Chapter 188: Leaving a Message

Sora slowly opened his eyes, before deciding the sun was too bright and shutting them again. He was on his face in the ground for some reason. And he was… not in Neverland. But he'd known that bit… He'd been—

Was that… something growling?

Sora listened for a bit longer, and, sure enough, it sounded like a growl. Not just a growl—an angry dog growl. He should probably get up in that case. No need to lie here and wait for an angry dog to attack.

"I thought I told you to stay away from him!"

Hey, that was Cloud!

Sora sat up as quickly as he could, and was a little surprised to see Cloud fighting a… wolf. At least Sora assumed it was a wolf. It looked more like a wolf than a dog, but it was certainly magical. There was a red fire about it, and its eyes were a shade of yellow that can't have been normal.

Cloud bared his blade and the wolf leapt. Its teeth scraped against his sword, before it backed off. They circled each other for a moment, before it leapt again. Cloud wasn't quick enough time, and the wolf sunk its teeth into his arm.

Sora jumped to his feet, summoning his Keyblade and launching himself forward. He brought his blade down on the wolf's back, before whacking it on the head. It let go of Cloud with a yelp and rolled to the side, shaking its head.

Sora frowned at it. Now that he was really looking at it, the red fire looked a little familiar… And it even had a chain around its neck, along with another bound around its hind leg. Could it be…?

The wolf launched itself at him, and he quickly brought up his blade to block. Its teeth closed around his Keyblade. Sora tried to pull it away, but the wolf wrenched its head from side to side, like a dog playing tug-of-war. Sora had to use both hands, but he was able to hold on.

Cloud yanked on the chains around its neck, and it let go, choking a little. Before either Cloud or Sora could attack again, it took a step backwards and was gone entirely.

"You okay?" Cloud asked, lowering his blade as he turned to Sora.

Sora nodded. "I should be asking you that, though," he said, eyes darting to Cloud's arm. It was bleeding, not to mention looked like it was festering with darkness.

"I'm fine," Cloud said, digging a hi-potion out of his pocket and downing it. Sure enough, that was all it took to stop the bleeding. "You sure you're okay?"

Sora nodded.

"Then I need to call Tifa."

Sora nodded again, as Cloud dug his phone out of his pocket.

The phone rang for a bit, then:

"Cloud?"

Tifa's voice wasn't necessarily loud, but Sora could still hear it just fine. He wondered if he should move to give Cloud privacy, but there was only so far he could go, and even then he'd still hear Cloud's side of the conversation. Sora sat down on a nearby crate, anyway. It looked like they were near a campsite…

"I found Sora," Cloud said.

As guilty as Sora felt, he was a little glad he hadn't gone anywhere. The conversation was about him… But since when did Tifa care where he was? Was she searching for him, too? (He could only assume Cloud had been.)

Though… he had disappeared from Hollow Bastion a while ago. It'd probably worried a lot of people.

"Where should we meet?" Tifa asked.

"Hollow Bastion? I guess…" Cloud suggested. "I can't think of a better place. And it's not out of the way…"

"Okay! Sounds great. Me and Kairi will meet—"

"Wait a minute!" Sora jumped to his feet. "Kairi!?"

But Kairi was at home! Wasn't she…?

Cloud gave him a look. "Hold on, Tifa," he said, holding the phone away from his mouth.

"Kairi's with her?" Sora asked.

Cloud nodded.

"I thought she was—"

"She's been looking for you."

Sora sat back down. His chest was suddenly very tight. His head was pounding a little.

"She's been… looking for me…?"

But if Kairi was looking for him. Then that… that meant… But she'd been on the Islands! She'd been on the Islands and- though, he supposed… She never did like being left behind. It didn't surprise him that she'd found a way to go to a different world. But… she was looking for him…

That meant she wanted to see him. That meant…

Sora rubbed his head. This was a lot to process.

xxx

"Cloud?" Tifa asked, getting a little worried. He hadn't said anything yet.

"I- It's fine," Cloud said, quickly. "Uh. Give us a week? I've got a couple of stops to make."

Tifa pursed her lips together, sent a glance over at Kairi, rolling her eyes. Kairi giggled a little.

"Can't you take Sora to Hollow Bastion before that?" Tifa asked. "I guess you don't have to stay or anything. Just drop him off."

"We could go to them," Kairi suggested.

Tifa nodded. "Or we could come to you!" she told Cloud. "Just tell me which world—"

"I think Sora's gonna need some time to adjust to the idea of seeing Kairi," Cloud said, his voice quiet.

Tia frowned.

