-Chapter
VI
This is it-
Working
so hard every night and day
And
now we get the pay back
Trying
so hard saving up the paper
Now
we get to lay back
Champagne
kisses hold me in your lap of luxury
I
only want to fly first class desires, you're my limousine
So
elegant the way we ride, our passion it just multiplies
There's
platinum lightning in the sky
Look
I'm livin' like a queen
As
Yuna Summer sang her heart out on stage, Wakka was also pouring his
heart out. The whole gang was wearing the T-shirts Wakka ordered and
were cheering for her except Riku, who was still passing through the
crowd in hopes of finding Sora.
"Hey...I'm in a band, I got my own 'gang' and I am best friends with Sora." He realized this as he pushed past some girl with a fluorescent mohawk. He did make new friends and he was fitting in. Perhaps this wasn't going to be so bad. "Mom was right again..." And that is when he bumped into the wanna-be pop idol, Wakka.
"Hey Wakka!" Riku yelled out but the redhead was to caught up in his singing to hear his name. "WAKKA!" Riku tapped him on the shoulder and even then the singer had a hard time tearing his eyes of Yuna.
"HEY! Riku!" He put an arm over the boy and dragged him closer. "Isn't she even more amazing in person?" He swept his arm in the air, marveling at her glory.
"Yes she is!" Riku agreed with him just so the boy would listen to him. "Have you seen Sora?"
"Sora?"
He turned and pointed to the emergency exit doors. "That's where
I saw him last!" And, at that, he turned around and began once
more singing the chorus.
Working
so hard every night and day
And
now we get the pay back
Trying
so hard saving up the paper
Now
we get to lay back
Riku walked towards the exit and found Sora leaning against the wall. The brunet was smiling and seemed as normal as everyone else but Riku knew something was troubling him as it wasn't like Sora to be away from his friends, much less be all alone.
"Hi." Riku mouthed the words, knowing it would be useless to speak out loud. Sora's eyes lit up for a second but then went back to their gloomy state. "Having a good time?" He yelled in his ear when he got close enough.
"Yeah." Sora answered the same way. "There's too many people." He admitted, a little embarrassed about it.
"Well it's Yuna Summer!" He put on his best enthusiastic pose, pretending to be Wakka but the small brunet didn't seem to notice. "What did you expect?"
"I don't know. I just don't feel safe." He shrugged uneasily.
"Well this is an exit..." Riku pointed out and Sora looked up.
"I guess you're right." But he didn't guess what Riku had in mind.
"So let's go?"Riku went through the door, leaving Sora behind.
"Wait up!" Sora yelled from behind, unsure if it was a good idea to leave the concert and abandon
sugar,
honey, sexy baby
When
we touch it turns to gold
Sensitive
and delicate kinda like a tuberose
You
know you are my treasure chest
It's
pure perfection when we kiss and
You're
my Mr.. I'm your Miss
Gonna
be until we're old
This
kind of love is getting expensive
We
know how to live baby
We're
luxurious like Egyptian cotton
Sora walked quickly to catch up to Riku's side. They were walking away from the concert, down the path that lead straight to the beach where they organized the bonfire. Riku was slowly walking, turning his gaze over to Sora every now and then.
"Didn't you like the concert?" Sora asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah I did." He gazed down into his eyes. "But you didn't."
"I so did!" Sora whined.
"Then why were you all alone and sad and followed me out"
"Uh..."
Sora piped down and crossed the street. The rest of the walk to the
beach was quiet. Sora was nervously looking behind him constantly
which annoyed Riku but he understood. He himself was a little
uncomfortable with the setting. Every time they were alone, Sephiroth
showed up and he had to worry his heart out. He hoped he would knock
that bastard out and send him to jail. Nobody hurts his Sora.
When
they got to the beach, Sora walked to one of the benches the gang
mustered up and sat down and Riku imitated him. Both sat quietly and
stared out into the dark sea.
"Sora?" Riku mumbled.
"Yeah?" Sora imitated him.
"Before
Sephiroth interrupted us back under the tree, what were you going to
say?" He remembered their brief conversation and was curious of
who Sora was thinking of when he asked.
"Nothing,
I was just curious if you have ever liked someone more then a
friend." He bit his lip. "Alright. I do like someone right
now though. A lot." He smiled nervously, knowing he will regret
it sooner or later.
