Phoenix Down

Chapter 3 - Day Two

The first thing Riku noticed when he woke was that he was warm. Really warm. Like someone had draped a nice heavy blanket over him after he'd passed out last night. He cracked his eyes open a bit in confusion, and what he saw took everything in him not to startle. Not a blanket at all. Of course it wasn't.

Sora, and a very awake Sora at that, seemed to be finding Riku's jacket extremely interesting. Head on Riku's chest, eyebrows furrowed and looking like he was thinking far harder than he probably was, Sora watched his own hand as he poked at the snaps on Riku's jacket in an absent minded sort of way.

Riku closed his eyes again, registered that what was supporting his head wasn't a pillow but Sora's arm, and that one of his legs had one of Sora's pinned beneath it.

Well, he had collapsed holding onto Sora, after all. So that, at least, made sense. What didn't was that Sora had woken before him and hadn't made a move to pull away. Not that he was necessarily complaining, and he was kind of guilty of taking advantage of the situation himself right now, but-

Sora, as he was now, didn't really even know Riku. And Sora, as Riku did know him, had never done anything like this before with him.

Riku knew he should open his eyes. Let Sora know he was awake.

He waited another full minute before he did.

"Sora," he said, and Sora's hand froze, gaze meeting his in a quick upward movement, "What are you doing?"

Watching in fascination as Sora's face colored, as he awkwardly pulled his arm off of Riku's chest and bit his lip nervously, Riku smirked.

"Don't worry about it," Riku said, trying to brush off the situation for Sora's sake, "A lot happened last night, and the Conductor put me out while I was holding onto you." he laughed, "You really can sleep through anything, can't you?"

Sora sat up indignantly, pulling his other arm from behind Riku's head with the motion, and Riku, still amused, sat up as calmly as he could manage. "I, I was just making sure you were still breathing!" Sora said quickly, flustered. "And- and I was comfortable. So I-" he frowned and shook his head. "Ugh, I'm so confused. I barely even know you, and yet. . ."

Riku winced at the reminder.

"It's like my head and my heart are both saying different things."

"Guess we're on the same page." Riku said without thinking, and the confused frown on Sora's face grew deeper. Cursing himself and backtracking a bit, he continued, "We were close, Sora. Grew up together, fought a war together, saved each others lives. Maybe that's what your heart is telling you."

Sora didn't look convinced. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe."

"Look, once we beat this game and get you your memories back it'll all be clearer." Riku offered.

Sora sighed. "Sure hope so. I mean, I don't even know how I got here! Why are we even stuck playing this stupid game?" Riku opened his mouth to speak. Closed it again. Looked away.

"You know!" Sora said accusingly, getting to his feet. "Stop hiding things from me! I'm not gonna break! How weak do you think I-"

"You died!" Riku blurted. His voice cracked and softened. "You died, Sora. Trying to save Kairi."

"I . . . what?" Sora breathed, drew his hand up over his own heart. "I'm dead? How-"

Sora shook his head in denial. "Kairi. The girl in your phone. The, the paopu girl? Why?"

"Because you loved her, Sora." Riku said gently, "And she'd been cut down right in front of you. She died, but you were determined to get her back anyway." he sighed, "And I believed you could do it, convinced everyone that you could. Because you're you. And you pull off miracles as often as you smile - and usually that's a hell of a lot, even during the most dire of circumstances. You went off, by yourself, and died trying. But that didn't stop you either." Riku smiled sadly. "You did it. You saved her. She's alive and she's home. She told me all about it." he breathed, "This place we're in, the Underground, it's a world for the dead. You were right earlier, when you first saw me here. You're basically a ghost, Sora."

Sora's frown morphed into wide eyed horror, coming to some sort of conclusion that Riku wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"Wait. Wait Riku - If she told you, and you're here, and only the dead are here. . ." Sora looked like he was going to be sick. "Riku, you didn't. . ."

Riku shook his head quickly, frantically. "No! No, no way. I wouldn't ever - not if there was another way to get you out of here." he took a deep breath. "I knew there had to be a way to save you and I found someone who could let me into the Underground. I'm not dead."

"Riku …" Sora murmured, and Riku had to think back on what he'd just said because Sora wasn't looking at him like someone who was concerned about themself. And given what Riku had just told him, he should have been, right? "Riku." Sora said again, his eyes going steely, and Riku flinched back. "If there hadn't been another way. You - I'm not worth that. I'd want you to let me go." Riku opened his mouth to speak, and Sora shook his head. "Don't pull that 'I don't know what I'm talking about crap.' My head's screwed up, but my heart is clear. Don't ever, purposely-"

"Isn't that a little hypocritical? You died for Kairi."

