Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Chapter Five - Pride Rock
Simba's world was closest to Agrabah, closer than Mulan's world at least, and Riku had seemed more eager to see a new world than one he had visited – and since Kairi had been the one who wanted to go to Agrabah, Sora made the decision to go to Pride Rock for Riku – and decided it would be more amusing not to mention the fact they would be lions. Or he would be. He assumed they would be as well since they were both human, but who knew with the magic.
"Is there any customs we should know about Sora? Anything we should avoid?" Kairi asked him, peering down at the world below. He grinned, and readied the transport beam to take them down.
"You'll see in just a minute," He said, and grinned. He found a suspicious aqua gaze leveled at him and he attempted to look innocent. Riku's eyes narrowed further and Sora quickly herded them toward the glowing green circle. "I promise you'll understand in just a second."
He reached out and pulled Riku in, and for a moment they were all on the circle – and then he was staring at the ground, and there was a surprised squeak and a definite growl of anger from either side of him. He quickly jumped away, grinning as he noticed his lion body had grown somewhat. He turned with his muscles tensed just in case Riku adjusted to his new body quicker than he had.
"Sora," Riku growled and Sora barely contained his laughter. Sure, Riku still had height and weight advantage over him – but he was in that awkward stage with a scraggly near mane and not quite full height or weight. Sora stretched his paws in front of him and flicked his tail, just to annoy him.
"Ri-ku," Sora returned, stifling a laugh. He heard a quiet mental chuckle and knew Roxas was having fun at all their expenses. Sora promised himself he would do a change later just so he would be able to mock Roxas about his own lion form. For now, he watched his friends carefully.
As expected, Riku was pale, his fur white and his almost-mane the same silver color as his hair. Riku was also already getting used to the animalistic expressions he could use, if the bared teeth were any indication. Kairi was looking a bit miffed, her tail cracking through the air. Really, he thought she probably looked the most out of place with red fur and a pink underside. Not that any of them were normal looking, but at least he and Riku were just a little bit off.
"Change us back!" Riku ordered, as if that would do any good. Sora's eyes softened as he saw the way Riku bristled. He really didn't like this. Hesitantly, Sora approached them both again.
"I can't. This is the form we have to be in. For me, Donald says my clothes changed me and I guess... his magic changed him? I don't know. But this is a place where it's better to be like this. It's not too bad, really." Sora grinned at them, baring fangs in the process – and yelped and quickly jumped backwards as Riku attempted to pounce on him. Fortunately, Riku was not yet used to four legs and quickly ended up falling head over tail, snarling as he did so.
Sora stifled a laugh, because it would only make Riku angrier... and because he had done much the same thing. "Look, don't rush into it. You'll find your balance soon enough and then you can try and kill me, okay? But first, why don't we practice walking and running."
"I think you both look absolutely adorable," Kairi suddenly said, and Sora would have blushed if he had been human. Instead his ears flattened slightly and he hunched down, remembering Donald's words to him that had predicted she would say something similar.
"Um... Thank you," Sora returned diplomatically, because adorable wasn't really something he had wanted to be, especially not at sixteen... even if he was a lion cub. Or, not quite a cub still, but not quite the size of a young mature male either. Larger than Kairi, at least, and he thought his spiky fur had extended somewhat... though he reminded himself that it would probably look strange once he found a river to look into.
"I am not adorable," Riku grumbled. "Furry right now, and maybe even fluffy, but I am not adorable."
He paused briefly and Sora groaned, already seeing the gleam in his eyes. Riku continued, "Sora, however, is definitely adorable."
"He is also the one who actually knows the way around this place and he suggests you probably shouldn't talk about who is more cutesy when you're still on your back with your paws in the air," Sora returned.
"You shouldn't talk about yourself in the third person," Riku said, rolling clumsily to his feet. Behind the white lion, Kairi was taking a few tentative steps. Sora took his eyes off Riku to watch.
"Just remember there are four legs and your balance is off – and you're lower to the ground. It's not that bad, actually. We can run fast in this form." He didn't mention he would still be able to run faster than them until he taught them to dash. He would wait for the challenge Riku was sure to give.
"Fine, oh great master of four feet, give us your seeds of wisdom." Riku was smirking as best one could with a lion muzzle. Sora glared at him and reminded himself to definitely think up some terms for the race. Riku already owed him from the dancing, he might as well get in another favor while he was at it.
