Phoenix Down
Chapter 2
Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. - The Reapers
"So, um, what the -" Sora looked up at Riku, looked at Riku's hand on his shoulder questioningly, and frowned. "Uh, what's going on?"
Cringing a bit, an awkward uncomfortable twist rolling through his insides, Riku removed his hand and took a step away from Sora. He'd forgotten himself and the situation, didn't even think that to Sora, right now, Riku was a total stranger. All of their years of friendship had made gestures like that a casual thing, and now, without that history on Sora's end it was -
"Riku? Hello?" Sora asked, "This thing on my hand? Know anything?"
Oh. Oh, the timer. Of course Sora had been freaking out about the timer. Not Riku and his hands or this horrible situation. Sora didn't know anything about this situation.
"It's … complicated." Riku said.
"Well, mind uncomplicating it? Because 'erasure' doesn't sound like something I want to do today." Sora sassed.
Riku frowned. No, he didn't want Sora erased today either. But there definitely wasn't enough time to explain everything, not with that ticking horror glowing on his best friend's hand.
"This world that we're in, there's this game." he said slowly, "You get, well, you get quests. And if you fail, you get erased," he took a breath, "from existence."
Sora just stared at Riku for a moment.
And Riku somehow expected a freak out. That Sora, in a strange world, not knowing anyone or anything about anything, sent a threatening message with an honest to god penalty of annihilation, might panic a little.
Certainly not, "Isn't that the building right over there? That's a dumb quest."
Riku raised an eyebrow, and Sora continued, "What? It's a five minute walk!" Rolling his his eyes, Sora stepped forward. "You coming? Don't wanna be late."
Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
Sighing, Riku fell into step.
"Really shouldn't complain that things are easy. That's when they -" he stopped abruptly, swinging his arm to halt Sora. Of course. Never that easy. "See?" he said, pointing. "Electric monster frogs! You had to complain!"
Sora tilted his head. "Ah, I dunno. They're kinda cute. Maybe they're nice electric frogs - OW!" Obnoxiously zapped by one, he sprinted out of the way. "Man! Where's a good stick when you need one?"
Riku swore, his keyblade materializing in his hand.
"Whoa!" Sora said. "Nice stick!"
Riku rolled his eyes. "Really?" he said.
He took it back. Incredible? No.
Sora was an idiot.
But at least he was here. Not alive, not well, not in the best of places - but he was here by his side. And that gave Riku hope.
Riku swung at the frogs, missing the first shot and connecting on the second with a 'thunk' and a burst of light that sent him flying backwards and into Sora, then down onto the ground with him in a tangled heap.
Maybe he wasn't quite so smart himself. Joshua had said Keyblades wouldn't work. It was easy to see that the frogs were completely unscathed, and while it had been worth the shot either way, they weren't letting up. Time for plan B.
"We're going to have to run," Riku said, ears ringing but otherwise fine, he picked himself up, "At least get somewhere away from these things til we know how to fight them." Sora nodded, getting to his feet.
"There," he said, pointing to a brightly lit shop, "Better than out in the open."
"Right." Riku nodded.
It took barely a minute to get inside the shop and slam the door behind them, but it seemed to work. The frogs didn't seem to be following them. Looking around, it felt strange that no one had noticed them enter the building. There were shoppers all around, cashiers talking with customers, but not a single one even batted an eyelash as he and Sora stormed through the door.
"Your phone is ringing." Sora said between catching his breath and tapping on a display case, and Riku startled, embarrassed for not having heard. Damn frogs and their shockwaves. It took him only a moment longer to realize that the ringing wasn't coming from the flip phone either. Which meant -
Patting his pockets frantically, he found the source of the sound and pulled it out, Sora behind him folding his arms over his chest. "Why do you get two phones?" he said indignantly, "And that one looks way cooler. Lemme -"
"Wait! Just -" Riku said. Holding on so tightly to the Gummiphone he might have broken the casing while wrestling back Sora's curious reach, he pushed the button to answer and held his breath. When red hair and blue eyes looked back at him, he nearly cried out in relief. Kairi looked to be feeling the same.
"Riku!" she shouted with a smile, and Riku felt the corners of his mouth tick up. If it was caused by the sight of recognition on a friends face or the knowledge that he had someone who might have answers, he wasn't sure. It really didn't matter.
The joy didn't last long.
