I am so sorry everyone! I completely forgot I was going to upload this. It's been ready for months. I'm seriously beating myself over the head right now for my forgetfulness. Thank you so much to BlueBird325 for reminding me.

Anyway, i hope that this chapter will make up for it. Maybe.


Chapter 22 - Dragon?!

Sora cheered loudly, along with most of Slytherin and half the stands as Slytherin swooped down and Riku snagged the quaffle away from the Ravenclaw chaser, rolling to block her snatch and surged back into the surprisingly sunny sky, aiming for the Slytherin hoops.

"GO RIKU!" he screamed, grinning from ear to ear as he waved the Slytherin scarf he'd borrowed from the other keyblade wielder in the air.

The quaffle was passed and Riku dodged another Ravenclaw player, speeding towards the hoops as the quaffle was passed back to him, and he threw it through the goal, more cheers going up as the ball passed through, the Ravenclaw keeper not getting there fast enough.

Scorpius ducked down just enough to give Riku a high-five, and the silver haired islander grinned and zoomed over the stands to high-five Sora and a couple of others.

Sora laughed and watched as Riku quickly flew back to join his teammates.

"He's good!" Albus yelled in his ear over the din and Sora nodded, leaning in close to the middle Potter's ear to yell back.

"He is! Scorpius is quite good as well!"

"Yeah, Score's been playing for years." Albus grinned and elbowed his friend in the side. "You wait until you see us play. We're even better!"

Sora laughed. "I can't wait!"

The game continued, various cheers going up from the supporting houses as each team caught the ball, cringes of sympathy emanating from the entire crowd as one of the Slytherin chasers caught a bludger in the torso area. They were carted off by medical staff, barely noticed by the crowds above as the game continued above their heads, Slytherin now one player short.

Sora frowned as he noticed there wasn't another Slytherin player coming onto the field. "That's hardly fair," he commented to Albus. "They're playing disadvantaged."

Albus just shrugged. "It's the rules."

Slytherin scored another goal, and suddenly they were both cheering along with everyone else. As Slytherin swooped over the crowds, giving high-fives to those lucky enough to be within reach, the sky darkened with thunder clouds, turning black and blocking out the sun, a chilling wind starting up and cutting through those standing in the stands.

Riku stopped in mid-air and looked up towards the suddenly overcast sky, chills creeping over his skin as he stared, watching the clouds darken and spread in a circular motion. Sora watched as well, his stomach clenching anxiously as the people around him noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, a roar cut through the noise and a large shape swooped out of the clouds, dropping low and beginning to circle above the Quidditch pitch.

"Whoa!" Albus yelled excitedly and grinned, grabbing the brunette's arm and shaking it. "Sora, that's a dragon! I haven't seen one down this far ever!"

Sora felt his stomach drop to his feet when he noticed the heartless symbol on the scaly stomach. "That's not a dragon," he murmured, looking at Riku, who was looking at him. Sora nodded, and he could have sworn he saw his friend swear.

Riku swore loudly, drawing Scorpius's attention and he flew over. "What's wrong?" he asked curiously, watching the dragon circling them with excited eyes.

"Get everyone out of the air and land. That's not a dragon!" he yelled as he took off for the creature, ignoring the Malfoy's yells to stop. Making a direct line for the Heartless, Riku gathered a dark aura into his palm, and when he got close enough, aimed it at the dragon's head.

The Heartless screeched loudly as the darkness impacted and it moved sideways slightly. Riku ducked out of view and shot towards the ground, swooping around and coming back up on the other side of the pitch. He needed to get Sora on that thing.

Sora felt his heart clench painfully as Riku took a shot at the creature, barely listening to the cries of protest that were drawn from the crowd at the attack. As the silver haired keyblader shot up in front of them, Sora yelled his friend's name.

Riku slowed, looked down at Sora and nodded. "I'll come back!" He yelled and took off in a loop around the stands.

Sora threw his outer robes and Slytherin scarf to Albus, who looked at him like he was insane.

"What are you doing? Dragons are protected! You have to stop Riku!"

"That's not a dragon," Sora argued, and pushed his way to the front of the stands, ignoring the complaints from the people around them. As Riku flew back towards him, eyes locked on him, Sora timed it and jumped off the blockades, Riku catching his hand a split second before he started to fall.

