Pure on action chapter powers activate! Also I've been watching Steven Universe since the weekend and... why did I not watch this sooner?
Chapter 71
Seven Deadly Branches
Sora had been keeping a concerned eye on Kairi for some time now. She had been troublingly quiet ever since she had found out about the fate of the other person named Kairi. Surely she must have known that it couldn't have anything to do with her. Admittedly, it was a bit of a coincidence but as Sora had mentioned back at the palace, the amount of people who shared the same name was not so uncommon. He gently nudged Kairi as they were walking and raised an eyebrow.
"You okay?" Sora whispered.
"It's nothing," Kairi replied dejectedly. She must have been pretty sure Sora wasn't going to believe because she hadn't even tried to sound upbeat.
"You know, the only Kairi I know and see every day is you. You're one of a kind and-"
"You don't get it, Sora!" Kairi lambasted. Her words were as sharp as a razor's edge. "Sorry. It's not like I get it either. It's just a feeling I have deep down. A feeling buried underneath the surface..."
Sora gave her a small smile and squeezed her shoulder. "Well, if you want to talk to us about it, we're here. For now, let's just focus on exploring this tomb. If you're still feeling this way after we're through then we can discuss it afterwards as long as you want."
"I know. Thank you, Sora," Kairi said, returning his smile. Sora saw Luna look his and Kairi's way out of the corner of his eye and he looked at her, giving her a reassuring smile that everything was fine.
"We're here. Let's see… the tomb should be somewhere around here," Milo said, dropping the map he had been reading from his face. Sora scanned the area along the rest of them but there was nary of hint of anything that could resemble a tomb.
"To be expected, I guess. It wouldn't be a hidden tomb if it was visible," Riku said. He knelt down and placed his hand on the ground. "Scan!"
A small circle of faint light that had formed around Riku's hands, eventually expanded outwards to the remaining area. This light soon disappeared, leaving one small rectangular area on the ground in front of them to glow brightly.
"Incredible! Do you have a crystal too?" Kida walked up to Riku and began examining him up and down in a surprise move that caused Riku to back away.
"No, our type of magic is a bit different from yours," Sora said, chuckling awkwardly. He watched as Riku slid around Kida and pressed his hand into the ground to cast Quake. The ground covered by the glow broke in, revealing a staircase descending into pitch blackness.
"Another one? I'm starting to get a sense of Déjà vu here," Kairi said. She lifted the Alchemist's book up to show them. "We found this in a similar underground passageway in the catacombs of another world."
"I'll have to look at that later. I don't know if the book originated from Atlantis but it definitely uses Atlantean symbols to represent certain ingredients. We can talk more as we head down," Milo said. Taking his advice and eager to hear what he had to say, they started on their way down, lighting up their Keyblades to help them see. Milo soon continued, "I've heard of stuff like elixirs of life and other objects that could increase longevity of life or make you outright immortal. I'm willing to guess that people knew about the Atlanteans and their abnormally long lifespans. In an effort to recreate that, they buried themselves in research hoping to crack the code of immortality. The results as you can see are in that book and probably many others like it."
"Interesting. Riku, do you think Frollo-"
"I don't doubt it. Even if it were impossible to extend your life, the thrill of pursuing knowledge like that must drive a man like him to do the things he did. Why do people seek power? To prove something to themselves and others—that they really are who they claim to be. That's how my replica felt anyway," Riku answered Kairi's question while his eyes followed the steps down.
"I can kind of understand that," Kairi agreed, biting her lip. When the large party of eight—or even ten if one were to include Jiminy and Pascal—finally arrived at the bottom, they gazed in wonder at what beheld them. Building structures, some much like scones and others quite as imposing as the palace in the center of the island, greeted them in every direction. Probably most the most impressive thing to Sora was the streams of lava that ran down the walls, illuminating the city in an orange glow.
"Whoa! An underground city? This is awesome!" He declared with an exuberant joyfulness. "Oh, I really wish Donald and Goofy were here to see this too."
"This is probably a portion of the city was lost in the great flood. I can't believe this place has survived this long relatively unscathed," Kida said, mainly to herself. To the others, she turned and said, "I wonder if there is any way we could bring this part of the city back to the surface."
"I don't suppose that Heart of Atlantis has a land raising art, does it?" Luna asked half in jest. Kida opened her mouth to respond but the room shook violently before a single word could come out.
