Pairings: Riku/Sora, Leon/Cloud, Axel/Roxas, Tidus/Seifer more pairings later?

Warnings: AU, I guess spoilers or something for people who haven't seen all the way through the end of the game, medieval stuff, possibilities of violence and bloodshed and sexiness

Author's comment: This'll be the last upload for today. And then I'll be trying out some Resident Evil 6 to hopefully play online with my best friend. Also will be working on and trying to get part 55 out tomorrow...but I completely don't guarentee it coming out tomorrow. Still working out where I want to go with that chapter. Getting down to crunch time after. Hehe.

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Princely Garbs 54

"Is this really going to work?" Sora frowned at Roxas's words staring down at his prone body on the bed. Roxas stood next to him as nothing more than a shadow with no facial features. Their uncle stood on the other side of the bed also nothing more than a shadow to him. It sucked that he couldn't talk to him directly but Roxas was kind enough to relay messages to him.

"What other option do we have?" Roxas replied. His brother reached down slipping one of the shelled necklaces around the neck of Sora's body while he did the same to himself with the second necklace. They had a plan, or Zack had a plan to return Sora to his body. It involved the same technique Xehanort had used to remove Sora in the first place. They were going to use the necklaces as amplifiers and use the light sort of as a suction to pull Sora back inside.

Sora sighed and looked over at Roxas before giving a brief nod. "Ok. I'm ready." He called forth his keyblade pointing it at his body while his brother mimicked his actions. The light glowed brightly around them, almost blindingly so that Sora found himself wanting to look away a couple of times. He didn't though, mostly for the sake of not losing his concentration. He felt the glow of the light surrounding him before connecting a thin thread of light to his body. He felt the light pulling at him, tugging him closer and he followed obediently.

A glance over showed his father looking at him and smiling. Sora reached out to him, wanting to take him back with him. But his father just continued to smile as he shook his head at him.

"Until I can return to my body," his father was saying, "this is where I belong." Sora lowered his hand before giving his kin a smile of his own. His father…he was everything he'd ever expected in a dad, no, even better. He was strong, powerful and it was obvious why people would have followed him. He hated the idea of having to leave him in this backwards, dead side of the world where everything seemed so dark.

"We'll save you," Sora said nodding his head confidently. "We're going to save everyone. So just wait a little bit longer." Tsunami laughed reaching up and ruffling Sora's hair. King Ansem, who stood all but forgotten by the door to the bedroom, nodded his head in approval. When the young male looked over at him and gave him thumbs up, he returned the action with the barest of a smile.

"Go safely," Ansem said clearing his throat a bit. "Bring Riku back to us."

"I will," Sora replied resting his hand over his chest with a promise. "I'll see you guys soon." And then it felt like his body disappeared as everything seemed to suddenly go black.

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When Roxas saw his brother's spirit disappear, he panicked for a moment. The flow of light stopped threading from him as he looked up at Zack. "Did it work?" His uncle didn't even have time to confirm it as Sora moved, shifting slightly and groaning a bit as he sat up. It reminded Roxas of that one story book he'd read once during a mission about a sleeping beauty or something. But in this case, it didn't take a handsome prince to wake him up. Needless to say, he wasn't much for fairytales at the time. Especially, the types with happy endings.

"Sora, you ok?"

His young twin brother looked up at him then looked around judging out where he was probably before he finally nodded. He turned his body trying to slide out of the bed but when he tried to stand, Roxas was quick to move to his side to help him.

"Whoa, careful," his uncle said standing on Sora's other side. Roxas blinked staring up at him. When did he move? Wasn't he just on the other side of the bed? "Your body hasn't had much chance to move around. It needs to get its energy back up."

"Meaning you need to eat and rest up," Roxas said when the young boy looked over at him in confusion.

"But we don't have time to rest," Sora said trying to take another step. "We have to save Riku and Leon and our everyone."

"The airship won't be ready for a couple more days," Zack said. "Cid's moving as fast as he can with all the help he's getting right now. But he's doing his best to make sure the airship can get us there and back safely without the darkness invading it."

Roxas grabbed Sora's arm moving it to drape around his neck to help him support Sora's weight. "For now let's let everyone know you're ok."

"We'll also talk with Mickey about making a plan and setting up a team to go out." It sounded like a good enough plan to Roxas. And with the people they had here now, he knew they could come up with a good idea in no time.

"…How is Kairi doing?" Sora asked him and Roxas found himself frowning a bit thinking about the girl. He didn't like how depressed she'd been looking the past few days since Sora went into his coma like state. She felt mostly responsible and had barely talked to any of her friends, including Selphie.

"She's…taking it a bit hard," Roxas said glancing at him. "She blames herself for what happened to you guys. She doesn't seem to hang around anyone anymore even though we've told her it's not her fault. She thinks that because she made the necklaces…"

"…." Sora gently pushed himself away to stand on his own two feet. He wobbled slightly but when Roxas made to hold him steady, his quickly held up a hand to stop him. "Sorry, Roxas. I just…I need to go talk to her." Roxas stared at him for a moment, taking in the look on his face. He was resolved to this decision. "She's important to me," Sora said looking at him and smiling. "Just like how you and Riku, how every one of our friends are important to me."

Roxas stared at him then smiled softly. "Then take care of things there. She's too cute to be depressed like that." Sora laughed at him in response and before Roxas knew what was happen he felt himself being pulled into a hug.

