AN: Sorry for the long update delay. I've had to write papers recently and its been stealing time not so much from the fanfic writing, but from the massive fanfic editing proccess. I live in fear that I'll sink the story by making a really stuuuupid error.
And now to answer review question *happy dance*.
Shingo: Ah. Lancelot is me cheating. I wanted a fairly specific world for this part so I used one of my own. If it helps, Lance is the name of my character in Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland ^^ And it'll revert to primarily video game worlds again after they finish with this one.

Disclaimer: Its not mine. It belongs to either disney or microsoft like the rest of the world.



Through These Eyes

Chapter Six

The Slow Burn



"She says, "Just let it hurt"

I say, "I'm nervous" - She says, "you're perfect"

I say, "It'll hurt us" - She says, "just let it"

- She Says, XP8



Riku was much slower to wake that morning than either of his childhood friends. The event was also punctuated by significantly more moaning, swearing, and ragged breathing than the others had experienced.

Sitting up hurt. His legs were asleep, his chest ached, the muscles across his abdomen burned and he felt a little overheated. Which was really odd, since he hadn't thought he'd be able to sit up at all today, and even stranger, he could feel his magic again. He wasn't drained past empty anymore, in fact, if he wanted to, he might be able to manage a cure spell. Impressive.

He looked around, trying to work out what changed, what miracle had taken place. The shadow capered at his side, antenna wriggling wildly, projecting feelings of excitement, pleasure, relief. A little beyond it stood Anti Sora, smirking as usual. As Riku watched the smirk grew into a full fledged 'I'm-a-Jerk' grin and the heartless held up his hands. Sora's jacket was in one, his backpack in the other. He threw the bag at his master's head, the remaining mega potion tinkling within.

Riku stared for a moment, automatically catching the bundle before it could slam into his face; then his brain clicked. "Oh my God." It was a miracle all right, and the most spectacularly wonderful miracle Riku could imagine. A burning bush with angel wings could have told him that he was the ruler of the universe and there was a harem of men and women, all looking like Ben Affleck and Angelina Jolie, respectively, waiting for him in his magical castle (complete with theme park) and he still wouldn't have been half as thrilled. Well, okay... Maybe half. Or possibly even three quarters. After all, world domination and Laura Croft weren't things to be scoffed at.

Still, this was the best.

Sora was here. He resolutely ignored the little voice in the back of his head that told him maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up so easily, after all, the brunette could have moved on by now, or someone could have taken his things from him as easily a Anti Sora had taken them from whoever. Luckily, Riku was not one who let his doubts get the better of him.

Anti Sora was skipping in place, Sora's jacket thrown over one of his shoulders and his master's beaten black keyblade in hand. Every five seconds or so he would look pause and look around, eyes comically wide. The shadow sat half in the floor, watching with wary amusement. Anti Sora batted his eyelashes when he caught Riku looking, simpering on the spot. He threw off the act a second later. The smirk was back, smug and lewd as he held up Sora's jacket again, shaking it slightly before making a truly obscene gesture involving the keyblade and both hands.

Riku glared and rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you remember who he is at least. It'll help when you go looking for him."

Anti Sora looked affronted. He sat down and crossed his arms, black nose in the air.

"It's not so terribly unreasonable, you know. You can just split up." Anti Sora pretended not to hear.

"Fine." Riku's smile was just a touch nasty. For a moment, he once again looked like the boy who would fight old friends and scoff at new allies, who would trade honor and love for power. He closed his eyes, concentrating. The shadow disappeared, slipping into the floor and Anti Sora twitched slightly, watching from the corner of an eye, suspicious.

In the middle of the room a new shape pulled together, born from the shadowed corners and Riku's magic. It smiled at its new master, bowing slightly, black shadowed hair falling across its eyes.

"You're looking for a live version of him," Riku pointed to Anti Sora where he huddled against the wall, glaring in a mixture of fury and shock. "You are not to hurt him, no matter what. When you find him report back to me."

