Shadows of a Dream: Final Mix
Chapter Thirty-Four - Remedy
Kairi's eyes snapped open and shot towards the door. It was dark in the room, and knowing that the creatures moved in the dark made it frighten her a bit. Of course, she knew it was only dark because the candles had burned out and nothing more, but she couldn't help but be nervous. Why did everything want people with a lot of light in them? It almost made it seem worth it to be dark.
She shivered a bit, and Sora let out a small groan beside her. They were stretched out on one of the couches, his arms wrapped around her from behind, and they were under a thick blanket. It was freezing in the room that they were in, so all of them were under thick blankets that Midori managed to find. She had tried to get into the room with the bed that had been set aside for the prince, but the bed had been in pieces so they all stayed together in the same room. Luckily, Mickey and Donald were small enough to sleep on the chairs without much trouble, Goofy was stretched over the loveseat, and Riku and Midori took opposite ends of the sectional couch. Kairi wasn't sure why there were so many places to sit in the room, but she assumed that it was because none of the royal family wanted to chance having to stand or something.
Kairi felt Sora squeeze her a little tighter and mutter something in his sleep, but she couldn't hear what. She rolled over so that she was facing him and wrapped her arms around his body. She was so cold, but at the same time it was nothing compared to when they were in Deep Jungle. She supposed that it had more to do with the fact that she could sense the creatures lurking the hallways beyond the thick, protective walls and door. The creatures knew that they were there, and they were willing to wait for them to come out. It was the feeling of being hunted that made her so uncomfortable and stopped her from bring able to get to sleep. She didn't like the feeling of being potential prey, a potential victim…again.
Her mind began to wander as she remembered what Midori revealed earlier. All along, that was why she felt familiar. Kairi hadn't really seen all that much of Crysita, but at the same time she knew that Midori and Crysita felt almost the same. She was able to pinpoint the feeling easily now that she knew. Midori was definitely different though. She didn't have nearly as much darkness to her, but the thought that Crysita had come from her made Kairi a bit nervous. She was also confused, because as far as any of them knew, whenever a Nobody was created they looked identical to their original, the exception being Roxas and Namine. It wasn't strange that Crysita looked a little bit different from Midori, it was strange that Midori looked different from what she originally did.
Mickey had said that he never heard of that happening before, so he theorized that Crysita was something different all together. His idea was that she was only half of a Nobody for some reason, which would explain why Midori was still there as well, because she had half of the heart within her. Simply put, that made Midori part Nobody as well.
Riku had pointed out that it would explain why she didn't get emotional with most things but she was still able to feel some emotions. She had hit him in response.
Kairi knew that Midori was on their side, but at the same time she had always had bad experiences with most Nobodies. Sure, Naminé was part of her and Kairi liked Roxas as well, but at the same time Naminé had messed with Sora's memories and had honestly wanted him to forget about Kairi and just stay with her, and Roxas didn't want to help Sora wake up but stay as he was. Axel had kidnapped her, and no matter what Sora said about his sacrifice, all she could remember was his hand gripping her arm tightly, leaving an extremely nasty bruise, and how he had locked her away, giving her some food every once and a while. Still, in retrospect, she wished that she had never run away from Axel. Saïx had been there to capture her almost immediately. Pluto had run after her, and she was glad that he did. Unlike Axel, who had no interest in really harming her at the time, Saïx had hit her when she tried to get away from him, but she hadn't let that stop her. Eventually, he drugged her and threw her in the cell, not bothering to stop Pluto from running in after her. She had awoke with a headache and feeling incredibly dizzy, but Pluto had been there to keep her company and to keep her warm, so for that she was thankful for.
The others that had been there at the time hadn't been any nicer. The only one that hadn't really mocked her or anything was Demyx, but he had only seen her once before going off to do something and never coming back. She later learned that he had been destroyed by Sora at that point of time. Xaldin had given her extremely odd looks, as if trying to place her with a far-off memory, but for the most part he ignored her until he too was destroyed by Sora. That left Luxord, Xigbar, Saïx and Xemnas himself. She never actually dealt with Luxord and Xemnas herself, but Saïx had come to taunt her more than once, and Xigbar just came and stood there, watching her. It was incredibly unnerving, knowing that he was doing nothing but staring with a dark smirk on his face as if he knew something that she didn't.
