Chapter 235: something fancy like 'After the Battle'

Sora wasn't sure how he knew where Riku was, but there was a tug on him that led his feet and he followed it faithfully. Soon enough he heard voices, and his run slowed to a walk. That sounded like…?

"What's it matter?" A laugh. A horrible laugh filled with malice and too much glee. "Either I slit his throat now or you waste his time by not going to Cure him… your choice."

That was Namine.

Sora's heart was in his throat. His feet didn't want to move anymore.

"How could you do this?!"

Kairi.

Why was she here? But at least she was okay. …was she okay?

And…

What was wrong with Namine?

His feet started again, and he ran—stumbled, really—until he reached them.

Riku was in a puddle of blood on the ground. Kairi and Namine were circling each other—well. Not circling. Pacing back and forth, not taking their eyes off each other for very long. Kairi kept throwing glances over her shoulder back at Riku, but she didn't move, as if she were afraid Namine would attack.

…when had Namine gotten a blade?

"What's going on here?" Sora asked, his voice squeaking a little.

"OH THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE!" Kairi said. She looked over her shoulder at him, just for a moment. "Please tell me you can Cure Riku."

"I, uh, I can try." Sora swallowed, nervously, but went over to Riku. "Namine—?"

"Has been Rewritten," Kairi finished.

Sora gulped. His heart kept thudding in his throat. That wasn't good.

"I'm right here," Namine snapped. She held herself casually, hardly bothered by Riku's near death. That was terrifying. "And it's no use—sure the wound may not have killed him instantly, but it was definitely fatal. I should know."

The tone of her voice made Sora's stomach flip-flop. Not only was she unbothered by Riku's condition, but she sounded thrilled by it, and—

"Sh- she did this!?" he stammered.

"YES!" Kairi growled. "Now can you Cure him or not? If not just let me over there and I'll—"

"No, no, I got it," Sora assured her, kneeling down next to Riku. Then he got a good look at the wound. "Well. Crap. Maybe not. The darkness is doing, uh…. something."

"Doing what?" Kairi asked.

"Uhm…" Sora bit his lip, trying to figure out how to describe what he was seeing. "It kinda looks like it's… trying to stop him from bleeding?"

Tendrils of Riku's dark suit were melding with his skin, as if trying to mend the wound like it would mend itself. And, even regardless of that, there was so much darkness around the wound that it looked like Cure wouldn't even do anything. Maybe a strong Curaga would do the trick, but Sora certainly couldn't do one of those.

"WHAT!?" Namine and Kairi both shouted, in near unison. Namine looked furious.

"I- I dunno but… his dark suit thing looks like it's melding with his skin and—"

"Let me look," Mickey said, pausing to stand right by Sora.

Sora looked up at him, a little surprised. "Your Majesty!" he exclaimed, and then flushed red with embarrassment. Part of that came from the fact he'd run off on Mickey. The rest came from the realization he hadn't expected Mickey to follow, and in hindsight that was a little dumb of him.

Mickey smiled. "Ya didn't think I was goin' to leave you here, did ya?" he asked.

Sora flushed even redder.

Then Mickey's face hardened. "Sora! Kairi! See if you can subdue Namine," he ordered. "I'll heal Riku."

"Can you—" Sora began, but caught himself. "Sorry," he said, and scrambled to his feet. Now wasn't the time.

The fact that Mickey didn't correct him or answer the question anyway only made him feel worse. Questioning the King at a time like this? What'd he been thinking? Darkness or no, Mickey obviously knew what he was doing.

Mickey raised his Keyblade, and he and Riku were both bathed in a white light.

Sora turned his attention to Namine. She was running straight at him—no, at Mickey and Riku—her blade bared. Sora dove to intercept her. He only just got his blade up in time to block.

"You better move," Namine hissed. The glare on her face was absolutely terrifying, and it sickened Sora to see.

"Don't count on it," Sora grunted. She was pretty strong, and her technique was firm. There was no opening for him to push her back. "That is the King and more importantly my friend, and I'm not letting you near either of them!"

Kairi came up behind Namine and pulled her off of Sora. She growled and hissed like a feral thing, easily untangling herself from Kairi.

