Sorry for the delay on posting but here we go next chapter! Posting update on my phone though ahhh.

Ch.32

Riku watched Sora run off without a word. But before Sora had, Riku had seen the face that covered his best friend. How hurt he looked when Donald yelled those words. Though Riku had the urge to run after Sora, he knew that Sora wasn't going to struggle on his own. He had his brothers to talk it through with him.

So in the meantime Riku whipped around and glared at Donald. There was no way he was about to let any of this slide. "What's your deal?! Don't you know what you just said?!"

"Yeah? So?" Donald asked, clearly not understanding the power that his words had to Sora.

"You can't just say something like that! Especially to Sora! You have no idea what he has been through," Riku hissed out, not talking his eyes off Donald for a single moment.

"Yeah Donlad, that was a bit mean, don't ya think?" Goofy said.

Riku didn't give Donald a chance to answer. He wasn't going to let him until he understood just what he had done. While he didn't want to go out and give exact details, he knew something had to be said. Something had to be explained so maybe then Donald wouldn't be as insensitive.

"Sora never had an easy childhood. I won't say what, but a lot of things happened that made him very cautious of everyone and everything. He really only had me and Kairi to lookout for him."

Slowly Donald started to show a bit more concern. He was starting to pick up what Riku was hinting at. "You mean…?"

"His trust and ability to open up to make friends was severely broken when he was young. That's why I was honestly surprised to see that he was working so well around you two. I thought that surely something must have happened that caused Sora to actually manage to make other friends. But now you've probably gone and screw it all up!" Riku yelled the last half of his words, his anger finally showing and venting out in full.

Donald looked completely shocked by Riku's words. Clearly nothing like that ever once crossed his mind. Slowly he lowered his head, but he didn't seem to have any words to say.

Goofy on the other hand, seemed to have much more of a verbal reaction. "Gee, we never knew Sora had gone through something like that. I guess that's why he always seemed a bit quiet and distant when meeting others on our journey so far."

"Yeah!" Riku snapped. "Cause he has always been afraid of what others think of him and what will happen if they don't. Someone chooses the wrong words, whether they mean it to be mean or not, and it really does hurt him more than the average person."

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Donald muttered keeping his head down.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it. And saying it to me isn't going to do a thing," Riku said as he crossed his arms. "Not only did you really hurt Sora's feelings, but I am sure that his trust in you, if there was even any to begin with, is gone."

"You know Donald," Goofy started. "Sora still hadn't forgiven you when you two crashed the ship during your argument, so I think still trying to argue with him may have been what did it."

Donald grumbled. Lifting his head slightly, Riku could see how upset he really seemed to be now. "I know that! But I didn't think it was that big of a deal!"

"Well maybe next time you should think about what you say before you actually say it," Goofy instructed.

"If there is even a next time," Riku answered. "First we have to find Sora. And then secondly see if he still isn't shaken up from your words." Riku glared harshly at Donald, wanting to make sure that he knew and remembered from now on what he had done. "And even if he recovers, he still may not want to trust you again after that."

"How about we start looking then," Goofy said, trying to sound hopeful.

"I'm keeping my eye on the two of you though. I'm going to be there if either of you try to talk to Sora again. He'll need me there for support now," Riku huffed before turning away from them. "Come on, I saw him run out of this district."

He just couldn't take it anymore, he had to get away from the words, from the cruelty. He fled through and collapsed into a heap in one of the alleyways. It was probably in the First District, but he was in no condition to check. "Why…?" Sora questioned, not even sure what he was asking.

'Hey Sora… It's okay. Remember deep breaths. Try and relax yourself.'

'There you go, dry those tears up.'

"B-But… what he said…" Sora tried to say as he did what his brothers told him.

'Doesn't matter, you have us and Riku and Kairi, we don't need that insensitive duckbutt around us.'

'I'm sure though he didn't mean it to be that harsh…' Ventus said, trying to recall the fuzzy memories of when he met Donald and Goofy.

"He did though!" Sora yelled in frustration, causing him to sob again. "He doesn't care… he doesn't like me… Vani was right not to trust them…"

'What about Goofy though… you don't think he was being mean, do you?'

"I don't know… he is friends with Donald… probably shouldn't trust him either…"

'When the argument happened the mutt did take our side, I don't like him, but so far he hasn't messed up like the duck has.'

'I still don't think Donald meant it to be that harsh… I would want to believe that it was a mistake. You know people say things all the time by accident that they don't mean.'

"But… he never seems to listen or care about what I say… first with wanting to look for Riku… now with wanting to have Riku come with us…"

'He does seem a bit stubborn about things. Like how Vani use to be. But… maybe he was just a bit jealous. You found your friend yet he hasn't found his king.'

'It's as I said earlier, he expects us to find his king for him and then after that we serve no purpose for them. He believes that since we found Riku that we wouldn't continue to help him look for that king of his.'

'But didn't they say that their king sent them to find Sora to go with him on his journey to save the world? And Sora already said that he was going to do that even to Riku.'

'They said to find the keyblade wielder… if another keyblade wielder comes along… or if Sora somehow loses his keyblade… what will they do then?'

Sora whimpered slightly. "I like actually being a hero and helping out… I don't wanna lose that… I don't want to be forgotten about."

'We need to find our own way to travel, so we don't have to rely on them… then we can help others without being forced to do what they want.'