"Did I go out planning to die?"

Riku clamped his mouth shut. If he hadn't found Joshua, would he have … would he have gone that extra step to get to the Underground? Would he have let that much darkness consume him in order to save Sora?

He honestly didn't know for sure. The fact that he was leaning towards 'Yes' terrified him more than a little.

Sora had turned his back to him, running his hands through his hair erratically. Riku walked up to him and grabbed one of his wrists to halt him.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm lucky." Sora said suddenly, a huge smile blooming on his face. "Most people, almost everyone really, when they die there's no magic place to go to where you can get a shot at coming back. They're just dead. They're gone and separated from their friends and family forever." he sobered a bit, looking at Riku. "You won't know what will happen when you die. There's a good chance you won't be as lucky, and that there'll be no way to bring you back. So you can't chance it." he affirmed. "Please don't ever chance it, Riku."

Riku nodded in wide eyed amazement. How did Sora do it? He always found the light in everything, always was able to say exactly what he needed someone to get through to him at just the moment he needed to hear it. Even with parts of him missing, Sora managed to pull it off. "I won't purposely go somewhere my important people shouldn't follow." he said, slowly releasing Sora's wrist, "But," he continued, "You need to take your own advice too, Sora. Your optimism and confidence has always outweighed your common sense. Up 'til now, everytime you've said that everything was going to be fine and you'd make it through and save the day, I believed you. Because it was true. It always was." Riku sighed. "You're not definitely going to get 'lucky' like this again, okay? Kairi didn't want you to die for her after she died, and I-" he paused. "You did it for me, too. During the war. Brought me back. And I'm glad I'm alive and here right now to help you, but I was okay with dying to protect you too."

Sora's eyes softened, and he held out his hand. "No more running off to my death to save the dead. Just living to protect the living. Yeah?"

Riku took his hand and shook it. "I'm gonna hold you to this when you get your memories back too." he said, "No going back on it when you remember how much your oversized heart loves everyone."

"Deal." Sora said firmly, tightening his hold on Riku's hand momentarily, and then releasing it.

"Alright then, we'd better get going on getting out of here, then." Riku said.

"Right," Sora agreed. "So what did I miss?"

Riku sighed. "A lot, and none of it good. The Conductor is someone we've both dealt with before. The name Demyx ring any bells?" Sora shook his head. "Okay. Okay, so the Composer went and assigned Demyx as the Conductor. And if I could use my Keyblade to take him out, that wouldn't be a problem at all. He's a pushover."

Sora frowned. "Why can't you?"

"The rules have changed. I even take the Keyblade out, it's instant game over. We both get erased. Instantly." he clenched his fist. "We gotta figure out those Pins - Kairi said you have some-"

Sora patted his pockets. "Yeah," he replied, pulling out a handful. "Guess I do."

Riku looked at the pile and smiled, "Awesome. We can have Kairi explain things a little better - uh"

"What is it?"

"That's the other thing from last night. I only get one more call from the Gummiphone- and I really need to talk with King Mickey and maybe Axel, too."

"Who?"

Riku sighed, reality getting more depressing by the moment. "They're friends. Mickey knows a lot about just about everything, and what he doesn't know he's really good a finding out. I want to pick his brain about Joshua. He- he's the guy that helped me get here, but I can't shake this - I don't know. There's something in the way that he was able to get me here so easily." Riku shook his head. "And Axel might know more about Demyx that we may need to know, as well as how deep the Organization involvement is. Probably not too bad, but I still don't trust all of them." Seeing the baffled look on Sora's face, he sighed. "The Organization is a story that'll take too long to tell, just, they were the other side of the war. Most of them were defeated and some of them were willing to help us out in the end."

"If only we could send them a message, get them all in one spot." Sora murmured, and Riku froze, eyes widening.

"Demyx said one call. He didn't say anything about -" Riku said, pulling out the Gummiphone and typing quickly:

Riku: Kairi- Rules changed. Only get one more call. Get Mickey and Axel and call me asap.

The response came almost immediately. Sora huddled in to see.

Kairi: Thank god! You made it through the day! I was so worried about you guys.