"Are you insane?" Riku yelled, glaring down at him as he pushed the broomstick upwards as best he could with one of his hands holding Sora's. "What if I'd dropped you?!"

"Then I would have fallen," Sora replied with a grin and ignored the pull on his shoulder as Riku flew them above the dragon.

"Alright Smarty Pants. Listen, I'll distract it. You deal with the power stores on it's back."

"Got it," he replied with a smile and looked downwards. A second or so later he was released.

Sora dropped onto the Heartless's back, and Riku ducked out of sight. The creature shrieked and shifted, and Sora clung to a spine, closing his eyes as the heartless flipped and rolled, trying to dislodge him.

Another blast of Dark Aura to the dragon's face had it distracted enough to take it's attention away from Sora, and Riku flew right in front of it, turning tail and fleeing straight where the dragon was facing. The Heartless followed with a scream of rage, and Sora found his opportunity to attack the spines with the keyblade.

As Riku weaved around the towers surrounding the stands, he ignored the shouts of rage for them to stop from the crowds, swearing as a blast of fire from the creature's mouth missed him by centimeters.

Sora broke one of the darkness stores and stumbled as the creature shrieked, getting flung backwards and off the dragon as it pulled up mid-air and shot upwards unexpectedly.

"SORA!" Riku yelled and flipped the broom around, plummeting towards the earth as he stretched a hand out for the brunette to grab.

Sora reached a hand for the older islander and glanced at the ground, noticing it quickly catching up with him. When he looked back at Riku, his eyes widened in horror as he noticed the heartless racing after them with jaws wide open and eyes focused on Riku.

Riku himself noticed the horror on Sora's face and glanced behind him, eyes widening as he saw the dragon. When he looked back, a flash to the side caught his attention and he saw Xaldin creating something and aiming it towards Sora.

Making a quick decision, Riku sent Sora an apologetic look and hauled his broom out of the dive, knees skimming just above the grass before managing to get back into the air, the dragon screeching and following him after landing and bouncing off the ground and stands, tearing holes in the dirt and wood with its claws.

Sora felt the breath leave his body when Riku just left him, relief filling him when he was suddenly caught in a whirlwind of air that stopped him a few inches above the ground. After hovering in the swirling wind for a few seconds, it suddenly ceased and he dropped to the ground, hitting it like a rock.

Wincing and rubbing his rear end, Sora glared up at Xaldin, who was looking at him with a very unimpressed expression. "That hurt!"

"You should have landed on your feet then," he replied before summoning his lances.

"Dude, this is one hell of a dragon," Xigbar said from his other side, one of the guns tapping his shoulder while the other hung limply in his hand.

"It's like the one you unleashed on me in the Land of Dragons," Sora replied with a shrug as he stood up, watching Riku and the dragon as they shot up into the clouds.

"Actually, that was Riku, not me," Xigbar confessed with a grin. "I wanted to keep it. He wanted to get rid of it. He got to it first," the Free Shooter added with a shrug.

"What do we do?" Axel asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, Demyx beside him looking more than a touch frightened. "Sora, you've fought one of these before, so you'll have the best idea of how to deal with it. What do you suggest?"

Sora blinked and looked at the older men surrounding him. "You're all asking me?"

"Do you see anyone else here who's fought a dragon?" Xaldin asked sarcastically. "If we knew what the best course of action to take would be we'd be chasing it. Or I would anyway. This lot would be stuck on the ground."

"Hey!" Demyx protested with a pout. "I could follow."

"How? A geyser?" Axel retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, so?" the blond grumbled and poked his tongue out at the red head.

"Okay," Sora broke in before another argument could start. "Xaldin, we'll need whirlwinds to get up onto it's back. There are darkness stores there that we need to destroy. I've taken out one of them already."

"How many?" Xigbar asked curiously.

"Six… so five more."

"Got it. That's one each."

"This should be easy," Axel decided with a grin.

"Provided it doesn't throw us off," Sora agreed.

Cloud and Leon took that moment to appear at a run. "Where's Riku?" Cloud asked, unhooking his sword from his back.

"Up there," Sora replied, pointing at the dark cloud formation that the heartless and his best friend had fled into. He looked the blond over in concern. "Should you be fighting?"

Cloud fixed Sora with a glare that made him want to whither and hide in a hole. "I'm fine."

