! Sora thought just as he lost consciousness.

Right before your eyes!

Right before your eyes!

Sora awoke to see he was back in the waiting room, Vincent, Tifa, Aerith, and (to his surprise) Namine were standing above his head.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Sora asked, slowly sitting up.

"Are you okay?" Namine asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" Sora smiled as he turned to Namine. "Thank you."

"Huh?" Namine gasped, "F-for what?"

"For earlier today," Sora reminded her, "Thank you for saving me."

"I…" Namine stuttered, she was in awe, apparently she never expected this day to even come, but she smiled shyly at him. "You're welcome."

Kairi was watching this scene from outside the lobby; she too couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stared at Sora for the longest time, she saw the genuine warm smile on his face, the kindness and warmth in his eyes, and for some reason… she smiled.

That's it. Forgive me if it's a bit rushed, I was in a daze when I was writing this, so if I made any mistakes or odd sounding sentences let me know okay?

Oh and if anyone's wondering what the Main Theme is for my fic Ghost Rider, it's the greatest song by the greatest band ever: What I've Done, by Linkin Park is the Main Theme for Ghost Rider.

Later!