Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to its rightful owners.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: TELL ME ANYTHING
SASUKE
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."
- Earnest Hemingway
THE COLISEUM WAS exactly how I recalled it being.
The tan-coloured walls boxed in to create the front entrance yard. The ground was of the same sandy colour. Golden pots containing wild fires sat around the area in planned positions. Signs telling details of the next fight hung on the walls next to the double doors from which we had entered. Across from it, golden statues of warriors stood well over ten feet tall; the swords that they were holding crossed over the Coliseum doors. The double doors barring designs of lighting bolts was at the top of the few steps, surrounded by golden pillars for expensive effect. I recalled saying that they enjoyed extravagance. This fit the bill perfectly.
After Sora and Auron's run-in with the three-headed dog, we had began the path back to the world of the living. That was, without Auron. He had disappeared off somewhere faster than we could realize that he had left. Part of me wondered if he had even been there at all. But, of course he had been. The boys had seen him, too. That was enough evidence of his existence for me.
The way out of the Underworld had been a long one. Not in a literal sense, but more of a figurative one. My mind kept roaming to thoughts of me being a liar. A traitor. Every sing synonym one could come up with for the word. They were thoughts that I had ignored for weeks on end. Now they were plauging and following me like moths to a light; I couldn't escape them no matter how much I busied myself.
Perhaps it was because of the guilt. If anyone else had done to me what I was doing to him, I would have saw it as keeping secrets. It wasn't the case. Rather, it was more like hiding a personal occurrence. One that was strictly my business and my business only. Up until today, at least.
The wind involuntarily blew my hair around my face. My hand reached up to tuck some of the dark locks behind my ear. We had made it too far to catch cold feet now. Beyond those double doors was a world that we had left a long time ago. The world of heroes and villains. Many things had happened there. Sora had sprained his wrist, I had summoned my Keyblade with my ow will for the first time, and we had encountered the three-headed dog. This place was a giant magnet when it came to big events.
Goofy let out a happy sigh. "Gawrsh, this sure does bring back memories."
Tell me about it.
It was crazy to think that in a few months from now, I would be sixteen-years-old. Riku wasn't even that old the last time I saw him. We had landed in Olympus Coliseum when I was well into my fourteen years of age. I had grown in several ways—matured mentally, physically, and emotionally. Because of all that, I was ready for all that lied ahead.
There was only one way to find out. I followed the boys up the Coliseum steps with a brave face. I would show them that I wasn't a kid anymore. I would show them how much I had grown into something that I could be content with. I would show them that I was proud of myself, and that I no longer deserved the title "junior hero."
The doors were thrown open the second we reached the top step. We had froze in our spots, awaiting to see who had down the harsh action. It should have came as no surprise, though.
It was our orange-brown-haired friend who stood in the doorway. His unruly hair was held back by a brown headband. It matched the colour of his outfit; it was nothing more than a vest and a battle skirt. The long, blue cape attached to his shoulders reached low enough to dance around his brown sandals. They didn't do much to contain the large amount of muscle mass that he possessed. Had he grown in the time that we were apart? His arms were the size of my head alone—same thing went for his thighs and calves. And his eyes, the same dreamy blue as his cape, stared at the ground in a certain sadness. His broad shoulders were hunched, too, now that I looked at them.
It didn't last for long. His eyes went wide at the sight of us, his lips pulling up into a smile. He had seemed upset at first. It was a complete contrast to how happy he appeared now. At that, Sora smiled right along with him.
"Sora! Donald! Sasuke! Goofy!" Hercules greeted, excitedly. "When'd you get here?"
Sora sent him a wave. "Hey, Herc!"
"Long time, no see," I mused.
My attention tore away from the reunion, focusing on the person moving beyond the Coliseum doors. The long, pink dress and sapphire eyes were easy to make out. The girl crept around Hercules to see over his shoulder. Her ponytail would have brushed against him had she not flicked it behind herself. It was Meg. Good—she was here with Hercules while we were out seeking Hades.
I wanted to frown. Would she be upset when she found out what happened? Sora hadn't exactly fulfilled his offer to her. We had left to put in her request to the man. We were no standing in front of her again defeated. It felt like we were coming back empty-handed. To think that the four of us had gotten ran out of the Underworld by a man who couldn't even hold his temper . . .
"You on another adventure?" Hercules asked.
Sora shrugged. "Yeah, trackin' down some friends, wipin' out some Heartless."
"Junior heroes, always busy!"
Hercules took a step toward Sora. The both of them extended their hands, slapping them against each others' in that "bro" type of greeting. I had seen it several times in my days of hanging out with the male population of Destiny Islands. It was especially a favourite greeting of Wakka's, whom initiated it with me no matter how many times I told him he hurt my hand. Well, that, and full on hugging, though I doubted Sora and Hercules would have commenced in that.
"You know it." Sora beamed.
He didn't bring up the fact that he had called us junior heroes. It was something that he was tired of fighting against, I supposed. His mind was always elsewhere these days. It didn't shock me to see that the label had flown past his head. In fact, he seemed proud of it.
Meg stepped out from the inside of the Coliseum. Her thin arms were crossed over her chest, and she looked incredibly out of place. It was like she wasn't used to being around so many people. Either that or she was nervous . . . nervous about the news that we had came to relay to her. I ran my teeth over my bottom lip. So nervous that I had picked up Sora's habits.
Hercules smiled at her before looking back at us. "So, did you find those friends of yours?"
"Still working on it," Sora replied. "When we got here, we ran into Meg—Uh . . . Meg—mega trouble, I mean! So we had to help somebody out. We tried to teach Hades a thing or two . . . but the Underworld drains away all of our strength. Don't suppose you have any ideas?"
That was a good way of telling Meg that we hadn't got anything accomplished. She continued to hold that passive expression. She was trying to keep up with the "I don't know anything" act around Hercules. She had asked for us to do it, too. We had agreed to it, of course, but I didn't see why she just didn't tell him. For the same reason you're not telling Sora.
Hercules tapped his chin. "Well, there is a stone that guards against the Underworld's curse. The gods on Mount Olympus use it whenever they have to go down there."
"Think we can use it?" Sora asked.
"Sure, why not." Hercules chuckled. "I'll go get it for you. But, Hades is no pushover, even if you've got the Olympus Stone. And I have a match today, so I can't go with you . . . You know what you need? Training! Why don't you go talk to Phil?"
Sora nodded. "Good idea.
I knew what he meant by training. Their version of training here consisted of us standing in a ring with a bunch of Heartless. If there were any Heartless. They had a tendency to make us battle barrels before anything else. Knowing them, there would be time limits, too.