"Who?"
Sora perked up and looked at Riku as he was telling him what life was
truly about.
"I'm
not gonna get the time...three...two..." Both of their heads
snapped towards the dunes as they heard a twig snap...
---------------
The
crimson haired boy sat on his bed and look grimly at the cracked grey
walls. He found a small piece of lead in the early morning and wrote
in large letters on the wall:
After
the fall of his prophet,
Ankh'tat
shall breathe into the holes of the world
The
earth shall tremble
The
skies will sink
The sea
shall turn crimson
The
air will harden
And Omen
shall descend upon the earth.
-The
Old Talmus-
When the
guards passed by, they read it and gave him a strange look, quickly
walking away. After that, every few minutes, a new guard would pass
by and stop to read it. Axel had a good laugh at that. They really
thought he was some religious nut. Perhaps, he was giving a bad image
of The Organization. But what did he care? He was stuck in a small
cell with a toilet beside his bed. Doesn't get much worse then this.
It only has been a few days but he understood why the best books came from people in jail. Anything could inspire a convict. In fact, this morning, he amused himself with a scrap paper for hours till he ended up ripping it to shreds.
Another
guard passed by his cell to reread the 'prophecy' and stared oddly at
Axel's inane smile, who stared wide-eyed back at the guard. He wasn't
mad at the others for abandoning him at the museum but he was rather
sad for being the first one to fall from The Organization. He always
thought it'd be Larxene. He has already been questioned multiple
times but he never breathed a word to them. Not like they could
execute him, and he was rather enjoying his new jail life. It had its
perks.
For example, he
had so many new friends who had many interesting and twisted stories
to tell. He had a roof and a adequate bed. They fed him three times a
day and it was a lot better then what story books told you about jail
food. They even told him he'd get a new toothbrush every 2 months and
they would keep his clothes clean. Way better then street life. What
he didn't know was thst he wasn't going to serve the 20 years he was
sentenced to.
That
night, he heard footsteps outside his cell. He raised his head in
curiosity of who it might be as no other inmate would dare wake up
another in the middle of the night and it didn't sound like any of
the usual night guards.
"I
was so made for jail life. I'd be like the one who knew everything
and could come up with the master plan to get out and I would be the
most feared and popular one at the same time and..." He snapped out
of his thoughts as the steps became louder and he noticed they were
in the railing, right above his cell.
He
raised his head up and tried to picture the person but all he could
see was the tip of his cell. Then a dark form fell down in front of
his cell with a rope attached around its waist. The dark hooded
figure rose to its feet and smiled. Larxene.
The
blond vixen put a figure to her lips and raised the cell keys high in
the air as a sign of triumph. She unlocked the cage and took hold of
Axel and got pulled up. Silently they landed on the cat walk and
attached themselves to another rope and once more gold pulled up,
past a window which the glass had been cut out.
"What took you?" He smiled, glad that they risked everything for him.
"Oh shut it, we should of let you to rot." Larxene laughed and started out for the small exit they had cut out of the fence.
"Yeah, we should of just let you pay for your mistakes." Marluxia smiled at him and started off himself.
"Your lucky I love you all as if you were my own." The boss gave him an angry face but Axel knew deep down he wasn't mad and followed him out.
As they both
walked back into the city, Axel noticed that all four of them were
there except for Roxas.
"Didn't
you guys save Roxas too?" He asked quietly as they walked by the
city welcoming sign. "We don't know where the cops took him. We
even asked some cops and they couldn't tell us what happened to the
idiot." The boss answered bitterly, obviously still angry that
Roxas had talked to his friends about who they were. That's how the
cops got ear of this and why Azel got arrested.
"Well, at least it's all back to normal. The original four of us. Just the way it should be." He smiled but Larxene made him regret it.
"Original
five...Riku was the funny one." And she brushed past him. And
she was right, things weren't the same since Riku left them.
----------------
The
roaring fire blazed high into the skies and teenagers were drinking
and singing loudly on the sandy dunes. The party was going as planned
and Wakka was still talking about how this was the most amazing
concert of his life except unlike everyone else, he meant it.
"Hey, Kairi." Selphie detached herself from a group of boys when she noticed her friend sitting alone, staring out at the ocean. "What's up?" She plopped down into the sand beside the red haired girl.