"Is that your girlfriend or something?" Sora asked innocently, leaning over to view the screen.
Kairi's face morphed into something Riku couldn't even begin to parse out, though he knew that look had been on his face as well at one point very, very recently.
"You found -" she shook her head, steeled herself. "Update me." She said firmly.
Riku silently thanked the heavens for Kairi and her strength at that moment, knowing only through the course of their long friendship that she was barely keeping herself together. Turning himself and the phone out of Sora's view, he ignored the huff of annoyance Sora expelled as he turned to go poke at more of the store's merchandise.
"Yeah. He's . . . It's Sora, all right," he said softly in a relieved way that brought a little smile to Kairi's face, and she nodded in empathetic understanding.
"Are you okay?" she asked, "This can't be easy."
Riku breathed out a sad little chuckle. "It's not. He's - Mickey was right about his memories. He called my Keyblade a stick!" he said in exasperation, and Kairi's mouth quirked but her eyes never changed from her concern. "And- and the way he looks at me, or the way he doesn't, it's-" he shook his head. "It's unnerving."
"He'll make it up to you." Kairi said confidently, and Riku's heart leapt at her words. Kairi smiled. "He's going to be so angry at himself when you two get through this, and then he's going to give you one of those big Sora hugs and apologize even though it isn't his fault he forgot us."
"Kairi …" Riku murmured, awestruck. Kairi shrugged.
"It's Sora. And it's you." She said, like it was the most obvious thing in all the worlds, like their success was something inevitable.
Riku must have had an odd look on his face, because Kairi laughed a little. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing." he shook his head, fond. "Nothing. Just - thank you."
"Anytime, Riku. Now. Update? Maybe I can help?"
Riku nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, so I found Joshua. He brought me through the portal, gave me a Player pin and a phone, and absolutely no explanation of anything." He sighed. "There's these frogs that the Keyblade bounces off of and Sora's got a timer going -"
"How long do you have?" Kairi interrupted urgently.
"Probably about 30, 35 minutes ..."
"Probably? You mean you don't have a-"
"No." Riku replied, looking around to see if anyone had heard. Sora was off at the other end of the shop peeking through the hole in some guy's ear piercing. "No. I don't have a timer. I'm an illegal player, Joshua said, so -"
"You have a Player pin though. You're not defenseless if you can use pins," she said thoughtfully. "Have you made a pact yet? Because the Noise, those frogs, shouldn't be coming after you if you have." Riku frowned. She had mentioned this pact thing before, something about it helping to get through walls, but at the time he'd been only half listening. "You have to make a pact with Sora, Riku. It has to be verbal and it's binding." She nodded, serious, "If one of you goes down, the other does too. It's a partnership." she paused, looked away, then shook her head. "The Player pin can scan for the Noise, and it lets you hear the thoughts of the living. You can manipulate those a little bit, or more, put ideas in their heads -"
"That's … awkward." Riku said, and Kairi grimaced.
"It is, a bit. It's more for things like reminding someone they need to go pick up an item or helping them to say the right thing or coaxing them in the right direction." she said "More importantly right now though, are the Psychs: The powers you draw from pins. Those are what you need to fight the Noise. Sora's probably still got some from last time, but I doubt he remembers anything," she gulped, her calm facade finally cracking, "about them."
"Kairi … I'm going to fix this." he said with soft, quiet determination. He wished he could think of something more to say to her. Sora and Kairi had always been the best at that sort of thing. Now that it was his turn to try he was left feeling completely inadequate.
Kairi just smiled then, to Riku's surprise. "I know." she said, and then repeated more confidently, "I know."
Riku would never be able to understand his friend's faith in him, especially considering his track record, but he was grateful. Maybe someday he might feel like he deserved it.
He chanced a glance at Sora.
Sora had stopped his running around and was staring at his hand's timer with a contemplative look on his face, raising his gaze to the 104 building just outside of the window, just a little way away.
"Sora." he whispered to himself. God, He was standing right there and Riku missed him. He tried to shake off the feeling as best he could.
Loud enough to get his attention, Riku repeated, "Sora." And Sora looked over, clenching his fist. "Can we talk to you a sec?" Sora blinked, flexed his fingers a few times and looked back at his hand.
"Gotta make it quick," he said, showing his palm: 27 minutes. Crap.