Simply put, she didn't really have many good experiences with Nobodies outside of Roxas and Naminé, so knowing that Midori was part one (or, at least, Mickey theorized was a partial one) made her a bit nervous.
She suddenly felt Sora's hand move from her back, up to her cheek. Her eyes snapped up to his, seeing that he was awake. Well, he was sort-of awake. She could tell that he would probably fall asleep the second he let his eyes close, but he was forcing himself to stay away.
"What's wrong?" she whispered to him, not wanting to disturb anyone else.
He ignored her question, running one hand through her hair and the other started to rub her back gently. Sora kissed her forehead and whispered, "Go to sleep Iri."
She wanted to protest, but as his hand rubbed her back in soothing, circular motions, and the other stroked her hair softly, she found it hard to resist the call of sleep. She felt Sora pull him towards her, before kissing her on the forehead again. Soon, she was asleep.
VVVVVVVVVV
Riku woke up to a rustling sound. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before looking around, seeing that Mickey too was roused by the noise while Donald, Goofy, Sora and Kairi slept on. He turned and looked at the other part of the sectional couch, registering that Midori was gone, before looking over the back of the couch. Sure enough, the green haired girl was going through the cupboards, looking for something within them.
"What are you doing?" he asked with another yawn.
"I just remembered something," she said while casting a quick glance over her shoulder at him. "I've been looking everywhere for it, because I know it's still here and—ah ha!" She jumped off of the counter that she had been standing on, a jar of glowing, white liquid in her hand. She moved over to the table that was there, and placed it beside a series of other odd things.
Mickey shrugged off his blanket and got off of his chair, going over to see what she was doing. He glanced curiously at the book that was on the table, and asked, "What's this?"
"I had a sudden realization earlier this morning," Midori explained as he started to pull out pots, spoons, measuring cups and bowls. "A long time ago women were seen as witches here, and at first, as women came into power instead of men, it was believed that they were casting spells. That wasn't exactly true though. There were certain families that did have wiccans in their families though. They're like witches, but they worship and use nature to help people. Keep in mind that the definition of help is subjective. Some were good, and some were bad. Anyway, no matter which way you look at it, they made some incredible potions and herbal mixes from the things that grew in the wild here. Now though, these mixtures are all that's left. That book has potions in it you'd never even imagine. It was here in case it was needed when the royal family was locked in here."
"Really?" Mickey asked while climbing on one of the chairs to look at the book. "What do you plan on doing with it?"
She motioned to the book and said, "When I was little an entire pot of boiling water fell on my arm. I'm talking really hot water. Anyway, they took me to the healers here and they made a potion from that book. One that's so potent, it can heal the deepest stab wounds. It can save people from dying if administered in time. I don't know how to make the potions, but I thought maybe someone else could. If we can do it right, it should heal Sora's hands. Given how his hands would have already started healing a little bit on their own, he'll probably still have some scars, but he should be able to actually use his hands."
"Wow," Mickey said while flipping through the pages of the book, skimming it quickly, "some of these are amazing!"
She shrugged and said, "Then the book's yours. I can barely understand it. I did know what the ingredients were though, so I went looking for them. I knew that the royal family would have had all the ingredients they needed in here. It was just to see if they were broken or not. That's all of them though, so once we get out of here and find the stuff for the ship, we can heal his hands."
"You know, I was thinking, we're pretty close to Burning Embers right now, so maybe we should just head towards it. We don't know exactly what's wrong with the gummi, but we do know that we can fly the ship safely because Sora was able to steady and land it fine. Instead of trying to fix it here or turning around, getting it fixed and going out again. This way might add on an extra day or two, the other way we're probably looking at loosing two weeks, give or take," Mickey said.
"We'd be safe here in the gummi ship," Riku said. "Wouldn't we? I mean, we could fix it at day and then go back inside at night, right?"
"I'm not too sure," Mickey said hesitantly. "It almost sounded like they were trying to scratch through the cement around us. It's too thick though. It wouldn't surprise me if they could get through the hull of a ship."
"Yeah, and this place looks like it's been sucked dry of people except for probably in the safe zones, so the fact that we, especially Sora, Kairi and Mickey, are here will probably drive them to get through it. They'll probably be awake during the day actually, but they won't be able to get into the sunlight."
"Don't tell Kairi," Mickey said, his dark eyes shooting over to where the girl in question still slept peacefully with her boyfriend. "She was awake for most of last night. I couldn't get much sleep because I could hear them outside, but I think she could sense them. These creatures give off really weird auras."