"Okay," Sora quickly soothed as he held up his hands in surrender.

A large explosion suddenly lit up the sky and Sora's heart leapt into his throat, his eyes immediately flying to survey the area. "RIKU!"

The stadium was silent as they all waited for something to happen, clouds shifting with the air currents.

"THERE!" Demyx suddenly yelled, pointing to a small figure that had appeared, plummeting head first out of the sky. The students and adults all seemed to let out a cry of horror at once.

"RIKU!" Sora screamed, immediately looking at the Quidditch teams on the ground. "Score, let me borrow your broom," he demanded, running over.

"What?" the blond Malfoy asked, looking stunned.

"Your broom!" Sora repeated urgently, quickly mounting it and taking off as soon as it was handed over. As he shot up into the air, Sora summoned the keyblade, urging the broom on faster towards his falling friend as the Heartless dove after him. Flying past his best friend, Sora threw the keyblade at the Heartless dragon, flipped the broom around, and surged back towards the other islander.

Matching Riku's speed, Sora grabbed his best friend's hand and guided him onto the broom.

"Thanks," Riku yelled into the brunette's ear, trying to be heard over the whistling wind as he wrapped his arms around Sora, gripping the broom at the front.

Sora nodded and tried to right the spinning plunge they were doing towards the ground, eyes widening as the broom spun out of his control and they began spinning head over heels with the added weight.

Riku gritted his teeth and quickly took over flying the broom, managing to pull them out of the tumbling dive and into a straight line, guiding Sora with small pressures as he plastered his body to his best friend's back. Even in the heat of the moment, he enjoyed feeling the warmth of Sora's body warm his own chilled one through the Quidditch guards and thick robes.

Heat exploded behind his back and Riku quickly threw them into a controlled spin, leaning as low over the broom handle as Sora would allow him too, to get away from the blast of fire as quickly as they could.

Riku worked them back down towards the ground, watching the Heartless over his shoulder as it followed them. As they flew in to land, Riku flew them behind the group of Organization members (all of them except Vexen, Lexaeus and Saix there), and Cloud and Leon.

As soon as they were past, Axel launched a fire attack at the creature, Larxene zapping it as best she could as well. The dragon screeched and hit the ground as it's flapping rhythm faltered.

Riku and Sora touched down lightly, Riku hopping off the broom and to the side with practiced ease while Sora stumbled a bit, taking the broom with him.

"Are you two all right?" Albus asked, hurrying over with Scorpius, Rose, Minerva, Hagrid, an unfamiliar blond man and a few other members of staff.

"We're fine," Riku replied, summoning the keyblade as he watched the attack happening behind him.

Sora handed Scorpius back his broom. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it."

"We need to get you five out of here," the blond man insisted, beginning to herd Scorpius, Albus and Rose back towards the gates. "That thing is dangerous."

Sora blinked at him in surprise. "Hi, I'm Sora. You are?"

Riku rolled his eyes, but turned back, looking curious.

The man blinked back before holding out a hand. "Draco Malfoy. Scorpius's father."

"Your Father was here and you didn't tell us?" Sora asked in surprise as he looked at Scorpius, who was goggling at him.

"Uh, yeah, whatever. Sora, there is a dragon attacking us! We have to get out of here!"

Sora perked up and turned back to the dragon, summoning the keyblade as well. "Oh yeah! You guys get out of here. We'll deal with this."

"I meant you two as well," Draco growled, glaring at the keyblade wielders.

"Sorry, but we're needed here," Riku replied, running over to the group.

"Are you two alright?" Zexion asked as soon Riku and Sora came within hearing distance.

Sora nodded. "We're fine." He looked up at the Heartless. It was back in the air. "How do we get it on the ground?"

"Hey, Larx," Axel suddenly said with a grin, wagging his eyebrows at her. "You up for a bird bath?"

Larxene suddenly grinned, her face lighting up in delight as she summoned more kunai. "Heck yes! Do it!"

Axel pointed his wand at the dragon, muttered something under his breath, and Sora and Riku watched with wide eyed wonder as the red head's wand shook before exploding into light, giant birds made of red and gold flame emerging from the end as they circled in two's towards the heartless.

The Heartless screeched and dove back towards the ground, fleeing from the birds as they hunted it out of the sky.

