Part Four

Axel sighed as he patted his back. "How about Isa and I stay with him, you and Roxas go to that town you saw and get help?" Axel offered. "Bring back some medicine and food, maybe a doctor?"

"That's not a bad idea." Roxas admitted.

Sora nodded and turned to look at Riku, his concern flaring once more as he saw how pale Riku had become. Riku was now lying in the gravel near the tidal pool, shivering as he clenched his eyes shut. Sora knelt at his side on the ground.

"Riku.. You need to hang on.." Sora said softly. "You're gonna be okay.."

He gently rubbed Riku's back.

"S..Sora.." Riku croaked out.

Sora smiled a little before turning to look at Axel and Isa.

"We'll be back as soon as we can."

Riku coughed deeply as Sora, in turn, kept rubbing his back. "We're gonna be okay. We promise." He said as he and Roxas headed out, leaving Axel and Isa with Riku.

Riku looked up, his eye-lids growing heavy.

"I-it.. Hurts.."

"It's going to be alright.." Isa assured him gently.

Riku nodded weakly and soon closed his eyes as he lay in the gravel. Isa and Axel soon turned toward the direction their friends had gone, hoping.. Praying.. That Sora and Roxas would make it back in time.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Sora and Roxas were making good progress as they made their way through the natural forest path, heading towards the large settlement they'd seen. The good news was that the weather had gotten slightly nicer. It was less dreary out now. As they had expected, the hike was a long and tiring one. Now and then, they would hear movement from within the underbrush. They were however thankful to have not come across any of the beasts that lurked within the forest. Roxas could feel his head starting to throb again, causing him to slow his pace a bit.

"Roxas?"

The blonde looked up and smiled reassuringly.

"I-I'm fine.. I-it shouldn't be that long now.."

Sora looked at him a bit more concerned but soon nodded. Their friends were counting on them to find help.. Riku was depending on them. Then, at long last, they reached the town. The settlement was vast with mostly wood structures. The citizens who had been engaged in their daily activities, all stopped as they noticed them entering the village.

"Is there a doctor here?" Sora asked them. "We need a doctor, our friend is throwing up and is super sick. And we got injured in a crash a ways out there." He gestured back in the direction they'd come from.

They regarded Sora and Roxas warily, not having seen others on the island before now.

"Please! W-we need HELP!" Roxas pleaded. "O-our friend is sick.. Please.."

After a few agonizing moments, a few of the villagers made their way closer.

"Come with us.." one of them said.

With those words, they led Sora and Roxas to what they realized was an apothecary. Sora and Roxas headed inside as Sora approached the apothecary. Inside, there was a woman creating potions and salves that were stacked along the many shelves within the building. She turned to look at them in surprise.

"My friends need help. We crashed a little while outside the outskirts of the settlement. My friend Riku can't stop vomiting."

The woman was surprised by this news.

"I fear it may be serious.." she said, her smooth voice said in concern.

She began to gather a few of the potions and salves she had created before turning to them again.

"You must take me to him."

Sora nodded, and he and Roxas led her down the way they'd come, out of the town, heading back to their friends and the ship as soon as possible!

As they reached the shelter, they could see Riku had gotten worse as his breathing was shallow and labored. Isa was doing what he could to try and ease the pain in Riku's chest.

"You can help him...right?" Sora asked the doctor, looking from Riku to her as Roxas nervously glanced at her as well.

The woman made her way over and checked his vitals and symptoms.

"I fear he has developed an infection from internal injuries that have not properly healed.." she replied.

Very carefully she checked him over and found a sizable bruise where his ribs had been broken.

"This will require a strong medicine.."

"But he'll be okay, right?" Sora inquired, looking nervously back at her, then at Riku.

"With how severe his condition is, he is very lucky to still be living.. I have brought some medicine that should hopefully heal his internal wounds."

Sora cringed as Riku wiped his brow. "Well...guess I should count myself lucky to still be standing..." He chuckled.

The chuckle broke into a pained cough and the woman carefully began to give him some of the medicine as well as salves to help ease any external pain.

Riku took in deep, long breaths as he finished off the medicine, wiping his brow. But his breathing DID sound much better now!

"It should take a few days for the medicine to take full effect," said the woman gently. "Make sure he has plenty of water to stay hydrated."

Riku nodded, Sora and the others looking at each other hopefully.

Roxas turned to the woman and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you so much, Miss.. We're glad to have found you when we did."

As he said these words, Sora soon spoke.

"Hey.. You guys hear that?"

Everyone began to look all around and Sora's eyes grew wide as he saw what he could recognize as being a Gummi ship approaching from the distance.

Sora and the others stared at each other, eyes filling with hope. Could it be their friends?

As the Gummi ship landed, the woman turned to the gathering of friends.

"I hope you and your friend has a quick recovery," she said with a soft smile. "Be sure you get plenty of rest."

With that said, the woman turned and began to head back toward her village. Sora grinned happily as he, in turn, hugged Riku. Roxas, Axel and Isa smiled looking at each other happily as relief washed over them.

The main hatch to the ship popped open allowing Terra and Ventus to exit the Gummi ship.

"Guys! We finally FOUND you!" Ven exclaimed, clearly relieved to see they were alright.

Sora beamed in delight as relief washed over him.

"I'm so glad you guys are here! We were really worried." He remarked. "Riku was super sick."

Terra and Ven were in shock at this news and soon became more serious.

"If we hurry we can get more help." said Terra.

Sora and the other nodded and carefully helped Riku up into the ship.

"Thank goodness you're gonna be okay." Sora said, looking back at Riku. "I was really worried about you."

"We all were!" Roxas remarked.

Riku smiled, thankful that he was no longer in as much pain as he had been.

"I'm just glad to have you there.." he said. "Who knows what could have happened if you guys hadn't been there for me."

Sora smiled as he pulled Riku into a hug.

"Friends are always there for each other." he replied.

"Yeah.." Riku smiled. "That they are."

The trip back to Twilight Town took a good five hours, but at long last, they had finally made it back to the safety of the Twilight Town hospital. After a three hour surgery, Riku's ribs were set to allow them to properly heal. Axel's injured foot, though now having been sprained, had taken much time to heal. Isa's eye, though still having mostly healed had been in bad shape, was operated on and they were able to save the vision in his eye. Roxas was treated for a severe concussion due to the crash and it would take time fully recover. Sora's hip, much like Riku's ribs needed surgery to properly reset his hip and leg. After a few months, Sora's hip and leg had mostly healed. Regardless of the injuries and pains they had gone through, they were all expected to make a full recovery. As they enjoyed ice cream as a celebration, they realized just how lucky they were indeed.

The End

Author's Note: And so ends another story.. I do apologize for taking such a long time with this story, I had been extremely busy with different things throughout the past few weeks.. I also apologize if this ending may be a bit rushed but I felt this was the way to end this story.. In any case, I hope you all enjoyed the story and have a great day