Sora and Nina crept quietly down the long staircase. Sora went down first, with a torch in one hand and the key in the other. Nina followed behind, staff in her hand, half-fearful and half excited at what they were going to find. If it really was a dragon…….what would it look like? Would it be exactly as Sora described? Or would it be more terrible and fearsome?
They finally reached the bottom of what seemed like an endless stairway. Now, they had to travel down what seemed to be a long and dark corridor. Sora held his breath and continued. He felt in his heart that what was down there was not going to be good, but he had to press on, in order to find out the truth.
Eventually, the two came to a small room. It was very dark, but they had torches. From what they could see, there was tall wooden cupboard right next to the entrance – which Sora nearly bumped into. However, the cupboard was not what caught their attention. At the other end of the dark, dingy little room, crouched in the corner and chained to the wall…was a boy.
The boy looked about nine or ten years old and was dressed in rags. His messy blue hair was about touching his shoulder. As Sora examine the boy, he noticed that there was a large scar on his left leg, which looked like it was made recently. There was also some sort of red collar fixed on his neck. The boy was fast asleep.
"So….there's no dragon.." Nina said, puzzled. "But….what's he doing here?"
"Beat me.." Sora replied. Was the boy some sort of prisoner? What had he done wrong and why were they keeping him in such a secret place?
"Sora! Someone's coming!"
They quickly and quietly opened the cupboard and crept in, carefully shutting the door behind them so that it would not make a noise. Luckily for Sora, there was a hole in the cupboard that he could peer through.
Bosch came into the room. He had a torch in one hand, so that Sora could see his face. It was a face flushed with anger and rage. Sora could tell that whatever was wrong, Bosch meant business.
The blond general approached the small boy and peered over him. After a few seconds, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped the boy over the face.
"Wake up! Wake up, brat!"
Sora could not see the boy, but he could hear a small groan coming from that side of the room and he heard the slap.
"Dammit! It doesn't take you THIS long to stir does it?"
Sora's heart leapt. What was Bosch doing to him?
"Sora….what is going on?" Nina whispered. Sora moved so that she could see. She peered through the hole and her eyes widened with horror. "Th-this is wrong…." She stammered. They listened more closely.
"…..wh-what…..do…you want?" a little voice was heard from the same direction.
"Ah…..finally, a response!" Bosch taunted. "Took your time, didn't you?" Nina and Sora could then hear another slap and then another groan.
"Did anybody come in here just now?" Bosch suddenly demanded.
"Oh no!" Nina gasped, realising that they might have been discovered.
"I….don't know…what…you are talking about….." the boy answered in a weak voice.
"The passage has been opened! Somebody has removed the helmet from the suit of armour upstairs!" Bosch shouted. "There's an intruder in this castle!"
"…..I……didn't see anyone…" came the weak reply.
"You didn't? And you heard nobody coming?"
"…I was…….asleep…."
Just then, Bosch moved his hands in some motion. Nina realised that he was about to cast a spell. Flashes of lightning suddenly appeared from nowhere and the boy gave out a cry of pain.
A feeling of anger and disgust came flowed through Sora's body. How could that…..scumbag do such a thing to a small kid?
"Now, I think you need to answer my question again…." Bosch snarled.
"I told you……..I….don't know…." the boy protested.
More flashes of lightning occurred and the boy gave out another cry.
"I….can't watch!" Nina whimpered. She turned away from the hole and put her head in her hands. Sora felt that he wanted to go out and strangle Bosch right now. Maybe even stab him in the back with that key……but he had to stay in his hiding place. He could not take the risk.
"Bosch……I told you to leave him alone…."
Mr Argul's voice! Sora moved towards the hole to see.
"I said that he needed rest," Mr Argul said, in a rather angry tone. "How can that runt recover if you keep doing that?"
Bosch turned towards Mr Argul. "S-sir," he stammered. "T-there is a-an intruder in the castle!"
Mr Argul paused. "An…….intruder? Hmmmm……it must be that those two thieves…."
"What?"
"There is are two thieves in the castle….they came here a few hours ago….I fear they might be spies for the Returners…."
So……they were not the only people in the castle….
"I'll put some soldiers to guard the passageway entrance," Mr Argul continued. "Just in case our thief is in here…but leave the boy alone….he needs to rest in order to prepare for his next task…."
There was a pause…. "You got away with it, Bosch…..you've only knocked him out…"
And with that, Mr Argul walked towards the exit. "You must be tired, Bosch. It is the early hours of the morning. Why don't you get some rest as well?"
Mr Argul exited the room and Bosch followed, but stopped at the exit and turned to snarl at the boy, muttered something under his breath and then left.
