Riku's PoV
I woke, which was a surprise in itself. The band of pain around each wrist didn't let me forget what had happened. The memory of Sora's eyes, streaked with the darkness already eating at my vision presented itself to my mind. So. I found it hard to be too upset. It would be pleasant to know, though, why he had stopped me. Something in me that had been broken seemed to be fixed. The same broken piece that had been mended before by those very same eyes. I opened my own and tried to sit up. I fell back with a yelp as every muscle in my body protested the motion. Sora was looking at me from a pallet on the floor, his expression worried, and just a touch dizzy.
"Why aren't I dead?" I tried to demand it, but came out pathetic. Sora looked like he was thinking, and answered slowly.
"I… I couldn't just let you die." I felt emotion rise in a double helix up my spine, twin spirals of pleasure and pain. I had to know.
"I thought you hated me." He answered almost before I finished speaking, and the words rang clear and true in the suddenly very quiet silence.
"God, love, never." I flinched.
"What?" the word was torn from me. If he had forgiven me, why hadn't he told me? Why had he let me going around believing I had ruined the thing most precious to me? "You've forgiven me…this whole time?" My voice grew louder and higher with every word, until I was screaming the words. I managed to sit up, feeling something warm slide down my cheeks, tasting of salt where it met my lips. Sora's answer made me break down completely.
"I know of nothing to forgive." The words were soft, almost more to him than me. As though he were afraid I would shatter if he spoke. He came and sat beside me, and I felt as fragile as spun glass. He just held me, while I leaned on him until the no more salted drops fell. When my tears stopped, Sora placed one hand under my chin. I closed my eyes as he tilted my head so I had to face him. I felt the light brush of his lips on my eyelids and cheeks, kissing the tears away.
"I'm sorry for making you doubt me." His voice was a husky whisper, a dull thread of sound.
"It wasn't your fault." I answered, opening my eyes to look at him. If it was time for apologies, I surely owed some myself. "I'm sorry I doubted you." I sensed, rather than saw, his gentle smile.
"It wasn't your fault. Let's forget it." His blue eyes glittered in the dim light.
"Not forget, no. All hardship is a lesson. But forgive, yes." I had borrowed the line, but it seemed appropriate. He chuckled.
"You stole that from a movie." Sora accused.
"Who me?" I asked, projecting innocence for all I was worth. It didn't work.
"I forgive you if you forgive me."
"Deal." He laughed, and I smiled. It was hardly a scene out of one of my gooey romance novels, but it seemed right, somehow. I couldn't really see Sora making sticky love speeches any more than I could see myself doing it. I pressed closer to him. Things were still a bit raw between us, but time would fix that. I kissed him, lightly, trying to re-learn the feel of his lips. I felt him respond, and when we broke apart, gasping for breath, he wasn't the only one smiling.
"You know…" he began, and the banging of the door cut him off. Foot steps pounded on the stairs, then Alex burst through the door, panting.
"Tifa." He gasped. "Trev --- bastard—Tifa!" I looked at Sora. For a moment he seemed as puzzled by Alex's gasped message as I was, then his eyes narrowed and I flinched back from the anger in his gaze. I had never seen Sora this angry.
"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" I asked, looking at Sora.
"Trevor. The bastard took Tifa," Sora spat. My puzzlement must have shown, because an odd mixture of intense fury and impish amusement flicked across his features. "Tifa is Alex's girlfriend." My cheeks felt like they were going to catch fire. I could hear Alex spluttering in the corner, but he didn't deny it, either. "Anyway, Trevor is a slimy bastard. I don't know what he'll do to her if we don't go save her." Sora looked grim. 'If he snatched her off our ground, he's going to be watching for us." He pulled something silver out of a drawer, and said in a near whisper, "Call them in." Alex took the shiny thing, which turned out to be a cell phone. Alex moved over into the corner and began to talk softly into the phone. I looked helplessly at Sora. I hadn't understood more than half of that—my mind was still fogged, and my head pounded – but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Sora was going to fight. Well, if he was going to get into trouble, I was coming along.
I swung my feet over the edge of the couch, wincing at the pain in stiff muscles. Not too bad. I sat up, waiting a minute for the blue sparks to fade from my vision. It was a long moment, but finally the darkness receded, and I was able to look around. The light coming in the dirty windows was slanted with afternoon, but several oil lamps were scattered around the room and lit. Time to try something really hard. Sora had moved over to talk to Alex. I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled. Waves of black and purple ran across my eyes, shot with blue and green. My heartbeat was very loud, and I could hear a noise like the sea in my ears. I sat down quickly. This could be a problem. I pushed myself up again. The rushing was softer. I wobbled slightly. Time seemed to stretch, oddly, and my heart was getting very loud. The rushing sounded like waves; louder and softer by turns. I swayed, and heard voices, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. A deep rumble, followed by a higher voice… I felt arms around me and collapsed willingly. After a nameless time, the swirls began to recede, and Sora came into a sort of focus. The rushing and my heartbeat faded back to normal.