"I'm going to ignore you being stupid for the sake of the peace," Sora told him, and before he could retort, he began to teach them.
'Riku is furious. You really shouldn't have tricked him.' Roxas didn't actually seem disapproving – in fact he seemed vaguely amused.
"Don't try to be my conscience. You're not good at it," Sora retorted playfully – and forgot that perhaps he should have stopped doing that out loud, because both Kairi and Riku blinked at him. At the moment all three were curled up in the elephant graveyard – not the safest place to be, but after a day of training, it was better than anywhere else besides Pride Rock – and both Kairi and Riku had wanted to make sure they had the basics down before meeting a whole pride of lions.
"Naminé's giggling at the idea of Roxas being your conscience – instead of persuading you not to do something he would encourage you," Kairi laughed. Riku gave her a startled glance.
"Were either of you going to tell me that you could talk to them eventually or do you two enjoy me learning this on accident?" Riku asked in annoyance, his tail flicking harshly. "Though at least it's better than finding out by actually seeing Naminé, like I did with Roxas."
Sora's tail twitched nervously at the stunned blue-eyed gaze turned toward him. "You can turn into Roxas?"
"Well... Yeah. I mean, I can let him surface and my hair changes color and our clothes usually change, but we're both still inhabiting the same space, just he's the one in front." Sora resisted the urge to nervously wash his paws. Having the instincts of a feline was good sometimes, but that wasn't one he wanted to give in to.
Kairi looked thoughtful – or maybe as if she was talking to someone. Sora hesitated, but flicked his eyes toward Riku – who still looked angry. He slipped a bit closer and nudged the boy's larger form. "Hey, we don't mean to keep these things from you."
"I wouldn't blame you if you did," Riku murmured, and Sora winced. Apparently they were back to Riku getting caught in his memories and blaming himself and Sora having to find a way to make him stop. Except he couldn't hit him with the Keyblade – that hurt too much – and he couldn't kiss him thanks to the lack of proper anatomy.
Sora did the next thing that came to mind. He stood up on his hind legs, placed his paws on the white back, and bit Riku's ear before the boy had more than a chance to look confused. Riku hissed in pain and then it turned into a roar – not quite the same as Simba's, but definitely more than Sora would have managed. He tumbled off of Riku's back when the boy-lion stood and spun around to face him. "What was that for?"
"You were brooding!" Sora responded defensively, crouching down, muscles tense and one paw slipping forward for better leverage – to run or defend he wasn't quite sure. Obviously biting Riku had been a bad idea considering how he was being glared at and the low growl he could hear.
"You didn't have to bite me. Those teeth are sharp!" Sora was a bit confused. His teeth were sharp but he hadn't bitten that hard and Riku wasn't bleeding. He narrowed his eyes, considering his friend. Riku just had to have more than one problem on his mind at all time, didn't he? Brooding about the past and whatever was really bothering him now.
"What's wrong with you?" He demanded. "It couldn't have hurt that much. Stop being a baby!"
Riku tilted his head and his ears flattened. "A baby? At least I don't look like one."
Sora growled. That was true at the moment, he was a lion cub, but Sora wasn't taking that without a fight. "At least I-"
"Kairi says you two are both being silly," A soft voice interrupted. Sora turned his head slowly, keeping one eyes on Riku – and then forgot the fight altogether.
"Naminé?" He asked incredulously, and Roxas was babbling in his mind and pushing because he wanted to talk to her and for a moment Sora's head spun before he firmly pushed Roxas down, thinking loudly, 'WAIT. Just a minute.'
There was mental grumbling, but he was staring at the now pale lioness cub with a white stomach and paws. Actually, she did fit in better than Kairi, but Sora wasn't going to say that. She was ducking her head and her ears were nearly flattened as her tail twitched – she was definitely nervous. "H-Hi. Kairi wanted to see if it would work. I can go back now, if you two would rather..."
"That's Kairi and yours choice, not ours," Riku responded, just as soft, and Sora glanced at him, startled – and then smiled encouragingly at Naminé before closing his eyes.