The new heartless nodded elegantly, eyes half closed, and walked through the wall into the forest beyond.

Anti Sora looked positively scandalized.

~~~~~~~

Donald Duck, magician for the most powerful court in all of Disney, didn't wake up at all.

~~~~~~

Blood. Blood everywhere and never ending heat. Things made odd noises like whimpers and screams, scurrying across the ground on sharp little claws cracked to the quick. There wasn't enough water, not enough water in all the world, in all the universe, to stop the unbearable heat in the skin and in the brain and along every nerve fiber and muscle. Everything running so hot, the tap thrown all the way into the red zone, boiling in the sink, and not even the damp earth was cool enough, no matter how deep you dug there was only more burning. Crackling noises all around like a fire but it was only your feet on the brush but then again maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was your feet burning the brush, that would explain the pain and the throbbing and the anger. The cave-rock is sharp and cuts your, my, our face but at least its not so hot and a little of its iciness burns its way through our eyes into our mouth, past the throbbing to cool something important. Warm, wet, blood everywhere going down our face because the rock is sharp and everything has a price, pain in exchange for heat, red raw blood released, might dispel the burning in our veins, but its all worth it, anything to make it stop. Anything.
Stop.

Stop.

Stop.

~~~~~

He was the center of attention and he was loving it. Lance sat next to him, helping to tell the story between mouthfuls of eggs and honeyed ham. All eyes were on Sora; Amelia, his ever blushing defender, was staring at him with pure adoration and even Mary was listening, though she pretended to be absorbed in her food.

"This isn't a place where you travel after dark." Mrs. Lawrence said when they had finished the story. "There are dangerous things in those woods." She glared disapprovingly at her eldest son. "The town isn't too far away. You can ask about your friends there, and maybe get yourself some new clothes as well," she gaze shifted back to Sora, eyeing the stained red jumpsuit he still wore with some distaste. "Just make sure you stay on the path." She smiled, then seemed to pause, eyes narrowing in thought. "Actually, Mary had best show you. Easy to get lost if you wander." Her piercing gaze said quite clearly that she knew he was a wanderer.

The dark haired girl rolled her eyes. "Mother, it's not hard, he won't get los-" Her mother's sharp look cut her off. The girl's shoulders slumped and she sighed theatrically. "Oh, all right. I'll show 'im."

"Wonderful." Mrs. Lawrence smiled benevolently, "I'll just put together a lunch for you two. Oh, and Mary, you can drop this basket off at your grandmother's on your way back, she's been a bit under the weather lately." She ignored her daughter's muted mutters and turned to Sora, pressing something thin and papery into his hands. "This is for you, dear, get something nice, okay?"

He blushed, stuttering his thanks and stuffing the money into a pocket. It was very obviously different than the munny used in Traverse Town and he couldn't afford to turn it down. Mrs. Lawrence smiled at his discomfiture, patting his head in a way that reminded him painfully of his own mother, so very far away.

Mary glared at the floor, just this edge of tapping her foot impatiently while her randomly oblivious mother put together the baskets.

~~~~~

"Has anyone else's parents been acting really weird lately?" Tidus lounged against a large palm tree, legs stretched out in front of him on the plastic checkered tablecloth that was serving as their picnic blanket. "I barely got out of the house this morning. My mom kept going on about riptides and storms, like I hadn't lived on an island my whole life." He rolled his eyes.

Wakka shrugged without actually moving, "Haven't noticed anything myself, man. But my dad says there's a storm coming in. Maybe the pressure change's got her out of sorts, eh?" He was totally sprawled out and using his blitz ball as a pillow. He would have smiled reassuringly, except that required motion.

"My parents have been a bit weird too, now that I think about it." Selphie was actually sitting up, unlike the others, a half finished friendship bracelet in her lap. "Dad seems kind of on edge, and mom helped me bring all the stuff over, which is a bit out of the ordinary. Its like she didn't want to leave me alone."