We listened to Hercules' suggestion. It would be a good time for me to brush up on my fighting as well. I was growing tired of finding that my actions weren't as fast as the boys' were. There was nothing worse than knowing that I couldn't keep up. Phil could help supply me with the stamina that I had missed. It wasn't a bad idea at all.
The inside of the Coliseum, beyond the front lobby, was enormous. It stretched out farther than the front yard or the lobby did. Sectioned in by tan-bricked walls, rows upon rows of seats sat on each side to give onlookers a place to watch the games. In the opposing wall was an iron gate that kept monsters from coming out when they weren't supposed to. The tournament area was ridden with Greek-styled pottery. Here it was. It was already starting.
The memorable satyr paced around the center of the grounds. His hoofed feet created little tapping sounds against the flooring. His rounded belly jiggled with each step. His ears were up-pointed to go along with his down-turned, black brows. And though his eyebrows were black, the beard running down from his ears to his chin was brown-red. His short tail wiggled around merrily as he kept on pacing.
He must have heard us come in because he started speaking. "Hey, champ, how ya feeling? Better rest up for tomorrow's match. Nobody's gonna pay to see a worn-out hero . . . capiche? Remember what I told you. Victory in the games comes down to three simple words: eat, bathe, sleep!"
The four of us exchanged confused glances. The satyr's body was facing the other way the entire time he spoke. He didn't know that it was us who had came, not Hercules. He was spilling out reminders for people who didn't really need it. Because of that, the boys burst into laughter, Sora thinking it was so funny that his face turned red. They never did miss the opportunity to bug the man, be it by claiming to be heroes or by meddling in his affairs.
Phil turned around. His fist was raised to wave around his hairy knuckles. His eyes were narrowed into a glare—he clearly didn't like being laughed at. However, his expression brightened once he laid eyes on the four of us. He had rushed over, hoofs tapping against the ground, arms wide open, and a grin spreading across his face.
Sora bent down to his height, and the man yanked at his cheeks. "Hey, if it ain't the junior heroes!"
"Lookin' good, Phil." Sora laughed.
"Never better," Phil retorted, putting his hands on his hips as he looked us over. "How you guys been? You grew a lot, that's for sure. Have you earned your "true hero" wings yet?"
I watched as Sora and Donald puffed out their chests to look stronger. It made me smile. They were flexing muscles that were still on the smaller side. It made them seem the same way they had last time we were here. Mentally rather than physically. Noticing it, too, Phil shook his head and waved them off.
"Nope, you ain't got what it takes."
Sora and Donald let out exasperated groans. "What?" they cried in unison.
Phil ignored their protests. "So, what's up?"
"We kinda need your help." I shifted most of my weight to my right leg. "We're going to have a talk with Hades, and Hercules suggested that we come train with you. It's a good thing because I was starting to get real lazy."
"Starting," Sora mumbled to Donald.
I elbowed him in the ribs. He made a sound similar to one someone would make while they're vomiting. His hands darted out to clutch where I had hit him. He made it seem like I had knocked the wind out of him. His back bent in a doubled over fashion. His mouth released shaky wheezes along with sounds of false regurgitation. I rolled my eyes, laughing about his dramatic show. I doubted there was enough power in me to knock the wind out of him. I doubted there was enough power in me to hurt him at all. Confirming my thoughts, he stood up straight, and sent a smirk my way.
That guy . . .
Phil laughed, too. It wasn't because of Sora this time. No . . . he was laughing at something entirely different. He rested his hands on his knees in hysterics. One of them reached up to wipe away the tears that were forming.
"You three are gonna take on Hades?" he wheezed.
Donald pouted. "What's so funny?"
Phil wiped away his last tear, and began to calm down. "You got nerve. I like that. Hey, you never know—stranger things have happened, right? Better get cracking, boys! And . . . girl."
I sighed. "I don't know if you're being sexist or not."
"Just for that, drop and give me twenty."
"But, I didn't do anything—"
Phil gave me a murderous glare that would have held competition to the old school gym teachers on Destiny Islands. Choosing not to say anything else that would get my punishment worsened, I clambered onto the ground, getting in the push-up position. I was well aware of the boys finding my situation comical. Their laughter grew louder when I collapsed after only three.
"Oi, we've got a long way to go . . ." Phil gripped the bridge of his nose. "First thing's first . . . Missy, I'm putting you on cardio. Go take ten laps around the stadium. You three, I'm testing your speed, strength, and agility."
We all groaned. The boys were going to have to go through Phil's legendary time trials. I was going to be running around the Coliseum, which was about a mile in perimeter. He wanted me to run approximately ten miles. It was going to take me a whole hour and a half to finish that. I could barely walk up a long flight of stairs, let alone run for an hour and a half.
He was trying to kill me. That was easy to see. There was no way that I would be able to run all ten of those miles without taking breaks in between them. There was no guarantee that I wouldn't collapse after the second one. Though, it was necessary if I wanted him to train me. He was trying to get me into better shape. If that included a little bit of death in Phil's eyes, so be it.
The boys followed Phil over to where the pottery laid scattered about. I took the hair elastic off of my wrist and reached up to fasten my hair into a high ponytail. I was really going to do this. I was really going to attempt to do this. After all, I did say that I was going to show them how much I had grown. Fourteen-year-old me would have had a heart attack upon hearing the command. Almost sixteen-year-old me was going to give it my all until I couldn't anymore. It was the least that I could do.
The key to running long distance was to start off slow. That much was common knowledge. You had to pace yourself in order to keep going the whole way. In this case, I started jogging since I was going to be going a whole hour and a half. If I had started off in a sprint, I would have been exhausted after the first twenty minutes. Hopefully, Phil wouldn't have a problem with that.
But, he wasn't paying attention to me. He was busy giving orders to the boys. The four of them sat around pots and a timer. Goofy and Donald were destroying as many of them as they could in the given time frame. Sora, on the other hand, must have struck a chord with Phil like I had earlier. He groaned and dropped to the ground, giving the man the push-ups that he wanted. He was having a better time doing them than I was. He went well past three.
Was this how he trained Hercules? It was no wonder the boy was so tough and pumped for action. Having Phil as a trainer, he must have been able to do the incredible. His workouts weren't for the faint of heart. I had realized that the moment he put me on a ten mile run right off the bat. Could Hercules run ten miles without a problem? I doubted he'd get tired after twenty.
I had been running for nearly thirty consecutive minutes when I stopped. My hands stabled themselves on my knees as I took in heavy breathes. Doing this was a lot easier said than done. My chest felt like it was burning upon every inhale. My face was hot from all of the physical activity. I let out another gasp of air. Man, I was really out of shape.
"You okay?"
My half-lidded eyes gazed up to meet amused, blue ones. My face would have flushed red had it not already been the colour. I scrambled to stand up straight, trying to play it off like I wasn't as tired as I was. All that it did was making the boy in front of me laugh.