'You want to talk to her?' He asked the other presence inside him, knowing the answer. Roxas didn't even bother thinking back, he just waited impatiently and then they were changing, the small bit of pain easy to deal with – Sora now thought of it as a sharp reminder that they weren't supposed to be doing this and they were supposed to be one. He had also learned to ignore that pain once he decided that's what it was.
Roxas blinked and moved one paw forward, ignoring Riku's grumble of annoyance and Naminé's gasp as he stared as his fur. It was a pale cream color and he glanced at his chest to see pure white starting there and moving downward. He would bet his spiky fur on his head was as blond as his hair usually was. He glanced up, his eyes meeting Naminé's. "I guess Kairi and you can switch too."
"We never have before," She answered softly. He smiled, feeling a bit awkward. It was easier to talk to Riku, frankly, than to Naminé, who probably had the same thoughts as him sometimes. This was it, this was their life. He sometimes wondered if he would just disappear if he let go, if one of the times he retreated past Sora's ability to reach him he would just... not exist. And there would only be Sora.
"I... Sora offered a few months ago. Up until then I had been... drifting, most of the time." It was difficult, talking to her. There was no anger to rely on like there had been with Riku, and with her there, her memories of him staring at him, if was almost painful how much closer to the surface his memories of Twilight Town were... and how much the part of him that had been Axel's best friend and confronted Sora in The World That Never Was.
"A few months ago?" Naminé tilted her head and then giggled. "Kairi wants to ask if it was the night of Riku's birthday party."
Roxas blinked, wondering why she would think that – and felt Sora's surprise and embarrassment and he almost wanted to feel the memories that were right there – but that might take too long if Sora was being stubborn about showing him them. "I think so. Why?"
The pale lion-girl giggled again, and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Do you... Well. There's a lot I want to ask you, but right now, I want to take advantage of this before our bodies get too tired or we change back... is there a time limit?"
"I don't know. If there is we haven't hit it." He shifted his weight, quiet and waiting for her to decide what she wanted to do. She was equally quiet, staring back at him. There was a groan from nearby.
"Will you two just decide something? Time limit or not, all three of us were running around all day, and you may have changed appearances but I'm betting your bodies will be just as tired as they were before. Do what you want so we can all get to sleep faster." Riku was glaring just a bit – mostly at Roxas. He was glad, since he doubted Naminé would take glaring too well right now when she was even nervous about taking her Other's place on the outside.
'Your boyfriend has issues,' Roxas grumbled mentally.
'Yeah, but he's not being normal, even for him. Something else is going on in his head. If I have to deal with him being like this all week I'm running off to the Oasis with Simba,' Sora replied, heaving a sigh. Roxas smirked and stretched out his paws, sending a sidelong glance toward Naminé.
" If you can remember the Dash Sora was teaching them – race?" Usually he would have said she didn't have a chance – but in these bodies, who knew. Sora had been able to keep up with Simba in a body less than a fourth the size or experience. Sora was a special case – but he was beginning to realize all three of the Island children were – and their two Nobodies of course.
"I'd love to! And Kairi learned it, so I'll be able to use it as well. Since Sora's already shown he can access some of your abilities." There was an almost teasing glint in her eyes and she looked pointedly toward Riku. Roxas shrugged. That had been all Sora's idea – and if it won him something, good for him. Though, if it backfired, Roxas had no problem laughing at him.
"What are you talking about, Naminé?" Riku asked suspiciously. The girl shook her head, just smiling.
"Roxas?" Riku turned toward him. Roxas smirked.
"Heh. Wouldn't you like to know?" He had no idea how Naminé understood what he was about to do – but in the next second the two Nobodies were dashing away, side by side, and with an angry growl Riku was after them.
Blood, real and from his shared heart, rushed through his veins. His muscles, already tired from a day of exercise, screamed in protest. It was wonderful. As a Nobody, even the pain had just been something entirely physical. There were no corresponding emotions, no worry or annoyance – faint echoes, sometimes, yes. Sometimes the echoes were strong – but mostly, he had known he was nothing.
He grinned at Naminé, who smiled back. At this moment, they were something. A borrowed something, but all the emotions were there. Annoyance at Riku as he growled from behind them, joy at seeing Naminé and running beside her, one of the few he could count as a friend. And there was carefully cherished and hidden sorrow that Axel would never be able to feel this – so many emotions. He had never felt this strongly; he had never been able to.