"What's going on?" Sora questioned, watching as dirt fluttered to the ground like little snowflakes.
"Whatever it is, it's happening back upstairs. Rapunzel, can you stay down here with Kida and Milo-"
"I'm coming too," Kida cut Riku off. She held up her spear to show them. "Whatever dangers threaten my people, I must be there for them in their time of need."
"Alright, will you guys be okay down here by yourselves?" Sora asked, indicating Rapunzel, Kupopo and Milo.
"I might not have long hair anymore but I'm still vicious. If someone comes at us, I'll come right at them," Rapunzel said smiling confidently.
Sora laughed. "There was never any doubt. Alright, see you guys in a while. Oh, Kairi, you should give the book to Milo just in case."
"Good idea. Maybe you can also start working on it while we're gone," Kairi said, handing the book over.
Ascending back up the long flight of stairs after having just come down them proved more than exhausting for Sora and the others but they pushed their minor complaints outside and kept moving. Finally emerging on surface level, Sora surveyed the surrounding area for the cause of the disruption. His eyes finally darted upwards, beholding a gold armor clad figure with metallic bat wings of a crimson polish to them. As the armored figure flew over their heads, Sora looked up to see two mini jet engines attached to their back.
"Who are you?" Sora asked. His eyes left the figure and found themselves on Luna as she ran forward.
"Wait, Sora! I think I know who he is. He's the one the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John were talking about—the man in the armor who helped them steal from the townspeople. You're a member of KRONOS, aren't you?" Luna yelled.
"Excellent deduction." The armor's voice was mechanical and soulless. He had probably used a voice modifier of some kind to mask his real voice. "So this is Atlantis. The sacred continent with its vast forbidden knowledge and you've been keeping it all to yourselves. How heartless can you be?"
"Says the guy who's working to destroy all the worlds. You've got a lot of nerve saying that!" Sora yelled back at him.
"Destroying the worlds? Now why would I want to do that? If anything, it's you Keyblade wielders that are destroying the worlds. The realm of light is in a state of atrophy, eating itself inside out until there is nothing but darkness left. You've seen it too, haven't you?"
"You mean the background radiation?" Kairi asked.
"My, you catch on quick," praised the armored figure sarcastically. "This world is already rotten. It cannot be saved. Or maybe it can… but that all depends on the Atlanteans really."
"The Heart of Atlantis. Wait, how did you even find this place anyway?" Kida asked.
"That doesn't concern you. Well as much as I would like to stay and chat, I have a heart to collect. But I'm a considerate guy. I'll let these three keep your company in my place." His hands rose into the air and with a flick of his wrist, a trio of Heartless spawned in front of him. The first was a cat-human hybrid like creature sitting on the ground, its legs crossed and eyes closed in what looked like a meditative pose. The creature next to her was a werewolf, standing on two legs and snarling ferociously at them. The last creature seemed to be half snake and half woman—a Lamia, according to Luna's knowledge of mythical creatures. The armored man continued, "Aren't they beautiful? Of course there are only three of them left from Abraxas original experiment. Well… four if you include a certain person among your group. Have fun now."
"No!" Sora yelled. He hastily summoned his Keyblade and shot the plasma hand out of its tip before the armored figure could fly higher. The hand wrapped around the man's leg and Sora felt his feet leave the ground and take to the air as he held onto the Keyblade for dear life. The armored man looked behind him to see Sora swinging left and right from hanging on.
"Up for a bit of flying, Sora? You only had to ask," the man's voice echoed through the skies. He quickly executed a couple of inside loops before zig zagging through the air. Through it all, even though he wanted to throw up, Sora on with both hands and closed his eyes shut. The speed at which they were going forced Sora to shut his eyes tightly as the wind slapped against his face. His eyes stung but he gritted his teeth and opened them. He had no choice but to if he wanted to see where this unidentified person was taking him.
The man flew low with the intent of sending Sora into the buildings of Atlantis. Sora regained his balanced and swerved to the left as he flew in between two buildings. Sora planted his feet on the building walls and ran across them quickly to gain momentum before he and the armored man emerged on the other side of the buildings.
With the last few inches of ground he had, he kicked off the wall and swung upwards using the plasma hand and arm as a vine. As he flew up into the air and in front of the armored man. He summoned his Kingdom Key that was left dangling off the armored man's left, twisted and attempted to slam the Keyblade into the man's helmet. The armored man held up his arms and crossed them, deflecting the Keyblade and knocked Sora away from him. When he looked back up however, it was too late. He crashed straight into a clothes line, knocking him out of his flight mode and sending him to the ground.