"But.. I um… I kind of liked going around with them… aside from how Donald acted. I liked traveling in the gummi ship. And working with a team… it felt nice to have others like that." Sora said before sighing. "I just don't know what to do… I don't want to ditch them and a-abandoned them. I'd feel awful if I did that."

'Since we agreed to help them we will, but after we find them the king of theirs then we can split, and we will have others, we will have the brat and the princess with us.'

"I guess…"

'I think we should see how things play out, just in case there may be other things that we could help on,' Ventus added.

Sora was about to give another response when he heard footsteps. A moment later he heard a voice, "So this is where I saw you run off to."

Sora raised his head and saw Leon standing at the end of the alleyway. He sighed heavily. Leon was the last person he wanted to see right now. Wait… scratch that… Donald was the last person he wanted to see at the moment.

"And what does it matter to you?"

'Sora, at least try to be nice. Remember how words can affect people,' Ventus said in a warning tone.

Sora just gave a bit of a mental shrug at that, not wanting to play nice with Leon, he just wanted to be left alone with his brothers. Unfortunately it seemed that Leon was intent on speaking with him as he approached closer. "I'm going to take a guess and something happened back there with Donald and Goofy?"

He crossed his arms and stayed silent. He didn't have anything to say to Leon.

"You know it can help to talk things out if they are on your mind. You look like you do need to say a few things anyways," Leon said before sitting down in front of Sora.

"I have other people to talk with…" Sora answered, not trying to be unfriendly, but also not wanting to talk with Leon.

'Yeah, Sora has us,' Vanitas said unheard with a smug tone.

'Shush Vanitas, let the conversation play out.'

Leon breathed in slowly. "I get you still don't know a lot about me or the others here. But we do want to help you. You don't have to struggle alone with any of this."

"And why would you want to help me?" Sora bit out, not meaning to say that, he just couldn't help it. Why would others besides for his brothers or Riku and Kairi or his parents want to help him. No one else cared.

"Because," Leon started to say. "You are doing something all of us wish we could do. And… I know how you feel."

Sora gave a look at Leon, not sure what to say to that, did the boy really know how he felt? Did he suffer at the hands of bullies as well… or was he just saying that, trying to get Sora to open up with a few false words.

Leon closed his eyes, seeming as if he was recalling long and distant memories. "I never had a lot of courage growing up. I always wanted to try and do the right thing… but things didn't always go my way. Usually ended up hurting me more in the end that I would have liked. I tried to keep myself strong, but I never tried to talk to anyone, and it just weighed down on me over time."

He shifted, wondering how to reply, "I…" He hesitated and closed his mouth and gave a shrug, he just couldn't tell Leon what was going on. How Donald had hurt him. How Donald had reminded him of Rin.

Leon moved his position. Now instead of sitting across from Sora, he sat right next to him, though there was enough space that Sora didn't feel too uncomfortable. "If you are still having trouble talking about it, I guess that is all right too. But just know… I am here if you ever need to talk to someone."

Sora just gave a nod at that and remained silent, not knowing what to say. Leon started to stand up and Sora bit his lip, "You… you can stay… if-if you want," he offered hesitantly, deciding that he didn't mind Leon so much.

Leon nodded in understanding and went to sit back down. "Take as much time as you need. I'll be right here."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for another couple minutes before Sora spoke again, "I-I was bullied… no one ever really cared about me… I was j-just the weirdo… the friendless kid…" He fell silent again and raised a hand to wipe away the tears that had started to fall again.

Leon started to reach out a hand to Sora but stopped half way. He could see how distressed Sora looked, but he wasn't too sure how the kid was to being touched out of the blue. If he was already that sensitive because of his past, Leon didn't want to upset him further.

Sora was looking down at his knees, not looking towards Leon. "Donald… he said he didn't care…. I just reunited with Riku… and Donald wouldn't let Riku come with us… Riku… he's always been there for me…"

"It sounds like he is a bit more hard headed than I originally thought," Leon started to say, "But I'm sure his choice of words were one of those 'in the moment' things. I know that all to well myself…" Leon looked off to the side slightly, frowning to himself.

Sora went quiet again, he knew that sometimes people said what they didn't mean… but it still hurt.

"People do argue. It happens sometimes, even to friends. Sometimes people say things without thinking. I… did it before when I was younger. A couple of years after first coming here when my home fell to darkness. Yuffie was still young and was going on and on about how she wanted to train to be a great ninja. I was tired and didn't want to keep hearing about it, but rather than saying nicely that she maybe talk about something else… I said something not as nice to her."

"I just… why won't he take my thoughts into consideration? He never thinks about what I say… he just says no. As if I were an idiot, and my ideas weren't worth considering…. Or that my friendship with Riku wasn't important."

"Stubborness is a hard thing to work with. I'm sure I've been stubborn plenty of times myself. Just ask Yuffie, I'm sure she will tell you I am as thick as a brick wall," Leon said, hoping to bring a little humor into the conversation. Thankfully there was a soft chuckling and a small grin from Sora.

Perhaps Leon wasn't so bad after all… Sora thought as he leaned back against the wall. "Th-thank you…"

Leon smile. "You're welcome." He decided to take a small chance and reached his hand out and placed it on Sora's head. He lightly ruffled Sora's hair while keeping the smile on his face.

Sora practically melted at the feeling of a hair ruffling through his hair, being reminded of when his parents or Riku would ruffle his hair. He leaned into the feeling a bit as he relaxed for the first time since he had ran off.

And yay for feels and stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed! Let us know your thoughts!