Sora looked down at me with a smirk playing on his full lips. His arms were crossed over his chest. His hair was completely dry and not sticking to his forehead. There didn't seem to be any sweat on it. After all of the orders Phil was barking at them, it shocked me to see that he wasn't sweaty in the slightest. He was cool, calm, and collected. Perhaps it was the perk of being physically fit. I, however, was on the verge of taking another one of my twenty-four plus hour naps.
I nodded. "I'll . . . be all right. I have . . . seven more laps . . . to go."
"Hmm." He hummed in thought. "The others are busy taking breaks, too. Ditch the laps and come with me. I need to talk to you."
My heart was still pounding in my chest. "About what?"
He bit his bottom lip. That was all the information that I needed.
Oh.
I nodded to show that I agreed. He must have wanted to talk about something important. He only ever bit his lip when he was nervous. It could have been anything that he wanted to talk about. It could have been about the training, Hades, Meg, or just about every other topic in the world. Whatever it was, it was enough to have a talk about it in private. He had grabbed my hand to lead me through one of the stadium doors in the stands, pulling me in and down the hall.
The hall was quiet. It was the same golden colour as everything else in the building structure. It was long, containing several exits. It was nothing but a path from the stadium seats to emergency exits. The only light came from a few torches on the walls, and from the two doors on each opposing side.
Sora looked down at me. There was a serious glint in his usually playful, beautiful irises. His lips formed a straight line rather than the smirk that was once on them. It threw me off guard. Seeing him so hard-wired toward me was a rare sight—unless I had done something reckless to frustrate him. The two of us stood together in the hall in silence. He just stared down at me, and I stared up at him. It was almost terrifying in a way. Something about his whole demeanor didn't feel right.
He took a step closer to me. "You girls are so gullible. I thought it would have been harder than this. You didn't even see that Sora's still out there training with those idiots."
"What?" I furrowed my brows, taking a step back. "I don't—"
Sora laughed. It sounded an awful lot like the evil laughs he had in my dream. It sent shivers down my spine, and stings at my nerves' ends. He was too close. It felt like he was being forceful, not sweet like he normally was. It was the same way he was forcing himself onto me in my nightmare. And with a burst of dark smoke, the image of the teenager cleared away, leaving behind a cackling Hades.
His hair danced in patches of blue flames. His shoulders shook from his laughter. His eyes were dark and menacing. It was never Sora in the first place. Just like my nightmare, the boy had transformed into something evil . . . something that wasn't him.
I wanted to frown. I had been played. The real Sora was still out there training with the others. Yet, I didn't think to look back at them. I had ran off with the fake Sora without a second thought. That was how much trust I had in him. When it came to him, I didn't have to second guess anything. It was a mistake I was learning that I couldn't make anymore. Maybe that was where Hades knew he had me beat.
I glared at him. "What do you want?"
"I came here for you, obviously." Hades grinned. "You're coming with me."
"Yeah, right."
He smiled wider. "Ooo, feisty. This is gonna be fun."
His blue hands reached out to grab onto me. I had to think fast. There was no way that I was going anywhere with him. He was the bad guy. I had tried to out-run the Sora in my dream—it didn't turn out too well. So, I did the other thing that came to mind.
My foot rose to connect with the spot between his legs. His hands had ceased, and he had collapsed onto his knees in a fit of swears. He spewed out curses about how I was anything but pleasant. He was a male, after all. Just like all males, they had one weakness in common.
"You little . . ." he groaned.
I didn't stick around to hear the rest of it. I turned on the heels of my shoes to bolt in the other direction. If Sora and the others were still out there, I would have a chance at escape. But, I never got the chance. Hands clambered down around different parts of my body. One pair was around my ankles, one pair held onto my wrist, and many more clung onto everything in between. I struggled to get out of the grasp, but they wouldn't let up. I would have bruises from how tight they were holding me.
It was Heartless. The many things that held me in place were Heartless. There had to be at least ten of them. Hades must have known that I wasn't going to go down without complicating things.
He climbed back onto his feet after a minute. "Don't you know how much that hurts? This is why I don't like handling females. That's always the first thing they go to. It's not playing fair."
"You aren't exactly playing fair, either," I snapped. "Let me out of here before I do a lot worse than kicking."
"I wouldn't put it against you, short stuff. But, I'm afraid I just can't do that. You see, you're a necessary hostage at the moment. Now do both of us a favour and shut up."
I let out a frustrated groan. You always have to let your guard down, don't you, Sasuke?
3rd Person P.O.V.
BOY, WERE THEY ever tired.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy had been proving themselves to Phil for who knew how long now. It started with the time trials. Then, it progressed to actual fighting. That paired with the frequent push-ups whenever they failed to do something had left them sore and exhausted. As silly as it sounded, they actually wished that he had assigned them to cardio with Sasuke.
She had gotten off easy. Sure, it was going to take a long time, but it was way better than lifting weights. Donald swore that his arms were going to be sore for the next few days. Sora would have rather had ran, anyways. It was something that he could truly accomplish. Doing forty push-ups and sit-ups every thirty minutes was doing more than burning his body. It was burning his will to carry out the rest of it.
Luckily, they had been saved by a hero. Literally. Hercules walked into the Coliseum once they had reached the hour mark. His shoulders were slumped in that way that they had been previously. His expression was one of puzzlement. The three boys found themselves walking over to him in search of what was wrong. Surely something had happened to upset him again.
Had something gone wrong? The last time that they had talked to him, he was going to Mount Olympus to get the stone for them. Had something involved with it came up? Had his request to use it been denied?
Phil released a whistle as the group linked up with the hero. "Listen, I gotta take off for a bit," he announced.
No more training for the day? Huh?
"Where to?" Sora asked.
"None of your beeswax," was Phil's answer.
He turned around, and marched out of the Coliseum. He was leaving just like that. It was sort of suspicious, now that they thought about it. One second he was focused on forcing Donald into sit-ups, the next he was running off. He hadn't said anything about having to leave while they were training. It was too sudden and way too thought-provoking.
Nonetheless, Hercules let out a sigh. "Sorry, guys . . ." he started. "The Olympus Stone had been stolen."
"What?! By who?" Donald quacked.
Hercules shrugged. "We don't know who did it yet. All we're sure of is that it was a guy in a black, hooded cloak. And he had accomplices—a bunch of creatures in white."
That was all that they needed to know. Sora, Donald, and Goofy shared a knowing nod. It was a likely chance that it was the man that they had encounter in the Underworld. The man that had ran away from them. He had been so shaken up at the time, screaming bloody murder for reasons unknown, though he wasn't as scared as she was.