The armored man stood on his two legs, a little dazed from the crash landing. Sora didn't give him a chance to recover. He sprinted forward quickly and swung his Keyblade forward. The armored man quickly grabbed the Kingdom Key's blade and hurled his arm forward. Sora's hand parted from the Keyblade's handle with this sudden jerk of force, and he soon found himself lying sprawled on his back. He shot up from the ground and summoned his Keyblade back into his hands.
"I won't let you take the heart. I won't let you take this people of this city's hope. I don't know who you guys think you are but if the realm of light really is decaying as you say it is, you guys can only make it worse," Sora said.
"Think what you want of me. You and I are but smaller cogs in what is about to happen next. It is merely both our jobs to play our parts and facilitate."
"What do you mean?"
"Sora, you've already lost. You do not yet know how far you've fallen and by the time you realize it, it will have already been too late." The armored man reached for something behind his back and drew out a unique looking long iron sword with glowing red markings engraved from length to tip. Aside from the tip were six other protrusions along the blade's length curving upwards. "This is the Seven-Branched Sword, a most ancient weapon passed down through generations. Its name speaks for itself as you can see. Here's what you can't see. This sword can break any weapon."
Sora stood up out of his battle phase and stifled a laugh. "Okay, aren't you just being a little bit overdramatic now. Any weapon? Do you expect me to swallow crock like that up?"
"I assure you, I'm quite serious. All I need is seven hits to make contact with that weapon and it'll be destroyed. Do I make myself clear, Keyblade Master? If our blades clash seven times, it's over, for you."
"You're full of it," Sora dismissed, trying to glare daggers through the man's helmet. There was no way the Keyblade of all things could break just like that and anyone who claimed to be able to do as such was most certainly lying.
The man laughed. "You can assume I'm bluffing, but can you really take the chance?" The man observed Sora's expression to see a mixture of confusion and anger on his face. He laughed again and continued, "Know that this sword can cut through any weapon—any metal for that matter. Now what will my Seven-Branched Sword be cutting through when it hits your Keyblade? Obsidian? Orichalcum?"
"Nothing because I'll have cut through you before you can even land seven hits." With that, Sora charged straight for the armored man, jumped and swung his Keyblade downward. The man parried the attack easily with sword and shook his head.
"My, aren't we being reckless. Six hits left."
Splitting off into different directions had proved effective but also lonesome and dangerous. Luna and Kida had split off from Riku and Kairi and the Werewolf chimera—or Weremera as Luna had condensed it in to— was following close behind. It was fast, weaving in between columns and buildings with ease. Had they been intending to run away from it, they would have found that it would have taken a great amount of effort and conniving to outrun something with such speed.
The Weremera pounced forward with powerful hind legs that sent it flying over their heads. Kida reacted quickly, pointing her spear upwards and catching the creature before hurling it into a nearby pillar. The Heartless smashed through the pillar, knocking it off its support and sending it crumbling to the ground.
"What in the world are these things?" Kida asked Luna as the Weremera stood back up on two feet.
"They're a special type of Heartless," Luna answered, but when it occurred to her that Kida probably didn't know what a Heartless was, she laughed awkwardly at herself. "You know what? It's something really bad; we'll just leave it at that."
"I suppose that's an explanation," Kida said with raised brows. She looked back to the Chimera and held her spear at her side, its tip pointed straight at the creature. "Here it comes again!"
"One moment. Let me try something," Luna said. She lowered her Keyblade to her side and walked up to the Weremera as slowly and non-threateningly as she could. "Hey there. I hope you're in there somewhere, listening to this. I'm not here to harm you. I want to save you and the others like you. You've feel wronged, left to battle the loneliness and pain you feel right now. I know because I'm the same. Right now, you're wondering 'why me of all people? What did I do to deserve this?' Abraxas stripped you of who you once were and you're angry. That's understandable. But we can find a way to fix this. All I'm asking is that you fight just a little bit longer. We already have a possible cure and if you come with-"
"And why would I want to do that?"
Luna froze and became pale. Had she just heard the creature speak or had it just been her mind playing tricks on her?
"It can talk?" Kida's acknowledgment of this development proved the former was true.