"Any way to fix her?" Sora asked, eyeing Namine uneasily.

"Riku didn't think so, but I'm not about to give up on her yet," Kairi answered. "Our best bet is—"

"Is taking me to Castle Oblivion I know, I know," Namine finished, sourly. "Whatever. Just let me past so I can stop that Mouse from—"

"No!" Sora said.

"Hmph." Namine turned up her nose. "Just let me at Riku, then, and I'll leave the Mouse alone."

"NO!" Sora and Kairi both shouted this time. Kairi's voice cracked halfway through, and she broke off into a cough. Sora sent her a worried look.

"…you okay?" he asked, well aware that now probably wasn't the best time to be asking.

"I think my voice just gave out," Kairi explained, hoarsely. "Not surprised. I've been doing a lot of yell—ack!" She jumped backward away from the swing of Namine's blade.

Sora went to aid Kairi, but then realized his mistake. In his distraction, Namine'd slipped past him. It was lucky that Kairi noticed before he did, because she was able to intercept Namine just before she reached Riku.

Kairi sent her back with a blast of light, and Sora pushed her even further back with a blast of Aero.

"Got any ideas on how to stop her?" Sora asked, as Namine recovered. "I really don't want to hurt her." He had his blade out, sure, but that was largely just so he could block.

"I don't think we can avoid that," Kairi croaked. She massaged her throat in annoyance, but didn't stop talking. "At best you can tackle her bare-handed—she isn't gonna get too hurt from a couple of punches."

"Good point," Sora admitted. "Uh, what do I do once I have her pinned?"

Kairi shrugged.

Sora sighed. "What I could really use are…" He trailed off in shock, as a weight fell into his left hand. The weight was followed by the sound of something jangling against the floor. Sora looked down, and, sure enough, he was holding a set of chains. His Shadow's chains, specifically.

He swallowed. "…well. Yeah. Those."

He didn't hesitate a second longer, because Namine was approaching again. There was a nudge in the back of his mind, and he let it guide him. He raised the chains, threw them at Namine—they caught her by the wrists without him even having to aim. She dropped her blade and stumbled to a halt, clearly surprised.

Sora tightened his hand around the string of chains, then banished his Keyblade so he could hold on with both hands. They were much heavier than he'd anticipated them to be, and he knew he didn't have quite the amount of callouses necessary for effectively wielding them. But, for now, at least…

"When did you learn to do that?" Kairi gaped at him, her jaw a little slack and her eyes wide.

"Uh… just now," Sora replied, sheepishly. Namine tugged against the chains, and Sora wished he had a moment to bind them around his wrist, too, so he couldn't lose hold of her as easily. He was rather surprised when they magically lengthened and wrapped around his wrist of their own accord. The binding was tight enough not to slip around too much, but not so tight as to constrict him or the flow of his blood.

"Is that a…. bad thing?" Kairi said. Her voice cracked more now that it was quieter, and she coughed uncomfortably.

Sora was silent for a long moment, mulling it over. Sure, it was a little strange, but… "I don't… I don't think so," he said. "My Shadow could summon chains just like these—in fact, I'm pretty sure these are his. So I guess it's no surprise…"

The jangling and subsequent tug of the chains made him look up. Namine was struggling against the chains. Trying to chew through them, in fact, which made Sora laugh a little. Even if these were normal chains, there was still no way they could be broken by teeth alone.

"Don't bother!" he called at her, and a laugh bubbled in his throat at just the sight of her gnawing at them. "You can't break 'em. The only way you're getting out is if I tell them to let you go."

At least, he figured that was how it worked. It seemed right, in his head, at least.

Kairi hardly spared a glance at Namine before returning her attention to Sora. With Namine effectively trapped (her wrists were bound together, so there was only so much she could do), Kairi didn't seemed too worried about her.

"How'd the fight with him go, anyway?" Kairi asked.

Him? Oh. Sora's Shadow.

Sora took another long moment considering that. He wanted to tell her everything. Everything. He didn't care that his Shadow didn't want her to know, didn't care that it was embarrassing. She was his best friend and he could trust her with anything and he wanted more than anything else right now to blurt out all of his feelings to her. How he felt about the battle. What his Shadow told him…

But now wasn't a good time. Not with Namine struggling against her restraints. Not while Riku was half-dead. Not while Mickey was here, certainly. It'd have to wait until he and Kairi were alone and had some time.