Sora waited for a few minutes and then opened the cupboard door slowly. He approached the boy. Nina followed him.
"Is…..he dead?" Nina asked.
"No…..he passed out.." was Sora's answer.
Nina was relieved.
Sora was unsure what to do now. There would be guards posted at the entrance now, so they could not leave. But he knew one thing…..he could not leave that poor child there..clapped up in chains and continually beaten up by…….those bastards. Therefore, he took out his key and slashed at the chains. They broke instantly. Sora smiled to himself……this key was really handy in situations like this one. He picked up the boy. "Come on," he said to Nina. "We need to find a way out."
"How?" Nina asked. "They've got armed guards outside!"
"Not anymore, they haven't!"
Sora and Nina jumped. Somebody else was in the room. But who? Sora turned around….
Standing behind him and Nina was not a guard. Or Bosch or Mr Argul. Standing behind Sora were……..two strange men. How did they get in here?
The taller man was wearing a blue bandana which was tied around his head. His hair was a sandy blond colour. The man wore dark blue trousers and a blue jacket.
His shorter friend was a boy, a boy a few years older than Sora, maybe. His hair was also blond, but it was long and he wore it in a ponytail. Like the tall man, he wore blue trousers and a blue jacket with a shirt underneath, except that his own jacket was sleeveless. The boy wore grey and blue gloves with cufflinks. They did not look like employees from the Suverian Empire.
"W-who are you?" Sora demanded.
"We were just about to ask you the same question," the man answered. "Kids like you shouldn't be creeping into big buildings at this time of night. It's amazing you didn't get caught."
The blond boy suddenly nudged hid friend. "Locke," he said to him and pointed at Sora's key.
Locke's eyes widened with shock. "Z-Zidane! Th-that's….."
"Yeah," his friend replied. "It's the Keyblade…."
Sora and Nina stood where they were in confusion. Who were these people? They did not seem to be from the Empire, but if so, who were they and how did they get here? What was this Keyblade?
"Sora….you don't think, that these two……..could be the intruders that Mr Argul was talking about, do you?" Nina said to her friend thoughtfully.
"Huh?" Locke turned to them. "How did you know about him?"
"We overheard him talking here," Nina replied. "We were hiding in the cupboard at the time."
Locke began to laugh. "Must be because of one of the guards we beat up at the entrance!"
"You…..managed to get through one of the entrances?" Sora asked, curiosly.
"Well……how did you guys get in?" Zidane asked them.
Sora and Nina remained silent before Sora then slowly and blankly said "…..we came through the sewers…"
It was Zidane's turn to laugh. "No wonder there's such a funny smell in this room!" he chucked. Sora began to scowl.
Nina glanced at her dress miserably. It definitely needed a wash now. "It was Riku's i…" she began. She gasped. "Riku! We need to get back to him!" She started to head towards the stairs.
Locke grabbed her. "Are you nuts?" he whispered. "You can't just walk up there! What if you get found out?"
"It's okay," Zidane assured her. "We'll get you out of here. And we'll find….uh...whathisface…."
"Are you sure?" Sora asked, still suspicious of the men. "…..can we trust you?"
"You're gonna have a hard time getting out of this castle if you don't," Locke answered. "Besides, aren't you going to do something about him?"
Sora was still carrying the blue-haired boy. He knew that he needed to get him somewhere safe…..safe from them, anyway….
It took them a while to get back to the storage room. There were more guards than usual and Zidane and Locke had to try and either sneak up behind them to knock them out or try and hide with Sora and Nina behind more curtains or inside more cupboards.
"This is it," Sora declared as they came to the door to the storage room. He opened the door and looked in. There was nobody there. Riku must be hiding in one of the barrels. Sora called out to him. "Riku!"
No answer.
Sora looked at his watch. It was about three hours since they left Riku….he told him to come out after two hours…..
"Riku!" Sora repeated.
There was still no answer.
"Do you think…..he might be looking for us?" Nina asked nervously. "We said two hours…." Sora nodded.
"We need to get going," Locke ordered.
"Huh? What about Riku?" Sora asked. "We can't just leave him!"
"We need to get you out of here as soon as possible," Locke explained. "Before they know that you're here."
"But…..Riku!" Nina protested. Locke shook his head.
"We can't look for him now. There's no time!" Locke was carrying the blue haired boy. He walked towards the entrance of the sewers and jumped down the hole. Zidane then grabbed Sora and Nina and dragged them to the hole and pushed them down….
It took a while for Zidane and Locke to persuade Sora and Nina to come with them, but Sora and Nina finally agreed when Zidane promised them that he would return to the castle and rescue Riku.
They made their way through the sewers and back onto the streets.
"Now what?" Sora asked.