Kairi: I'm on it. Axel's with Roxas down at the beach, and Mickey and I have been going through some things you definitely need to know.

Riku: Great. Kinda urgent, so hurry. Gummiphone isn't going to work anymore once Sora gets his timer, and it could come anytime.

Kairi: ?

"She really is something, huh?" Sora said from Riku's side, and Riku smiled.

"She is." he said. "They all are."

"So." Sora said, eyes gleaming. "Wanna play with these pins while we wait?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer. Grabbing one at random and activating it, a car rose up in the air from off the street and flew into a tree. They both cringed. "Oops." Sora said.

Riku grabbed the pin out of his hands and stuck it on his jacket, narrowing his eyes. "Wait for Kairi." he said flatly, and Sora put his hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

"Aw, you're no fun." he said, and the Gummiphone rang. "That was fast."

Riku smiled. "That's Kairi for you," he said as he answered it.

"Riku. Sora. It's really good to see you," she managed to get out before she was nearly knocked over by Donald and Goofy trying to see the screen. Thankfully, Mickey stepped in and sent them out of the way.

"Who the -" Sora began and Riku shook his head and put a finger over his mouth.

"Friends." he said, "But it's better not to get Donald squawking or we'll never get what we need out of this call."

"HEY!" They heard from offscreen. "I heard that!"

Kairi giggled. "They'll never change." Riku nodded with a grin.

"Hey, c'mon. Totally left out of the joke here." Sora said with a huff.

"Sorry." Riku said, patting Sora on the head in mock consolation. Sora scowled.

"Well, you two are getting along just as well as ever." Axel voiced from behind Kairi, and Kairi rolled her eyes.

"We can't all be cuddling on the beach, eating ice cream, Lea." She said, and Axel turned a shade of red almost matching his hair.

"It's not like that!" he said, holding up his hands. From offscreen Roxas snorted, with an eye roll that could practically be heard: "Oh shut it, Axel. Of course it is."

Riku blinked, surprised. Then he smiled. "Took you two long enough." Axel raised an eyebrow.

"You're really not in a position to talk, Ri-" Kairi quickly covered his mouth and glared at him.

"Not a good time," she said simply. "Anyway," she turned back to the screen. "What's new with you two?"

Riku sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Lots of stuff." he said. "So, we ran into Demyx -"

"Wha! That loser?" Axel laughed, "That's not a problem. Could take that little shit out with a rubber band and a popsicle stick."

Riku smirked. "Usually, yeah. Except he's been powered up and ranked up and can permadeath both me and Sora with a word from the Composer."

Kairi's eyes widened, horrified. "He's the Conductor."

"Why on earth would Joshua give Demyx that much power?" Mickey said, aghast, and Riku gaped at him.

"Joshua?" Riku spat out in shock, "Joshua is the Composer?"

Mickey sighed. "Yes. I didn't know when I sent you looking for him, and for that I'm sorry. I believe I may have led you into a trap," shaking his head sadly, he continued, "I managed to find Neku yesterday - he played the game for quite some time - and he told me quite a bit about his experience."

Riku turned to Sora, who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I don't know the guy." Riku said. "Think he was on Sora's side of the dream in Traverse Town if he was there at all-" Mickey nodded.

"He was. From what he said about Traverse Town, on his end it didn't happen in reality at all - it was more of a dream for him and his friends." Mickey paused. "He said that Joshua was definitely the Composer in the Shibuya Underground, though. Joshua is - he's a sort of examiner of human nature." Mickey frowned. "I'm thinking something about Sora interested him enough to want to examine him more thoroughly."

Riku narrowed his eyes, "So he took advantage of Sora's death to do it."

"That seems to be his way of doing things, yes. Neku had it worse to be honest. Joshua actually shot him in order to get him into his game. And then used him to play on his side against a bet he had with his Conductor at the time." Mickey sighed. "Joshua was ready to destroy Shibuya entirely and gave the Conductor a month to prove that Shibuya was worth saving. The Conductor's timer ran out. Neku was given a gun as a final game task, Joshua told Neku to shoot him - and he didn't. Next thing Neku knew, he was awake and alive in the scramble without any explanation as to why. And as you know, Shibuya still exists."

"So what exactly is he testing me for, then?" Sora piped up, "And how am I supposed to prove anything to him?"

"Just be you, I guess." Riku said, and Sora rolled his eyes.

"I don't even know who I am!" he yelled, and for quite some time everyone was silent. Finally Kairi spoke up.