"You told him?"

"Was I not supposed to?"

Tifa opened her mouth. Closed it. No, there wasn't a problem with telling Sora. She supposed it would've been easier if they hadn't, but it wouldn't exactly have been nice, either. She sighed.

"Alright. One week."

"One week!?" Kairi asked.

"Shh."

"Thanks," Cloud said.

"Uhuh. Hmm?"

Tifa looked down at Kairi, who had poked her to get her attention. Kairi rocked back and forth on her heels, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Uhm. Since I… Since we aren't gonna see Sora for a week," Kairi said. She cleared her throat. "Do you think I could- Could I talk to him?"

Tifa smiled. "Hey Cloud?"

"Mm?"

"Do you think Kairi could talk to Sora?"

"One sec," Cloud said. This was followed by noises of him pulling the phone away from his ear, and Tifa could vaguely hear him tell Sora that Kairi wanted to talk to him. Then there was silence.

Kairi frowned. "What? Does he not want to talk to me or something?"

"Cloud said he was a little nervous about seeing you," Tifa told her.

Kairi crinkled her nose. "What for? I mean, I know it's been a while…" She cut off there, though, and sighed. "Well. Maybe I can't blame him. It's alright."

Tifa nodded. "Cloud," she began.

"Uh oh!" Cloud said. "Heartless!"

He hung up.

Tifa pulled her phone away from her ear and frowned long and hard at it. Not that glaring at it would make a difference, but…

"What?" Kairi asked.

"He said there was Heartless and then he hung up," Tifa said, closing her phone. She rolled her eyes. Typical Cloud.

"Do you think they'll be okay?"

Tifa chuckled. "I don't actually think there's Heartless at all," she said.

Kairi giggled a little, too. "Wow, he's doing that much to cover for Sora?"

"Apparently," Tifa agreed, with an exasperated shake of her head.

Kairi shook her head, too. Tifa studied her a moment, as she sighed again. She looked… not really upset, or super torn up about it. But she looked a little disappointed.

"Tell you what," Tifa said, dialing Cloud's number again. "I'm gonna call Cloud back. He's gonna to let it go to voicemail. You're gonna leave a message for Sora, okay?"

Kairi looked up in surprise, and then laughed. "Um- okay."

"You don't want to?" Tifa asked, pausing before she hit dial.

"No, no, I do!" Kairi said, reaching for the phone.

Tifa smiled, hit dial, and handed it over.

xxx

"Sora? Kairi wants to talk to you."

Sora looked up. Cloud was offering the phone out to him. He gulped.

"What- what do I say? What would I say? I- I…" he trailed off, clutching his head. There were so many things he needed to say to Kairi. Where would he start? Where was he supposed to start?

Cloud shrugged. "Let her do the talking?"

Sora sat there for a minute more. Kairi wanted to talk to him. But. But what was she gonna say? Wasn't she mad at him? Wasn't she—

"I can't," he said, shaking his head. "I can't."

He was scared to death.

Cloud nodded, understanding. He cleared his throat, put the phone up to his ear, and very convincingly shouted "Uh oh! Heartless!" before hanging up.

Sora looked up at him, laughing a little.

"I wasn't going to be able to talk Tifa out of it," Cloud explained, pocketing his phone.

"…thanks," Sora said.

"Yeah." Cloud nodded. "You think you can talk to her in a week, though? Or am I gonna have to cover for you then, too?"

Sora let out a long breath. This was all coming down fast on him but. But he should see Kairi… talk to her… Just. Not now.

"I- I think I can do that," he said. A week was enough time to think over what he was gonna say. "Yeah." He nodded, confidently. "I can do that."

Besides, he had a better hold of his darkness now—or, he did for the most part. And he hadn't seen his Shadow in ages… He was a little less worried about those things hurting Kairi—though the risk was still there. But it didn't matter. Between Cloud and Tifa they'd be able to keep him in check.

And he could see Kairi again…

"Oh…" Cloud grimaced, pulling his phone back out. "Tifa's calling back. She probably didn't buy the Heartless thing."

"You sounded convincing to me!" Sora told him.

Cloud shrugged. "I'll let it go to voicemail." He pocketed the phone again. "Anyway, uh. We should maybe get going?"

Sora got to his feet, nodding. "Yeah! Where to?"

"I gotta couple errands to run," Cloud said. "You don't mind coming with, right?"

"Beats being on my own!" Sora replied, smiling a little. "Besides, I lost my star shard. I kinda don't have any other means of transport."

"Good thing I found you, then, huh?"

"Tell me about it!"