She hated those guys. Sora couldn't blame her for it. He would have, too, had he been in her shoes. The look of fear that crossed her face every time one came around, or one was mentioned . . . it was enough to make him want to protect her. There wasn't a time that she hadn't been shielded by or saved by him from the Organization. All except for that time she got her arm fractured. The one time where he hadn't been able to save her.
His gaze traveled around the Coliseum in search of the running girl. She should have still been running. In fact, she should have been passing by them right about now. His gaze hardened in confusion when he seen that she was nowhere in the stadium. Had she went to the bathroom or something?
Hercules took note of their acknowledgment. "Someone you know?"
"I think so." Sora nodded, partially paying attention to the conversation, and partially still looking for the girl. "Hey, if we get the Olympus Stone back, can we borrow it for a while?"
"Sure," Hercules agreed.
Sora then felt his eyebrows knit together. "Have you guys seen Sasuke? She was just here . . ."
Everyone shook their heads. They hadn't. It shot a sense of dread throughout the brunet boy. If no one had seen her around, where could she have been? She wasn't in the Coliseum lobby if Hercules hadn't seen her. She had probably been gone too long to have went to the bathroom. And perhaps Sora was filling his head with things that hadn't even happened. Things were probably okay, but he felt—deep in his gut—that things weren't.
He opened his mouth to ask them another question, but stopped when he felt a pressure on his shoulder. It was a hand. A blue one, no less. His head slowly craned behind him to look up into the dark, haunting eyes of Hades. If he was here, that could only spell trouble. With Sasuke missing, trouble was the last thing that Sora needed.
"What's wrong, kid? Feeling under the weather?" he asked Sora, innocently. "You know, I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the junior hero job description . . . you know what I'm saying?"
Sora shrugged his hand off of him harshly. The Lord of the Underworld was acting a bit too smug for Sora's liking. It was filling him with ideas bad enough to turn his hair gray. It could have been no coincidence that he noticed her missing the same time Hades decided to show up.
Hades was oblivious to the boy's change in mood. "I came to share a bit of mildly-interesting news. Seems your dear, sweet little Sarah—or whatever her name is—went and got herself lost in the Underworld."
Sora's hands balled up into fist at his side. It felt like his vision had just slowed down. His chest had suddenly felt hot. His eyes had glared hard with murderous intent. His jaw tensed, grinding his teeth together in the action. He was never one to get easily upset, but this . . . Hades had stooped too low.
Hades smiled. "Oh, you're mad. Perfect."
"You kidnapped her," Sora snapped.
"Well, maybe. But, why get caught up in the details?" The man shrugged his shoulders. "She was more than willing to go with me. All I had to do was pretend to be you, walk over to her smiling, hit her with the iconic "I have to talk to you" line, and she was following me out of the stadium in no time. You should have seen her face when she saw it wasn't really you. Priceless."
If Sora was getting worked up before, he was seeing red now. Hades had came and snatched her away using the image of Sora as a lure. He was pissed, livid, everything in between, and he found himself balling up his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white. But, worst of all, Sora had let it happen when he was only a few feet away. It was his own fault; he should have done something. He should have kept a better eye on her. That was what was heating him up the most.
He didn't say anything. He didn't have anything else to say. He moved to leave the Coliseum whether everyone came with him or not. There wasn't any time to waste. If Hades had taken her to the Underworld, it was safe to expect the worse. Usually, he was aware that she was a strong girl and could handle her own. However, in the Underworld, everyone was weak. She wouldn't be able to defend herself. Especially since the Organization was running around, too . . .
He was stressing out. He had to go. Now.
Hercules, Donald, and Goofy were right alongside him. They knew the seriousness of the situation. He didn't need to explain it to them. He was thankful for that. Thankful that he had such supportive and brave friends to help him out in times like this.
Hades wiggled a finger at the seething boy. "You can't leave now, okay? Hercules, you've got a very important match today against, um . . . the bloodthirsty Hydra! I mean, if you don't stick around, who knows what kind of "accidents" might happen?"
"Yeah, accidents you cause!" Donald growled.
Hades waved him off. "Like I said: details, who needs 'em?"
Sora had enough with the talking. "Herc, you take care of the Hydra. We'll go down to the Underworld. I'm going to go get Sasuke."
"ISN'T THIS THE part where you beg for a knight in shining armor to come save you or something?"
I could feel my level of annoyance reaching its peak. My mood wasn't particularly because of Pete's constant talking. It was caused by everything. It wasn't every day that I went around getting kidnapped by bad guys. It hardly happened, in fact, I had never been gullible enough for it. But, they had pulled my trump card, and now I was stuck with him.
Hades and the Heartless kept holding me until they brought me to the Underworld. It didn't matter how much I kicked, yelled, punched, and thrashed around. It did no good; they didn't release me. There were purple marks growing on my body where the Heartless had put their strong grips. Bruises. It wasn't every day that I went around getting kidnapped by Heartless. But, the one time I did, they left bruises.
Oh, they were going to get it.
They had wrapped thick, iron chains around my body after I had tried to summon my Keyblade. They knew that it was the one way that I would be able to break free from their clutches. It was the one way I could get everything to work in my favor. It was why they had settled the chains from my shoulders all the way down to where my wrists were stuck to my sides. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world—none of this was comfortable—yet it was better than what I had initially thought they were going to do.
There was only some Heartless, Pete, Hades, and me in the room they kept me in. The room was bright—gray walls and white floors lit everything up. There was not much else to it. It was in big contrast to everything else about the Underworld. Everything else was based around dark elements, but this room reminded me of the light. It was silly to think about it. Something so bright could host something so sinister.
I stood next to the wall, surrounded by a few bat-like Heartless. They flapped their black wings in determination . . . just like they had been doing for the past twenty minutes straight. They didn't serve any other purpose rather than keeping me in place. Pete was a few steps away, glaring down at me with his dark eyes. There wasn't much that I could do about either of them. I wasn't exactly in the position to do that.
"Did I do that when you guys took me?" I asked, fed up. "I don't cry for help. It's not in my character."
Pete's eyebrows raised in interest. "Not even when you're getting kidnapped by the Lord of the Underworld?"
I shook my head. "Not even when I'm getting kidnapped by the Lord of the Underworld. What is he planning, anyways?"
"To bring the other pipsqueaks here," Pete answered, proudly.
I felt myself sigh. "Why was I kidnapped and brought here if you were just going to bring them here in the first place? Couldn't you guys have brought us here all together?"
Pete rolled his eyes. "I thought women were supposed to be smart."
I chose not to ask him anymore questions. For one, I knew that Pete wasn't going to give me a direct answer. He was good at avoid questions like they were fights. Secondly, I knew that he was just going to continue to insult me. He had been calling me stupid, short, and everything of the likes since I got here. I blew a piece of my bangs out of my eyes. This was just great.
