The following week passed in a blissful blur. Sora felt like the king of the school. He had gotten straight A's on all of his club midterms. His drag and pun performances for Coco and Larxene were hits, his poem was one of the best in the class, and his petunia was one of the most beautiful. People who had never glanced twice at him before came to congratulate him on his turn as Rosso. Sora had expected her to murder him the first day back, but she had disappeared for the entire week. Sephiroth, an adjunct faculty member, taught Class C in her absence. He seemed to maintain a good rapport with the students. Sora even caught him speaking with Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie on their way back from the summit for lunch. Other things had changed since midterm results were published and class resumed session as well. Several students switched skill levels. Riku's combat rank as of midterms was eighth in the class, meaning he was one slot away from being one of the most powerful students in the school. Since the Drag Show he avoided Sora completely. Sora did not even see him in the halls. Though Kairi's combat rank reached number one in the class, she remained in Class P. Sora evening practices with Roxas were sporadic. The most bittersweet change was that Nao's expulsion sentence had been moved back another two weeks. She was even allowed to continue training until the Galactic Federation vessel arrived. Argento's help in the matter had been indispensible. Sora resumed running with her before morning class.
This morning, as they passed the bridge between the peaks, Sora thought about his meltdown before the Drag Show. How Nao said he glowed. As he and Argento mounted the second peak he spotted the early morning yoga class practicing on the summit across the valley. Argento stopped for a water break. As she sat on a nearby tree trunk to wipe around her eye patch, Sora kicked his sneakers through the mud.
"You should get yourself a pair of running shoes," Argento huffed, pointing to his worn soles and pursing her lips. Sora shrugged. He was wearing one of Zell's old pairs of jogging shorts and a t-shirt of Joshua's. He supposed wearing a different outfit than his pumpkin pant romper every once in a while was more hygienic. As he leaned against a stone nearby he pursed his lips.
"Argento?" he asked. She glanced up at him in expectation.
"Did I actually glow during the Drag Show?"
Argento furrowed her brows. "Of course you glowed, Sora. You shot out the footlights."
"Why hasn't anyone been talking about it?" Sora asked. Argento chuckled.
"When I say glow I don't mean you shone like a light bulb. It was more of a static- like the time Sota confronted Eraqus."
"Oh," Sora whispered. Argento patted his shoulder. "There was static coming from the audience too, Sora. It was one hundred fifty people to one. I'm sure the lights broke because of the tension between the stage and the house."
"What does that mean?" asked Sora. Argento bit her lip in deliberation. Then she took a stick and drew a circle with a line through the center in the sand. The left side of the circle was Sora. The right was the audience. The line between was their energy meeting.
"Have you noticed how nearly every freshman in your class experienced their first burst of power when they were in a very tight emotional situation?"
Sora pursed his lips as he thought about it. Every exhibition of his friends' powers occurred during a homeroom graded face off. Pence's camera flash, Beat's skateboard, Shiki's cat, Sota and Neku's pins. Riku's darkness. Argento grinned and pointed to the line dividing the center of the circle. "Tension," she intoned. "Tension creates energy. Energy creates power. Once you know it's there, you figure out how to control it. That's what first semester is all about."
"So you have to know magic exists to wield it?" Sora chirped. Argento furrowed her brows.
"Sora, there is a difference between magic and power. Magic is when you channel the power within you through an object to engage a certain element. There's always a formula. Power is intuitive."
Sora found himself sliding to sit on the peak grass. As he mulled things over he picked on his white soles. "So why isn't everyone everywhere magical?"
"Powerful, Sora," Argento corrected. Then she engaged Destiny Islands as an example, using the sand to accentuate her points.
"Say there is an island full of people with latent power- no need for it. Harmony." Argento drew a smaller circle beside the tension circle and filled it with squares. "Then, something happens to disrupt that harmony." She inserted a dot. "Tension is created. Ultimately, a few will step forward and recognize the power within them." Several of the squares darkened.
"The Hero Law?" asked Sora. He thought he had read about it in one of Roxas' library books. Argento scoffed but nodded.
"Vulpes' Law. I never said those recognizing their power were heroes. But in an instance of tension, someone always gives."
"There will always be a door to the light!" Sora cried. Argento snorted.
"There will always be a victor," she muttered. "And the victors are the ones writing the Laws." In irritation she drove her stick through the mud and stood. Sora scrambled up to meet her.
"Wait a minute," he muttered. Then, clutching the rim of Joshua's t-shirt in his hands, he asked Argento what the Academy was all about.