"This way!" Locke pointed to an alleyway. The five then headed towards the alley. They made their way down the street until they reached a small house with boarded-up windows.
"This is it," Locke declared. He opened the door.
Although the house looked abandoned from the outside, it was different in the inside. It looked more like a home. To the left, there was a small fireplace, and in front of it were two brown armchairs with cushions. To the right was a kitchen, with it's own little stove and a table with cooking tools and food.
"You two should have a bath," Locke suggested. He pointed to the bathroom door.
"I'll go first!" Nina declared.
"Fine….." Locke replied. "There will be spare clothes in the cupboards."
Sora sat in one of the armchairs. Zidane had lit a fire, while Locke had gone upstairs to tend to the boy. Zidane was watching over the fire.
"Are you all right?" he asked Sora.
"….I hope Riku's okay," Sora said, still wondering what had happened to him.
"Hey, it's okay!" Zidane smiled. "At the worst, he'll be captured, but I don't think they'll do him any harm – or at least, they won't have done anything to him yet."
Locke came downstairs.
"Locke, is the kid okay?" Zidane asked.
"He should be……I think….I put on pyjamas and stuff and he's in bed at the moment. I couldn't get the collar off, though. Hasn't woken up, yet. However…" He paused and walked over to the fire.
"He does look like he's had a really rough time…."
"What do you mean?"
"…..he seems to be covered in scars…..there was one on his left leg…that seemed to be recent – quite a bad one, which I don't think will go away. And there was another recent one on his chest, but I think that will heal."
"Yeah….it must have been hell…."
"And there were two more scars…..on his back. Two straight ones, but they're old."
Sora listened to Locke's words, becoming fearful. What had that child done to deserve those scars?
Sora was able to have a bath and change into some new clothes. He managed find a blue and red shirt, a black jacket with a white hood. Sora also grabbed a pair of black trousers with red pockets and belts attached to the sides and some rather large black and yellow trainers. He also managed to sleep in the armchair for at least a few hours. When he woke up, it was seven o'clock in the morning. He saw Zidane packing some sort of bag. Zidane turned around and saw that he was awake.
"What are you doing?" Sora asked with curiosity.
"I'm going back to the castle," Zidane said. "I'll go and get your friend Rikkie or whatever his name is."
"It's Riku," Sora said. Zidane chuckled. He stopped when he turned around to look at the stairs. "Hey, so he's finally awake…"
Sora turned to the stairs to find the blue-haired boy in some grey pyjamas. The boy froze the moment he looked at Sora. Sora was puzzled by this.
He then noticed something odd about the boy…..his eyes….they were red…..some glaring sort of red colour...no normal creature that he had ever come across had red eyes like that boy had. The boy still had the red collar around his neck.
"Are you all right?" Sora asked. "Is there something on my face?"
The boy shook his head. He walked towards the door.
"Hey, kid! You can't walk out wearing that!" Zidane protested. "Besides, it's cold outside."
The boy turned around. "I have to go back," he said firmly.
Nina arrived downstairs and Locke followed. Nina was now wearing a white shirt with blue jeans. She did not like wearing trousers, but she had to wear something for now – at least until she could get some new clothes.
"Good morning, everyone!" she said happily. She noticed the small boy and smiled. "You okay?" she asked. The boy shook his head and went towards the door.
Sora ran up to him. "Where are you going?" he demanded. "You can't go outside in your pyjamas!"
"I have to go back," the boy repeated.
Sora was puzzled by his words. Go back……to the castle? Go back and get locked up in the dark all day? Go back and get tortured by that scum Bosch? He grabbed the boy. "Are you nuts, kid? Why would you want to go back to those…."
"I don't…." the boy replied sourly. "But you wouldn't understand…."
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Open the door!" was the voice from outside, which sounded very familiar….
"That voice….it's Scarlet!" Locke shouted.
"Scarlet……didn't we see her talking to Mr Argul?" Nina asked herself.
The boy tried to reach the door, but Sora pushed him away. "Go and hide!" he order the him. The boy remained where he was.
"If you don't want to go back to the castle, then I suggest you hide!" Sora shouted.
There was banging on the door. Sora found himself being pushed forwards as the door was pushed forwards.
Soldiers entered the room with guns. The blond woman talking to Mr Argul at the restaurant the previous night, Scarlet, stepped in. She looked around the place and spotted the blue-haired boy.
"Ah…..I have found the little runt at last!"
The boy glared at her, but said nothing.
Scarlet laughed evilly. "Kyahahaha…..I don't know how you escaped, boy….you are obviously not as pathetic as I thought you were…" She then looked around again and spotted Sora. "Ah…….that boy over there must be one of the students at the Sir Argul school….I saw you in that restaurant last night…I assume that red-haired girl must have told you about us. She is obviously more trouble than Jarves thought she was….stupid Jarves."