"Maybe that's part of his whole test," she said quietly, "The first week, your light was taken, and it made you this horribly depressed shell of yourself. Even then, you still fought your way through, not for yourself but for me. For a friend," she bit her lip. "If we're looking at this like it's an experiment, then the next thing to take away would be your friends. He's - he's testing your motivations, I think."

Mickey hummed. "It does make sense somewhat," he said, "But if that's the case, why would he allow Riku into the Underground? They've been friends just as long as Sora's been friends with Kairi."

"He has." Kairi said, "But Sora doesn't remember any of that."

"Standing right here." Sora grumbled, then furrowed his eyebrows, tapping his chin. "And, I mean, I think RIku and I have kinda become friends now anyway. So how does that work out with this Joshua's great big plan?"

Riku's heart gave a little leap, feeling the beginnings of a smile - and then Kairi wiped it away just as quickly.

"I think that makes Riku a target," she said sadly, "He's your partner in all of this, Sora - what if he-"

Riku's eyes widened. "Demyx already tried that last night. He - he told me I could choose to leave the game if I wanted."

Kairi snorted. "Yeah, right. Like you would."

"So you think since he couldn't get me to leave on my own, he'll be focussing on erasing me from now on, to get a reaction for Joshua's experiment. Great." Riku sighed.

Sora put his hand on Riku's shoulder. "That just means we gotta be ready for whatever gets thrown at us."

Riku nodded.

"Anything you guys haven't figured out about fighting down there? Pins, memes, imprinting? Any of that?" Kairi asked.

"Um," Sora said, "All of those. No idea what you're talking about."

"Except that poor tree you just murdered with a Honda." Riku smirked.

"Hey!"

Kairi shook her head, and then proceeded to take the next twenty minutes having Sora show her the pins he had and explaining how to use them, then having the both of them try them out with fairly equal success - something she was impressed with, as apparently not everyone could use every pin. Then she moved on to memes and imprinting them, which involved collecting words and phrases, the memes, and then using them to influence the living: imprinting.

"You both need to make sure to protect your Player pins, as well," she said firmly. "If you lose them you lose the protection they give you."

Mickey nodded. "Right. Neku warned us about these pins called O-Pins, which can allow for mass imprinting on those wearing them who are not protected by the Player pins. You need to be especially careful, Riku, with your Player pin. You're still alive. Any player could imprint a meme on you without even needing you to be in possession of an O-Pin."

"Weird thing though." Sora interrupted. "We haven't seen any other players. It's just been me and Riku."

Kairi shook her head. "Doesn't mean they're not there. It took us a while to-"

A sudden spark shot through the hand Riku was using to hold onto the Gummiphone while simultaneously Sora gasped and clutched his wrist. Their phones beeped with an incoming message. Riku swore, dropping the Gummiphone and watching it explode before it even hit the ground. Great. Just great. He still had so many questions - and he really would have liked to give them all a just-in-case goodbye.

"120" Sora said, breaking Riku out of his irritated thoughts, and Riku reached into his pocket to pull out the other phone and check the message.

Defeat the player at the top of 104. You have 120 minutes. Fail, and face erasure.

"What?" Riku breathed, his stomach lurching. "They want us to-"

"Riku . . ." Sora murmured. "Are they telling us we have to - we have to kill someone? Erase someone else who's just trying to-" Sora shook his head and looked down at the ground, didn't finish his sentence.

"I- I don't know." Riku said uncomfortably. "It sounds like it." he sighed. "And if it's our mission, it's probably this other player's as well."

"So they're probably going to be pretty desperate to take us down too."

Riku nodded and clenched his fist. "We'd better hurry. That building is huge and I doubt they're going to let us just take the elevator."

He wasn't wrong. The walk alone took twenty minutes, and the trip up the building took a full hour. It was almost straight fighting, monsters of all kinds in their way nearly every step of the way. The 104 building was far worse than the street, ten floors of Noise just about everywhere, invisible walls preventing any hope of simply running through, and for whatever reason, red coated Reapers that thought it would be a fun idea to give them quizzes on a city they knew nothing about.

By the time they reached the top, Riku was absolutely exhausted. Sora didn't look to be faring much better. While neither of them were slouches in the epic battle department, even though Sora didn't actually know this, the amount of effort it had taken to get there had definitely taken its toll. If there were a bright side to look on, it would be that their abilities with the pins were at least a thousand percent better than when they had started, and Sora had relearned to fight together at nearly the level he had before. Whether it was out of muscle memory or just simple necessity was anyone's guess, and not something Riku had time to dwell on.

