Pain chapter four

03|23|2021

The fire sputtered and popped as more firewood was fed into the hearth of the white marble chimney. He sat in a cozy recliner that he had conjured up earlier and was warmed by the fire.

'Dear friends, today on my journey I was able to create a whole replica copy of the good ol' destiny beaches. It was so realistic that you would imagine it was home - that is until you stare off into the endless horizon of nothingness.

Anyways -

I saw myself today - ah… that's not the best way to describe the situation I guess?

Let me start again -

Specifically, I saw a younger version of myself like a guide or something and he led me to the next clue on how to get home. On my journey, I met with a heart that was still lingering here and she had said some strange things that I really don't understand. It's mainly all really confusing but what in my journey hasn't been confusing?

But that's not the main event of why I'm writing, I had seen my dad live in the flesh! I don't think I imagined it because there are still traces of dried blood on my scalp and it still stings…'

He itches his head and dried pieces of blood fall out and litter the page.

'It was a terrible experience that I really don't want to disclose but I was so terrified. I'm so glad that I have you guys as my friends that feel more like family.

I know you guys are searching for me as much as I am searching for you guys.

May our hearts unite us together once again.

Or something like that - I can't recall what goofy said exactly anyways till next time.

Sora xxx'

Sora shuts the brown book and adjusts the white steaming mug in his less dominant hand and takes a sip of the hot cocoa.

His body jolts as a loud crash of thunder struck the premises. The loud howling of strong winds wheezes from the open cracks of the building. The pounding of heavy rain beats against the large windows of the building.

"Huh, I didn't think it was possible for this place to get a storm here. That sure did surprise me."

He snuggles deeper into the folds of the fleece blanket and tries to relax but he can't get the feeling of his hairs raising sense like something is wrong.

He lifts himself up from the chair and decides to investigate the library. He wonders through the sections of large bookcases and empty pockets of vacant study spaces. He checks the computer labs, restrooms, and the multiple open reading areas not noting seeing anything out of the ordinary he decides to let his guard down.

He laughs a little at how paranoid he is and rubs his arm.

He returns back to the fireplace and the cozy chair with his hot cocoa only to spot broken pieces from a too large vase that seemed to have fallen from its marble pedestal.

"You must be what spooked me… the force of the thunder hitting must have knocked you from your place"

Upon further inspection, he sees dark wet spots on the long rug where the vase was placed.

"Are these vases filled with water for support? They're pretty heavy by themselves…"

He kneels down and presses his fingers to the wet patches and sees remains of fine sand as he lifts away his fingers.

"No…. these are footprints! Someones around here."

With a flurry of sparkles, his keyblade is summoned in a flash.

He walks around the compound following the trail of water and shattered pieces of ceramic quietly.

He looks in the pantry from the door listening to the sound of someone eating like an animal.

The dark silhouette of the person tears away at the cupboards and barrels leaving a mess in its wake.

Sora leaves from his safe spot and lifts his keyblade towards the person and casts a stopza. Sora drags the figure to the light and pulls off their hood.

The face of surprise quickly turns into a tight scowl. He looks around quickly looking for something to tie the burglars' hands with.

-o-

The loud noise of a heavy chair scraping on the floor with a thud jerks Soras' father awake. He lifts his head after blinking his eyes rapidly and sees his son sitting in the chair opposite from him with his arms crossed across his petite chest.

"Sora…" Soras' father cracks a smile as he looks smugly at his son. "so much for surprises, The abundance of food in that pantry had me salivating. They don't exactly 'feed' you down there in hell. If you know what I mean."

Sora narrows his eyes in irritation he asks him what the hell he was doing here in the final world and why he was following him.

"Ah, that's the sora I know. Always slow to the beat. Before, when I was trying to explain-"

"assault. You mean assault and abuse?"

Soras' father chuckles.

"assault and abuse' he says. What would your mother say if she heard you say that Sora? The point is sunshine I'm still your father and you obey what I tell you. Do you understand son?"

Soras' mother although never physically abusive never helped lessen the beatings. She would smile at sora and pet his hair in front of her friends as she explained his injuries were from that 'private schools' 'afterschool activities, and how he was always an 'over-achiever just like his father'

He couldn't hate his mother as she hadn't done anything to him or to be more precise nothing for him. He disliked that she would always take his father's side whether showing affection or watching his beatings.