Kairi shook her head, "Weird."

~~~~~

The spacious aircraft hanger was dusty and dead. The room was dark in places, lights bulbs having blown years ago and left unchanged. The fluorescents that remained were dimmed by dust and the pile up of generations of small flying bugs.

"Hey, I thought the space program was cut, y'know, so the execs could get another pay raise?" The slightly sarcastic voice echoed around the hanger, adding an even eerier edge to the already creepy place.

"It was," exasperated, "But not before this ship was built. It's a wonderful design."

"Yeah, right. Is it safe?" He tapped the brightly colored monstrosity, making a face at the oddly elastic feel.

"Ha, since when have you cared about being safe? My life flashes before my eyes every time you drive!"

"Enough." His nearly silent footsteps matched his voice, deeply calm, stable, utterly in control. Sable was the most fitting description of him. From the color of his eyes to the depths of his voice and even the car he drove. His was the darkest black and the richest brown. "Everything is packed, I assume? Good. Time to go." There was no echo.

"Yes, sir.

"Shit, we're all going to die." The words hung in the air long after the ship was catapulted into space.

~~~~~

Sora walked easily next to Mary. The morning was bright and the forest felt gentle and fresh again. There was no sign of heartless, giant wolves or even your common household serial killer. In fact, the only let down so far had been finding his things scattered all over the meadow. Stupid monsters.

Sadly, his chaperone didn't share in the good cheer. "Would you hurry up? We need to get to town before dark." She rolled her eyes for the ninth time since setting out. Sora got a sympathetic headache just watching her.

"I'm sure we'll get there." He picked up the pace a bit, nonetheless. The sooner they reached town the sooner he would be free of her. He didn't understand why she had been sent with him in the first place; the path was clear and easy to follow, he hardly needed a guide.

It was then that he caught the glitter of gold out of the corner of his eye and turned. "Hey, what's that?" He squinted, trying to locate the shine again, before leaning forward and working his way into the brush. It had to be right around here. He pushed aside a clump of weeds, peering at the ground ahead. And was halted by a rough yank on the back of his shirt.

"Hey! What are you doing?" He turned to glare at Mary.

"Keeping you on the path." Eyeroll number ten. "You foreigners are all the same. Going off into the forest at dusk like its nothing."

Sora gave her a look, after all, where he came walking at night was nothing. "What's the big deal? I'm not going far, and it's not even near dusk! I just want to see what was shining."

"Rule number one: Don't be outside at night. Rule number two: Stay on the road. It's not that hard to remember. Honestly. "She gave him a once over, "You really don't know any better do you?"

Sora shrugged. Once, not all that long ago, he would have snapped back, defended his ignorance, but the truth was that she was right, he didn't know better. He wondered what had changed. He used to be so confrontational, everything was a fight, or a race, or an argument; winning made him right, losing made him wrong. Except with Kairi, who didn't want to race, or fight, or argue. And with Riku even when he won, he lost. The other boy had a tendency to shrug it off as if the contest didn't mean anything at all, a fact which had always absolutely infuriated Sora...