His eyes trailed sideways, seeing a tiny ledge in the side of one rock pillar. His paws bunched together for an instant before his front ones left the ground and his back legs pushed against the ground. In the moment when he was airborne and between the ground and the ledge he decided. 'Next world we're on, I want to try and glide.'
He landed on the ledge, sliding sideways as he did. There was an answering thought, warm and full of an emotion he felt hesitant to name. 'Of course, Roxas. Whatever you want.'
Roxas bared his teeth in a silent grin and challenge as both Riku and Naminé stared up at him. Inwardly, he said in a perfect deadpan, 'I want sea-salt ice cream.'
'Okay,' Sora agreed.
'Really? I can have some?' Roxas stopped paying any attention to the girl and boy below him at that point. His ears flattened as he realized how excited he sounded. 'I mean, that would be good.'
'We'll stop in Hollow Bastion on the way to... wherever we go next. Land of Dragons, probably. Donald's uncle makes it.' Roxas suddenly wished that they were leaving already. It had been entirely too long since he had sea-salt ice cream.
The conversation was cut short when there was suddenly someone pouncing in front of him – and not someone he recognized. A cub even smaller than Kairi/Naminé glared at him with green eyes and dark fur and even darker tufts of fur that would someday be a mane. "Who are you?"
There was a sudden growl from down below and Roxas knew Riku had seen the new presence. Perfectly unconcerned, Roxas stared at the cub. "Wrong question."
"Oh?Really? What's the right one then?" The cub shot back.
"The right question is," Roxas paused as Riku landed behind the cub and the ledge suddenly became very crowded. He smirked and continued, "How stupid are you?"
"And my answer is very," Riku growled. The cub turned his head, eyes wide – and then a golden thing darted toward them. Automatically Roxas stopped that forward motion, calling the keyblade to his mouth and slamming it into the... female cub who was now flying away from the ledge to land in front of Naminé.
Almost instantaneously the male cub snarled and lunged for him, apparently forgetting what he had just done to the other cub. Riku responded before the cub had done more than begin a jump, his pale paw cuffing the cub sideways off the ledge – to land on top of the recovering female.
"Tch. Brats," Roxas muttered after his Keyblade disappeared. Riku snorted, sounding awfully like he was holding back laughter. Roxas glared at him, but heard Sora doing the same in his head.
"Fine. You can deal with them then," Roxas grumbled, and closed his eyes. Sora wouldn't want him hurting children, lion or not, or questioning them. Besides, if he stared at them too long he would either be swayed by the fact they were adorable or want to kill them. He wasn't good with kids.
Sora opened his eyes and jumped down easily. He heard Riku follow him, landing just as lightly. Padding forward lightly, he grins as the male cub stares at him wide-eyed. "Sorry about Roxas hurting your friend, but you were being kinda rude."
"Kind of? He tried to attack," Riku muttered. Both cubs bristled.
"He didn't attack until after that other one hit me with... something! And... and... Heeeey, where'd he go?" The female cub was looking everywhere. Sora, on the other hand, squinted as he stared at her.
He was connecting things in his mind as Riku and Naminé tried to avoid the question and questioned them instead. This girl had Simba's eyes. Nala had been pregnant. Since the time he had brought Simba back until now, it had been long enough for them to have a cub and for it – her? – to be as big as this one. On the other hand, he had a feeling that the other cub was not her brother (his coloring wasn't like Simba or Nala) and that Simba wouldn't let any child of his wander alone.
Sora realized he was confusing himself. He shook his head and refocused on the girl cub. "Hey, are you related to Simba?"
Both cubs froze and the female's jaw dropped. Then she took a good look at him. "How do you know my dad?"
"So you are his daughter! Hi there, I'm Sora! Sorry about knocking you down, you're not hurt are you? You shouldn't have surprised Roxas, though, he doesn't take it well. Nice to meet you!" He practically bounced closer, his tail swishing wildly. It was good to see her, in fact. He could see all three of the others staring at them, but Simba's daughter had lifted her head and her ears were up and her eyes curious.
"You're Sora? The one who really isn't a lion? You helped my father defeat Scar, and the Heartless! Wow, Dad always said you'd come back someday, but I didn't think I'd get to really meet you! I'm Kiara!" She blinked, and tilted her head. "You're still small. Guess it's cause you're not really a lion, huh?"