"She wasn't always this afraid of things," Riku said with a sigh. "Before we tried to leave Destiny Islands, she was always willing to go into strange caves or try to approach weird animals. After we got back though, while she wasn't afraid, she was just a lot quieter, like she gave up trying to keep up with me and Sora and settled on being stuck in the sidelines. Now, after what happened, she's just so...paranoid."
"I can't say I blame her," Midori said with a shrug. "She's better though. She doesn't scream when you just show up anymore. She doesn't even cringe when you go near her."
"Come on guys," Mickey interrupted. "I didn't bring her up for you to gossip about. I just wanted you to know not to mention anything about the creatures. Lets get all this stuff packed up."
Both of them nodded and set to work, while Mickey turned around and stared at the couch. Sora cracked his eyes open, haven been awake for most of the conversation. Mickey had heard him, and looked over, noticing that he did not look impressed with them talking about Kairi. The boy shot Mickey a quick smile before settling on stroking the hair of the young woman in his arms.
Mickey looked down at the recipe for this specialized potion, not recognizing a few of the ingredients. If Midori said that she had them, then she probably had them. It was odd, now that Mickey knew what her secret was (he had known that she was hiding something all along), it actually made him trust her a little bit more. He really hoped that she was right and this potion would help Sora.
He suddenly heard a small scream with a loud thump, and looked around quickly. Sora and Kairi had tumbled onto the floor, Kairi lying on top of him with a rather stunned look and Sora smiling broadly. They were still wrapped in their blanket, and because they tumbled onto the floor, it was twisted around them looking more like a cocoon than anything else. Mickey just smiled and turned back to the book.
A little while later, once Donald and Goofy were up and Sora and Kairi were untangled, Midori assured them that it should be safe to go outside. The only thing they should be worried about was if it became too dark with clouds. Only direct sunlight, and not UV rays in general, affected them. Why? She had no clue, it was just the way things were.
The sunlight was intensely bright as they opened the door, but it wasn't the only surprise waiting for them. Kairi let out an odd sound as she saw the dead humanoid thing in front of them. It looked like its skin had burned off, which Midori said it probably had. The creatures were desperate it seemed, waiting until the last minute to leave.
They walked swiftly through the town, but not nearly as fast as Midori would have liked because most of them were weighed down with different things from the room. They had decided that taking some of the spare candles as well as the thick blankets was a good idea, so including the potion ingredients and the book itself, they had quite a few things with them.
Unfortunately, Midori was right about the creatures daring to brave the sun at the chance for their version of food. They didn't come into the actual sunlight itself, but many were awake, waiting in the shadows. They all made sure to stick to the bright sunlight and away from the shadows. Not only that, but there were clouds in the distance that Midori didn't like the looks of. They were dark and thick, meaning that the creatures would be able to move around more.
Suddenly, they heard a chuckling that turned into hysterical laughter. Midori felt the hair of her neck stand on end and she tried to ignore it, but the laughter soon turned into giggles while the voice said, "Midi, Midi, Midi, what is this? You're you but you're not you. You're more you than I am me, but you're not you."
"Go to the ship," Midori said through clenched teeth to everyone else. "She's trying to distract us until the clouds get here."
"Midi? Midi! Are you ignoring me? That's not very nice you know. Ignoring your older sister."
"What?" Riku exclaimed with surprise and whipped around. He looked and saw one of the creatures, this one with dirty black hair, gaunt skin and dull brown eyes.
"Riku, come on," Midori urged him on.
"He just wants to meet your sister Midi! That's all. Come over here so I can get a good look at you."
"Come on!" Riku looked around at her, surprised to see an upset look on her face, her eyes avoiding looking at the creature in front of them. She looked up at him and said, "If those clouds get here, we're all done for." She and Riku were the only ones who stopped, so everyone else was farther ahead. Sora in particular was rushing Kairi to go as fast as she could. The wind was picking up now, pushing the clouds closer faster.
"Midi! Midi! Oh you're a nasty thing, ignoring your sister. I won't forgive you, you know. Not ever!"
"Ignore her," Riku managed to say as they started to rush back. "Don't listen to a word it has to say."
The trek back to the ship was much faster, but that was because, by the end, everyone was running. The others were already on the ship when Riku and Midori got there. Riku secured the door while Midori made sure that all of the breakable jars wouldn't fall and break. They needed everything in them to cure Sora's hands properly.