A heavy sigh pulled him away from his thoughts. Mary had stopped, waiting for him to catch up with her. "The reason you shouldn't wander off the path," she started, voice missing the acidic edge that had marked their prior conversations, "is because it's terribly hard to find your way back." She held up a hand, staving off protests Sora hadn't even thought of yet, "I know you were only going to go a couple steps, at least, that's what you thought, but sometimes you don't realize how far you've gone until you look back and don't see anything you recognize." She looked up at him and he nodded for her to continue. "The forest moves. Even during the day. So it's easy to get lost. The town and the path and the houses and even that hill you were camped out on all stay where they belong, but the forest moves." She locked eyes with him, smiling sugary sweet, eyebrows raised slightly, "So we don't wander off the road."

~~~~~

Anti Sora was absolutely furious, and it showed. How dare he? How dare he make another one? He was supposed to be one of a kind, special, magical even. The wonderful thing about Anti Sora was that he was the only one! And now Riku, his self-centered, moronic, ungrateful 'master' had ruined it all. There was the deep lowl of a behemoth in the distance, but Anti Sora barely heard it, too wrapped up in self righteous fury. How dare he? And after all that he'd done for him? He really should have just let the bastard die, existence be damned.

Even worse, the new creation wasn't exactly identical to him. If it had been a double, a clone of a clone, he could have tried forcing it to merge with him, commanding it, or if worst came to worst, hitting it in the back of the head with a shovel and drowning it in the nearest river. But nooooo, this was the same as him, but not the same as him.

This one wasn't the copy of a slightly ditzy keybearer; this one was a doppelganger of Riku himself.

Anti Sora snarled silently. It made him look rabid. He could not believe this.

He was following sulkily behind his replacement, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes narrowed. They had been walking for almost twenty minutes now and he would have loved to lounge in the keyblade, but there was no way he was going leaving that thing to its own devices, no way.

The newest heartless didn't seem to notice the potent hatred pouting behind him. He was all elegance and stability. He knew that their prey was much farther along, but they would catch up, eventually. He had spotted the keybearer heading this way a few hours before and reported it to his master as ordered. It had taken another fifteen minutes for Riku to shake off a wave of dizziness and coax the shadow out of the floor, then they had been on their way. If the brunette had any sense he would be spending the night in town, they would catch him there.

Riku would have liked to travel faster, but he was still tired. He had also heard about Mary, and just didn't think he could deal with another person right now. He remembered with painful clarity what had happened the last time he had met up with Sora when the other boy had company; Riku had joined the dark side while the 'keybearer' flew around the universe with a duck in a sailor's hat. He was really not looking forward to a repeat performance of the past year. This time, he wanted to speak to Sora and only Sora.

He shook his head, dispelling the lingering thoughts, before carefully rotating his left shoulder, stretching the aching muscles. He was still fairly sore, though not, perhaps, as sore as some; he smiled at Anti Sora's hunched back. The heartless was obviously in full blown sulk mode. Riku's smile widened, evil at the edges. The wonderful thing about Anti Sora was that he couldn't talk.

~~~~~

Lance was really screwed. His axe was at home in pieces, his hand hurt and the others were teasing him. He couldn't really blame them; none of their mothers had walked them to work, kissed them on the cheek and told them to stay out of trouble. They would be calling him a mama's boy for weeks. He swung his borrowed hatchet, wincing as the handle cut into his palm. How he wished he had been born a blacksmith.

~~~~~

Every universe is different. Not just in terms of terrain, or people, or monsters, but in fabric of its reality. It goes beyond simple laws, the failing of gravity in one world or the spontaneous creation of matter in another is nothing particularly important in the scheme of things. They're just divergences on the same ride, door number three in a single house. A new universe is a separate ride with a nearly identical track. A different universe means a different reality, which is why the world order and, as Goofy had cheerfully misspoken so long ago, the world border is so important. Seepage must be controlled. The theories of action in one universe cannot be allowed to taint another.

For example, in the Disney Galaxy true evil is a clear cut thing. It's inevitably related to the desire for power, a truth mirrored in a million other realities. But in Disneyland that power lust is ultimately empty. It yields nothing. The true evil has no goal beyond ultimate control. You could give them vengeance, give them riches, give them women and respect, but if they didn't have the ultimate position of power they would never be content. Hades could kill Hercules and live in Olympus, have his great brother bow down to him, but until he was the ruling god in truth and title he would not rest. The true Disney villains are also, invariably, cruel to all, even their redeemably evil henchmen. They kick them, shout at them, betray them, blame them. They hurt others without purpose and without meaning.

In other universes evil is a much more uncertain concept. In the land of green, where Sora and Riku were playing a rather twisted game of hide and seek, evil is based on instinct. The dark wolf was evil, and like the Disney monsters a great deal of that evil stemmed from desire, but it was a more primitive desire, the mindless hate of anything which defied it and the restless need to devour anything with red running blood. It was only active at night.

But that was changing.

When the heartless broke the seals on the worlds they brought with them the ruling ideals and inherent values of all the places they had been to before. They transferred the theories of action, the nature of beasts, from one reality to another like rats with the plague, breaking down the rails that the receiving universe drove on, forcing it to accept, to internalize the new truths or to break apart.

It drove the dark wolf mad.

It drove it into the sunlight.