"Are you alright now?" I started to nod, then thought better of it.
"I'm okay." My voice sounded weak even to my own ears. I sucked in a breath to steady myself, and let it out slowly. "Sora?" my eyes flicked up to meet those amazing impossible eyes. I swallowed, and when I found my voice, it was harsh with emotion. "Make sure you come back in one piece. Just… come back. If you die I'll never forgive you." I hugged him hard, feeling tears prick my eyes again. He kissed me, and his reply was just as harsh.
"I will. I promise. He kissed me gently, tenderly. Then I lay back on the couch as Sora rose. I watched through slitted eyes, my mind oddly airy. The thoughts floated like feathers. People came in, people whose names I didn't know. Their voices blended together into a tapestry of sound. Sora was strapping a wooden sword over one shoulder, while ales polished a pair of wicked-looking daggers. A black haired girl chatted amiably with a moody blond boy. She wore a brace of shuriken, and he had a large sword strapped to his back. A brunet leaned against one wall, the weapon at his side a cross between a gun and a sword. Their voices were becoming more and more distorted, and I realized I was falling asleep. My eyes drifted shut on that thought, drawing the curtain on the world.
Sora's PoV
Risking your life is easy to do when you have nothing to lose. It was much harder to clasp the sword belt, knowing how sad Riku would be if I came back messed up, or worse. I didn't want him to be sad. But most of all, now I wanted to live, to have time to spend with him. My hands were shaking. I pushed thoughts of Riku to the back of my mind. Distractions were risky at best. Yuffie arrived moments after Alex hung up with cloud. The normally hyper ninja was solemn, though a spark of humor still danced in her eyes as she donned a green headband to hold back her short black hair. Cloud arrived minutes later, trailed by an even-grumpier-than-usual Leon and a sober-looking Aerith. Leon looked less annoyed when he noticed Yuffie, and walked over to her instead of following Aerith. He kissed her lightly, and then took up a position propping up the wall. I felt like my jaw had just hit the floor; Alex and Aerith looked much the same. Only Cloud looked unsurprised. As Leon's best friend, there wasn't much he didn't know about the surly older boy. Alex finally managed to get his mouth shut, and explained the situation to our friends. Hectic planning took up another ten minutes or so. After that, my memory is patchy.
I scrambled to my feet, blinking to try to clear my focus. My ears were still ringing with the force of the blow, but I was pretty much undamaged. Chaos filled most of the large room, breaking in waves around the broken wood benches. On my left, Yuffie threw star after star into a knot of people by the door. On my right, Alex was slowly forcing a younger boy to his knees, locked blade-to-blade with a cheap plastic-handled box cutter. I blinked, and the knot near the door resolved into cloud and Leon going two on three with several boys who could have been Rigel's friends, from looks. I didn't see Aerith, but she was supposed to be locating Tifa. I didn't see Trevor, either. That was a problem.
I headed downstairs to the basement room from before. It was one of several dating back to when the church was first built, before destiny islands appeared on any map. I tried the next door. Nope, empty closet. Next door—locked. I put my ear to it, but the sounds of the fight upstairs mad it hard to be sure. I didn't hear anything. I slipped up to the last door, and jumped as something hit the door from the inside. It sounded big. I tried the door. Locked, no duh. I didn't have a pick, or much of anything else for that matter, so I headed back to the closet. Running a hand over the shelf got me a piece of stiff wire. Quickly I shaped it into a pick and slid it into the lock, as a blood-curdling shriek rang through the hallway. It took me a long time to pick the lock; every thump broke my concentration. Eventually it came open, with a click audible even over the fight. The handle whined as I turned it slowly, and began to open the door…
I lay there on the floor, and, for the second time in as many minutes, tried to bring the world into focus. Something—someone—was lying on top of me, not moving. I groaned and closed my eyes again. So not my day…
AN: Cliffy! Sorry. I've been a little busy. But now I'm on Christmas break, so all is peachy! I finally finished writing the draft. All that remains is to type it up. It took me a couple days to get over the shock of it. Anyway, I don't think I need to tell you: Review! Love you all,
Dyslexic Angel