"I'm guessing the roof then?" Sora said, catching his breath and shaking a women's blouse off of his shoe - there were clothes and shoes and cat figurines everywhere, some things singed from fire, others encased in blocks of ice. Flowery parasols turned inside out and lace dresses hanging from the ceiling like mutilated spider webs.

"Probably-" Riku began, and then cried out in a surprised 'oomph,' shoved to the ground the second he turned his gaze to Sora, watching Sora's eyes widen on Riku's way to the floor.

Riku quickly righted himself, Sora helping him get to his feet, and whirled around to see Demyx and another man he didn't recognize.

Demyx laughed, pulling a few kernels of popcorn from the biggest red and white striped bucket Riku had ever seen, while the other man held out a Player pin in his view.

"Missing something?" The new guy asked, and Riku's hand shot to the left flap of his jacket pocket where he had stuck his player pin underneath. He swore.

"Riku." Sora said nervously. "Tell me that's not yours."

"Wish I could." Riku replied.

Demyx grinned. "This mission's super fun. You're gonna like it. Okay, so this guy," Demyx pointed, for no reason other than he was a bit of an ass, "he's already lost his partner. Sad times." he said. "So he's been waiting up here, just for you, so he can save himself from getting erased because of it. Course," Demyx smiled, "we had to add a stipulation or two to give him the deal. You understand." he shrugged. "He wins, he goes back to the Realground and gets back his lady friend. He loses, he goes up to the Realground - but he gets a new job guiding souls to the Underground for fun and games down here." Demyx pouted. "Really not a bad offer. One end you get love and freedom, the other, job security. Except he doesn't like the position we're offering too much." he turned to the man, who was clenching a fist in barely concealed rage. "Do you, Noctis?

"Bastard." Noctis spat and looked to Riku and Sora, then away. "I'm sorry." He threw Riku's pin to Demyx.

"Sweet!" Demyx said, grinning. I've been wanting to play the meme game since the Composer told me about it. So cool. Thanks for volunteering, Mouseketeer!"

"Riku," Sora grabbed his wrist and hissed in his ear. "You gotta run. I'll take care of-"

"Uh uh! Heard that!" Demyx laughed. He waved his hand and a barrier rose, then he fished a phone out of his pocket. "So, I'm group messaging three memes. And I'll let Noctis choose which one he wants to use. See? Fun! Go on, take out your phones. You'll wanna see." His grin turned sharklike. "Oh this one's bad. Option one!'

Four beeps. Kill a friend.

Three pairs of eyes widened, Sora took a step back.

"No way in hell, Demyx." Noctis said, fiercely.

Demyx shrugged. "Hey, you could have had him do half your work for you. Really don't see the downside there." he sighed. "Okay," he said, grabbing and handful of popcorn and chewing obnoxiously, "How about this. Option two," he said with a full mouth and a spray of popcorn bits.

Four beeps. Kill yourself.

Riku dropped his phone. He'd just promised he would never. And now, right in front of Sora?

Noctis took one look at him and then turned back. "No."

Riku remembered how to breathe.

Demyx sighed. "Fine. Last option. Best of both worlds, no bloody mess, just some vanishing action. Make him break the rules."

Four beeps. Use the Keyblade.

Riku turned to Sora, opened his mouth to ask him what the message said, when the idea came to his head, clear as day: Use the Keyblade. Riku raised his arm.

"Wait!" Sora shouted frantically, dropping his phone and waving his hands in front of Riku's eyes to try and get his attention. "Riku, don't! You can't!"

Riku barely heard him, Sora's fearful yell only a whisper through the meme's intrusive chant.

Use the Keyblade. Use the Keyblade. Use the Keyblade.

Of course he should use the Keyblade! These pins were fine for the Noise, but to take down an opponent like this, in any world …

"Riku! The Rules! We'll-

Use the Keyblade.

Riku felt his fingers start to tingle with magic, but he hesitated. Why was he hesitating? It was so obvious what he needed to do …

Sora grabbed him by both wrists, squeezing hard and pulling him down. Barely an inch from his face, Sora looked him directly in the the eye.

"Riku." he said firmly. "Do NOT use the Keyblade."

Riku blinked, a bit of the haze clearing from his eyes. "Sora?" He asked. What was Sora doing here? When did he - and when did he get so close? Why was he so close? Vaguely he heard laughter from someone in the room.