~~~~~

The town was much busier than Sora had expected. There were people everywhere, bustling busily from shop to shop. Most of them were dressed in what the keybearer considered 'farm clothes', overalls and checked shirts on the men and large light colored dresses with vague flower patterns for the women.

Mary was annoyed again. "Something's messing with the story." she muttered, scanning the throngs of people.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

"Uh huh." Sora struggled to stop wondering what she had meant, since obviously he wasn't going to get an explanation and would like to retain his sanity until he found his way home, at least. He turned his attention to the shops, peering through the windows, looking for one that sold clothing, or food.

Mary grabbed his shoulder and pointed across the dusty dirt road, "The tailor's is over there, he's bound to have something that'll almost fit you. When your done meet me at the Bear's Bed and Breakfast, it's the last building on the left, okay?" She waited for him to nod before striding purposefully up the boardwalk and into the crowd.

Sora milled for a moment, still uncertain, before shrugging to himself and entering the designated store.

There were a lot of clothes, that was to be expected, but Sora hadn't thought there would be so many that he would get lost the moment he entered the room. He pressed through the dense forest of coat hangers and pant legs, past plaid and stripes a one very odd fish patterned jacket. It was almost like swimming, the smooth soft materials parting in front of him and closing behind, at least until he tripped over a stool and fell into a ragged clearing.

A young man with a feather in his hat looked down at his sprawled form with wide hazel eyes. "May I help you?"

Sora scrambled to his knees and grinned sheepishly upward, "Uh, I'm looking for some new clothes..." As if that wasn't a given, his expressive face fell slightly, and the sheepishness grew. "But I don't have much money."

The youth smiled easily, "No, really?" He helped Sora up before turning away to the silk and wool woods. "I've don't think I have anything that'll fit you perfectly. Actually, I know that I don't, but you can give these a try," he held up a cotton peasant shirt and threw a pair of canvas trousers over Sora's arm before pushing the keybearer past a sheet and into a small dressing… nook.

Sora had just managed the fastenings on the pants when the older boy leaned back into the makeshift room. He stared critically for a moment. "I can take up the pants a bit, but you'll still need a belt, probably want a vest too. How little money are we dealing with here?" He pushed past the sheet, pins in hand.

"Uh," Sora dug into the pockets of his jumpsuit, pulling forth the paper dollars given him by Mary's mother. He held them up for inspection.

"Oh, that's not so bad, you can manage with that." The tailor dropped down in front of him and rolled up the trouser legs. "Do you need these today?" "Yeah."