Sora was sitting at the controls, insisting that, despite the thick bandages on his hands, he was the best flyer out of them so injury or not, he was probably the one that would be able to get them away at a second's notice.
Once everyone was sitting and secured in, Sora turned on all of the controls. He looked out the front window and said, "Oh shit."
Everyone else looked out and saw that the clouds had hidden the sun's rays and the creatures were rushing towards the gummi ship. Midori wasn't kidding when she said that they were extremely fast.
"Sora go!" Kairi yelled at him as she kicked the back of his chair. There was no doubt in her mind that her life was some combination of horrible clichéd teenage romantic comedy, a tacky dramatic action movie, and now a bad horror-suspense film too.
"The engines have to start up first," he snapped back, on edge as he watched the creatures get closer. "Do you really think I'm dumb enough to just sit here while they get closer for thrills?"
She glared at the back of his head, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"They're getting awfully close," Mickey said, staring at them.
"Systems are taking longer because someone had to drive the ship into a meteor shower," Sora said, and Donald shifted uncomfortably.
The creatures were close now, and just as they were about to reach the ship, all the systems finally came online and Sora managed to jerk the ship off of the ground roughly. They all heard a thump that they were sure was the ship hitting one of the creatures as they took off towards the atmosphere, only breathing evenly again when they were back in space with no meteors in sight.
Riku sighed in relief before turning to Midori while saying, "I think we deserve some sort of explanation. I know you gave us a bit of one, but now that we don't have to be worried about being eaten or something, I'd seriously like to know what the hell you were thinking about not telling us that Crysita was your Nobody? Or half of you. Or whatever she is."
"Riku," Sora snapped at him, "Can't that wait?"
"Until what Sora?" Kairi interrupted with a cross voice. "Until we mess up because we underestimated Crysita in some way that she could have helped us avoid?"
Before Sora could answer Mickey said, "Okay guys, stop it. I think we all need to get calm our nerves a bit. Get something to eat and get some peaceful sleep. We can take turns driving." Mickey knew that none of them had really slept the night before, even if they wouldn't admit it.
The tension in the air was thick, but Sora was the first to nod his head and said, "Alright. Who's first?"
"I'll stay here," Mickey said while motioning to the controls. "You guys go get something to eat or have a nap. Donald or Goofy will replace me later."
"Not Donald," Sora said with a sigh. "I'd like the ship to remain in tact."
"Like you've never crashed it before," Kairi muttered, causing Sora to stare at her with a slightly surprised look that shifted into a rather unimpressed one. He mumbled something under his breath as he watched her turn on her heel and go.
He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he walked after her. She didn't turn around to acknowledge is presence until they were almost by the rooms when she shot around and snapped, "What?"
"What's you're problem?" Sora asked her crossly. "I tell you that I'm not just being stupid and keeping us on the ground for kicks and you get all pissed at me. What did I do?"
"Well first, you didn't have to be such a jackass about it," she said. "Then you feel the need to stand up for her?"
"Why wouldn't I? Midori didn't do anything wrong."
"What makes her do different from Crysita? Why do you assume something can be easily split into good and evil? You and Roxas aren't. Naminé and I aren't. Hell, neither half of Ansem, Xemnas, Xehanort—whoever the fuck he was, were good. How do we know she's not really exactly like Crysita, just more—subtle about it? How do we know she's not part of that group? What if she knew that Jorix was going to take me? What if she—and you're defending her! You don't even know her and you're saying that she's not to blame!" Kairi's face turned bright red with anger at this point her time, tears welding up in her eyes.
"How do you know she's not exactly who she says she is?" Sora challenged her. "You're awfully paranoid and sensitive, and you're blowing this way out of propotion."
"Sensitive?" Kairi repeated, her voice rising octaves. "Sensitive? I'm sorry Sora for not trusting people that much! I'm sorry for not being so stupid and naïve as to assume the best about everyone! Maybe I should have just smiled at Jorix as he raped me because he was possibly a good guy with just a few issues."
"What the he—you know what Kairi, you're overreacting to this. Go and get some sleep."
"No," she said, crossing her arms in front of her. She knew that she was just being stubborn now.
