Here is the chapter wrapping up Episode 3, enjoy.
Chapter 29: A new start
Kairi woke up that morning thinking that last night's events were a dream, were they? She didn't think they were (she hoped it wasn't) as she changed out of her nightie and into her school clothes. She walked down the hall and downstairs in a daze, was Sora coming to her house last night a dream? Was her confessing about him also a dream? She sighed sadly, it may have been awkward but she kind of liked it. She gave a great big yawn and stretched her arms out as she entered the kitchen.
"Morning everyone," she greeted, walking to the cupboard and pulling out some Raisin Bran.
"Good morning sweetie," a woman with long red hair that was held up in a bun replied, she was sitting alongside a man with short blonde hair and a strong jaw.
Kairi poured herself some cereal and milk and sat at the table, she got through three bites before she realized her parents were still staring at her. She slowly lowered her spoon and glanced at her parents, who were giving her odd looks.
"Mom…Dad… is something wrong?"
Her parents exchanged glances briefly before her mother turned to her, "Well sweetie… you are a budding young woman and you are being exposed to a whole world of new things…"
Kairi blinked a few times, what kind of conversation was this?
"And these things are new and exciting, but also as a growing woman you need to understand the responsibilities that come with these new things-"
"Mom," Kairi interrupted, "I'm sorry but… what's this about?"
Her father reached down and picked up something that was in the floor next to him, he lifted it up for Kairi to see: a black leather jacket. Kairi looked at the foreign object several times before she realized who's it was. Sora's jacket… did last night really happen? She looked back and forth between her parents and realized that they weren't thinking the same thing she was, feeling her face go the same color as her hair she went into damage control.
"No wait before you get any ideas nothing happened, nothing happened," she explained. "The owner of that jacket was just here to talk to me, nothing more."
Her father's eyes narrowed and she added, "I'm telling the truth!"
"Well…" Kairi's mother began hesitantly, "All right honey, we trust you."
"Who is the owner of the jacket?" her father asked sharply.
Kairi averted her eyes as she spoke, "Um… he-"
"Isn't that Sora's jacket?"
Kairi turned to the sound of her sister's voice as she came into the kitchen, she paused to get a good look at the jacket and nodded.
"Yep, that's the jacket Sora uses for his evening job." she said, putting toast in the toaster.
Evening job? I didn't know Cid offered night shifts… Kairi thought as he father gave her an odd look.
"Isn't this Sora the one who kept harassing you at school?" he questioned.
"Well, yes…" she began, upon seeing the look her father made now she get defensive, "But he's changed now, he's kind and sweet and…and…"
She blinked, did she just say he was kind and sweet? Her sideways glance to a smirking Namine confirmed she did, in fact, say those things. Before her father could speak her mother stood up and interrupted him.
"You two should get dressed, it's a school day."
Kairi nodded, eager to get out of the conversation before it got worse. She ate her cereal hurriedly, grabbed her backpack and ran out the door.
Sora and Roxas had just pulled the car to the front of the school when the buses arrived. Sora sighed and stretched his arms a bit, his wounds from last night, although healed, were sore. It also didn't help that Roxas slapped him in the back, where one of his wounds were.
"OUCH!" He yelped, "Watch where you're hitting!"
"Sorry," Roxas smirked, "I keep forgetting, oh well. So, aside from the fear of getting killed wasn't last night AWESOME?!"
"Yeah…awesome," Sora muttered, he and Roxas walked up to the school doors and stepped into the bustling hallways.
"I mean come on, how many times do you get to battle an army of vampires and live?" Roxas grinned.
"Keep your voice down idiot," Sora hissed as he opened his locker.
"Right, right," he said, his voice was laced with enthusiasm. "Come on, just tell me, how many times?"
"Once okay, and hoping it stays that way," Sora grumbled. "Personally I had enough dealings with vampires to last a lifetime."
As he closed the locker door Yuna was leaning on the one next to him, startling him.