"If anyone can discover the power inside them, then anyone can be a hero, right? How does this school choose? Why don't they just let everyone in? Why aren't there hero schools everywhere?"
"Shinra is not willing to teach slow learners," Argento responded. "And making everyone a hero would defeat their purpose."
"So they only take talented people?" Sora asked with a gulp. He hoped he had talent. Argento stood.
"To be honest, Sora," she started, gnawing at her cheek as she thought, "I don't believe in talent. I don't believe people are born to rule."
"Oh," Sora responded in surprise. He did not know how this answered his question, but he felt as though Argento were telling him something important. Something personal.
"I believe people are shaped by their experiences. Really, you boil any hero to the bone and what do you get? Whom they know, what they have, where they were, and what they believe in."
"Does that mean I can't be a hero?" Sora said. Argento blinked down at him. Her expression drew gaunt. When she asked why he wanted to be a hero, Sora shrugged.
"Is the gift to protect a wish of yours?" she asked. Sora nodded with vigor. Argento's burning eyes made him shrink.
"All who seek to be heroes are killers, Sora," she hissed. "Heroes feed on despair and hopelessness. They suck friends dry and hide them in their growing shadow. Never aim to be a hero, Sora. Harmony. Love. Aim for that." As she turned to continue running, Sora stopped her and asked if the school was preparing for the worst. She murmured that it was. But not in the way Sora expected. Thoughts of what Sota said to Eraqus wrung through his head again. Why would a famous key blade wielder let Shinra run his school? Why would he need a bunch of suits, anyway? As Sora furrowed his brows, he asked if Shinra had powers, too.
"I've never seen Reno use any," he elaborated.
"Reno does not need a power," returned Argento. "He's already got it."
"That's what people keep saying," responded Sora in a mutter. Argento had begun jogging again. Now that Sora's mind was on Sota, he could not keep the thoughts away. "Why did you say Sota was talented after he fought with Eraqus?" he asked.
"Because the static coming from his body was so strong it burned my hands," Argento huffed. "When "normal people"- people who have not been genetically modified or are not born with superhuman abilities- first exhibit power, it is usually through the help of a weapon. But Sota did not need one."
"So when those bells healed me on my first week of school, was that my power?" asked Sora. Argento's expression fell.
"The only way you could have cast that spell, Sora, was through a weapon."
"But I don't have a weapon," Sora responded. Argento shrugged.
"Not all weapons are material. The key blade, for example, derives purely from its wielder's heart."
"So I have a key blade inside me?" Sora cried. Argento shrugged.
"Or someone else cast that spell for you. Which means that if you do not manage to summon a key blade by the end of the semester, one of the key blade wielders at this academy is going to be in very big trouble."
Sora grimaced. Someone else might have cast the cure spells on him during his first week of school? As he held onto the hope that he had cast them himself, and that there was a key blade somewhere in his heart waiting to reveal itself, Sora asked how Argento knew so much about the key blade if she did not wield one herself.
"It's my job," she sighed. "I build weaponry. That is why the key blade fascinates me. It is an unforgeable weapon. Or, at least, unforgeable from a material perspective."
As they neared the school, Sora's mind returned to Sota and Nao's expulsion.
"So if Sota goes back all staticky to a world full of normal people, how will he cope?" Sora inquired. Argento chuckled and said that there would be quite a bit of tension in Shibuya for the next few years. "If he becomes a hairdresser like he said, the power will eventually return to sleep. Hopefully since he knows it's there, he'll be able to work on it by himself. But that takes desire and determination, which I don't think he has."
"He has desire and determination for Nao!" blustered Sora as the jog picked up. Argento laughed and agreed. "That's what I told him," she grinned. "I told him to be ready in case Shinra decides to come after either of them."
"Well, if Shinra ever decides to hook me to a lab table and get out their scalpels, I'll know where to run," Sora shot back with a giggle. The air grew tense immediately. When he glanced towards Argento to see what happened, his smile slopped away.
"I think that is a smart way of thinking," she hissed. "I think that is a very smart way of thinking."
Speaking ceased for the rest of the run. Not necessarily because Sora felt like he had crossed a moral line. It was more of a threshold, a step from warm sunshine into a cold, cramped basement. It was a different world. It scared him. When they reached the school again, Sora thanked Argento for her help and trudged up to the grand hall for breakfast. Usually he skipped it on account of combat class, but Rosso was still absent, and it was a Friday. As Sora skipped his way down the breakfast line to pick out toast, rashers, eggs, hash browns, and porridge, he glanced around for people he knew. One of the kitchen staff told him he was unparalleled in the Drag Show. When Sora leaned forward to talk about it, someone shoved him in the arm and told him to move along. When he turned to see who it was, his shoulders shot up.
