Riku's keyblade clashed with Xion's sword with a clang. He had run up on her with all his strength, knocking her back. Her boots skidded against the dirt below, a small cloud of dust rising up from the shift. Riku's eyes were wide and wild, completely focused on his opponent.
"So, they sent you. Not a bad idea considering how well you can blend in," he said through gritted teeth. Her strength always surprised him. Given his own size, Riku should've easily been able to knock her down, but Xion kept a steady guard.
"Hello again, Riku. I see you forged a new keyblade." Her eyes glanced from it back to Riku. The keyblade and the sword shook due to the sheer force being applied to them. "Look, you should just make this easier on yourself and them." She gestured to Sora and Kairi who were still in a slight state of shock.
"You've gotta be kidding me. I would never willingly go back there again. I learned my lesson. Why are you even still with them? You know they only see you as a pawn, a tool. They don't care about you. As soon as you aren't useful, they'll discard you like yesterday's trash."
That certainly struck a nerve. Xion practically growled as she shoved him back. Riku recovered quickly, keeping his keyblade up and ready to defend.
"Shut up! I'm not a tool! If anything, you were the tool, and then you..you took Roxas away!" She bolted forward, dealing quick strikes at Riku that he barely managed to block, following her movements.
"Took him away? Ha! He went with me willingly. I can only hope him and Ventus had enough sense to go somewhere safe." Riku chanced a glance at Sora and Kairi. They probably had no idea what they were talking about thankfully.
The best outcome for this was to knock her out. He could take her with them, and Terra can figure out what to do with her. He couldn't risk anything too violent..not with the other two right there. "Face it, Xion. No one wants to be with you." It pained him slightly to say it, but he needed to royally piss her off. Overwhelming emotions meant less focus for her, and he could take care of this easily.
The sound that came out of her was like some sort of piercing banshee scream as she rushed at Riku. Keeping his focus, Riku stayed on the defensive. Xion's now erratic movements were difficult to track. She was constantly moving around. The blade of her sword sliced into Riku's arms a few times. Tiny streams of blood snaked down his arms, soaking into the fabric of his shirt. Through the slight stinging pain, Riku took a wide swing with his keyblade, lunging forward with it in a wide arc. The point of it, brushed past Xion's cheek, enough to draw blood. Taking advantage of the distraction, he ducked under her next blow with a solid smack to the back of her head. In the next few seconds, Xion was down on the ground, moving her arms around in an attempt to get up before slipping out of consciousness.
Instead of feeling relief, Riku was met by a slap on his face that nearly made him fall over. A very pissed off looking Kairi was staring daggers up at him. Her hand was still up but this time in a fist. Riku immediately backed up when it looked like she was about to slug him, holding his cheek.
"Hey, hey, whoa! Just settled down, okay?" Riku was still panting heavily from the fight with Xion, arms slightly red from his own blood.
"I just danced with her, and she was really nice!"
"She was going to attack me," Riku said back, though he backed up a few steps.
"You attacked her first! She was just defending herself, you dick." Sora finally snapped out of his own daze and quickly held Kairi back.
"Hey, let's just let him explain first. Arguing with each other isn't going to solve anything." The other festival goers had cowered away into the nearby buildings when the fight first broke out. Now, a few of them had wandered back outside, still keeping their distance.
"Kairi, she's the spy that's been following us. She's on the enemy's side. She may seem innocent and nice, but she's still an adversary," Riku said after taking a few calming breaths. He winced as he was starting to feel the damage his body had taken.
"You guys talked..like you knew each other. Do you know her, Riku?" Sora looked to him, but to Riku, it was like his gaze was piercing right through him. His bottom lip shook slightly stopped by him biting it.
"All..all I can say is that I'll explain everything once we get to the Elven kingdom. It's just too much to go through right now. I know you have questions about..well, everything, but it's just too much to go through right now." Riku's voice was quiet, drawn back. He peered over at Xion with a look of scorn. She just had to show up and bring up old stuff.
"Alright..sorry I hit you," Kairi mumbled with an obvious pout, though she attempted to hide it with her hair. "But you better explain everything when we get there. Sora and I hardly know anything of what's happening in the world, you know."
"It's okay. I might've deserved it. I taunted her when I could've just went in to knock her out sooner," Riku sighed, rubbing the back of his head.
As soon as Sora noticed the blood, he immediately rushed over to Riku. With the gentlest touch, he looked over his arms, moving the sleeve from his gloves that went up to the top of his forearms.
"Never mind that, you're hurt! We gotta take care of this." Sora's brows were furrowed in worry, checking him over more.
Riku's breath caught in his throat at just the feeling of Sora touching him. His hands were warm and soft and..he was not going to complete that thought.
"I have..healing crystals..it's fine." The words came out more disjointed than an actual sentence.
"Hold on, before you guys go have your..'boy time.' What are we going to do with her?" Kairi gestured to the unconscious Xion on the ground. She wore a look of pity at just seeing her like that. It seemed like only a moment ago they were both smiling and dancing.