"Are you surprised? Or might you have preferred I kept my mouth shut? You wouldn't be the first," came a reply spliced in between laughter. "They once laughed at me back at the temple, y'know. Then I found KRONOS and opted to be a part of Abraxas' experiments. I didn't know what he was going to do with me or how or for what purpose. The moment he promised that I would obtain power the likes of which I had never known—the likes of which I had long since been seeking—I sprung on the opportunity the first chance I had. And behold— such awesome power I command in so nimble a body. When I returned to the temple, I was the only one laughing."
"What did you do? You didn't…"
"Oh, but I did and it was glorious!" The Weremera spread out his arms to emphasize his point. Luna's eyes could only briefly glance at the sharp teeth protruding from the Chimera's gums before looking elsewhere in disgust.
"You're sick. Just who are you to do something so horrible," Luna snapped.
"I'd hoped you'd ask. Heh-heh-heh." The Weremera craned his neck from side to side before letting out a howl. Luna watched as the Chimera's body slowly morphed into that of a human shape. When his shapeshift had finished, Luna saw a man decked head to toe in samurai armor with a red cape attached to his back. "Burn the name into your soon to lost memory. Let no name but mine have hold over your fragile soul. For I am Gilgamesh!"
"Huh? You think you could get that shortened because I've already forgotten," Kida said to Luna who nodded in agreement.
"Oof!" Gilgamesh recoiled as if he had just been delivered a mighty blow. "We'll see if you've forgotten once I'm through with you both. You should know that I'm quite the eccentric collector of weapons. Your spear is of no use to my collection, woman, but as for the Keyblade… oh how can I overlook such a wonderful gift? It shall be mine once I pry it from your cold dead hands."
"Even if you did manage to do so, and that's a big if, the Keyblade won't just work for anyone, especially not for someone like you," Luna said.
"You'll find I have a way with art, just like I have a way with women," Gilgamesh said.
Luna snorted. "Not likely."
"How dare you, I'm a genteel man! Not like you'll live long enough to see any well-bred manners from me. Come, enough of talk. Now we talk as warriors do, with the crossing of blades!" Gilgamesh roared. He summoned a Zweihander in one hand and a Lowlander Claymore in the other. He twirled the both of them around before lowering them to his waist and outwards, pointing at Luna and Kida.
"I couldn't agree more. Kida, cover me," Luna said. Kida nodded and stepped backwards a bit before raising her spear. She was facing off against someone who, unlike previous Chimera, apparently was able to change into and out of form at will. Regardless of his intentions, she guessed he must have had a strong enough conviction to be able to retain his human form. She would need to be careful in her approach.
Gilgamesh charged in first and Luna guarded against the Zweihander blade. With his other hand, Gilgamesh swung the Claymore horizontally at Luna who ducked under the blade. She quickly flipped and landed on both hands, kicking into the air. A blast of wind escaped her foot and hit Gilgamesh, knocking him backwards. She cartwheeled back on to her feet before flying in and slashing thrice. Each hit clashed with the quick alignment of Gilgamesh's blades. Luna let her Keyblade vanish and revealed her palms to Gilgamesh, casting Aeroga. Gilgamesh was thrown backwards a bit but otherwise landed perfectly fine. However, it was the knockback effect of the spell that Luna had been looking for, as she was also blown back thus distancing herself from him.
Kida placed a hand on the ground and chanted something under her breath. Rock spires shot out of the ground, heading straight towards Gilgamesh's location. As the spires attempted to ensnare him in its oncoming onslaught, Gilgamesh showed no fear in cutting through the rocks and dancing through them on his way to Luna and Kida. Luna placed her hands on Kida's shoulders. As a result, she dropped her concentration and the homing spires along with it.
Gilgamesh laughed maniacally and pointed at Luna with the Claymore. "You're the same as me, aren't you? You hold the power of the Heartless at your disposal and yet you refuse to use it. It's wonderful, you know that? I can control the will of the Heartless, wherever and whenever I want. A Heartless General, can you believe that?"
"You can control the Heartless?" Luna asked.
"It's unlike how they were controlled by Maleficent. They must sense my thirst, my- no, our bloodlust, and because they share our rage, we can send them out in droves across the worlds so that they may pillage and plunder," Gilgamesh said, ending off with a laugh.
"So then you're the reason for the increase in Heartless?" Luna asked.