"Kairi, I know you barely slept at all last night," Sora tried to reason with her. Admittedly, his voice was a little harsher than he intended, but he was starved, still on edge from almost becoming zombie food, tired, stressed and still in a bit of pain. He wanted to go back to that morning when he and Kairi were just lying together happily. They had both been exhausted, but happy.
"Sora," she said, stressing his voice with an annoyed tone, "you have no idea if she's really on our side and you're defending her. You are so goddamn stupid sometimes! You naïvely think that just because someone seems nice means that they are! Well you know what? That's not true!" By the end, she was screaming at him, her hands clenched into fists so hard that her nails were digging in and breaking her skin.
Sora, for his part, didn't look happy at all and snapped, "I'm being stupid? You think that everyone in the universe is out to get you! You're scared of your own fucking shadow! This isn't about Midori or trusting her at all. This is about you and you're insecurities about this entire thing. You say I assume a lot, well look at you! You're assuming a ton of things about me just because I didn't jump and agree with you or just because I wasn't completely nice to you once. Fuck Kairi, do you know what I would do for you? What I do do for you? I do everything in my power to keep you comfortable, safe and happy and the one time I let it slip a bit and you freak! How is that fair at all?" By that point of time both of their faces were red with anger, and they were both glaring at each other hotly.
"You—we—you," Kairi stuttered out, but Sora held up his bandaged hand and cut her off.
"Kairi, I just can't deal with this right now. When you're ready to talk about what's really bothering you without having some sort of bitch-flip come and find me," he said firmly before turning and walking away from her. He was angry, and it was certainly easy to tell, but he managed to stop himself from storming away like an angry child who had been denied the ice cream that they wanted. His mother's no-nonsense attitude towards hissy fits and slamming doors had taught him better than that. He did everything for Kairi, even admitting that he was whipped, but that didn't mean that he was going to let her walk all over him. Well, not all of the time. There was no real reason for her anger, at least not one that she had given him.
Okay, so maybe that was a bit of a lie. He knew she had some good points. He was a little naïve and too trusting, and he definitely wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. Still, it hurt to hear her say it. He knew he had some good points too though. He knew for a fact that he didn't deserve her anger because he snapped at her once. For being with her nearly all the times for months on end, he felt he was extremely patient with her.
Sora decided, as he moved into the kitchen of the gummi ship and rummaged around until he found a few dried fruit bars, that he wasn't going to go running back to her to apologize. He knew that she'd want him to, but he wasn't going to. It was most than just a pride thing or his stubbornness. Relationships were two-way streets, and no matter what whiny teenage girls though, or anyone else for that matter, it wasn't always the guy's fault and it shouldn't have to be on them to apologize for things they didn't even do. He would give her everything she wanted, an apology included, but this time it was her turn to give a little first.
VVVVVVVVVV
"This is an extremely difficult potion," Mickey said as they carefully finished brewing the complex concoction that was supposed to help Sora's hands. It had been several hours since they left the Forbidden World, and now Goofy was flying the gummi ship so Mickey decided to get to work on the potion to help Sora right away.
His eyes flickered from the book, to the brightly glowing potion and back. Unlike normal, bright green potions, this one was a glowing white with a mother-of-pearl sheen. He had checked it several times to make sure that they had followed the steps correctly, and while he was sure that they had, he was a bit reluctant to just offer it to Sora.
Midori had been watching silently as Mickey and Donald created the potion, as had Riku. The two hadn't bothered to talk about anything, so the silence between them was tense. Still, Riku couldn't help but stare oddly as she brushed her hair with a bright pink brush. He was sure she didn't own anything pink, and she had mumbled quickly that it was Kairi's and she had borrowed it before they went down to Forbidden World.
She moved forward a bit and finally broke the silence by saying, "It looks right though and I—" She cut herself off as a few strands of red hair fell into it. She caught their glare and said, "I don't think that's going to do anything to it. Besides, if it does, it's Kairi's DNA. I'm sure Sora won't mind. If they ever talk again."
"They will," Riku muttered before looking at Mickey, "that won't mess it up, will it?"
Mickey looked through the instructions and said, "No. Actually, it says here not to worry about a few strands of hair or flakes of skin. Happens quite frequently when making potions actually because fumes tend to make hair follicles looser. I wish we had something to test this on."
"Better leave it for Sora," Midori said. "He's going to need to drink some and put his hands in it so that it heals both inside and outside."
"This is probably going to hurt," Donald said with a nod. "Like iodine going on a cut."