"I'm insulted, you really think low of little ol' me?" Yuna taunted as Sora glared at her.
"I'm thinking about it," Sora muttered, picking up his books and attempting to walk away from her.
Unfortunately she followed after him and placed an arm around his shoulder, his face heated up and he darted his eyes back and forth. She was being too close for comfort.
"So," she began eagerly, not caring about the fact she had her arm around his neck. "Guess what I did today?"
"Annoy the hell out of me?" Sora asked hoping she would catch the hint, she didn't.
"Nope, I enrolled as a student here!" she said in a chipper tone.
"You what?!" Sora yelped, pulling her arm away from him.
Yuna huffed and placed her hands on her hips, her lower lip stuck out and a frown appeared in her lips.
"Don't act so shocked, I'm not here to learn." Yuna told him, the she responded with a small smile. "I'm here for the boys."
Sora blinked once or twice before he snapped himself out of his shock, "And what boys could you be thinking of?"
Before Yuna could answer a dirty blonde teen walked back and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey there Yuna," Tidus grinned.
Sora's jaw dropped, Yuna sighed before placing her hand on his chin and pushing his jaw back up.
"It's rude to do that," she chirped, wrapping her arm around Tidus's waist. She gave a big wave as she walked off. "See you later!"
Sora was still in shock as she left, Roxas waved his hand in front of his face and snapped his fingers at him. When that didn't work he sighed and walked off, he had to make to class and didn't have time to heal his rude shock. By the time Sora snapped himself to reality Roxas was gone, he looked around and when he saw he wasn't around he shrugged. I got some time before class, maybe some music… he pulled out his MP3 and slipped in some ear buds, cursing cause he wished he brought his big headphones, he liked they way the fit on his head. What do I feel like today… ah here we go. He found the song that seemed most appealing right now and hit play.
Save me from this prison
Lord help me get away
Cause only you can save me now from this misery
I've been lost in my own place
And I'm getting' weary
How far is heaven?
And I know I need to change my ways of livin'
How far is heaven, Lord can you tell me?
As he was listening he saw a familiar red head push herself through the crowd, a black object in her hands. It was only a few minutes when he realized she was holding his jacket, his insides jumped in panic, he was hoping she didn't recognize it. She pushed through the other students and stood in front of him, Sora made sure his face was as impassive as he could make it to be. Kairi took a deep breath and held the jacket in front of him.
"Here, you left this last night."
Sora was sure he heard her well over the music, he removed one ear bud just to be safe. Taking the jacket with his free hand he nodded.
"Um, thank you," he said, throwing it over his shoulder. "Listen… about last night."
He paused to find the right words, she looked at him expectantly as he struggled to speak.
"I…hope I wasn't being a burden or anything, I… last night was just one of my not so great nights, it-"
"Stop," Kairi interrupted, holding her hand out. "You are not a burden to me, last night you were upset and needed help, and honestly…I felt like I could understand you better."
"I did, er, you did?" Sora felt confused, but relieved too. "I mean, well I'm glad you don't I am just dead weight or something. These past few days have been…"
"Crazy?" Kairi suggested, he nodded in agreement.
"Yeah…these past few days were very hectic."
Cause I've been locked up way too long in this crazy world,
How far is heaven?
And I just keep on prayin' Lord
And just keep on livin'… how far is heaven?
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven?
I just got to know how far, how far is heaven?
Lord can you tell me?
"I heard Yuffie was found," Kairi spoke, "She's in the hospital now, she was shot but she's expected to recover."
"I know, I um…I heard on the news." Sora scratched his nose, "I'm glad she's doing better."
"Yeah me too." she nodded, feeling the awkward silence fall between them again.
The two of them shifted in their spots as the crowd of students began to taper off to get to their classes, the two of them stood there regardless of the fact that they too should be going off to class.
"Listen… you've been going above and beyond the call of duty these past few weeks," Kairi began, causing Sora to raise his eyebrow. "Between saving me from those guys at the beach and getting stabbed in leg trying to save Yuffie. If you've been doing all this just to make up for what you did to me I want you to stop."