Sora ducked his head, embarrassed at the gushing attitude. He ignored the comment about being small. She was smaller than he was! "Yup, I'm Sora. And of course I came back! These are my friends, Riku and Ka... eh-heh. Naminé. She's Naminé."
"What happened to the other one?" Kiara's companion asked suspiciously.
"He's inside me," Sora answered, and grinned as they blinked at him. Riku muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath and Sora pretended that his lion body didn't hear as well as it did.
"Um... Okay. Well, this is Kovu. He's uh... An..." She glanced around and then said, very quietly and seriously. "An Outsider. Isn't that so cool?"
Sora blinked. Naminé and Riku were both glancing at him. He shrugged. "Outsider?"
"Oh. Um. I suppose you wouldn't know." Kiara glanced at Kovu. He shrugged indifferently while still glaring. "I guess I should tell you. See, it began with some lionesses that were loyal to Scar, mainly one, Zira."
Somehow, both cubs ended up sleeping in the elephant graveyard with them. Riku's glare plainly told him that the other boy thought this was a very bad idea. Naminé was quite taken with them, and currently was curled halfway around Kovu – he wouldn't let Sora or Riku touch him and both of them wanted the two youngest cubs in the middle.
"They could have fund their own place to sleep," Riku grumbled, staring at the cubs.
"It was already getting late and they both admitted they weren't quite sure which was to go. Looking outside the graveyard – things have grown back and I can see Pride Rock but I wouldn't have made Kiara go back alone in that – and not with Kovu, either. From how she explained it, he wouldn't be very welcome." Sora curled up around the already sleeping Kiara, smiling as she snuggled backwards into him. He saw Riku stiffen at the movement and shift, looking from the sleeping Naminé to Sora and back again.
He chuckled and shook his head. "Come here. You can always move before we go to sleep. Besides, small as most of us are, we're still dangerous predators, right? And I haven't seen the hyenas at all. Kiara says they're gone, and she hasn't seen any Heartless."
Riku grumbled and growled, but it didn't stop him from taking the invitation and lying behind Sora – who took the opportunity to wiggle into a better position and drop his head on Riku's shoulders. Unexpectedly, Riku commented, "I wish we were human right now."
Sora blinked, but barely missed a beat in replying. "We will be again. This is only a visit, and we can do anything you want at the next world."
He knew he shouldn't have said that almost immediately and Riku proved him right when he slyly asked, "Anything? In that case we should leave as soon as possible."
"Ican bite you," He reminded the older boy.
"I didn't know you were into that, Sora," Riku purred right back at him. Sora groaned.
"Pervert," He muttered as a last resort. Riku gave a low chuckle.
"You're the one who said anything. And after a week of nothing I may hold you to that." Riku was obviously having too much fun with that statement.
"Anythingbesides sex," Sora said, rolling his eyes. There was a paused, and then Riku turned, his eyes actually a bit wider than normal Sora took his head away from the scraggly beginnings of a mane to meet his eyes better. "What is it?"
"You mean that, don't you?" He had a feeling that question was more important than it looked, so despite one eyebrow raising he waited a moment to make sure Riku wasn't seeing any hidden meanings.
"Yeah, of course I do," He answered a bit slowly. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He punctuated this statement by beginning to purr and Sora almost jumped, startled at the sound. Riku stopped almost immediately, looking comical with his eyes wide and his ears flat like that. "What...? Did I just...purr?"
"Yup! Sounded nice, too," Sora said cheerfully, and put his head back down, deciding that whatever was going on in Riku's head wasn't something bad. He didn't have to bite him then.
"Ipurred Sora. How can you take this so lightly? I'm not a cat!" Riku objected.
Another voice interrupted them, a sleepy Kovu glaring at them from bright green eyes. "You are right now, so shut up and quiet down. Some of us are trying to sleep!"
Riku snarled, and Sora felt his muscles tense. He yawned sleepily. "Riku, let it go. You can bully him in the morning."
His eyes were closed so he couldn't see the glares the two were exchanging, but he was sure they were there. Then Riku murmured in his ears, "Fine. But tomorrow, if he steps even a little out of line, I'm finding a river and drowning him."
