Chapter 181: Childhood
"Well…" Sora grinned. "I was wondering if you could teach me how to fly."
"Mm…hmm..." Peter considered him for a long moment. "Sorry! No can do!"
Sora's smile instantly vanished. "What? Why not?"
"Simple! You don't look like you've got enough happy thoughts to get you two feet off the ground, let alone enough to keep you up in the air!" Peter was surprisingly chipper about the entire thing.
Actually, it wasn't a surprise, it was just annoying.
Sora sighed. He supposed he didn't have enough happy thoughts. Nothing in his life was exactly happy right now—and even then, what good would flying do him? Sure, he could outfly Maleficent… but for how long? And then what was he supposed to do? Sticking around Neverland was great and all, but he'd have to leave eventually, and he doubted anyone here knew a way off-world.
"Fine then," he said, stepping around Peter and walking off.
He got maybe about five steps.
"Hey wait a sec!" Peter called. "Tink! Sprinkle the dust on him—don't give me that look! It won't matter if we get him up in the air with happy thoughts, without the dust he'll just fall!"
Tinker Bell made a couple of angry jangling noises.
"Don't give me that—he- fine!"
Three seconds later, Peter flew over, holding Tinker Bell by the wings to keep her from flying off. She was still jangling angrily at him, flailing a little, but Peter ignored her and held her over Sora's head, shaking her until quite a bit of pixie dust fell on him. Sora coughed, sneezed, then scratched his neck. Ahh… he'd have to take a shower to get all this off. It was a pity it itched so much.
"Sorry about that," Peter said, letting go of Tinker Bell. "She still doesn't trust you. Of course I wasn't apologizing to you!" He directed the last bit at Tinker Bell. "Why would I—ow!" She kicked him in the ear, before flying off.
Sora suspected she'd be back soon, given her track record.
"Anyway…" Peter rubbed his ear, then flew over to Sora. "Like this." He lifted first Sora's right arm, then Sora's left arm, and Sora felt a little like an airplane. "Now, you got happy thoughts in your head?"
Sora nodded, gathering the happiest thoughts he could.
"Then fly!"
Nothing happened.
"You gotta try harder than that!"
Sora didn't exactly understand how he was supposed to try any harder. It obviously wasn't working, or he'd be doing more than just straining to take flight. He jumped into the air for extra measure, but didn't stay afloat any longer than a normal person would.
"Well, now you're just too frustrated," Peter told him. "You'll never get into the air like that. Come on!" He started off.
Sora frowned after him, dropping his arms to his sides. "Where are we going?" he asked, quickly jogging to catch up.
Peter shrugged. "Just figured I'd show you 'round Neverland. Maybe you'll get excited about something and just start floating! Flying's always hardest when you're trying too hard, you know." He turned and waggled a finger at Sora, face very serious.
Sora just nodded, biting his lip, trying not to laugh. The idea of spending a day with Peter Pan was great and all, but now that he was actually doing it, Sora was a little less than impressed. In his head, Peter'd been less… childish. And the way he acted like he was an expert on flying was certainly very child-like.
Then again… if anyone in Neverland was an expert on flying, it would be Peter Pan.
"This way!" Peter called.
Sora followed after him.
xxx
Sora groaned. He was lying on his back, staring up at the trees above him, glaring slightly. They'd been up in the trees, sort of just exploring and…
And then Peter'd pushed him.
And, of course, Sora hadn't been able to fly and catch himself before he hit the ground. Thankfully, the drop hadn't been too large—only a couple of feet—but he still hurt. A lot.
Peter bent over him, looking a little worried, but not so much so.
"C'mon Sora!" he laughed. "You just gotta believe!"
Sora frowned.
"I thought you said I needed happy thoughts…"
"Oh yeah." Peter nodded vigorously. "And those too!"
Sora sighed and pushed himself up, casting a Cure for himself. Thankfully, that was all it took to stop him aching so much.
"Well, come on!" Peter said, grinning. "So sense sticking 'round here! Let's—hmm?" Tinker Bell was tugging at his ear, impatiently. She turned and pointed, jangling again.
There was a group of Heartless behind Peter—not a large group, though. Just a couple of Shadows and one that looked a little like a Pirate. It even had a sword!