"Probably," Mickey agreed.
"I'll go get him," Riku said as he stood up. "Might as well get it out of the way so that he's back up and going as soon as possible."
"What about Kairi?" Donald asked. They all knew that he was wondering if they should get Kairi as well. They had all heard them yelling at each other a few hours ago, and neither had bothered going to see the other yet. It had to be like some kind of record between them.
"We should leave her," Riku decided. "At least for now." He didn't say another word, instead just walking into the hall and towards the rooms. Kairi's door was firmly closed, but Sora's was open slightly. He didn't even bother knocking, and Sora didn't even flinch as he walked in.
"Come on. Get up and stop sulking."
"I'm not sulking," Sora snapped at him. "I'm brooding."
"Well stop brooding and come on," Riku said as he marched over to the bed and grabbed Sora's arm, dragging him away from the mattress. "We've got something to show you."
"What makes you think I want to see anything right now?"
Riku rolled his eyes and said, "I know the only thing you want to see is Kairi in as little clothing as possible, but this is...okay well it's not anywhere near as good as that but it's still good."
"You," Sora said while glaring at Riku, "Image. Your head. I want it out."
"Too late," the elder of the two replied with a laugh as t hey walked down the hall. "What can I say? I may not have feelings for her anymore beyond a brother-sister type thing, but I can't deny that I think she is hot. You're damn lucky that you're going to get to see her in her birthday suit." Sora suddenly looked a bit embarrassed, and Riku raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he asked, "You have already?"
Sora blushed and said, "Maybe once...twice...okay maybe a few more times. We did not have sex though!" He waved his arms around wildly at this, and his friend had to chuckle. Riku's laughter stopped as Sora said, "I would never push her into anything. I love her." It was kind of funny, admitting that to someone else when he had only told her once, and he doubted that she remembered because she had been torn between panic and sheer shock of what had happened to her.
Riku smiled a bit and said, "I know. You gonna apologize to her?"
"Why do we always have to apologize?" Sora asked with a sigh. "We could do nothing wrong, yet some girls would still get mad!"
"I dunno man," Riku said, "but I completely agree. Kinda like how you see in movies a girl sees her boyfriend kissing someone else but the boyfriend says that the girl threw herself at him but the girlfriend still doesn't believe him even though he's telling the truth! I mean, really? I'm no expert myself, and I'm no sappy ass like you, but if that's all it takes to pull someone apart, it can't be love anyway."
"I'll ignore the sappy ass comment," Sora said while elbowing him, "but you're right. It can't be. So, away from the super confusing topic of girls, what's going on?"
"Oh, we think we found a way to heal your hands most of the way," Riku said with a shrug as if it was no big deal. "Midori found a book with all kinds of weird potions and spells in it from her home, and Mickey looked it over. He said that they seemed legit so we made it. Well, he and Donald made it."
"Really? That's awesome!" Sora said excitedly. "My hands won't sting or have to be bundled in a billion layers of bandages!"
"And you'll be able to touch Kairi again."
The brunet glanced back and knew that Riku wasn't trying to sound perverted this time, but he couldn't help himself. "Dude, what we do in the shower is none of your concern."
Riku laughed for a moment before a stunned and slightly disgusted look appeared on his face and he asked, "Wait, you and Kairi have—"
"Hi Mickey!" Sora cried out happily as they moved into the room. Without waiting for an answer he looked at the glowing pot before him and asked, "Is this it?"
"Yup," Mickey said while hopping up on a chair so that he could see again. "It's a two way potion. You have to drink some and you have to put your hands in some."
"And then they'll be good?"
"Yes, but you have to keep your hands in it for quite a while. About twenty minutes or so," the mouse explained. "And it's probably going to hurt."
"Well, it can't be that bad," Sora replied with a small shrug. "If you're sure it's okay, I'm game."
"Okay." Mickey grabbed a ladle and scooped some of the white liquid into a glass, and Sora was glad to see that there were no chunks or anything in it. Donald had attempted to make potions one time when they ran out and couldn't find a place to get more. They had been desperate though, but even just tossing the potion onto their wounds had been disgusting. "Try to drink it quickly. Just pretend it's...milk."
"Warm, shiny milk," Donald added, as if that helped.