Sora didn't respond at first because he found himself immobilized by her stare of worry, but he had to answer honestly. "No, I can't do that."
"Look, I forgive you okay?" Kairi insisted, "That's what you want right? My forgiveness? There, you have it so please stop throwing yourself in danger."
"It's not just that," Sora answered, looking down at his feet. "I mean, yeah it was at first but…now it's something else."
"What…what else could there be?" she asked, getting annoyed that he wouldn't look at her. "Look at me when you answer, please."
Sora slowly lifted his head and looked at her meekly as he answered. "Because… I want to help. I can't just stand by while someone gets hurt, I can't look the other way… not anymore."
Tu que estas en alto cielo,
Echame tu bendiciòn
"Why can't you?" Kairi asked.
"I…I have this, this thing inside me." he answered slowly. "I can't explain it but, it… it's dark and evil, by helping people I feel like I can put this dark evil thing to use."
"This dark and- what the hell are you talking about!?" she spluttered, "That doesn't make sense!"
"It's how I feel," Sora shrugged, "Call me crazy or whatever. But I answered your question, I just…I can't stand by. I won't stand by."
There were many questions she wanted to ask him, but they just seemed to float in the air, out of her reach. He sighed and walked away from her, he had classes to go to. Finally her mind landed on something and she called out to him.
"Sora…would you like to have lunch with me?"
Sora stopped mid-step and turned around, he stared at her with wide eyes. Even though his hair obscured his left eye Kairi could see the surprise clearly. Her face was as red as her flame red hair and she looked down at the floor, she felt foolish.
"I'd love to," Sora answered, raising her head up to a look of relief.
"Great," she giggled, "I'll um, see you there."
She gave a small wave and she walked off the opposite way he did, Sora watched her walk off and turned down the hall and walked down it. He heard footsteps and saw Aerith walk up beside him.
"Did you just get a date with Kairi?" she asked in a teasing tone.
"I… suppose I did." he answered, maybe things are looking up.
Cause I know there's a better place than this place I'm livin'
How far is heaven?
And I just got to have some faith and just keep on giving,
How far is heaven?
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven?
I just wanna know how far, how far is heaven?
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven?
'Cause I just gotta know how far!
I just wanna know far!
…A lone person stepped out of the warm sunlight filled halls and into a dark janitor closet, on the floor were several old books and some candles. It was dark and cold as the person sat in the middle of the room and began chanting in Latin, as soon as he finished the chant the candles he had went out and the air went even colder. A figure emerged from the shadows and stepped in front of the person.
"You know what you ask for…?" Mephisto questioned.
"I know, I made up my mind," the person called from the shadows. "Can you give me the power?"
"Yes…I can," Mephisto nodded. "For your soul of course."
"Done," the person grinned, holding out a small vial that held a single drop of blood. "I even have my ink."
Mephisto grinned at the person's humor and held out the parchment inscribed in Latin, the person tipped the vial over and the drop of blood landed on the page. Closing the parchment Mephisto walked away.
"Pleasure doing business with you…" he smirked as the boy began feeling a rush of power being burned into his body.
The boy laughed as he felt an elation of raw dark power course through his system, clawing at the ground as he laughed, waiting for the process to be over. When it was finished the boy slowly stood up, knocking aside the brooms at the corner of the room he picked up a bucket and contemplated his image. His eyes glowing red were the only thing he could see in his reflection, but it was a sign that the deal had worked.
"Soorrrraaaa," Hayner grinned as he set the bucket down, "You're not the only one with a dark evil thing inside you anymore…"
End of Episode 3.
The next episode coming up is Episode 4: Vengeance.
Warning, warning, warning: the next episode has a permanent character death: someone is going to leave Ghost Rider forever. You may place your guesses, but I won't answer directly if you're right or wrong, later!
The song above was "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys.