"Thought so." His expression was more smirk than smile.

~~~~~~

Mary wasn't having much luck either. She had questioned a number of the bar's patrons before being thrown out, but not one had seen a talking duck or a dog with a shield. A few remembered a young man with white hair though. They said he had passed through about a week ago, no one got his name, no one knew where he had gone and no one wanted him to come back. And to finish polish off her wonderful afternoon, Sora was taking absolutely forever.

If he didn't show up soon Mary was seriously considering just going home. Sora was a big boy, he had money, he could take care of himself. She rolled her eyes at no one and sipped her milkshake. She couldn't leave, her mother would kill her, but then her mother would also kill her if she wasn't home by dark, it was a bad situation all over. Plus she still had her grandmother's basket, but she was afraid to go drop it off in case Sora showed up while she was away. And who knew what he'd get up to if left to his own devices.

And so it was that she hardly noticed when a brown haired teen in a white cotton shirt sat down across from her. "Sorry, but I'm waiting for someone."

"I thought that was me." Sora cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

Mary did a double take; the boy looked a lot different in clean clothes. He seemed taller, possibly because his shirt wasn't one with his pants and the legs didn't look balloons had been stuffed up them. He was actually, almost, a little bit cute. "I- Yes." She set both hands on the table, regaining her composer and her annoyance. "What took you?"

"The, ah, tailor made all these alterations. Then he made me try on all these different vests. Then he showed me all these cool coats and stuff that I couldn't afford. Then I left and," Sora's brows pulled together in remembered confusion, "some guy tried to trade me beans for my cow..." he looked up, "I don't have a cow."

Mary sighed, "No surprise. Taylor has too much fun with life. You let him give you the grand tour, didn't you?"

Sora nodded. That was another change in his personality that he hadn't really noticed. He was significantly more patient.

"I couldn't find what I was looking for, there's not a hero in town. Not even a second-rater like Star." She gave Sora a half-hearted glare over her glass, as if it was his fault, "I guess you aren't as special as you think you are. Still," She sighed, "someone really should have shown up. A wolf attack and an addled foreigner should have gotten at least a little notice."

"Notice? Notice from who?"

"From the world! It should have happened, something's wrong. The isn't the way stories go."

"You know, you could explain some of this to me. I'm supposed to be the addled one here."

"You wouldn't understand. Just know that things aren't right." She settled her head in her hands, "Incidentally, a few people remember a boy with white hair coming through here a bit ago. He probably-"

"What?!" Sora stood up sharply, knocking over his chair, "Which way did he go? Was he hurt?" Patience: gone.

"Hey! He left town on the eastern road, but- Hey! Wait! Where are you going? You can't just leave! Wait!"

But Sora was already out the door and half way down the road.

~~~~~~

She wasn't sure when the races had descended into some sort of wild tag match, only that it had happened. They had chased each other up and down the beach for half an hour before exhaustion set in and they ended up in a dog pile on top of Wakka. The tall beach bum complained loudly, but didn't seem to really mind. It had been a wonderful day, full of sun and swimming and food and jokes. Kairi and Selphie had teamed up and knocked the boys on their asses in the surf. They had dug up a dozen sparkling shells from the ocean floor, settling them in a line on the beach and placing empty bets on which little hermit crab would skitter back into the water first. Wakka had eaten a whole papou fruit in four bites and declared himself a bachelor forever. Kairi blushed when Tidus smiled at her and then they had all gobbled down a pink frosted cake that was so sugary it took ten years of your teeths' lives. The sun was huge and shining orange as it set against the water and the sand was pleasantly warm under foot.

And then they were walking home and Kairi couldn't stop smiling.