Sora grabbed the glass and started to chug it, but as the liquid hit his tongue and started to slide down his throat, he wanted to spit it all back out. It was burning his insides like he had decided to drink acid or something instead. He forced it down, but as he finished the glass he lurched onto the table. It felt like his stomach was being torn from the inside out. Suddenly, he felt nervous about sticking his hands in the strange concoction.
"Come on," Riku said to him encouragingly. "Just get it over quick." Sora saw his silver-haired friend wince at the sight of his badly burned hands after Mickey helped him take the bandages off, but he didn't say another word. Taking his friend's advise once Mickey gave him the go ahead, Sora quickly put his hands in the liquid.
There was a second as nothing happened before he suddenly tried to yank his arms away, but Midori and Riku grabbed him so that he wouldn't jerk away.
"Holy fuck," Sora swore as his eyes squeezed shut. "This hurt s worse than when it got burned in the first place!" The string of coloruful curses that left his mouth would have made Jack Sparrow proud. Riku was holding onto Sora tightly to keep him there, as was Midori, because he kept trying to jerk away but according to the book he needed to keep his hands submerged.
"Go and get Kairi," Riku said to Midori. "I can hold him down until you get her. She'll calm him down some."
Midori knew that Kairi probably wouldn't be that happy to see her, but she nodded her head and went to find her anyway. She didn't have to go far though, because Kairi was standing in the hallway outside of the kitchen, her face pale and her eyes wide.
"Kairi?" Midori said slowly. "Are you okay?"
"What's happening?" she asked fearfully. "Why is he in so much pain?"
"We found a way to cure his hands for the most part. The downside is that it's extremely painful. I was just coming to get you. See, he keeps trying to get away from the pain, which is completely natural, but Riku thinks that you might be able to calm him down."
Kairi looked at Midori for a moment before pushing passed her and rushing to Sora's side. She moved close to him, resting one hand on his arm and the other on his back. Neither of them said a word, but Sora became visibly calmer. Riku knew that, in a way, Sora was trying to be strong in front of Kairi again.
Finally, Mickey nodded his head and Sora pulled his hands out of the potion. As he did, it suddenly turned into a deep black colour.
"That's why you couldn't take your hands out," Midori explained. "It's a one time potion. You're skin will be a bit sensitive for a bit, and you're stomach will probably hurt for a while."
"Don't try to eat anything either," Donald added. "You'll just throw it back up."
"Can he have pain killers or anything?" Kairi asked, her worried eyes never once leaving his sweaty face.
"No," it was Mickey who answered, "it says in the book that they'll be useless."
Kairi nodded and said, "Come on Sora." She took his arm and pulled gently, wanting him to follow her. He did so silently, not saying a word as they walked into her room and he sat on her bed while she closed the door.
She came to his side and very gently, she took his hand into hers. Sora expected it to hurt, but instead his hand just felt overly sensitive to Kairi's soft hands. She seemed to sense that he wasn't in pain, so she began tracing the scars that were left behind. Silence fell in the room until Kairi said, "I'm sorry."
"Me too," he replied. There was nothing else said between them because they didn't need to say anything else. Kairi moved so that she was lying back on her bed and pulled Sora with her so that his head was actually resting on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, smiling a bit as she felt his warm breath on her neck. Now she knew why he liked holding her like this. It was easy to tell that the other was alright.
Author's Note
Anticlimatic, yes. Important at the moment? No. Important later on? Well...yes. Enough said.
These chapters might seem a bit repetitive, but when you think about it, what part of KH ISN'T repetitive. Go to a world, happen to run into the main character, help out main character, fight the bad guy, leave. Rinse and repeat for best effect…and to finish the game.
And if anyone asks, no, I'm not done being a bitch to Sora. I let them cure him here but it's not going to last long. My reasoning behind constantly writing him as being hurt fairly badly is simple in the pursuit of character growth. If he can't fight because he's injured then, for example, it would make Kairi rise to the occasion to fight for him, especially if she's trying to protect him. There is some logic behind almost everything I write and there are reasons for it, but sometimes you don't see it until later on…much later.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I know I write it in every chapter, but I really do appreciate it. Tank you to Trainalf, NRZWofl 13, Shifuni, Chairman LoneStar, KaUiA, shadowwolf547, xlittleyingfax, and Shire Folk.
Who's excited for Re:Coded? Coming out January 14th in North America and Europe! I'm pumped cause it's three days after by b-day so hopefully I can con some money from my mother so I don't have to pay for it. Lol.
Krystal Lily Potter