He huddled next to Riku, but not nearly as closely as Riku was accustomed to, and turned to the phone. Kairi managed a weak smile and Sora lifted a hand in a hesitant hello. Licking his lips and swallowing his discomfort, Riku turned to him.
"How much do you remember?" he asked, and Sora recoiled, pulling a bit further away.
"How do you know I-" Sora started. Searching Riku's eyes with his own and furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, he slowly composed himself. "I - I woke up in the middle of the street this morning. And . . . I couldn't remember how I had gotten there. Or much of anything else, really. My name. Some places, but none of the people in them. Fruit."
"Fruit?" Riku asked incredulously, "Wait, paopu?"
"Maybe? Star shaped … a tree … a beach?" he paused and Riku stared at him, the air feeling like it had been sucked out of the world. The islands. Sora remembered the islands. And … paopu.
"Sora," Riku said, tapping at the screen urgently, "Do you remember her? Even a little -"
Sora shook his head.
"No." he said firmly, "Why should I?" and Riku felt horribly, wincing as Kairi's choked gasp echoed overloud in the quiet. That had sounded harsh even to his ears; Riku hadn't thought that through at all. Dammit. He hadn't meant to hurt her.
"Should I though?" Sora said, second guessing himself, and then he stood abruptly. "Wait. Do you guys know me?"
"I-" Riku paused, composed himself, "Yes," he said, and pensively watched Sora's face go through shock, fear, happiness, betrayal, "Sora -"
"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked in disbelief, "Why would you just -"
"Because this whole - because this - " Riku sputtered, and then snapped, "because you're my best friend, Sora, and I don't know what to even think because you don't even know me!" he roared, felt tears springing to his eyes, and god dammit he couldn't do this right now. He couldn't afford to break right now. There wasn't time.
Sora just looked at him sadly, his hand moving forward like he was going to put it on Riku's shoulder, like he might've before - when he was whole - with Riku being so upset. But he hesitated. "I'm sorry, Riku." he said, "I wish - I wish I could. You seem to care about me a whole lot. It's just - I got nothing."
It was then that Riku noticed the timer on Sora's hand. 21 minutes. 43 seconds. Counting. There was no time for this. As much as he wanted to have this talk, there would be no talking if they lost this stupid, horrible game.
"Sora," Riku said, "We need to get to 104."
Sora pulled back his hand and stared at it, shaking himself of whatever was going through his head.
"The pact, Riku." Riku jumped. He'd briefly forgotten that Kairi was still on the line.
"Right." he said. "Sora, we gotta agree to a pact. To work together. Or we're -"
Sora didn't even seem to think about it. "I accept." he said. "Of course. But we need to talk about all of," he waved his hands to the phone and to Riku, "all of this later."
Riku felt something in the air change then, like a warm wind had swirled through the building. Sora must've felt it too, because his eyes widened marginally and he whipped his head over to the 104 building.
"Let's go."
The frogs didn't reappear. And Kairi's information that the pact was necessary for more than that was confirmed with Sora running into an invisible wall.
"Ow! What the-" Sora shouted from his place on the pavement, getting to his feet just as fast and rubbing his aching rear end.
Stifling some nervous laughter, Riku asked, "What happened?"
"There's something here blocking the way," Sora pouted, "The building's right there, but-" he poked the invisible barrier and it rippled like a raindrop in a pond. Behind them, a man in a red jacket muttered.
"Pact confirmed."
Riku spun towards the sound of the voice and barely caught sight of the red jacketed person before he vanished. Sora yelped, falling through the now vanished barrier and again onto his ass.
"This place is the best, Riku," he muttered gloomily. "Let's stay here forever."
"Let's not." Riku replied, and offered a hand to help Sora up. Sora looked at it for a moment, then took it, holding on a little longer than absolutely necessary when he'd gotten himself upright.
"Heh," he laughed, "Bet I used to be much more awesome before all this." he said, pulling his hand out of Riku's and rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"Nope." Riku said matter of fact, affection winning over decorum, "You've always been an idiot."
"Hey!" Sora shouted indignantly, and it was so familiar, so normal that Riku felt tears threaten in the corners of his eyes. "I thought you said I was your best friend! That's so rude, Riku!"
Riku just chuckled and shook his head, then gestured up the street. He could do this. He could absolutely do this. Sora was still Sora no matter what.