"Not just me, you know. It took all of us Chimera acting as a conduit to send the message, be it whether they knew it consciously or not. Now there are only four of us left and the signal's been weakened significantly. Not that I care. As long as I get to keep this strength, the rest is KRONOS' problem."
"Four? The fourth person…" Luna said, remembering what the armored man had told them not so long ago. Had she been sending messages to the Heartless without even knowing it? No, she didn't have to even think about it. It was impossible. She wanted a world where there would be no more Heartless, not the complete opposite. She looked back at Gilgamesh and spoke sharply. "Don't you dare include me in with one of you. I never asked for this. A lot of the people Abraxas chose never asked but he did it all the same. And you want so much power than you ever should need or want—it's not normal. You're different from those of us who were experimented on against our will. You were already a monster to begin with."
Gilgamesh roared with laughter again and shook his head. "So what if I am? Unlike you, unlike most… at least I indulge in what I truly am!"
Sora jumped over a horizontal swipe from the armored man's sword and warped behind him to attack. His opponent held up his arm, the Keyblade deflecting against the armor's metal. The man turned swiftly and elbowed Sora in the cheek, causing him to spin in the air for a brief second before falling to the ground.
"Is this the master swordsman I've been hearing about? I'm unimpressed." Ignoring his goading, Sora pulled himself back up and threw his Keyblade at him. The figure raised his sword and deflected the spinning attack. "Four hits left."
Careless, Sora thought in his head. The problem was that the more desperate he became, the more he started to believe the guy's tale about the Seven-Branched Sword. That, in a roundabout way, led to Sora being even more desperate to end this as soon as possible. He had already made two silly mistakes, both by getting too close to his opponent. He couldn't help it either. It was just his style to get in close ranged. He imagined someone like Aqua or Kairi wouldn't be having such a problem if they were in his place.
Sora held up his free arm and fired one Blizzard after the next. The figure shot up into the air and flew through each spell aimed at him on his way to Sora. Just as he flew over Sora's head, the brunette ducked and cast Tornado. A cyclone of wind bursted out from his Keyblade and knocked the man out of his flying pattern. Sora jumped to meet him and delivered several blows, knocking him out of the tornado and to the ground.
"Beautiful. Just beautiful. It looks like you've finally turned up," the figure said while standing up. Sora disagreed. He had long since been done with talking. He ran up to the man and warped again behind him. Pretending to strike again, he waited for his opened to raise his arm before warping and pressing his hand against the exposed side. The armored man twister clockwise before Sora could cast his magic and lightly tapped the Kingdom Key in Sora's other hand with his sword.
"Really? That was just too easy. Three to go."
Sneering at him, Sora stabbed his Keyblade into the ground and ran straight for him. Sora threw his right fist forward followed by his left, his hands feeling quite breezy from the aero spell his cast on them. Coolly, his attacks were blocked. Once. Twice. On his second jab, he found himself unable to move his hand back. It was caught in the clutches of the armored man's hand. Sora jumped and delivered a spinning wheel kick, connecting with the man's helmet. Landing back on his feet, he watched as the man stumbled backwards.
Sora warped forward and punched forward. It had been a risky move, exposing most of his body like that and he hoped that his enemy was dazed enough for it to work. It didn't. The man evaded to the side, grabbed Sora's arm and drew him. A hard knee to the stomach and a gasp escaped his mouth, the contents in the area hit feeling as if they had been churned. Sora danced from left to right, unaware of his surrounding for a few seconds. He did not get a chance to recover as the man lifted his chin up, delivering several jabs to his abdomen. Pain coursed through Sora's body. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the Kingdom Key standing lonely in the spot he had left it. He reached out for it, and received only a punch to the face instead, knocking him flat to the ground.
"You shouldn't try things you see on television, Sora. I don't know what went into your head at that point but it wasn't very sensible now, was it? Now, I'll have you know I'm well trained in a variety of martial arts. I don't think you are. Not to brag or anything."
Sora reached out and summoned his Keyblade, but he may as well have spat in the face of death for all the good it did. He lifted his arms to attack the armored man but with a simple swipe, he found the Kingdom Key once again gone from his hands and lying on the ground next to him.
"That's two, isn't it? Oops." The man walked over to the Kingdom Key and tapped it again. Sora felt something in his heart try to jump out. "Oh well, looks like I miscalculated. One more then."