Sora's temper rose when he heard Kairi being referred to as 'that red-haired girl'. He was tempted to grab his key from the table but realised that this would be a bad idea.
"Anyway, no matter….." Scarlet continued. "I'll make a deal….as long as that little boy comes back with me, and we hush all this up….you can go back to school as if nothing happened."
"I am not letting you have him!" Sora answered, standing in front of the boy.
Scarlet smiled. "You are really brave," she smirked. "But you will realise that you have no choice…." She walked forwards. "Come here, Kainashiryu!"
The boy came out from behind Sora and walked forwards. Sora pulled him back. The boy suddenly screamed. "You'll only make it worse for him!" Scarlet warned Sora.
The boy released himself from Sora's grasp and started to walk towards Scarlet.
"Sora, we have to stop him!" Nina shouted. She then walked up to the boy and looked at him with kind eyes. "Why are you going back to these guys? You know what they did to you…"
"Princess Nina," Scarlet (Zidane and Locke jumped at the words 'Princess Nina')
"The child has no choice….he has to go back to the castle, whether he likes it or not…"
Nina pulled the boy away. Hecried outagain, as if Nina was hurting him. What was wrong with him?
Suddenly, as Nina looked at the boy, she saw his collar……it was glowing a bright red colour – this had not happened before. Maybe…..
"Sora!" she cried out. "The collar!"
Sora saw the collar around the boy's neck and realised what was going on. Scarlet seemed to be controlling the boy with it. In rage, he grabbed the collar and tried to pull it apart with no avail. Scarlet started to laugh.
"Kyahahaha! You need some special magical weapon to break a Slave Collar!"
Special magical weapon? Sora thought for a moment and had an idea. Without thinking it through, he grabbed his key from the kitchen table, where he had left it previously, and smacked it against the collar.
The collar disintegrated instantly. Scarlet's eyes widened in shock. The boy froze in horror. "Now he's done it!" Zidane whispered.
"Get them out of here," Locke whispered back.
Zidane walked upstairs. He turned back towards the others. "GUYS – RUN!" he shouted at Nina, Sora and the boy. Sora dashed upstairs. Nina followed him, grabbing the boy and dragging him with her – only this time, the boy did not resist or yell in pain.
"T-that boy with a key……GET HIM!" Scarlet ordered. The soldiers aimed their guns and started shooting.
"You know the exit, Zidane!" Locke shouted. "Take care of them!"
How they managed to escape without being shot, Sora did not know. Zidane knew his way though…..they climbed up to the attic, found a window in the attic and Zidane showed them a way over the rooftops of Treno.
When they finally made it to the roof of an old church, they sat down for a rest. Nina kept watch for the guards.
"Are you all right, Zidane?" Sora asked
"Sora…..I'm sorry…" Zidane said quietly. "I don't think…..I can go back to the castle, for now…."
"Huh? Why do you want to go back…" Sora began but then stopped. Of course, he promised to get Riku back…..but how could they now….soldiers would be searching for them all over the city…it simply was not safe….all he could do was hope that Riku would be all right.
He walked over to the blue-haired boy. The boy was sitting down, watching the view of the city.
"Uh….are you okay now?" Sora asked the boy.
The boy looked down. "…I guess…." was his reply. He seemed rather troubled.
"Is there anything wrong?"
"…..no."
Sora shrugged. "Okay, then. You don't have to tell me now."
"Why would I want to tell you?" the boy asked, somehow making it clear to Sora that he was not going to tell him. Sora decided to change the subject…
"So…..kid……what's your name, then?"
The boy looked at him. "My name?" he asked, seeming surprised.
"Yeah…..your name…you must have a name….wait a sec….that Scarlet woman….she called Kannysheryu, didn't she?"
"No…"
"Damn….I can't remember!" Sora laughed. "So, what's your name, then?"
The boy remained silent.
Sora frowned. Why would the kid not want to tell his name?
"Uh…okay, if you don't want to tell me, we have to call you something…" The boy did not seem to object. Sora then thought for a few minutes. "…..how about 'Ryu'?" The name randomly came into his head.
"Ryu's fine by me," the boy answered plainly.
Sora smiled. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ryu."
To be continued…..
Yet another dull chapter for everyone!
Yeah, I used a Japanese translator for Ryu's real name. Although I'm not sure if it would be 'Kainashiryu' or 'Kainashi Ryu' or anything else as I don't speak Japanese.
Please read and review, people! I've had no reviews yet. I don't care if you like the story or not……all I want is a review!