Riku's eyes burned in surprise as he looked down at Sora. He must not have recognized him in jogging shorts and with his hair tied back. When Sora smiled to speak, Riku whipped around and began to stalk off. He had left a half plate of toast and eggs in the middle of the line. When Nimo called for him to come back, the silverette ignored him. Sora called out to him and tried transporting him his tray of toast and eggs. When he prodded the boy in the arm, Riku slapped his hand away and stomped his foot. His teeth gnashed. Sora reeled back as the dark aura bubbling around the boy's chest singed the hair of his arms.
"What does it take for you to leave me the fuck alone!" Riku roared. For a moment, black bubbling smoke whipped around his shoulders. Then, as quickly as it had come, the dark aura disappeared. Riku blinked around in shock. His cheeks pinked. Then Nimo burst out laughing behind him. Sora shrank under their stare. As Riku turned to leave again, Sora cried "no," and indicated the breakfast line with his head cast in submission.
"You need to eat, Riku, so I won't stop you," he mumbled. He grabbed his tray and moved down the line. As he did, Nimo stayed at his side. "Great job in the Drag Show, Sora," he whispered out of Riku's earshot. Then, with a wink, "You make a nice woman." Sora responded with a weak nod. He did not know if Nimo's admission was an insult or a compliment. After mumbling, "thanks," he took his food tray and moved for a table. When he sat down to tuck into his porridge alone, he felt an arm brush against his side and hot breath against his shoulder. Was Nimo following him? When he turned to see who it was, his stomach dropped.
Vanitas grinned down at him. When Sora glanced around for an escape route or helping hand, he found none. He was surrounded by people that he knew by face or name, but for some reason they would not approach him. Vanitas' hand fell upon Sora's shoulder and wrenched it to face him, making Sora gasp back a shriek. The dark boy squatted by his chair now, looking up at him through thick black eyelashes.
"Great job on the drag show," he cooed. "Interest has spiked. Everyone is curious."
"It's a fun club," Sora croaked. Vanitas laughed. Was Sora dreaming?
"All the upperclassmen are hitting the house on Avenida at ten. Are you coming?"
"What?" Sora barked. His knuckles were white from clinging to the table.
"The warehouse, termite!" Vanitas laughed. Sora's brows furrowed. Vanitas' words flowed off his tongue like acid cubes on a bed of velvet. Sora found himself chuckling along. Vanitas rapped him on the back. To his horror, the dark boy plopped down beside him. Sora felt countless eyes on his back.
"Well, me and Sota and Nao were planning on going to the concert hall for synthwave night," gulped Sora in apology. Vanitas threw back his head and cackled. It made Sora wince. When Vanitas glanced at him again, his eyes were so hot and sharp they nearly threw Sora off his chair.
"Don't be a dipshit, termite. Can't you go to two clubs in one night?"
"I guess so," Sora gulped, a nervous smile playing across his cheeks. Vanitas patted his neck and winked, adding, "The Avenida party is only for upperclassmen. But I'm sure if you dressed as Rosso they'd let you in, no questions asked."
"Oh," responded Sora. Vanitas wanted him to dress as a woman for an upperclassman party? He did not even know where or what the house on Avenida was.
"Riku's been there," Vanitas added. Sora snapped to attention. Riku?
"And Nao and Sota and whoever else you want to come can. Just dress up." With that, Vanitas ruffled his hair and left him to his own devices, snatching one of his pieces of toast and three of his rashers on his way off. Sora glanced down at the remains of his breakfast in tears. He was upset and he did not know why. Rubbing his eyes clean, he glanced around for familiar faces. Usually Roxas hit the cafeteria before class for coffee. But Sora could not find him anywhere. For some reason, he felt like he needed him. It had been almost a month since he had had a proper conversation with him. The longer they stayed apart, and the closer it came to Sota and Nao's departure, the greater the fear that clung to Sora's back constantly grew. With a sigh he trudged his uneaten food back to the breakfast line and asked for a takeaway box. Maybe his appetite would return by lunch.
Thank you for the reviews! 3 Last chapter was a blast to write and came from binge watching RuPaul. But with every mountain comes a deep valley! Will Sora follow Vanitas' suggestion and go to the party on Avenida? If so, what will he discover there?! Where the hell is Roxas? Will Riku ever stop being a dick? Stay tuned!