Sora huffed and took the lead, stomping up the next block to stand in front of the 104 building. Holding his palm in front of his face and then out towards Riku, he smiled. The timer was gone.
Riku breathed a sigh of relief. Day one down. One step closer to home.
"Well then," Sora said, milling around for a place to sit. Settling on the stairs at the side of 104, Sora asked, "What now?"
Riku shrugged. "Don't know. Wait til the next message, I guess."
Sora hummed, looking at the sky and kicking his feet. "You know," he said quietly, apropos of nothing, "It's really weird not having a memory." he frowned, pausing. Riku waited patiently.
"It's like, I can feel that it's gone, and I know I want it back, but I don't know why. I don't know what I'm missing. I wonder why I care so much."
Riku shrugged, motioning for Sora to move over so he could sit next to him. He did. "You've always had a heart too big for your head," he said. "That's why."
Sora laughed. "Really?"
Riku smiled, nudging Sora in the side with his elbow. "Really."
"Huh." he said. "So, tell me something, Riku. How about that girl? With the red hair? She's someone important too, right?"
"Kairi. Her name is Kairi," he said softly.
"Kairi." Sora smiled. "She seems nice." Riku huffed out a laugh.
"She is. We all grew up together, on that island you remember. With the tree. And the fruit."
"Why do I remember that stupid fruit and not you? Or her?" he said despondently. Riku sighed.
"It's kind of a special fruit. Well, the girls seem to believe it, anyway. You did too, I think." Sora looked at him in confusion, so he continued, "They say if you share it your destinies become intertwined forever. It's the island legend -"
"Did we? You and me? Share one?" Sora asked innocently and Riku nearly whacked his head on the handrail as he startled. Blushing fiercely and looking away, he replied,
"N-no! I mean … no." he stuttered. "But you and Kairi did," he recovered and regretted it instantly.
"So is she my girlfriend then?" he asked, and Riku didn't know how to answer, except honestly.
"I don't know." he said carefully, "You didn't really ever say anything outright, but you've always cared a lot about her." Riku shrugged and looked away, absolutely unable to look him in the eye. "I guess I always kinda assumed that's the way things would end up."
"Huh." Sora said again, hand coming up to rub absently over his heart, "That doesn't - that doesn't feel right, though. For some reason."
Riku couldn't help the surprised uptick of his face or the weird warm hope that swelled in his gut. This was stupid. He was stupid. Down hope. Get down. Sora didn't even know what he was talking about. And poor Kairi. Really, it wasn't fair to her at all to even be entertaining this conversation right now.
Sora yawned beside him, a great, over exaggerated thing, and Riku huffed out a chuckle. Mirth stopped rather abruptly when Riku turned to actually look at Sora: a confused frown on his face and his eyes far more heavy than they should've been. "So … tired all of a-" he began, but didn't finish, collapsing bonelessly into Riku's arms, head lolling on Riku's shoulders.
"SORA!" Riku panicked, shaking him by his shoulders. Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. "Hey! Sora! C'mon!"
"Oh he's just sleeping like a good little Player," a voice said, vaguely and oddly familiar, "Give the kid a break."
Riku put himself bodily in front of Sora, careful he didn't hit his head on the concrete even through his haste, and spun to look at the source of the mocking voice.
A voice coming from an Organization cloak.
"You though," he said, and Riku grit his teeth, "You aren't sleeping like a good little Player. Why is that, I wonder?" he laughed, "Ah, who am I kidding. I know who you are and how you're here. The Composer filled me in on all of that already."
Riku narrowed his eyes, "The Composer?"
"Duh. The head guy, the big boss, the one who's putting Mister Darky Keyblade Conductor killer over there through this whole second shot at getting out of here."
"Conductor killer? Dark?" Riku frowned. "Sora? What?"
The cloaked figure shrugged. "So many questions! Your friend there didn't take too kindly to being told we were gonna sever his connections to everyone he ever loved for some reason. Went all smokey and ragey. Killed the last guy." He sighed, and pulled down his hood.
"Demyx?" Riku staggered in surprise.
"Then I had to do it. Talk about a hassle. And a mess. Kid puked on my sitar! At least someone's taking me seriously for once, though. So there's that." Demyx quirked an eyebrow. "You okay there, Riku? Getting a little … dark and stormy there -"
Riku growled, enraged, "I will end you." he roared, keyblade materializing.