Hades, whom had been staring at the wall with his arms crossed, turned to look at the both of us. His expression was a mixture of irritation and amusement. He grinned ear-to-ear in that maniacal way as he walked over to me. I had to tilt my head up to see him all the way. He was well over six-feet, something that wouldn't be the best for my neck in the long run.
"They're coming. I'd say any second now, too. They're right outside the Underdrome. Honestly, I expected them to take a while longer, but I guess I went a little overboard in pissing him off." He chuckled, gripping my face so that my cheeks and lips were puffed out. "How about you let out a little scream? That will make things more interesting."
I glared up at him. "Like I'd ever."
That made him groan in displeasure. "I think you're my least favourite out of all of them. You're no fun, just a bunch of bad attitudes."
"Well, sorry for being mad at people who kidnapped me."
My voice was muffled and little due to his hold on me. His hand was gripping my face hard enough to leave more bruises. It was something that I didn't need more of. My arms struggled in the chains. This just couldn't get any worse, could it?
He parted his blue lips to say another snarky comment, probably about how I was insufferable, though he froze midway. The sound of rushed footsteps had brought him out of his teasing mood. He glared down at me with a newfound distaste, and I stood on the tips of my toes to look over his shoulder. As if they had been summoned, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood behind him, weapons in hand. I smiled at them even though Hades was still squeezing my face. Hades simply rolled his eyes.
He let me go, and turned around. "Now that's what I call a key." He cackled, looking at the Kingdom Key in Sora's hand. "Gee, thanks for the help. Mission accomplished. Now have a nice day."
Sora stepped forward to start a fight with him. However, Hades disappeared into a fit of smoke. The boy was left glaring at the spot he once stood in. Though, what was the most shocking was what he did afterward.
"You guys are really starting to tick me off." He growled.
His eyes were so murderous that it was almost hard to recognize them. They were narrowed and dark; they were a dull blue instead of its previous sky colour. They had lost their shine, too, replaced by a fog that sent shivers down my spine. He was popping his knuckles, and his eyebrows were knitted together. Neither of them were good signs.
Behind them, Pete laughed with his swarm of Heartless. "What's wrong? Can't fight in the Underworld? Oh, how sad."
"Think again."
Sora turned his head to look at Pete through the corner of his narrowed eye. Donald took the moment to rush over to me, yanking at the chains like it would fall off if he did. They didn't. They stayed right where they were, wrapped around me to keep me from defending myself. He began saying something about a key. I wasn't paying attention to him.
My focus was more on the scene happening around us. Sora was looking for a fight—it didn't matter who it was, I supposed. He had originally been after Hades, yet he wasted no time in fighting the Heartless Pete sent his way. He was using his Keyblade to knock them out of the way. He was heading for Pete, choosing not to spend time on the little ones.
I ran out of the line of action since I was tied up. Donald followed me as he declared that he was going to protect me from getting hit. He didn't know how to get the chains off. I didn't blame him for it; I didn't know, either. But, that left Sora and Goofy to go after Pete and the Heartless by themselves.
I had noticed that their attacks were actually working. They weren't gliding through the creatures like they had before. That must have meant that they had gotten the stone from Hercules earlier. It was a good thing. All of us escaping without it would have been near impossible.
There were other things to worry about, though. Such as the fact that with every Heartless they defeated, two more would spawn in its place. I had became an endless cycle. They would attack, I would run, and it would repeat for what felt like hours.
They had noticed it as well. The two of them weren't enough. After ten minutes, they took a step backward, guarding me with caution. For the first time in a while, there were too many for them to physically handle.
"There's too many!" Goofy cried.
Donald nodded in agreement. "Let's go!"
Sora faced me. The burn had faded a bit from his eyes. He must have wore some of it out during the fight. It didn't do much for his demeanor. He was still hot from what I could tell. I could feel his boiling body heat radiating off of him even from where I stood. It was a mystery to me as to why he was so . . . angry. I hadn't seen him that mad since some kid named Yazoo popped his ball on Destiny Islands when we were younger. And even then, he wasn't red.
I tried not to flinch away as he raised his Keyblade high before crashing it down on the chains around me. They fell around my feet in loud clumps of metal. He had freed me. It felt good to have feeling in my arms again.
My eyes went wide when something big emerged from the group of Heartless. It didn't take much to recognize who it was. Their biceps were so huge that they knocked Heartless out of the way with the slightest of ease. It was none other than the hero himself: Hercules.
He walked over to us smiling. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "You guys get Sasuke outta here. I'm sure she's shaken up. I'll meet you back at the Coliseum."
"What about you?" I questioned.
He beamed at me. "I'm gonna show these guys what happens when they mess with a true hero."
I shook my head. "I'm staying. I'm all right—I can fight."
"Sasuke—" Donald started.
Sora cut him off with a sigh. "She has just as much right to be here as we do. She's not going anywhere no matter what you say to her," he explained. "Might as well do this together."
I smiled at him. He was usually all for kicking me out of the battle field toward safety. Yet, here he was, telling everyone that I was going to stay by their side. It shocked me. This had to be the first time he let me stay against his—and everyone's—wishes. He was trusting me more. He was coming to terms with the fact that I didn't need to be shielded all the time. Perhaps that was the best thing that Sora could have proved to me.
So, I summoned my Keyblade, and joined the four of them in the standoff against Pete. It shouldn't have been too hard, after all. Now that the boys had the stone that enabled us to fight, we couldn't have been taken down. We were a force to be reckoned with. At least, that was what I told myself for reassurance purposes.
Hercules was the first to run off into battle. He ran in swinging his mighty fists at anything that got in his way. Goofy was right beside him, flattening Heartless on the ground underneath his knight's shield. They looked like such a team. Goofy wouldn't let any rouge heartless near Hercules, and Hercules did the same in return. It was an equal effort.
Donald stuck to staying on the magic defense. He stayed in the back, spewing out magic every chance he got. That left Sora and I together, attacking anything and everything within a two foot radius. That included the flying bat Heartless. I had said that I was going to make them pay for the bruises they left on me. I had every intention to fulfill that. And as some of them disappeared into a cloud of darkness under the hands of my Keyblade, I felt myself smile. That shows them.
One of the flying Heartless had gotten too close to me during my battle. I took a step backward to dodge its attack, crashing into something hard. I had figured that it was a wall at first. However, upon further speculation, I saw that I had backed up into Sora. Our backs were turned to one another in a small break from the constant aggression. Keyblades gripped in our hands, we let out a few breathes, eyes scanning over the amount of enemies left.
"So," he suddenly called out to me, and I turned my head to look up at him. "Does this count as a date?"