"That's what this is for." Riku dug around in one of his pockets, pulling out a small, scarlet crystal. It almost seemed to glow in the light of the fire with Elven symbols branded onto it. "This is a crystal of binding sleep. When I tie this to her forehead, it'll keep her in a state of sleep until it's removed. We can take her to my home without fear that she'll wake up and escape." Riku pulled out some twine and knelt down, gently turning Xion onto her back. With careful hands, he wrapped the twine around her head, securely tying the crystal to her forehead. Part of him hoped that maybe there was a slim chance they could get her away from Xehanort and the others. She deserved to be more than just a mere tool. With a grunt, Riku picked her up and carried her over his shoulder.
"Come on, let's go back to the inn. I think I've scared this town enough already."
When they arrived back at the inn, Riku carefully lowered Xion down onto Kairi's bed for the time being. Kairi suggested that she would go get some food, looking from Sora to Riku with a wink before promptly leaving. Riku watched her go with a gulp but was soon led over to the empty bed.
"Now, sit down and show me how to use your crystals." Sora's command alone was enough to make him sit down, fumbling the crystals in his hands. "Uh, you just press them against wounds, and they do the rest of the work."
"Great. Sounds simple enough, now, take off your shirt," Sora said with an absolutely serious expression on his face.
"E-excuse me?" The crystals nearly fell right out of his hands and toppled onto the floor.
"You heard me. So I can see all the areas you got cut." Sora wore a rather innocent smile, but Riku knew there was something else behind it. He finally sighed in defeat, beginning to slip off his gloves. There was no way he'd resist those big eyes.
Taking off his gloves, it showed the various marks on his hands from years of handling a keyblade. Lastly, he slowly pulled off his tank top. He felt a rush of cold air in the room brush past his bare torso. The slashes from Xion's sword were mostly along his arms from guarding with them, but a few here and there cut into his sides. Sora indulged in taking a moment to just look him over: broad shoulders, lean, compact muscles, and of course those arms. He cleared his throat when he made eye contact with Riku. He remembered when they first met: Riku probably would've smacked him for staring at him for too long. Riku's chest rose and fell in shallow breaths. He was nervous..which was actually kind of cute. Sora put him out of his misery, taking the crystals from him and taking a seat next to him. With his face feeling like it was going to burn off, Riku focused his gaze to the side. He felt like he was going to die if he made eye contact with Sora with him RIGHT there.
With a steady hand, Sora pressed the crystal to the first wound. It immediately glowed a pale blue. It reminded Sora of the light of the moon in a way. Surely enough, when it went dim again, the wound was nearly gone.
"It works well for shallow wounds. Deeper ones obviously take more time." Riku finally spoke up after moments of silence. He took a few deep breaths, slowly relaxing as he grew used to Sora sitting there. He tried his best to suppress a little squeak when he felt a warm hand slowly glide down his back until he realized Sora was simply rubbing his back.
"Hey, Riku, what's the Elvish word for love?" Sora hadn't forgotten about asking Riku to teach him Elvish.
"Uh..weird word to ask for out of the blue..it's jhyli. Though there can be different variations depending on the type of love." Talking was at least helping his nerves somewhat.
"Jhyli..man, you make all the words sound so nice and poignant. Guess I gotta work on that." Sora grinned as he finished up with the last cut. "Jhyli, Riku and Kairi."
"Man, that's a rough way of putting it. Try saying: Ai jhyli, Riku and Kairi."
"Ai jhyli, Riku and Kairi. Is that better, teacher?" Sora teased, sticking his tongue out at him.
"Yes, much better," Riku laughed. His shoulders slumped down as he started to relax more. The back rub was..actually pretty nice. He felt like he was absorbing all the warmth from Sora's hand.
"Say, Riku. There was something I was wondering about. I know there are things about you that you don't want to tell us yet but..Xion was using a sword, so I guess not everyone uses keyblades, then?" He couldn't remember for the life of him how he ended up with his. He simply woke up, and it was..there.
"Forging keyblades is a long and difficult process. You have to put your whole heart into it, and you usually study under a master first. Forging my current keyblade took a lot of time, but all that time and energy I poured into it just makes it stronger." He knew Sora probably wanted answers to his own past, but he doubted if anyone at home would know anything of the lost memories of those within the sleeping kingdoms.
"Oh, I see. Well, thank you. That at least gives me some insight even if it's just a tiny bit."
Kairi returned soon after with dinner. She glanced between the two, noticing Riku was now without a shirt. She simply shrugged and winked at them before placing the food down at the table.
"You guys move fast."
"I-it's not like that, Kairi! I was just helping him heal his injuries," Sora said quickly, turning as bright red as Riku.
The rest of the journey wasn't too much farther. Riku took them through a narrow pass in the Lucid Mountains. It was a treacherous, winding path that zigzagged up a peak and over the other side. The forest grew thick with jagged branches and brambles. The three of them took turns carrying Xion when one got too tired. Though they had the spy, Riku still remained on high alert, always listening and watching the shadows. As they drew further north, the air only grew colder. Once out of the mountains, they came to a forest ablaze with the colors of autumn in shades of orange and red. Sora and Kairi looked around in amazement, having never seen colors on trees like these before..or at least not that they could remember.
"This is the land of the elves: my home." Riku led them through the trees, seeming to know exactly where he was going despite there being no path. They both stopped besides him when he brought them to massive gates hidden in an exposed rock face. It was faint, but there were Elvish letters carved into the rock. Riku was nearly home again. All he needed was to say the right words.