"Mmm. 'kay. Sounds good," He mumbled in return, and pressed closer to the body heat Riku was giving off, and ignoring any further mumblings. He wanted sleep – it wasn't something he got a lot of often – well, he did this trip, but the presence of both his friends nearby seemed to help with the nightmares.
If he hadn't been so sleepy, he might have made fun of the way Riku began to purr – but he was nearly asleep already, and it was much too soothing for him to complain.
Before he even opened his eyes he sensed them and sighed to the tense presence beside him, "Not Heartless, so I'm guessing angry parents."
"Probably." He knew by the soft sound Riku hadn't opened his eyes either. So Sora went first, cracking his eyes open and glaring at the lioness standing about ten feet away – but she was looking over them and Sora turned his head to see Simba and Nala both standing there.
"Great. Kovu, Kiara, your parents are here." Sora stood as he spoke, and stretched his body, clearly indicating how serious he took the situation as he nudged both cubs gently. "C'mon, sleepy heads. Get up before the air turns to ice. They have a lot of problems, huh?"
"He killed Scar," Kovu grumbled coldly as he saw Simba. Kiara sighed as she raised her head and saw the three lions.
"And, Scar had killed his dad and tried to have him killed. Oh, and starved his mother and girlfriend. Up!" Sora nudged them a bit more harshly. Kovu took a swipe at his nose. Kairi – apparently they had changed in their sleep – swatted at his rump.
"Behave," She scolded him, and both cubs turned wide eyes on her.
"Where's Naminé?" Kovu asked, sounding disappointed.
"Inside of me. I don't think we should switch now, but if you want, we can visit later. She says she wants to." Kairi was smiling, but Sora was the one who saw Riku twitch and move forward.
"Right, that's enough of that." Riku ignored the growl of the scrawny lioness as he bent down and picked up Kovu in his mouth. Sora made a face – and then jumped forward, Keyblade ready when the lioness lunged for them.
"Don't even think about it," He growled.
"Put. Him. Down." The lioness was crouching low. Sora didn't take his eyes off of her, but he heard Kovu's suddenly rapid breathing and the way Riku snorted. He was probably attempting to sneer through a mouthful of Kovu.
"Kovu, is this your mother?" Sora asked.
"Y-yeah." He felt bad for how scared the cub suddenly sounded. A moment later, he felt bad for Kovu being thrown through the air and he glared at the smug looking Riku behind him.
"You're trespassing, Zira," Simba barked from behind – and getting closer. Sora ignored Simba, since apparently Simba was ignoring him, but kept an eye on Riku as he turned around to face the larger male.
"Nuka!" Zira barked. "Come here and get Kovu!"
And from behind one skeleton the skinniest, weakest looking male lion Sora had ever seen slunk out, glaring bitterly at all of them – but smiling sweetly at his mother. Sora glanced at Kovu, at this point ready to take both cubs away and defend them if either of them made any indication. But Kovu let Nuka pick him up - Sora half expected the male to bite him harder – and carry him away.
"Kovu," He heard Kiara whisper, followed by a small, belated, "Bye..."
Sora could have sworn he saw Kovu answer before Nuka turned and jumped away with the cub. The female lioness took one last look at Kiara before slowly backing away, snarling when Simba growled out an order to stop.
"Let her go. She just wanted her cub," Riku order and Sora exchanged a surprised glance with Kairi. Riku didn't even like Kovu. He didn't seem to like either of the cubs – though he was a bigger fan of second chances than he once had been, and he was right. She had just been getting her son.
"Look, I don't know who you are, but – "
"That's Riku," Sora interrupted, the Keyblade fading as he dropped it. He turned partly around and tilted his head at Simba questioningly. "And he's right Simba. Trespassing or not, she was just getting her child. And Kiara trespassed on their land first."
"Oh, really?" That didn't sound good. He turned back to the lioness. She was eyeing Kiara with a gleam in her eyes that sent chills down Sora's spine. He slid in front of Kiara and heard Kairi doing the same, a growl being emitted from Kairi's throat that he never would have believed she could do before.
"Leave Kiara alone. Kovu trespassed right back. They were just having fun! Why do you have to spoil it with your pointless war?" Kairi sounded and looked upset. Turning his eyes toward her, he had to wonder if that was a good thing to confront them on. Obviously anyone fighting for Scar was a bit obsessed to the point of insanity.