I wanted to laugh. "It depends."
"On?"
"If we win or not," I joked.
He took it seriously, though, for he had a renewed look of determination. "All right, it's a deal." He smirked.
He left my side to join Pete without another word. I let out a chuckle while I shook my head. Jeez, that guy . . . If that wasn't the biggest mood swing, I didn't know what was.
I joined Donald in the magical assault. Hercules, Goofy, and Sora had moved on to fighting Pete. Donald and I took care of the few Heartless that remained so that they wouldn't be bothered. It would have been better to melt Pete's shoes to the ground instead. He ran around in circles trying to get away from them. It wasn't until minutes of chasing did Sora finally get sick of it, sticking out his foot to trip the guy. I tried not to laugh as Pete rolled onto the ground. Now they could really attack him.
Most of the spare Heartless had been dealt with. There were only the annoying ones left, flying through the air in a desperate attempt to dodge our magic. He spun around in loops through the air. It was making me both dizzy, and low on magic energy from missing. Finally, I chose to use my Keyblade, throwing it up at the few creatures. It spun around, knocking them out, before returning back into my hand like a boomerang. There were just some things a Key could do that ice couldn't.
Hercules slammed his fist down on Pete's jaw. The guy stumbled back a but, groaning about how they didn't need to be so rough. We all took that as a sign of surrender. Which it was—Pete was darting around for an exit.
"Hmph . . . this place gives me the creeps," he snapped. "I'll deal with you nitwits next time!"
He fled, running out of the room with his tail in between his legs. Sora chuckled. He summoned his Keyblade away in a burst of light. A few heavy breathes were blowing past his lips. Nonetheless, he looked down at me with a smile that made wonder why he was so attractive.
"Great second date, if I do say so myself," he mused.
I just shook my head, chuckling. Of course he hadn't forgotten about that. His light mood didn't last long, however. His brows furrowed in that same way they were minutes ago as he gave me a once over. The bruises on my skin obviously wasn't a pretty colour. They were ugly shades of red and purple, much like his face had been after his fight a while ago.
They made the fog come back into his eyes. "Did they hit you?" he asked, taking hold of my arm to turn it over.
I shook my head. "No, they were just holding me too tight. I'm fine."
"You sure?" he asked, quietly.
I would have settled his growing nerves, but I never got the chance to. The ground began to shake underneath our feet. No doubt it had been caused by something suspicious. Rumble from the ceiling trickled to the floor around us; the room was collapsing. Realizing that, too, the boys shouted warning about how we needed to leave. The next thing I knew, I was being yanked out of the brightly-lit room.
It was Goofy who had grabbed me. They weren't being the least bit lenient. They weren't stopping to ask questions. They weren't wondering what had caused it. They were reacting on fight or flight, their adrenaline forcing them through the caverns of the Underworld more unsteadily than they should have.
The way to the front entrance was shorter than the route it took to get to Hades' lair. There were a lot more cliffs, jumps, and turns. I had nearly tripped when they passed a hoard of sharp rocks. Luckily, Goofy caught me, pulling me ahead to run alongside him. His legs were longer than mine, but some support was better than none.
It felt like I was being dragged through a whirlwind. The ground was shaking, the boys were shouting, and everything went by my head like a blur. It felt like a reel of photos moving in fast motion. I supposed that was for the best, though. There was no telling what could have happened if we stayed where we were any longer. From the looks of it, it sounded like the whole Underworld was falling apart.
The entrance of the Underworld wasn't shaking like the other parts of it were. Goofy released my hand once they concluded that everything was fine. There were no disturbances there. The only sounds were the gentle lapping of the purple sea along the rock platform. Hercules let out a sigh. That was a close one, for sure.
"Well, if it isn't everyone's favourite hero washout. You really blew it this time."
Our head whipped around in search of the voice. It was clear who it had came from. The whispers of amusement in them could have came from one single person. Hades. He walked toward us with raised eyebrows and crossed arms. He didn't look worried about the expression of distaste on Sora's face. For whatever reason, the brunet no longer seemed tolerable of the man's presence.
Sora's eyes narrowed further. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades."
"Can it, keyboy!" Hades snapped.
"Then let me." Hercules took the few steps to stand in front of the Lord. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades."
Hades rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, sticks and stones. Hey, maybe you should go check on that Hydra you neglected to finish off. I hear things are really falling apart up there, champ."
He disappeared in a cloud of smoke before we could do anything else. If I had used my context clues, Hydra sounded like some monster that he had sent to the Coliseum after Hercules. One that didn't get defeated. That meant that it was up there running amok in the world of gods and heroes. It wasn't a good sign. Surely that could have been the reason why the ground had been shaking.
Hercules hung his head in disappointment. "Hate to run, but I've got another little diversion to attend to."
Hercules walked toward the Underworld exit. He might not have been expecting us to follow him. But, we did. There was no way that we were going to let him handle everything himself. It was bad enough he helped me escape Hades and Pete. He shouldn't have to do this alone, too.
The Olympus Coliseum was in ruin. Chunks of the building that had once stood tall scattered around the area. The golden pillars were crushed into meaningless crumbles. The golden statues were broken in half, standing around as a reminder that we were too late. It was nothing but shambles now. The only things that still remained were the pieces of the tan walls. Just like everything else, they were broken and discarded.
In the center of the rumbled Coliseum was a monster. It was a royal purple and dragon-like, swinging its head around on its long neck threateningly. It let out a cry that was enough to scare the fainter of hearts. It was something that Hades would muster up. It was the thing that had the destroyed the place we all held so many memories in.
I felt regret rocket through me. It was all my fault that things were like this. If I had been smarter—paid more attention to my surroundings—and not have gotten kidnapped, we wouldn't have left the Coliseum unattended. They left the monster because they were looking for me. They were coming to get the girl who had wandered of into the hands of evil. That meant that this was all my fault.
There was no worse feeling than knowing that you caused misfortune. It made me feel helpless, like I suddenly shouldn't have been allowed to stand in front of everyone the way that I was. I felt like I had let everyone down. And perhaps I did. I came here in spirits to show everyone how much I had grown, yet caused something like this. I felt horrible.
Hercules collapsed onto his knees in front of the rubble. There was no doubt that he thought this was his fault. It wasn't. He had left the Hydra to help the boys save me. He was just being a good friend. Now, he was feeling the blunt end of it when he had done absolutely everything right.
"This can't be," he whispered, defeated.
Meg and Phil rushed to his side. They looked just as upset as he did . . . but for different reasons. They weren't upset about the Coliseum being destroyed. They were upset that he had given up. That he was letting his emotions get the better of him at a time like this. In a way, I felt like they were talking to me, too. I was standing behind everyone, brows furrowed, wondering why I had to do something so stupid. I shouldn't have been. I should have been focusing on the bigger picture: the Hydra in front of us.