"Don't mention her. This has nothing to do with mom. Why are you after me?" Sora asks heatedly.

"I was sent here to be your judge sora. More or less - I'll see if you're fit for the light or the darkness. Yadda yadda - semantics."

Sora closes his eyes in frustration.

"I'm so sick of hearing those two words. I returned and sealed kingdom hearts to its rightful place in the sky where it belongs so no one can harness its power.

I'm so sick of hearing "join the darkness" "there is only light" bullshit. I'm done playing Mickeys' bullshit game. All we were, in the end, were pawns in a century-old game of chess by some geezers."

Sora gets up abruptly from his chair, scooting it back with the behinds of his legs a few inches. The moon shines brightly behind sora giving an aura of strong power behind his being. The light of the moon makes his deeper than blue eyes shine and gleam.

"I'm done letting people use me and screw me over!" he says angrily.

Soras fathers' face melts into an angry look and looks into soras soul.

"Who… do you think your speaking to like that sora."

It was a statement. The silent anger in his voice sends a visible damper on his confidence.

shockwaves of goosebumps throughout soras core being.

His body starts to sweat profusely. There are loud voices in his head that are telling him to 'run and hide!'

His eyes dart around but mainly stay in the abdomen of his father's body. He clenches his fist as he closes his eyes shut trying to rid himself of the rising panic and the feeling like a stone was in his chest. He wills himself not to hyperventilate.

"Y-You have no control over me! i-I I'm better than I w-was. I'm a human being! I am treated like a human being! A HUMAN BEING!" He yells strangely out of breath.

"Aw sora. Is that what your so-called "friends" called you? A human? Maybe their companion? Is that what friends do sora? Is that why you were forced to do what you were tasked with all these years just to wind up here? Because it was 'your choice'?

I know your stupid but you can't be that stupid to tell me that you actually believed that you were a free wayfinding spirit. You just said so yourself that you didn't want to be controlled be a damn mouse."

Sora looks down at the ground.

"They may have used me… mickey and master Xehanort… But I know that what I felt about my friends is real, those connections I made with others in the worlds are real and what they felt about me were real!" Sora says with a growl. "I am my own person! I am real! I am free to choose what I want! I make my own decisions! Not Mickey! Not anyone else and certainly not you!" He yells in his father's face.

Soras's father bites the backside of his tongue.

"So… you think you got guts huh kid?" he says in a low voice.

Sora, out of breath from his outburst fails to notice the disappearance of the rope from his fathers' hands and feet.

Soras' father laughs hysterically as he gets up from the chair and grabs Soras' head and chocks the kid against the wall near the fireplace.

Sora in shock and in pain is paralyzed in fear. Unable to move his father grabs him by his hair-tearing some from his scalp.

The smell of alcohol is overwhelming. The familiar smell of musk, sweat, and cigarettes assault my nose. It makes him want to vomit.

He starts to beg to let him go. Sora claws at his fathers' hands attempting to paw him to let go.

Soras' father laughs as he drags soras body near the fireplace and throws him hazardly. He kicks Sora in his stomach hard enough to bruise and does so repeatedly until they both hear a definite sound of a bone-breaking.

Sora screams in pain. He curls into himself as a last resort to protect his head and his inner body from further harm, He could feel the heat of the burning inferno behind him of the fireplace.

Searing, Searing, hot white liquid fire was eating at his skin.

Even before soras body goes near the fire his clothes and skin start to redden and blister. Layers upon layers of his skin on his back shed like an onion from the heat of the fire.

"No! No mre! No More daddy! I'll be a-a g-good boy!. Daddy please no! Someone! H-Help me!"

-o-

The tunneling sound of Soras' scream is heard as Riku jerks from his sleep.

He holds his chest where his heart beats feeling like it was going to jump out of his chest. His body feels hot and he throws off the covers off his body and runs to the bathroom to violently vomit in the toilet.

The dream, soras voice was so real.

He spits out what he can and leans back against the bathtub feeling like his world was moving so he puts an arm across his eyes.