It was good to have friends again.

~~~~~~

Sometimes it seems that the world is conspiring against you.

Riku was all but convinced of it.

He had been listening to the pained bellows for twenty minutes and only able to make a very general guess as to how far off they were, but it was a hell of a lot farther than he had wanted to go. He could have ignored the sounds, let the monster take care of itself; he had seriously considered it, but the idea wouldn't sit right with him. Abandoning the beast to fate would be... just... just heartless. He wouldn't be that anymore.

Which left him standing in front of a half grown behemoth, up to his waist in mud with no ideas. The young heartless had gone to roll in the wallow, rather like an elephant, and gotten itself stuck. It lay on a heaving side, slowly sinking deeper into the black muck, eyes glossing over, while Riku pushed uselessly against its shoulder. It just wasn't strong enough to pull itself out of the sucking depths, and the efforts of a few people, ten times smaller than it, wasn't going to help much.

The heartless Riku sat on the sidelines, also mud streaked, with the shadow next to him and a dirty pad of paper in his hand. They were trying to work out a plan. Anti Sora was further away, still pristine, and still sulking.

Riku wasn't sure where the paper and pen had come from, maybe Sora's bag, or maybe his own things, or possibly some type of alternate dimension full of stationary, but he was glad for it. It was much easier to interpret written words than pantomimes, no matter how elaborate they might be. So far four thoughts had been carefully written on to the thin sheets before being scratched off. Riku had come up with a few of his own ideas as well, with just as little luck. He leaned against the monster's foreleg, thinking, maybe if he froze some of the mud they could crack it up and push the behemoth back onto it feet. "Hey, you, come here," He nodded at his black clone. It looked at him for a moment, before scribbling furiously and holding up the paper for him to read.

'Remington'

Riku blinked. "All right... Remington, could you come over here? Give me a second, then try to lever it up..." He gestured uselessly.

On the other side of the wallow Anti Sora's eyes widened with shocked hatred. Up to that point he had been too immersed in his own melodrama to pay much attention to the plight of the trapped heartless. He had watched the proceedings absently, taking only the slightest pleasure in the sight of Riku and Riku2 slipping around in the muck. Still, he had been watching closely enough to catch the last exchange. Remington? Remington? That thing had a name now? He bristled with fury. He didn't have a name, not a real one. He was just anti sora, fake sora, the not real sora. Shadow black teeth clenched with injured rage. Was that other one really so much better than him? So much more wonderful than him that it, that thing, deserved its very own name?

It was too much.

Too much. Anti Sora stood up, waded purposefully into the mud, grabbed the whimpering behemoth by the horn and disappeared. His silhouette could be seen moving jerkily in the rocky ground, a large shadowy blotch trailing behind him. Anti Sora rematerialized on solid ground, a good fifteen feet away, the behemoth at his side. He released the beast and wiped thick black mud off his face before turning, flipping off Remington, and stalking away.

His golden eyes glowed tear bright.

~~~~~~

The world wasn't being particularly kind to Mary either.

"He just ran off! We should be going home now! It's going to be dark in a couple hours; he'll never make it, the little idiot." Mary wasn't, as Sora had guessed, ten. She was actually a small twelve with the sense of a thirty year old and the attitude problem of a teen. Taylor the tailor was amused.

"He seemed like a tough sort, I think he'll manage." he smiled briefly at her pacing back before returning to his hemming.

"Mama's gonna kill me. It's like losing the cow only worse." She turned large jade green eyes on him. "Taaaylor, can't you go look for him? Pweeaaase?" The lower lip trembled.

He smiled kindly, "Not for all the gold in the world."

Mary's expression changed instantly, "Well, what kind of hero are you! You bragger, all that seven with one blow rot and you won't even go catch a little lost boy? You're worthless... And I'm dead."

"Hey, I already won my princess." He put down his sewing to settle a companionable arm around her shoulders, "Trust me, he can take care of himself."

Mary shrugged him off, glowering darkly, "News flash," she snapped, "Your princess is cheating on you with a frog." And with that she stormed through the racks of clothing and out the door.

Taylor smiled after her and shook his head.

~~~~~~

Sora was two and a half miles out of town before it occurred to him that running off into an evil forest, alone, a few hours before night fall, might not be the wisest decision of his young life. Still, he was all ready there and on the all important trail of his best friend, who was also out alone in an evil forest, so he figured he might as well keep going. Not to mention the fact that he had already left the path and hadn't the slightest idea how to find it again, so he didn't really have all that much choice in the matter.

He pressed on, away from the lowering sun and into the rapidly darkening forest. It was funny. There had to be some hours before the night truly fell, but the shadows were already large and long. The whispers were starting as well, just on the edge of hearing, a gently frightening rasp.

One hand held tight to the warm metal of the keyblade, ready for any monsters that might attack, while the other pushed aside branches and trailing vines. The wind whistled through the leaves, pulling at his clothes and vest, chilling his skin.

It was creepy, much creepier than the night before. The air was icy in his chest and throat, burning like peppermint.

Sora's brows drew together and he came to a halt. He cocked his head quizzically before closing his eyes and rocking into the breeze, inhaling deeply. It smelled of water and wildflowers with just the faintest hint of chocolate, and on it rode the sound of someone crying.