Phil shook Hercules' shoulders. "Champ!" He beamed. "You're safe!"
"I failed," Hercules mumbled.
Meg placed a tiny hand on his back. "It's not your fault," she tried.
"I left everyone unprotected," Hercules said. "Hades was right. I'm just a . . . a washout.
"Aw, come on, champ! I didn't train you to think like that!" Phil cheered.
Sora stepped over with an encouraging smile. "Phil's right. This is no time to beat yourself up."
Hercules shook his head. "I'm some hero . . ."
Meg helped him to his feet, leading him to the sidelines. He was way too tired to do anymore damage. He had been fighting all day—even before we came here. He needed a break. He needed to sit this one out. That left no one else but up to defeat the monster from the Underworld. At that, the four of us summoned our weapons for the second time in the past forty minutes.
We let out sounds of shock when Phil stepped over. He was doing weird karate moves that would have done more damage to a plant rather than the monster. But, it was funny to watch. He looked so concentrated as he stood on one leg, waving around his arms in motions that were supposed to be terrifying.
"Don't suppose you got room for one more?" He smirked.
Sora nodded. "Sasuke, are you going with Herc and Meg?"
"I'm staying," I answered.
"Okay."
His words were enough to brighten my mood once again. He had asked a genuine question instead of telling me to go. It was something that was going to take some getting used to. I was so accustomed to him pushing me to the side without an explanation why. He was finally letting me make mistakes. Because everyone made them, and I knew they all would be there for me if I happened to screw up again.
How did I get so lucky?
The Hydra swung its long, purple tail at us in a side sweep. We jumped over it, breaking off into different sections to get to work. Phil scattered into the scraps of the Coliseum. Donald lacked behind to keep himself at bay while he did his magic. Goofy took on the role of defense this time around. Sora and I stuck to our usual offense, aiming at the head over any other part of its body. It screamed when Sora rained down hits on its face. It was definitely a weak spot.
It had no real other moved than swinging its tail. We did our best to dodge it every time it moved. However, Goofy had gotten hit. He was knocked back into the rumble so hard that even I had felt it. He flashed a thumbs up to let us know that he was all right. I released a sigh of relief.
The Hydra leaned its head back unconscious after a long string of attacks from us. Sora had taken the chance to jump up, swinging his Keyblade to cut the head off. And it worked. The head was severed, and all traces of life in the monster had gone limp. That was, until it buried its headless neck in the ground. Three heads popped out of the ground in different areas of the Coliseum. Great. It had regeneration abilities.
"Kid, get up on the Hydra's back!" Phil shouted.
Our eyes trailed upwards to see him standing above the Hydra's body. He was standing on a broken wall holding a golden pot that was nearly three times his size. Sora smirked and complied. He jumped up onto the purple body of the monster. With a war cry, Phil tossed the pot into the air. Sora jumped, using his Keyblade to send it crashing down onto the monster. It was all it took to render it unconscious again.
The three heads around the Coliseum slumped over. Donald, Goofy, and I took one each. We used our weapons to chop each of the heads off. But, that wasn't the end, either. It was never that easy.
The neck attached to the body began to double . . . triple . . . more than that. It grew back six more heads than it had last time. They screamed at us angrily. I let out a whistle. Hopefully this was the end of it all.
We stuck to the plan of raining down attacks like we had previously. The head was the monster's weak point. We attacked the multiple heads as quickly as we could. There was still a chance that the monster could cause more harm. It didn't take much to ruin more of the world. Given its size, there wasn't much that could have stopped it. All except for us. And as we chopped off the last of its remaining heads, Sora let out a breathless chuckle. It had stayed down this time.
It was over. Just like that, we had foiled Hades' plans. Albeit we were late, it was better late than sorry. Plus, we had done all of this in front of Phil: the man who called us junior heroes. We joined Phil, Meg, and Hercules were they sat on the sidelines with wide grins. We could only hope that they found us worthy now.
But, they weren't as happy as we were. Hercules, at least. He sat next to Meg with his head still hung low. He looked like a kicked puppy. It was a reminder that the Olympus Coliseum had been destroyed in our absence. Sadly, he was beating himself up over something he had no control over.
"I let you down," he murmured. "I'm just . . . no use."
Meg patted his shoulder. "It's not your fault," she assured. "Hey, even a god would be exhausted."
"She's right," Sora pointed out. "Give yourself a chance to rest. There won't be any games for a while, anyway."
I made a face. That was the best thing you could come up with, huh?
Nonetheless, Meg stood up, smiling at the four of us. "Don't worry about Wonderboy here. I'll look after him. Sora, Donald, Sasuke, Goofy . . . I owe you bit time."
"Hey, it's no big deal." Sora waved her off. "Just let us know if Hades or the Heartless start acting up. We'll take care of it."
Donald cheered in agreement. "Yeah, that's what heroes are for!"
"When did you four make hero?" Meg asked.
I made another face, and scratched the back of my head—a nervous tick I had picked up from the brunet himself. "Jeez, I thought you guys would at least let us slide this once."
The corners of Sora's lips turned upward. "Let's save that for another time. We have to hit the road."
Meg nodded. "Okay. Don't be strangers."
"Oh, well, take care you guys!" Phil waved. "Stay a little longer next time. We got some serious training to catch up on."
"Gawrsh, I hope ya feel better, Hercules," Goofy said.
Once the hero nodded, Sora glanced at the us. "Well, it's time to go. Oh, I almost forgot! The Olympus Stone!"
He dug into his pocket. I watched with curious eyes as he pulled out a cream-coloured stone, an emblem of lightning carved into it. He reached his arm out of give it to Hercules, but stopped when it began to shine. It was an action that I had seen over a hundred times. He had found the Keyhole.
There was something so amazing about watching a Keyhole get locked. It was comforting, knowing that Heartless had lost the ability to tamper with the world. If the Keyhole had been locked at the islands all that time ago, we wouldn't have faced all the hardships that we had. We would have been different people. We wouldn't have felt heartbreak.
But, sometimes one needs to hurt before they could grow. That was what I had realized in my time outside of Destiny Islands. You learn from experience. You mature the more life throws things at you. You didn't develop into a better person by having things fine and dandy all the time. For that, as shallow as it sounded, I was glad that I was taken from my home. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be who I was today. I wouldn't be the growing Sasuke that I had come to to enjoy. I would be that silly, little kid who thought there was no evil in the world, and I wouldn't be as strong as I was now.
I wouldn't have hurt. I wouldn't have nightmares, or visions, or sad thoughts of home whenever it got too quiet. I felt myself sigh; the nightmares and visions. They were topics that I needed to make Sora aware of. It was the least that I could do to calm my raging nerves. He had grown with me all this time. I wanted him as much a part of my growth as I did everything that happened in my past.