"Ooooh! You're gonna lose!" The voice chuckled. "He's getting distracted! You ready for your new job? You'll start immediately!"

USE THE KEYBLADE!

"Sora . . ." Riku said, dazed, "I have to use the -"

"I'm sorry." Sora blurted.

And then he kissed him.

The shock of it wiped Riku's mind blessedly blank, everything narrowed to that single point of contact. It barely lasted a moment and then it was over, Sora leaning back and then tearing a Pin off Riku's jacket, spinning to utilize psychokinesis and ripping Noctis' Player Pin off of his hip and clear out the window. Taking advantage of Noctis' surprise, Sora ran at him full tilt, throwing alternating fire and ice that half missed and half did a respectable amount of damage. As soon as Sora paused to breathe, Demyx snapped his fingers and up came a wall between them.

He began a slow clap and whistled lowly, "Well, that was fun," he said, grinning and tossing his now empty popcorn bucket over his shoulder. He looked to Noctis, made mocking gun fingers with his hands and said, "Bye bye! I'm bored now. You lose. Enjoy your new employment!" With a wave of his hand, Noctis vanished and Demyx turned to Sora, who was clenching his fists and staring at the spot Noctis once occupied.

"You barely gave him a chance!" Sora yelled.

Demyx shrugged and flipped Riku's Player Pin in the direction of Sora's forehead. Sora caught it deftly before it hit him.

"You know," Demyx said, changing the subject by indicating Riku with an incline of his head, "I don't know who just messed with his mind more. Noctis, or you." he smirked. "I'll give you a couple minutes before you go night night. See you tomorrow!"

The moment Demyx disappeared, Sora turned slowly towards Riku and Riku watched him as he approached, Sora's hands running through his hair anxiously and not making eye contact.

"I, um-" Sora began and Riku brought his hand down from where it had been covering his lips and blinked his eyes that were dry from his shocked wide stare.

"Don't." Riku said and Sora's gaze shot to meet his. "Don't apologize again-"

"I wasn't gonna-"

"You did what you had to to distract me. To keep me from dooming us both," he said robotically, dejectedly. He shrugged halfheartedly. "It worked."

"Riku, I-"

"I said DON'T!" he roared. "Whatever it is . . . You're not HIM! You have no idea, Sora. You're only running on the here and now, and even if . . ." Riku turned, squeezed his eyes shut. God damn it. His heart couldn't take this. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath. "We'll talk about this when you get your memories back," he murmured quietly. "Until then, pretend it didn't happen."

"Riku," Sora breathed, voice strained. Riku tensed. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I-I wasn't thinking. But," Sora steeled himself. "If the real me, the whole me, doesn't love you -" Sora grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him back around to look him in the eye. "Then he really is an idiot."

Riku startled back out of Sora's reach, eyes filling with tears at the conviction in Sora's voice, at words he'd never heard Sora say out loud so plainly. Words he still couldn't hold as true, no matter how much he wanted to. He shook his head and smiled sadly.

"We've been best friends forever. Of course he-"

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Sora sighed, folding his arms over his chest, curling in on himself.

And that's when Riku realized he had just rejected Sora. He'd rejected this Sora, and no matter how many pieces of himself this Sora was missing, those eyes were the same. That heart was the same. He'd been so shocked and confused that he'd only been thinking of himself, not even considering this Sora's feelings at all.

"Dammit." Riku said aloud, and to his horror heard a badly concealed sniffle from his friend's direction. "Dammit." he said again, and then reached for Sora, wrapping him up tightly. "I am so sorry, Sora," he whispered.

Sora clutched at his jacket, buried his face in Riku's chest wetly, and Riku held tighter. "I'm jealous of myself," Sora said miserably, "How dumb is that?"

"Hey," Riku said, pulling out of the hug and nudging Sora's chin up with a knuckle. "The you right now? He's pretty cool too." Sora looked doubtful. "No, really. You just saved both of us. And - and yeah, this is, this is what it is, but . . . we made it through the day." Riku smiled. "And it's thanks to you."

Sora huffed out a chuckle, wiping at his face. "Thanks, Riku." he said, and though he was still quite obviously upset, he cracked a small smile.

"Of course. Always." he replied fondly, and as the world started to tilt in that now familiar way, he grabbed Sora's hand, and squeezed.

DAY TWO COMPLETE.