Part Three

Sora kept trying to focus on Riku as Axel woke up, stretching a bit as he peered out over the horizon.

"Oh! I see Roxas and Isa...and they look like they've got good news!" He called out.

As Isa and Roxas entered the shelter, they took notice of their friend's despair.

"Guys, he's getting worse!" Sora cried out.

They made their way over, Isa leaning down to check Riku's vitals.

"He's cold to the touch!" Isa cried out in shock.

Riku shivered and let out a week groan as he began to stir.

"Guys? What's going on? Why is it so cold?"

Axel knelt down. He felt over Riku's face. "Oh wow. I should set up a fire." He offered to them all.

"That might help." Sora reasoned.

Roxas nodded and soon went out to find wood they could use to keep the fire going.

Axel made sure to keep the fire blazing as Roxas went out, bringing back kindling as he nodded at them all, Riku huddling close to the fire, a blanket over his frame.

Though the flame was roaring Riku shivered and inched dangerously close to the flames as if he couldn't feel the heat radiating off the fire.

Axel frowned a bit. "Is it not working?" He asked, confused by this.

Sora went to Riku's side and could see his friend's skin was beginning to turn red from the heat.

"R-Riku?"

"S..so cold.." he croaked, his voice not even a whisper.

He let out a ragged and pained cough as he gripped at his chest.

"I-it hurts..."

"Your skin's burning, hold on!" Sora moved him back.

"What he's experiencing can't be normal cold." Isa reasoned. "It must be something else."

Sora looked at his friend as concern and fear washed over him. Riku coughed and winced as he felt a sudden tingling numbness.

"I've looked in one of Ienzo's books," Roxas brought up. "A condition where your body is cold and can't get warm.. H-hypo-s-something.."

It was then Isa's eyes went wide.

"Hypothermia.."

"But that doesn't make SENSE!" Sora cried.

"How can he have hypothermia? None of US have it!" Sora reasoned. "And we've been enduring the same conditions, right?" He was very confused indeed.

"Could it be possible that.. Something similar could be going on?" said Roxas.

Sora scratched his head. "Like what?" he inquired.

Isa looked over at Riku, deep in thought.

"We can only figure that out if we headed to the village Roxas and I had seen.. It may be a long hike.. But it could be the only way to be sure."

"We at least have hope now." Axel offered. "Let's wait for the weather to get a bit nicer, and then head out. But first, we should all get something to eat." He reasoned.

"I think I saw some fish in the total pools while on the way back." Roxas offered. "I think there were some clams there too."

"Let's go fishing, then!" Axel said. "Come on, guys. We got hope now. Let's stay positive!"

"When did you get all cheerful?" Isa asked, smirking.

"I think Axel's right," said Sora. "We need to stay positive."

Axel nodded. "Exactly!" He said as he led them off in the direction of the pool. "Let's go catch ourselves some nice fish dinners..."

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After setting up a fire, Axel began to cook any fish they managed to catch.

"Nothing quite like some fresh-cooked fish." he chuckled lightly.

Sora was a bit of trouble trying to catch some of the fish, as it had been a few years. Roxas meanwhile, had found some bread that had been in the supplies and was using a small piece as bait. Once in striking distance, Roxas quickly reached into the water as fast as he was able, managing to catch one of the large blue and silver fish in the tidal pool with one hand.

"Gotcha!" he grinned triumphantly.

"You're really good at this." Sora smiled.

Roxas smiled back before turning to look at Riku who was nearby. Though he still felt a bit cold, Riku was feeling a little better and was doing what he could to help. After a bit of effort, Sora managed to catch some food. Sora smiled as he took a rather large bite.

"Mmmm, this is good fish." he sighed happily.

He glanced over at Riku and frowned as Riku looked at his own food, which had been left untouched.

"I-I'm.. I'm n-not hungry.." he muttered softly.

Sora made his way over and held up the roasted fish.

"You should eat something." he frowned. "We don't know when we might eat again."

"Yes, just a small bit of food." Isa insisted. "You'll do much better with a little food in your belly, believe me."

Riku was silent as he looked at him.

"You gotta eat a LITTLE bit. C'mon. For me?"

Riku looked at the cooked fish, his stomach churning a bit uncomfortably as he looked at it. Reluctantly he picked it up and took small, tentative bites. He had taken a few bites of the fish before pushing the rest away, unable to eat any more. Sora gently rubbed Riku's back, concern washing over him. Riku would normally finish any food he was given and seeing him not eating much was starting to worry Sora.

Riku nodded gently back at Sora. "Thanks." he said quietly. "I appreciate that."

Sora smiled a little and though he was still worried, he wanted to make sure his friend was alright. Roxas stood from his spot to catch more fish and was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness. Sora looked over at Roxas in surprise.

"Everything alright?" he inquired.

"I'm just.. I feel dizzy." Roxas said, holding his head.

Roxas sat down rather roughly as the dizziness became a throbbing headache.

"O-ow.." Roxas whimpered out.

Isa made his way over to Roxas, pulling out a potion.

"You should drink this.."

Roxas looked up at him, taking notice of Isa's painful eye injury.

"How's your eye?" Roxas asked suddenly.

Isa held his eye, cringing. "It's been...better." He commented as he sighed.

"Let's hurry this up. Remember, we have a long way to go." Sora offered. "We've got to get to that town."

Isa nodded.

"That's right.. We have to head into the forest to get to that settlement.." he said. "There might be creatures that could attack, so we better be ready."

Sora nodded. "Okay, we all can still summon our Keyblades?" he asked of his friends.

Roxas turned to look at Isa.

"I don't have one.." Isa muttered softly.

"Well, everyone else who does? Can you?" Sora asked all the others.

Riku and Roxas nodded, Roxas's head still throbbing a little.

"G..guys..?" Riku clutched his gut painfully. "I..I d-don't feel s-so good.."

Riku soon doubled over and began violently emptying the contents of his stomach onto the ground.

Author's Note: I apologize for not updating much.. I had just recently lost my cat and it's been extremely hard for me.. I will try to continue but it might be a while before I'll be able to update any of the stories I've written..