Chapter Two: Scouring Shadows.
It was five thirty in the morning before Leon and Yuffie stumbled into the shelter of Kairi's doorway. Leon had to bang hard on the door several times before Kairi appeared at the window looking half asleep and severely pissed off. 'What the fuck do you want,' she growled through the half open curtains. 'I thought you were a bloody burglar or something. I nearly…'
'Shut up and listen,' Leon impatiently interrupted. 'We need you to help us, Riku's missing and you know him the best out of all of us. Get dressed and get your ass out here now.'
Placing her hands on her hips, Kairi glared at Leon. 'I just want it to be clear asshole, that I am doing this for Riku. And if you value whatever miniscule friendship we have, you will stop being such a bastard. Ok? Right, wait here.'
Five minutes later Kairi appeared at the door, dressed in a short woolen skirt and jacket with pink fluffy boots. She flipped her long auburn hair in Leon's face and stuck out her tongue when Yuffie had to restrain him from lunging at her. 'Control your temper you prick,' she said primly as she stepped into the street. 'You are so aggressive.'
Leon ground his teeth but kept silent. He knew that he was being a bastard, but he was worried about Cloud and he was worried about Riku. The girls were getting on his nerves and he couldn't deal with the stress. All he wanted to do was find the silver haired moron before he injured himself and get out of the fucken fog that was also driving him crazy. He thrust his hands in his pockets and stomped after the two girls as they hurried through the dim streets.
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'Riku?'
'Riku please answer…'
'Goddamit Riku where the hell are you?'
The three friends wound their way through Traverse Town's tangled streets and warped alleys. They searched every inch of the First and Second Precincts and all they saw of Riku was one of his gloves, soaked in dew and lying sodden in the gutter. Yuffie sank to ground at the sight of the forlorn glove, but Kairi and Leon quickly yanked her too her feet. If Riku was in the Third Precinct they had to find him as soon as possible. The Third Precinct was where the heartless had first begun to appear, and now the streets were teaming with them.
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Riku lay unconscious on his back. His eyes were half open and the bright green-blue orbs stared at the cloud-covered moon. The heartless from the nearby area began to focus in on his slowly beating heart and they slowly, ever so slowly, surrounded his still form.
Leon saw him first. He took in the scene at a glance and his own heart leapt into his throat. Without a second thought, he rushed at the countless monsters and unsheathed his gunblade in a single, expert sweep.
Before the heartless could even register his presence Leon had dispatched of the eight immediately surrounding Riku's body and he was keeping the rest of the slavering fiends at bay with huge wild swings of his sword. Panting with the strain of fending off multiple attackers, Leon yelled at the two girls, 'Do something goddamit! I don't care what just bloody do something!'
Kairi froze at the awful scene before her, but Yuffie took immediate action. Recalling a spell that she had seen Sora perform once before, she held her hands above her head praying for this desperate ploy to work. Summoning all of her magic she looked skyward and yelled 'Hellfire!'
For a second nothing happened, and the ninja had almost given up on her spell when a stream of fire burst from the clouds and enveloped the whole alleyway. Heartless erupted in flames as the magic fire touched them, but Yuffie, Leon and the trembling Kairi remained unharmed.
As the supernatural fire dissipated into the once again chilly air, Leon knelt beside Riku and lifted him easily into his arms. He set off towards his house without a word and Yuffie and Kairi followed silently behind. They all knew that Riku had a problem with drugs, but it had never been talked about. Seeing their friend like this was a horrible shock because they didn't know that things had gotten this bad, they hadn't been able to see through the mask of normality that Riku presented to the world.
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Cloud sat on his bed, eyes closed and his mind in turmoil. Why had no one told him the heartless were back? How could he not have known? Tears began to fall down his cheeks as he though of his Aeris, his light, trapped in the shadow world of the heartless.
The thoughts flowing through his mind tormented Cloud. He ran his hands through his silky blond spikes and clutched his head trying to block out the voices that whispered to him in his loneliness.
It's you Cloud…It's all thanks to you…How could you betray your light…You gave her to the darkness…You weren't there…She is gone…
A horse moan forced itself between Cloud's lips and he curled up next to the wall, giving in to wracking sobs. The pain of Aeris' absence had not lessened with time, it had only intensified. He felt as though the color was gradually draining out of his world along with all feeling. Numbing cold invaded his body and he was so tormented with phantoms of the past that he didn't even notice when Leon kicked open the front door and carried Riku to the couch. His agony blinded him and made him deaf to the world.
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A/N: Kairi lives alone because before the heartless returned, she flatted with Sora. Just a tiny little bit of background
With the Hellfire spell, I just had to make up something impressive for Yuffie to yell. And I couldn't remember if Sora even said anything when he cast a fire spell. All you purists out there, please don't kill me -cowers in fear of purists-
Also, with all the swearing, I really have no excuse. They're just all kind of going through really hard times and their emotions are going all over the place. I've observed –puts on glasses and looks superior- that swearing is a great release for pent up anger and pain. Therein lies my pitiful excuse for their shit language.