"Thank you," Sora said into his neck, smiling. Roxas could tell he was smiling because he could feel the pull of lips against his skin. "Thank you for being there for me." He pulled back smiling at him and the next thing he knew the young twin was heading for the door. He found himself staring at the door, shocked, confused. He'd never been thanked before…but if the warmth he felt in his heart was normal then he really liked the feeling.

"Well then," Zack said stopping beside him and resting a hand on his shoulder. "Shall we go talk to Mickey?" Roxas looked up at him and nodded. That would be the best option right now. He'd go see Mickey first then check and see if Cid needed any more hands to help him on the airship. He also wanted to go see Axel as soon as possible. The thought made his heart beat faster in excitement and he smiled heading out of the room with his uncle.

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"Kairi?" Sora paused outside her temporary room, knocking softly. He didn't get a response in return and looked down at the door handle. He needed to make sure she wasn't in her room before moving on. He was tempted to just open the door but what if she wasn't prepared to see him? She was a girl, after all. Swallowing, he knocked louder on the door. "Kairi, open up! It's Sora!" Still nothing.

He was getting ready to just open it but the door cracked open just as his hand reached down. A couple of blue eyes were staring at him in shock through the crack before the door opened all the way and he had an armful of girl in his arms.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled out hugging him tightly. "Sora, you're ok!"

"K…K-Kairi…" He breathed a little easier when she relaxed her hold on him. How was a girl so small so strong? When she leaned back he saw the small tears in her eyes and his own softened as he used a knuckle to wipe the tears away.

"I thought…you wouldn't wake up." Whatever emotions she had bottled up came out in an instance then as she cried into his shirt. "I thought you would die. Sora, I'm sorry. It's my fault."

"It's not your fault," Sora said and used his shirt to wipe the tears away. "You were being manipulated by Xehanort. It could have happened to any one of us." He thought about the fact that it had even happened to him, that right now Riku was gone because of Xehanort using them. "Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

Kairi stared up at him before hands touched the necklace around his neck, the sea shell necklaces she'd made herself. Her hands trembled before she gripped hold of it. "Sora…you can't wear this."

"Huh?" Sora blinked at her in confusion. "Why not? I like it." He pouted a little bit.

"It's dangerous," Kairi said and reached around him to take it off. "If…if that ends up happening again because of this…."

"It's going to be fine," he said grabbing both her wrist and pulling them back with a smile. "Trust me. These necklaces are actually a lot of help."

"…t-they help?"

"Yeah," Sora nodded then gave her a cheeky grin. "Though I'll have to learn how to use it right but they make me stronger." He saw her staring up at him, saw her cheeks heat up and he couldn't help smiling and ruffling her hair. He knew her feelings for him now. The time when Xehanort was manipulating them…he found out. But it didn't change his feelings for the currently missing Riku. That didn't mean he didn't find her special. Riku, Kairi, Roxas…these were the three most important people to him. He wanted to protect them all.

Kairi left quickly then confusing Sora as she ran back into the room searching around for a moment. He tilted his head coming in slowly as he tried to see what she was doing. Did she lose something? Maybe he should help her find it. He started to open his mouth to offer his help but she was in front of him again, smiling up at him.

"Here. Close your eyes and hold out your hand," she said beaming up at him. Sora blinked then shut his eyes. He felt something being placed in his hand. "Now open your eyes."

Sora opened his eyes looking down at what lay in his hand before looking up at her again. "Kairi…what…?"

"It's a gift," Kairi said smiling at him. "It's for you and Riku."

"F-For...both of us?" At her nod he looked down again at the two star shaped rings. He couldn't imagine the time needed to make these but it had to be longer than a couple of nights. At least a few weeks and months for an unskilled person. "What does it mean?" He looked up at her.

"I-It's…" she took a deep breath to steady herself. "Remember the paopu fruits in the trees back at Radiant Garden?" She waited until she saw Sora nod his head before she continued, picking up one of the rings and turning it around in her hand. "There was a rumor around Radiant Garden once about the paopu fruit. Have you heard it?" Again she waited until she saw him shake his head to continue. "They say…that if you share a paopu fruit with someone that you love…that those two would always be together."

"Can a fruit really do that?"

"I don't know…" Kairi said truthfully as she placed it back down in his hand. "No one's really ever tried it." She looked up at him then. "After all, the paopu fruit were considered to be poisonous, remember?" He did at least remember that part. They looked delicious though but no one dared to try to eat them. Apparently there were rumors of people many many years ago dying from eating them. But he'd seen a few animals eat them. None ate the skin though, they always managed to bust the fruits open before devouring the insides.

"So you made these thinking about the paopu fruit?" Sora asked returning his attention to her. "For…me and Riku?"

She nodded her head though she glanced away briefly. "You have to give him this ring and bring him back, Sora," she said looking at him again. "We can't let that guy keep controlling him." Sora nodded his head and smiled as she dropped the ring back into his hand, closing his fingers over them.

"I promise," Sora said giving her a quick hug. "We'll be leaving in a couple of days. I need to get my body trained up and fully healed by then. But I'll bring him back, I promise." He turned heading for the door then, shoulders set straight with the weight of his friends there. They were counting on him, but he wasn't going to let them down. Even though his body had felt weak moments earlier, he felt strong and full of energy now. He didn't really get it but he wasn't complaining. "I'll see you later, Kairi!" He left, heading to the kitchen to get so much needed food before he could start up training again.

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TBC…

And that be it for now! Hope you enjoyed the updates today and stuff. And stuff. And stuff. Whoo! Not drugged up by cough syrup yet x.x weird stuff that is. Doesn't seem to help coughs though...ah well.