"Nothing, I'm just trying to sober up a little, some guy offered me a tequila sunrise and whoo!" She giggled and Selphie smiled. Kairi hasn't loosened up like this in a while. "But staring at the ocean was Sora's thing."
"Wakka
told you!" Selphie sighed, she specifically told Wakka not to
say a word. "Riku and him went out after the first song. They
are probably snuggled up in his bed and doing it."
"Yeah,
probably..." Her head snapped up. "Doing it! What do you
mean?"
"Don't you know?" Selphie looked amused, planning on how to tease her friend.
"Know what?" Kairi forgot her previous worries and was nothing but curious.
"Didn't you notice how they stare at each other?" She smiled.
"They are only friends, selph." Kairi sighed at her naivety.
"Wanna bet?" The brunette challenged her.
"twenty."
The redhead agreed.
As
Selphie was examining Kairi's eyes to check how much she truly
believed nothing was going on, Wakka arrived beside them with Tidus
by his side and a blond girl,
"You guys will never guess who it is." His tone was challenging and smirked as Kairi tried a few names but got them all wrong.
"It's Yuna Summer." Selphie guessed as if her name was written on her forehead. "It's only a wig, not like she's wearing mask." She explained as Wakka gave her the most confused face she had ever seen. Like a dog with a twisted snout.
"Hello,
You must be Selphie and Kairi. Wakka has told me so much about you
two." She rolled her eyes understanding that Wakka was her
biggest fan and he wouldn't shut up all night.
"What
are you doing here?" Kairi asked hoping not to sound rude.
"I wanted to hang out and have fun and that's pretty hard when you are me. Hence the wig." And she added in a whisper. "I sneaked away from my body guards." She smiled as the other girls giggled. "I am starving, however."
"Oh!" Wakka chimed in loudly. "We could go to checkers! It should still be open." He pointed in the direction and started nodding in hopes of everyone nodding too. Even though it was past eleven o'clock, Checker's owner always kept the shop open out of insomnia and boredom.
"I suppose I do need something solid in my stomach." Kairi giggled drunkly.
"Yeah, sounds good." Tidus nodded.
"Well, what're we waiting for?" The blond Yuna started nodding too.
"And off we go!" Selphie grabbed Kairi's hand and started dragging her.
Yuna took hold of Wakka's hand and started walking slowly beside him. The redhead didn't know what to think. His idol was holding his hand. The most contact he thought he'd ever get from her was a slight brush of fingers when she signed an autograph. Yuna noticed his red face and smiled at him but that only got him redder.
"Wow, Wakka's quiet..."Selphie noted.
"Yeah, you'd think Yuna would of made him even louder." Wakka frowned at Tidus but the blond only managed to laugh.
"I'm
just glad he isn't one of those freaky fans..." She giggled
pleasantly at the fanboy. "Is that it?" She pointed at the
checkered building ahead of them.
"Yep."
Selphie walked in first followed by Kairi, Tidus, and Wakka and Yuna,
who were still holding hands.
Yuna examined the building as they sat at the large couch table near the window. The 80's style amused her. It was so simple. Nothing like the restaurants she is used to. The only thing she didn't like much was the checkered walls, they made her dizzy. She giggled when she saw the waitress with a red afro and roller skates roll in.
"What will it be?" The waitress looked at her watch to show them they were closing up soon.
"We'll have the double Elvis burger each." Wakka ordered for them. "It's pretty much like a BLT." He told Yuna.
"A burger?" She looked shocked but quickly braced herself. "Sure, I love 'em." She gave a quick smile.
"Hey, Tidus." Selphie started, twirling her hair. "Do you think Sora and Riku are gay?" She asked it as if was the most innocent of all questions. This was going to drive Kairi mad as they all knew Kairi really liked Sora since they were small.
"Uhh..."
He looked at Wakka who started laughing normally for once and at
Kairi who was scolding Selphie.
"Sora,
perhaps but not Riku. He seems like a ladies man"
"Kairi has twenty riding they arn't." She put on her challenger face but it was more of a cute angry stare. "You in?"
"Sure. Riku is a ladies man and that's that" Tidus agreed and took out a twenty.
"Ya, same here." Wakka chimed in and did the same as Tidus.