"Uh-uh. Wouldn't do that if I were you. Not here to fight, just doing my job: the brand new Conductor! The messenger! Of good things!"
"You have got to be kidding me." Riku said coldly, "You just said it was you that did this to Sora. To me. You must be a special kind of stupid. No wonder the Organization benched you."
"Aw, you heard about that?" Demyx whined, "Must've been Saïx … or Axel? Doesn't matter - OW!" Demyx's eyes widened, rubbing his arm and scuttling back as Riku brought his keyblade back in front of him in defensive position. "Seriously? Ow!"
"Looks like these still work on you, Demyx." Riku said cruelly, hefting his blade again.
"Dammit, I didn't want to have to do this like this." Demyx muttered, and before Riku could even react, Demyx had flashed behind him - in between himself and Sora. Demyx grabbed and hefted Sora over his shoulder before opening his mouth again, "Will you listen now?"
Panic lit Riku's eyes, his keyblade shaking in his hand. "Make it quick," he said, "If you hurt him -"
Demyx rolled his eyes, jumping up and down a little and Riku watched as it jostled Sora but didn't waken him. "See?" Demyx said, "He can't feel a thing," he smirked, "I could literally shoot bubbles in his ear hole and he wouldn't wake up- wanna see?"
"NO! Dammit, Demyx. Leave him alone. I'll hear you out."
"Good." he sighed, "See, I would've been awesome at this if the Organization would've let me do anything. Their loss is the Composer's gain, I guess." He hefted Sora to his other shoulder and Riku flinched. "Really did a number on my arm there. Damn."
"Get on with it." Riku deadpanned.
"Right. So, like I said, good news. Apparently you two have earned a shorter sentence. Bossman said you've already proven a few things somehow, sometime, something or another but there's one thing he needs to test you on before he releases you back into existence." Demyx held up a finger to stop Riku who'd opened his mouth to speak. "Nuh uh. I'm talking. My time to shine. So, because you two are, well, you, and we're only doing the two more days - that's right! Just two more- these aren't going to be some normal tasks like what is normally done down here. It's going to be hard. It's going to suck, probably. No breaking simple curses or helping school girls get over their differences for you! Oh no!" Demyx grinned widely, casually striding up to Riku and tossing Sora at him. Riku scrambled to catch him, clinging onto him protectively.
Demyx narrowed his eyes. "RULES!" he said. "Absolutely, positively, no keyblades. Break that one and -" he snapped his fingers, "Instant oblivion - so, drop it, Green Eyes. Just the Pins. Better learn how to use them real quick."
"TWO!" he shouted, holding up a couple of fingers on both hands, "That extra phone of yours? Gone. You get one call in the morning if you choose to use it. And that's it. Choose wisely. Because it won't work after his day two timer starts," he smirked.
"And THREE, and this is very, very important here - if you fail, Riku, not only will Sora be erased, but you'll get upgraded to a Reaper. And spend eternity down here, doing the same thing, playing the same game with other people." Riku narrowed his eyes. Like hell he would. If Sora went down - every single one of these Reapers would be going down with him. He'd make sure of that.
"One more thing." Demyx said cooly, "You can also choose to end the game right here, right now."
"Wha-what?" Riku stuttered, tightening his hold on Sora.
"Drop him. I'll open a portal. You can leave. One time offer." he smiled, "Of course if you do, your little boyfriend there will be erased. But you'll be perfectly free." Riku bristled.
"Free." Riku said incredulously, "Free? You've really never loved anyone in your life, have you Demyx? You really think I could ever just leave Sora down here to - You must be out of your mind!"
"You know he's going to choose that little red head, right?" Demyx said coldly.
That. That stung. He didn't want it to, never wanted to be feeling any sort of anything negative for Kairi, but it was there. He would deal with it though. If that was Sora's choice, he'd find a way. Much better that Sora might be happy with Kairi than dead. For sure.
"You know that little red head is also one of my best friends, right?" Riku volleyed back. "You can stop the manipulation tactics now, Demyx. I'm staying with Sora."
Demyx shrugged.
"Suit yourself then." he said, "Nighty night."
The world started to tilt and wobble, and Riku tried to keep his eyes open, to fight, but it was no use. Using his last conscious thought and action to make sure that Sora didn't hit the ground any harder than he could help, Riku fell into unconsciousness.
Day One Complete.