'Soras voice. In pain. It sounded so real...'

He couldn't get the ringing feeling and velocity of soras voice and emotion out of his head. He had a hunch that what he saw was much more than a dream.

Kairi opens rikus room and peeks her head in.

"Hey, Riku- o-oh sorry! I didn't know you were resting!" Kairi says flustered. Her cheeks turn a shade of pink as she dips her head back out.

Riku pulls the covers up more to hide his toned chest and blushes a bit.

"N-no it's ok. Let me slip on a shirt first."

A soft 'ok' is emitted from behind his door.

Riku pulls on a black short sleeve V-neck shirt. He opens the door and tells Kairi to come in.

"Sorry Kai, I don't have much to offer but I have water and whatever's in the jar on the coffee table."

Kairi smiles and offers her gratitude.

"So what brings you yonder?" he says smiling. It was always good to have Kairi around. She always had a similar happy aura as sora had.

Kairi sighs as she leans on the palm of her hands. "Nothing really, just checking up on you. We've been pretty busy - me training with aqua and you completing your training with terra and looking for sora. Truth to be told I've been pretty worried about you. I rarely see you at the castle anymore so when I caught wind that you were here... I thought I would stop by!" she says with a goofy grin.

Riku smiles. He taps his fingers on his arm.

"Thanks for thinking about me Kairi. It's just- he's been on my mind and it's driving me nuts that I can't find him. It just makes it worse that my dreams of him just keep getting more and more frequent and they are always the same." He rubs his eyes with his hands spreading the little bit of black smog further around his eyes. "We have minimal leads and more questions rather than answers and progress." He says tiredly.

Kairi smiles a tired wry smile. "Aw Riku… I miss him just as much as you do…" She looks down at her feet but then jerks her head up and smiles. "You know… Sora wouldn't want us to sulk like this, neither would he like to see you burn yourself out Riku." She puts her hand on his shoulder as a sign of emotional support but it quickly gets awkward due to the height difference so they both start laughing.

"Yeah… I guess your right Kairi," he says.

"OH! Before I forget!"

Kairi pulls out an envelope with king Mickeys' seal from her brown satchel and hands it to Riku.

"Mickey wanted me to deliver this to you and asked that we read it together."

Riku tears open the letter with the letter opener and starts to read the contents.

'Dear Kairi and Riku,

I hope you find yourselves well as I know that it is a difficult time for you both.

There are reported sightings of mysterious beings or creatures lurking throughout Jiufen. Specifically their bathhouse.

There have been mysterious disappearances throughout the city as well.

I've sent Xion for this matter a week ago and I haven't received any recognition back from her and I'm starting to get worried. It seems like Axel and Roxas have disappeared too.

Please investigate and report.

I'll be waiting for your response.

Signed - king mickey.'

Riku sighs and looks at Kairi and she shrugs.

"We'll go out first thing tomorrow. It's worrying that not only Xion has disappeared but Axel and Roxas have too."

"Knowing those three, I'm sure they're fine. They're inseparable!" She says fondly.

"Although… it's kinda strange they haven't reported back. You'd think chip and dale would have installed a tracker with the gummiphones huh?"

…

"That's it!" they both exclaim.

"We could ask chip and dale if there is a feature like that on our gummiphones! Perhaps… even find sora?" Riku says hopefully.

Kairi smiles. It was nice to see Riku hopeful. His charming smile and handsome face... She blushes and shakes her head.

'What am I thinking?! ugH! He's my friend! And… my heart solely belongs to sora… Right?'

Riku tells Kairi to hurry up to the gummiship and she sprints.

-(AN)-

Hello friends, I'm liking those traffic stats. questions, comments, and reviews are always welcome ya know. it gets lonely around here.

anyways - there are some things I would like to point out that I think are vital for you to understand the story.

Sora is in a world where whatever he could think of, wish of will come true. this ties strongly to his emotions as well and memories.

Like when he saw his enraged father, sora thinks he is terrifying and he is able to harm sora hence why the ropes disappeared from soras hands.

kind of like Elsa when she let go of her emotions and was able to create beautiful things and harmful things at the same time.

anyways chao ya'll and thanks for actually reading my AN.