Yuna was about to ask who those two were when she heard the waitress' wheels rolling on the checkered floor. Her stomach tightened. She even began to feel stress as the waitress place their orders down in front of them.
"How old are you, Yuna?" Kairi asked thinking that the pop star should be quite a few years ahead of them.
"nineteen since last month." She answered gladly. Anything to keep that burger away from her as long as possible. "How about you?"
"We're all fifteen. Cept' for Riku who's a year older but we all turn sixteen in a few months except for Wakka who already did." Selphie answered and took a bite out of her burger, making Yuna turn away quickly.
"Isn't nineteen sort of young for a international pop star?" Kairi asked and lifting her burger up making Yuna turn away just to see Wakka take a huge bite of his.
"Erm... Perhaps a little bit. I sang for most of my childhood and quickly became a local favorite. From there I just kept getting more and more popular, I guess." She noticed that everyone was enjoying their late night dinner and she had to eat it too. She didn't want to give the wrong impression. As she mustered up her courage and held her breath and lifted the meal to her face, she let out a shriek, dropping the burger on her plate. Everyone instantly turned to her, even the waitress popped her head out of the back.
"There is someone there!" She pointed at the window.
All faces turned to see Riku move away quickly from the window and come in. Yuna was terrified of him. He was covered in mud and damp. He had a cut on his cheek which seemingly just stopped bleeding recently and he was panting heavily. He looked like some crazy woodsman who got cut by an angry drunk and lived to tell the tale. Well, rather show the fight results as he seemed to be unable to speak from exhaustion.
"Riku, what happened to you." Tidus got up and helped him sit down as the older teen was trying to lean on the wall but his hand kept slipping down.
"I was... at the beach... with... Sora... when..." He seemed to be using every ounce of his strength to tell what happened but Kairi quickly caught on.
"Sephiroth!" She quickly took her cell out of her pocket and dialed 911 to alert the cops.
"Damn it!" Selphie cursed and quickly seemed to change from a hyper girl to the most serious person Yuna had ever seen. "Where did you last see them?"
"Ran to the...Woods behind Sora's...He had a car..." They all knew to well how it looked.
"Tidus and Kairi, follow me." Selphie got up and halted at the door noticing Riku's state. "Wakka, take Riku home and make sure he's okay. We'll meet you by the woods if you can come." She didn't even think for a second that no one really wanted to go into the woods because they all did. Ever since the first attack, they all figured out that sooner or later, they would have to stand up for Sora. No matter what.
"What's happening?" Yuna asked, both confused and terrified as Selphie and the rest marched out the door.
"I'll explain to you on the way. Help me out with him, ya?" Wakka slung an arm over his shoulder and Yuna did the same but with more difficulty. "Beats having to eat that hamburger." She thought as she dragged Riku out with Wakka.
"Hey!" Wakka turned to face her. "My hotel room is just up there, and I got a car parked out front. I could drive us around." Where she got that idea she didn't know but she didn't think she could carry him much further.
"That's
great." Wakka approved as they took a left and started off for
her car.
----------------
The three rescuers just
arrived at Tidus' house and decided to get something to protect
themselves and to change clothes as walking in high heels wasn't the
easiest of things. Selphie took of her heels and put on some of
Tidus' old shoes slightly disgusted but controlled herself as this
was to save Sora and not some bad dare.
Tidus went down to the basement and got a few old baseball bats they could use and as soon as Kairi put on some of his jeans they were good to go.
"The hunt is on!" Selphie growled, smacking the bat in the palm of her hand. She was taking this seriously in a very scary way. Kairi knew she wasn't deranged but something about the way she said it made it sound like a game.
They quickly ran into Rosebuds and went through a few yards to get to Sora's house even faster, hoping that Sephiroth was still in the area. Destiny Island was far to big to hunt someone down and they were all he had because Sephiroth might make mistakes but he wasn't stupid. The cops all knew too well how he looked and his car.
As they approached the small forest, They clearly heard a motor humming somewhere deep inside and Kairi let a sigh of relief. Sephiroth was still there, meaning Sora is still running and hiding somewhere in there.
"Or getting raped..." She hushed the cruel voice in her head and plunged in first.
The forest was silent, which only helped to hear the low hum of the motor, even though they didn't need to hear it since hSephiroth left his rear lights on. As they neared the lights, they noticed Sephiroth looking behind a bush and calling out Sora in a sing-song voice.