"Aw, these pests again!" Peter groaned, pulling his dagger from his belt.
Sora summoned his Keyblade. Peter looked over at him, seeming slightly surprised. The surprise only lasted a few seconds though, before Peter launched himself at the Heartless. He took out a Shadow with a series of quick stabs.
Sora took out one of the Shadows, and then focused on the Pirate. With that Sliding Dash ability he'd learned, he was able to rush over to it and hit it with a combo. Unfortunately, the Pirate parried him on the last hit of the combo, and then it somehow managed to knock Sora's Keyblade out of his hand. Sora frowned, but before he could pick his Keyblade or summon it back to him, the Pirate had its sword aimed at his chest. Right at his heart.
Sora took a step back out of reflex, not liking the glint in the Heartless' eyes. He quickly aimed with his fingers and shot a Fire at it. That was enough to kill it. Sora let out a hiss of a breath, shaking his hand, not liking how hot his fingers felt. There were drawbacks to channeling magic directly…
Anyway.
He turned to locate his Keyblade, and was surprised to find that Peter was picking it up. He turned it over in his hands, studying it.
"This is called a Keyblade, right?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as he held it out. "Y'know, I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these before! I hear they're supposed to be—"
There was a flash of light and the Keyblade vanished from Peter's hand. Sora didn't need to feel the rush of wind nor the cool metal of the Keyblade settling in his fingers to know it'd gone back to him. He hadn't exactly called it back, but there'd been a tug at his heart when it'd vanished. He'd just… known.
"—special," Peter finished, frowning and looking at his hand. "Huh."
"What do you know about the Keyblade?" Sora asked, eyes narrowing.
"I… just remember seeing one before, that's all," Peter said, shrugging. "Can't remember where. It's been a while." His face scrunched up.
"Right…"
Sora wasn't sure what to do, but it didn't look like he was going to get any more out of Peter on the subject.
xxx
Roxas's feet touched the ground, and he banished his Keyblades, smirking slightly. That hadn't been too hard.
"'Warning: potentially deadly', pshh!" Roxas laughed to himself. "Yeah right, 26. You need to think a little harder when putting these mission reports together—there hasn't been a Heartless yet that's been 'deadly'."
Because, sure enough, this last one—Ruler of the Skies, had the mission report called it?—wasn't that hard. It was a little obnoxious, seeing as the thing was a) very large, and b) flew, but it could've been a lot worse. A lot worse.
Roxas did a quick check of his stock.
"Oh, I've still got three Cures left," he muttered, smiling and summoning one of his Keyblades back to him. It was the black one. He couldn't seem to get the white one to come on its own… Anyway…
"Let's do a quick round of this world!"
Roxas thought for a second, then picked a direction and started off. He had time. He had Cures. Sure, he was still a little low on the rest of his magic, but it couldn't hurt to do an extra round and kill a couple extra Heartless. And who would complain? No one.
The first batch of Heartless he ran into was, unfortunately, just a group of Shadows. He didn't get any credit for killing those. He sighed, flipped his Keyblade in his hand, twirling it under his fingers before tossing it at the Heartless. It spun around, striking each of the Shadows, killing them all in one hit. Good.
"I should just skip the next batch of those guys," Roxas muttered, sighing a little as he caught his Keyblade. He continued twirling it under his fingers, absentmindedly.
Oh well.
He'd maybe gotten ten feet when he hit the next batch. All Pirates, along with an Air Pirate.
"Heh," he chuckled.
He tossed his Keyblade at the Air Pirate, sending out a burst of light with it. He summoned his second Keyblade to him, ran forward, scooped up the munny the Air Pirate dropped as it died, then jumped into the air. He caught his first Keyblade, and then slammed them both into the ground, light erupting from him as he did so. All but one of the Pirates died. That one he finished off with his last blast of Fire.
Roxas straightened, trying not to smirk.
Thud!
Roxas tensed immediately. That sounded like… something hitting the ground. Actually… it sounded more like someone. He turned and, sure enough, there was someone sprawled out on the ground. From the looks of it, they'd fallen from the top of the small cliff behind them. The cliff can't have been more than ten feet, though…
"Hey, are you—" Roxas began, but the words caught in his throat.
He knew who that was.
That was Sora.
His hands tightened on his Keyblades.