"Don't. Don't do it," Sora said. He watched hopelessly as he saw the Seven-Branched Sword descend down towards his Keyblade one more time. "NOOOOO!"
The man froze for a moment. He then lifted the sword away from Sora's Keyblade and turned to him. "You know. I'm going to tell you the truth, Keyblade Master. I'm bored, of you, I mean. See, this hasn't nearly been as exciting as what I had pictured in my head and don't get me wrong… I very much like to be surprised, but not like this. He surprised me a lot—our going back and forth at each other. In the end, though we were enemies I think I ended up respecting him more than he respected me."
"What are you-"
"But I can't respect this. It's too easy. You had none of his fight. None of his passion. Even I can tell that much from what you tried to pull in this fight. The Heart of Atlantis could have potentially granted me a power I've long since been seeking. But I can wait. I am a patient man, after all."
Without warning there was a flash of light. Sora soon dropped his hand from his face and looked around him. The armored man had disappeared along with the flash. Sora summoned his Keyblade back to him and tried to get up. He tripped a few times before finally managing to stand. He held the Kingdom Key in both hands and looked down. It didn't look any different from what he could tell. Could the seventh attack really have shattered something as special as the Keyblade? Now he would never know, not that he had wanted to.
"I'm boring, huh?" he said, letting his Keyblade disappear into specks of light. "No surprises there."
Gilgamesh body adopted a stance on all fours as he galloped towards Luna and Kida. Human became beast once more as the Weremera lunged forward at Luna. Kida stepped in front of Luna and opened her palm. Luna couldn't really tell what had happened next. She saw the crystal pendant around Kida's necklace light up and then a sound, as if glass were breaking. The Weremera was thrown back by whatever it was that Kida had done. She stepped forward, appearing taller to Luna than she actually was.
"As the ruler of this city, you and your ilk are not welcome here. Leave. Now!"
The Weremera snarled at her before chuckling. He transformed back into his human form and grinned. "Fair enough, looks like my time's up anyway. I've had my fun. I withdraw back into the shadows, for now. But don't be so exclusionary, especially when the girl right next to you is of that same ilk." With that, Gilgamesh threw his fluttering red cape in over himself and vanished as if performing a magic trick.
Kida looked quizzically at the uncomfortable Luna. "What did he mean by that, Luna?"
"It's… a long story. Shall we head back? I'll tell you along the way," Luna said. True to her word, she went into the detail as much as she could about her kidnapping and being experimented on along with the Heartless being the manifestation of darkness in a person's heart. This lengthy explanation took them all the way back to the ruins where they had first separated with Riku and Kairi.
"Well, while I don't quite understand everything yet, what I do know is that you most certainly aren't like that person we just fought. What was his name again? Giggly- Giruga-"
"Gorgonzola? Ooh, now I'm hungry," Luna said. The two laughed and stopped a few seconds later when they saw Riku and Kairi approaching them in the distance.
"How'd it go for you guys? Ours got away unfortunately," Luna said.
"Same on our end. Don't worry, we'll get them next time," Riku replied seeming rather frustrated in spite of his words.
"Er, they didn't talk or anything, did they?" Luna asked.
Kairi exchanged a wondering look with Riku before looking back. "No. I don't think so anyway. Did it for you two?"
"Yeah. The one we fought. He actually wanted to be turned into a Chimera. He was an original member of KRONOS back when Maleficent was around, or so he says," Luna said. Hearing the sounds of soft footsteps she turned around to see Sora walking up to them. Her mouth parted and she frowned. "Sora, you're bleeding… on the lip."
"Huh? Oh." Sora wiped off the trail of blood hanging off the side of his mouth and smiled. "All gone?"
Luna nodded and returned his smile. It seemed her frown had somehow transitioned onto Riku. "Did you get him?"
"No," Sora answered with a sigh.
"No?"
"No means no. I didn't get him. What more do you want to hear?" Sora snapped at him impatiently.
"Whoa, man. I was just asking. Are you okay?" Riku asked.
"I'm perfectly fine," Sora said gritting his teeth.
"You don't seem that way."
"If you can tell that then why did you ask?" Sora asked in such a brazen way that it shocked everyone else.
"Sora..." Kairi attempted to say but Sora cut her off.
"Look, let's just check and see if Rapunzel, Milo and Kupopo are alright. I don't want to talk about it," Sora said. Without waiting for their responses, Sora started off down the stairs in a mood that Luna had never seen from him before.