"My turn!" Larxene sung and leapt up into the air as high as she could, throwing five kunai into the ground in a pentagon shape. As Axel navigated the Heartless towards them, Larxene threw a sparking kunai at the pentagon and watched in satisfaction as the dragon was caught in the lightening trap, the dragon's wings failing in their flapping as the large body seized and it crashed down, landing on the grass.

As the lightening died down, Marluxia threw his hands to the ground in concentration and made the grass grow so fast and strong that it wrapped around the dragon, keeping it pinned to the ground. Once he was sure it was pinned as best he could get it, he nodded to the others, and Cloud and Leon took off for the creature first. Cloud leapt as high as he could just before the head and plunged his buster sword into its back while Leon took out one of the wings.

"Lets go!" Sora urged and quickly hurried after the two ex-soldiers.

"Sora!" Xaldin yelled and Sora yelped in surprise as he was suddenly tossed into the air by an updraft.

Landing on the dragons back, Sora grinned gratefully at the wind user and glanced at Riku who quickly joined him, immediately going for the darkness spines.

Cloud, taking the hint, joined him and took out two more while Axel had a go at the dragon's head, causing it to screech in pain and work more fiercely to try and set itself free.

Marluxia grew vines as quickly as he could and threw them over the creature's wings in an attempt to keep it grounded, Luxord helping by grabbing them and trying to hold them down on the other side.

Larxene just laughed and threw her kunai at he dragons hide, dodging its tail that was swinging around in distress.

The creature screeched and blew out a breath of fire, turning its head to its back as it did so and causing the people on its back to drop and roll off to escape being burnt to a crisp.

Soon though the stores were broken and Sora, Riku and Cloud cleared the dragons back while Leon activated the ability, Rough Divide, with his gunblade and, charging forward, sliced at the Heartless's neck in a diagonal upwards cut that exploded, easily severing the head from the rest of its body.

"Well, that was fun," Axel commented sarcastically as soon everything fell silent and the Heartless stopped moving.

"It was, wasn't it," Larxene replied with a wistful smile. "It's been a while since I got to kill something. It's just a shame it didn't last longer."

Leon gave her a wary look before strapping his gunblade to his back again, looking at Cloud, who nodded.

"Let's get inside," Leon decided. "Is everyone alright?"

"Fine," came the group response, some more grumbled than others.

As they all turned back to walk back towards the stadium entrance, laughter already floating from certain members of the group, Sora turned back to look at the dragon as a wind brushed past his neck. A ball of darkness was gathering in its mouth, the head hovering and glowing darkly, even as the body was fading into a hole of darkness and it focused on Leon, who was talking quietly with Cloud.

"LEON!" Sora screamed, diving for the older brunette and shoving him out of the way and into Cloud, just as the ball of darkness was released.

It hit Sora and his world exploded into darkness.

"SORA!"

LINEBREAK

Sora screamed as he went down, and everyone froze in shock, until the brunette hit the ground, unconscious.

"SORA!" Riku yelled as he dashed to his best friend's side, kneeling down beside him while Zexion pulled his Lexicon out and immediately began scanning the brunette.

Leon straightened, brushing Cloud's hands off him; he looked shocked and thoroughly pissed off at himself as he stared at Sora.

Axel cursed and ducked a bludger that flew down and aimed for his head. "These bloody balls are STILL flying about?! After all that?"

"How is he?" Riku asked after watching Zexion work for a few moments, ignoring the redhead.

"We need to get him to the hospital wing. The balance of his heart is unstable," the Nobody reported as he stood and looked at the older brunette.

Leon strode forward and scooped Sora up, immediately heading for the Castle.

Riku stood up as well, fully intending to follow them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Scorpius asked haughtily as he quickly caught up with them, a spare broom in his hand, along with his own.

"The Hospital Wing," Riku replied like it was obvious.

"The hell you are," Scorpius growled. "We still have a Quidditch match to finish."

Riku gaped at the Malfoy heir for a few moments. "You have GOT to be kidding! Sora's hurt!"

"And we still have a game to finish!"

"Fuck the game! Sora's hurt!"

"You have a commitment to the team!"

"I don't care! Sora could die!"

"I know! He's my friend too!" Scorpius snapped back suddenly, grey eyes flashing furiously. "You don't think I want to follow as well?"

That had Riku falling silent.