Sora took a deep breath.

"I won," he said, simply. "Absorbed what was left of him into myself—which is likely why I can summon his chains now. It's like some cool power up." He flashed a grin at her, and hoped it looked more sincere than it felt.

"Was absorbing him what you were supposed to do?"

"I… didn't exactly have another choice."

Kairi was silent for a second, then frowned. He hadn't fooled her.

"You okay?" she asked.

He shook his head. "We'll talk later. Now's not the time."

She didn't argue there, just turned to Mickey. "How's Riku?"

Sora turned that direction, too. The light bathing the two of them had vanished, and Mickey was kneeling next to Riku, examining him. Riku looked a little better—there was a little more color to his skin, at least. He'd dropped dark mode, too.

"Still unconscious," Mickey said. "But he'll live." He straightened, and smiled widely.

"The darkness?" Sora asked.

Mickey's smile faltered for a brief moment. "I did what I could," he answered, uneasily. "But. He'll live, and that's the important part." The smile returned, just not as easily.

"EXCEPT HE WON'T LIVE!" Namine screamed.

They all turned to her, first with surprise. Kairi and Sora both soon rolled their eyes, and once Mickey saw she was restrained, he relaxed.

"You're kind of chained up there!" Kairi laughed. The laugh was as hoarse as her voice, and Sora wished desperately he could get her a glass of water or something. He'd tell her to stop talking so much, but they had to worry about Namine.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Namine shouted, running at Riku. "I DON'T NEED MY HANDS OR MY BLADE TO KILL HIM."

Mickey stepped in front of Riku.

Kairi lunged forward.

But Namine was pulled abruptly to a halt. She'd reached the end of the chain.

Or, rather, Sora had commanded the chain to shorten so she couldn't reach Riku, and it had. Sora made his way over to Namine, the chain shortening as he went, until it was hardly a foot's length and they were forced to stand rather close to each other.

This way, though, she couldn't try anything.

Namine strained and started screaming, but Sora tried not to listen. He tried not to shout, either, when she elbowed him in the gut. Twice. He took a step away from her, the chain lengthening so that he could move. Clearly, being with in arms reach of her was a bad idea.

"Ya sure you can hold her, Sora?" Mickey asked.

Sora nodded. "Long enough to get to Castle Oblivion, at least."

"Alright." Mickey pulled out his star shard, then sent a hesitant look between the five of them. "I'm… I'm going to keep a hold of Riku—the last thing we need is him driftin' between worlds in that state. Uhm…"

"Would it be best if you make trips?" Kairi asked.

Sora gritted his teeth. Once they got to Castle Oblivion he was really going to have to start being serious about having her stop talking. She sounded horrible.

"…it might be," Mickey admitted, after a moment. He stared down at Riku, uncertainly.

"That's alright," Sora told him.

"Yeah if you think it'll be better for Riku," Kairi added.

"Yeah. Yeah I think it will be." Mickey nodded, then nodded again. He looked up at Kairi. "Kairi, ya wanna come too?"

Kairi looked over at Sora.

"I can handle Namine," he said. He smiled reassuringly. "While she's chained, anyway."

The chains tightened around his wrist—and around Namine, by the sound of her gasp—at just his passing thought of how horrible it'd be if she got away from him.

Kairi nodded, smiling slowly. "Right. Someone should probably stick around C.O. to explain what happened, anyway."

"Try and rest your voice," Sora said. "Please."

Kairi waved her hand in dismissal at him, turning to Mickey. "Will it be hard to transport all three of us, Your Majesty?"

"Mickey's fine," he said, absentmindedly. "And no it won't be. So long as I get Riku 'n Namine in separate trips, it'll be fine." He reached down to grab hold of Riku, then gestured for Kairi to grab his shoulder. "Ya sure you'll be okay?" he asked, sending one last look at Sora.

Sora nodded. "Uh-huh."

Mickey nodded back, convinced.

"I'll be right back."