"Oh, where could that little ray of sunshine be?" He was smiling, not that crazy smile you'd imagine a psychopath wearing but more a loving motherly smile. Kairi Shuddered at the thought.
"Hey, Sephiroth!" Tidus jumped in the illuminated area, brandishing his baseball bat.
"How do you know my name?" Sephiroth's voice was calm and his expression turned stoic, as he stood up straight, starring directly at the boy.
"Don't you watch T.V.? You are the most wanted man on Destiny Island." Kairi and Selphie came to his side holding their own bats.
"How?" Sephiroth seemed to lose himself in his thoughts.
"Doesn't matter. Once we knock you out, you'll be in jail for life." Tidus took a step closer to the man.
"No, that won't happen." Sephiroth glanced quickly in all directions for the slightest sign of Sora. "I have no interest in you three, go home"
"Not without Sora." Kairi argued.
"Then find him before I do." He turned around and started creeping away from there, searching through every bush and looking up every tree.
"What the hell?" Selphie looking perplexed, didn't know what to do with herself.
"Well...I really don't want to fight him and the cops will be here soon anyways, we might as well look for Sora and hope we find him." Tidus lowered his bat and trotted off to search.
Kairi
stood by the car and called the police and filling them in while
Selphie and Tidus searched for Sora.
After
several minutes of searching, Tidus walked back to the car and
Selphie came back a minute later.
"No luck guys?" Kairi asked looking at the distant trees.
"No sign of him."Tidus sighed and leaned against the ivory white car.
"Ditto." Selphie came back with her eyes red and puffy but no one dared to notice, it would only upset her more. "Doesn't look like Sephiroth had any luck either." She pointed out as the white haired stalker came back.
"I see you haven't found him either." He sounded as he was actually worried about the boy and that made Kairi shiver.
"Why are you stalking him anyway?" Tidus asked as if it was the most natural thing to ask and Kairi's stomach turned into a knot.
"That is none of your business." He leaned back against a tree, seeming to wait for something to happen.
"Fair enough. Why did you shout your name in public when something fell on your head?" What is this! Kairi's mind was fighting with itself. To scream or not to scream? This isn't normal! You're not supposed to have friendly interrogations with the raping stalker!
"I have never done that. It would be foolish of me to walk in public." He commented, looking slightly intrigued into the questioning.
"That's how a hobo got your name and turned it in to the police." Tidus replied.
"Must of been someone else...Ansem." His eyes brightened at the realization.
"How do you know?" Tidus locked his eyes on Sephiroth's lips but the older man knew he had already said too much.
"Who's Ansem?" Beside him, Kairi was fidgeting madly. She couldn't take it much longer,
"My twin brother. Though we don't look alike." Sephiroth didn't mind divulging this information freely. It couldn't hurt him.
"What was he doing around here?" Tidus was smiling. He was actually having fun. Kairi shook more.
"I can't answer that. Is something wrong with Kairi?" He was now staring at the girl who suddenly burst when she noticed he knew all their names.
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH SORA? YOU SICK PSYCHO PERVERT!" She took a deep breath after screaming on top of her lungs. "And how the hell can you have such a civilized conversation with him, Tidus?" She now turned to the petrified blond. "This isn't normal! None of this is normal! We should of bashed this freaks head in!"
"Wow.
Calm down Kairi." Selphie took Kairi by the shoulders and tried
to calm her down when they heard a snap and a yell. They both turned
around their heads just to notice a small crying Sora in Sephiroth's
arms.
Sora had fallen
from the tree Sephiroth was under, straight into his arms.
"What a beautiful angel heaven sent me." Sephiroth started to walk towards the car and Tidus moved out of the way. There was something about the man that made the world seem to stop for him and Sephiroth knew it but he hadn't expected the red haired banshee to charge at him.
Kairi madly lunged at him pushing the man down as a loud bang ran through her ears and she felt all warm in her stomach. As she landed on top of Sephiroth, she felt her strength leave her body quickly but she dared to open her eyes and turn around, just to make sure Sora was okay. The sobbing brunet was scrambling into his feet in panic.
Sephiroth pushed her off him and stared past the car, where Selphie and Tidus had already noticed the new arrivals.
"Wakka?" Tidus whispered, not believing what just happened. Yuna was there with him, holding a gun.