"Riku," Scorpius began quietly but firmly, getting in close, "when you agreed to join this team you made the same commitment that we all did - to play, regardless of the situation. The only way any of us will be excused is if you are physically unable to play, which most certainly is not the case here as you did not get mauled by that dragon, or whatever it was." He pressed the broom into the older teens hands. "You have a commitment here, and we're already down a chaser. If you don't play, we forfeit."

Riku hissed out in frustration.

"Riku," Zexion began, drawing the other islander's attention. "If anything happens to Sora while you're playing, I'll send you a message immediately. As it is he's going to take a while to stabilize and for us to figure out what damage that darkness blast has done. You're most needed here at the moment."

Growling out in anger, he snarled and nodded. "Fine."

Nodding, Zexion quickly turned to catch up with Leon and Cloud, who were already exiting the stands at a fast walk. Demyx and Axel quickly followed him. The others drifted off the field.

Noticing that the other Slytherin and Ravenclaw players were already in the air and that the umpire was urging them into the air, Scorpius mounted his own broom.

Riku shot a hand out to grab and grip the green robes and tug the Malfoy heir close, aquamarine eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'll play, but you had better catch that damn snitch fast, you hear me?"

Scorpius nodded and reached a hand up to detangle the large hand from his robes, grey eyes firm and determined. "I planned to finish this as quickly as I could already."

Nodding, Riku let go and mounted his own broom, kicking off and rocketing into the sky just behind Scorpius.

"AND WE'RE OFF AGAIN!" the commentator yelled over the top of the cheering crowds. "AFTER THAT DISPLAY OF BRAVADO BY RIKU VALLEY HE'S VALIANTLY JOINED THE GAME AGAIN, DESPITE THE FACT THAT HIS BEST FRIEND COULD BE GRAVELY INJURED. GIVE HIM A HUGE ROUND APPLAUSE EVERYONE!"

The cheers grew to deafening proportions and Riku gritted his teeth, shooting a nasty glare at the commentator with her scoreboard.

"Alright, let's finish this quickly, and cleanly," the umpire ordered and tossed the quaffle up in the air again with a toot of her whistle.

Riku played viciously, releasing all his frustration into his shots as he put his full force behind the throws. He was actually quite pleased with one of his goals that had the Ravenclaw keeper knocking back into one of the large metal rings, the Quaffle forcing itself past her hand (which had to leave her skin stinging, even with the guards) and through the hoop.

Cheers of his name rounded the stands, but he ignored them.

Finally the cheers rose to deafening proportions, and Riku turned to find Scorpius holding the snitch in his hand up above his head triumphantly.

Catching Malfoy's eyes, Riku nodded his thanks and shot out of the Quidditch boundaries as quickly as he could, heading for the Castle. Touching down inside the courtyard, he ditched the broom in some bushes beside the door and hurried to the Hospital Wing.

Opening it, he looked around and quickly found a small group of people surrounding a bed near the back of the room. He quickly approached.

Aerith was leaning over Sora and assessing him herself while Madame Pomphry cast spell after spell while muttering under her breath.

Sora was pale, paler than Riku had ever seen him, and he could sense the darkness swirling around the bright soul. He didn't even twitch at everything happening above him, but there was that small, teeny tiny smile on his face, that seemed to constantly be there.

"How is he?" Riku asked Zexion, who was frowning, his hand resting on the lexicon that lay in his lap.

"Physically he's stable," the illusionist replied quietly.

"But?" Riku asked, sensing the huge 'but.'

"But, we don't know what effect the darkness has had yet. It will take time for the effects to manifest - maybe as long as a few days. We don't even know how long he's going to be out for."

"But he's stabilized," Riku prodded, just needing that confirmed.

Zexion nodded. "For the time being."

Aerith sighed and pulled away. "He seems alright. I can sense the darkness ebbing away, but I'm not sure where to."

"Probably Roxas," Riku murmured.

Zexion's gaze sharpened and he began flicking through the lexicon on his lap in a hurry.

"What is it?" Riku asked.

"Just a thought," Zexion murmured. "Don't mind me."

Eyes narrowing, Riku observed the smaller man before brushing it off. Instead, he focused on Aerith. "Any idea when he'll wake up?"

She shook her head helplessly. "The best we can do at the moment is pray."

~TBC


*hides away from all the screaming that I can imagine is happening*