So, I looked up at him, fighting the urge to look nervous. He had finished sealing up this world. That meant that it was time for us to move on. Time for us to go be junior heroes somewhere else. But, I couldn't wait. I needed to talk to him now.
"Sora, can I talk to you for a minute before we go?" I asked.
He sent everyone a look. They had all noticed the importance in my tone, diverting their attention to another subject to waste time. Sora nodded, and he motioned for a secluded area among all of the rubble. It was a bit away from where everyone else was. He must have known that it would be something that I wanted to talk about alone. I was thankful for it. It would have been nerve-wracking to have to tell him that myself, too.
The area was out of ear shot of the others. It was also blocked off a bit by debris—they couldn't get nosy of something they couldn't really see. He tilted his head to the side in that confused way of his. Though his exterior was calm, it was clear that he was nervous . . . worried, even. He wasn't the one that had to worry about anything. It was me that had to worry whether or not he would still like me after he knew that I had been keeping secrets.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
My reply was quiet and lame, "I have to talk to you about something."
"I'm listening. You don't have to act so scared. You can tell me anything."
I twisted a lock of my hair around my index finger. "Well, what do you want to hear about first?" I murmured. "The dream or the visions?"
His brows lowered questioningly. "What visions?"
Here goes nothing.
"I've been having these visions—or flashbacks, I don't know what they are—about a girl who looks just like me. She's usually roaming around a place that looks like Hollow Bastion with three older kids I can't remember the names of. They said them once, I just can't . . ."
Sora tapped his chin in thought. "Do you think she's you?"
"I don't really know," I admitted, softly. "I mean, they call her by a different name. Yukari, I think it was. She can't be any older than four-years-old. That's before I met you guys on the beach and lost my memories."
"You want to know what I think?" Sora sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Honestly, I think you're from Hollow Bastion, or somewhere related to it, at least. I know it's a shot in the dark, but Yue and Akiba look just like you. It freaks me out every time I see you with them. You're always smiling and happy when you're there, too. Plus, if these visions are true, that's even more of a sign."
I frowned. "But, that doesn't make sense. How would I have been brought to Destiny Islands if I'm from Hollow Bastion?"
"Probably the same reason why Aerith, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and everyone else were brought to Traverse Town. Maybe you just ended up somewhere else," he theorized.
This was going a lot different than how I had planned it in my head. I had expected him to be angry that I kept things from him. He wasn't. He was being understanding, and even giving me input on everything I had to say. It was the biggest relief that I had that day. I was relieved that he was a person that I could come to.
He hummed after a minute. "Tell me if you have anymore visions. I'll help you piece them together," he offered. "And what about the dream?"
"I had a dream you killed me a few weeks ago," I answered, hastily.
He laughed. "You what?"
"Yeah," I nodded, suddenly embarrassed. "Riku was there. But, it wasn't you guys. It was Riku possessed by the darkness, and someone who looked like you and claimed they were you. But, it wasn't you, you know? He had black, spiky hair and yellow eyes. His voice was deeper, too."
He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "So, it wasn't me?"
"No, it was you! But, it wasn't. I don't know. He knew things that only you would know, but he wasn't the same as you. He said that I was pretending to have a heart and called me a liar. Then, he killed me."
"Didn't have a heart?"
"I said the same thing." I sighed. "He kept saying that I didn't have one."
He looked more confused than amused now. "But, you do have a heart."
I shrugged. "I don't know. It just threw me off, I guess."
He chuckled a few times to lighten the mood. The next thing I knew, his arms were wrapping around me, pulling me into hug. I didn't fight it. It felt good to know that he wasn't mad or judging me. And maybe I had worked myself up for nothing. He should have known that he wasn't going to be like that. But, it was my nerves that had gotten the better of me, creating made-up images that never would have actually happened. I had spooked my own self for nothing.
"Why didn't you tell me you were so stressed out?" he asked, holding me against his chest. "How long has this stuff been happening?"
I wrapped my arms around him, too. "About two months now. Maybe longer."
"Well, try not to think about it too much. I'm sure it'll all make sense later."
I felt myself smile. "Thanks for talking to me."
"What else am I here for?" He shrugged, but I could hear the smirk playing on his lips.
There was no way that I was a key element in any of this. I wasn't super strong, super fast, or super smart. I wasn't a hero, or a princess, or a person strong enough to escape the darkness. I was average. I was short, gullible, and clumsy. I was just me—nothing special or different to it. And for that, I didn't see why I deserved him. I didn't. But, I was also selfish, I realized, because he deserved someone a lot more, and I wasn't willing to give him up just yet.
He deserved someone who could keep up with him. He deserved someone who didn't fracture their arms, or get scared by annoying men in cloaks. He deserved someone who didn't have nightmares, someone who was able to keep a smile though thick and thin. Someone that was the opposite of me.
I had already came to terms with the fact that he made me weak. I had no resolve when it came to him. I had no thought process. He made me believe in anything and everything. When it came to him, I had fear . . . Not only the fear of losing him, but the fear of losing the guy I had dedicated years to. My best friend. I couldn't let someone else, be it a princess or anything of the likes, have him. Surely, for that I was incredibly selfish.
I had leaned up on the tips of my toes the moment his head tiled down. There were no thoughts. There were no worries. There was only a voice in the back of my mind telling me to let him go. But, I couldn't. Not even as the tip of his nose moved along mine could I find the will to. Our lips had brushed against one anothers' moments later.
I deserved to be happy, too.
"Hey, we have better things to do than you two fondling each other in the corner!"
We broke apart before we even had a chance to fully touch. Sora released me with the most irritated groan I had heard from anyone. I bit my lip to keep from laughing as he whipped around to glare at the duck. Donald stood perfectly in view, his arms crossed, and tapping his foot impatiently. All that managed to do was annoy the boy further.
"Donald, get out of here!" Sora glared.
Donald rolled his eyes. He gave in, though, leaving us alone like Sora had wished. But, by that time, the damage had already been done. Sora was red in the face, glaring at the spot even though the duck wasn't there anymore. My resolve not to laugh had crumbled. It had caught him off guard; he looked down at me incredulously at my fit of giggles.
"We should go," I said.
He sighed, but nodded. He said a few words that he probably had been hoping I didn't hear. However, I did. I just chose to walk back over to the group with a smile on my face like I hadn't heard anything. It was bad enough that we had been walked in on. He didn't need anymore embarrassment.
"I was this close . . ."
Fun Fact of the Chapter: Along with Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, there was supposed to be another Keyblade Master named Ignis, but she was later taken out as she was deemed unnecessary.
~ Insane