"Pointless?" Zira screeched. "Pointless? He was the rightful king, and Kovu will be his heir! Simba is a usurper, and he doesn't deserve Scar's throne."
"So, this one's crazy. That one?" Sora turned and followed Riku's gaze.
"No, just protective. Simba's not crazy," Sora said, and nudged Kiara. "Let's go see your dad and leave the crazy lady be."
"But – Yeah. Daddy will be mad at m enough as it is," Kiara whimpered. Sora nodded agreeably and pushed her forward with one paw, keeping her and Kairi in front of him and Riku. He slid his eyes back halfway there – to see the lioness had slunk off. Good. He didn't want to fight her, crazy or not. Kovu would probably be unhappy if they hurt his mother and he fully planned to sneak in and make sure the kid was okay before they left.
"You're in a lot of trouble young lady – you're lucky Sora happened to be there to make sure you weren't hurt," Simba was saying when Sora started paying attention again. He remembered Roxas hitting her with the Keyblade and decided not to mention that in fact it was partly his fault she had been hurt, even if it had only amounted to her being briefly stunned.
"And Sora, thank you. You couldn't have known what was going on or I'm sure – " Simba began.
"I would have done exactly the same thing. Kiara explained it all. Kovu's just a kid – a cub. Just like Kiara. She didn't need protecting from him, and they both needed some looking after." He stood firm, not quite glaring at Simba, but he definitely was staring defiantly. Kovu hadn't done a thing wrong – in fact, Kiara had been the one who had been rash and attacked. Sora decided not to mention this.
"That may be. But he is an Outsider." Simba had apparently become dignified. And maybe a bit close-minded. Sora opened his mouth to make him see – there had to be a way to do it – but Riku cut him off, shoving both him and Kairi away from the older lions with his nose.
"Forget it, Sora. He's not going to listen," Riku muttered, glaring at Simba who had taken a step forward. Sora shook his head at Simba and glared at Riku and tried to stay stubbornly still.
"But, he's – " He tried again.
"Forget it. You can't solve everything. Not on our vacation." Ah, that was a point. Reluctantly Sora let Riku shove him forward once more and moved to keep pace with Kairi, taking one last frustrated look at Simba. Riku was right. This wasn't about Heartless and in one-way Simba was right – Zira was definitely wrong. But Kovu... Kovu was young, and just being raised wrong.
His ears flattened and he reluctantly led his friends to the oasis, not seeing the way Riku narrowed his eyes or Kairi glanced at him worriedly.
The rain couldn't bother him as much under the trees. Sora peered out into the deluge and wondered where Riku and Kairi were. Hopefully finding better shelter. Since just hours after they had left Kiara with her parents two days before, it had been raining. So far, it didn't seem to show any signs of stopping. It just poured down. Every once in awhile, the quality of it would change and he would hear distant thunder - but no actual lightning yet.
Deciding he couldn't do anything until Riku and Kairi came back, and since Roxas was silent and not up for helping him not be bored, he curled up. It would be best to get as much sleep as possible when it was only raining hard, and hadn't added both wind and what seemed to be waterfalls of rain to the formula. He closed his eyes, and let himself drift off with the thoughts of the warm beach back home.
Almost immediately, the dreams claimed him and darkness surrounded him. Nobodies, Heartless, Organization XIII, all of them were in his dreams. But the one he hated most was Anti-form – or being stuck like that. His darkness having taken over and he unable even to control it to the extent he could now.
Roxas dreamed as he did – but he dreamed of nothing, of fading. Like Axel had, except there would be no one there for him. Neither of them was able to help the others with their dreams.
They awoke when there was something on top of them and the first thing they thought, as one, was, 'Heartless!'
Ultima was in his mouth and he had lunged before he was fully awake. Only the clang of the two blades connecting and wide aqua eyes made Sora realize just exactly what he had done. Immediately Ultima vanished and he backed up, hunching down low to the ground in the aftermath of a rush of fear and adrenaline, some of the dreams still mocking him.
"Sora?" Way to the Dawn was gone as Riku hesitantly approached. Sora almost took a step back and then firmly told himself to snap out of it. The dreams weren't real and Riku had just startled him out of them. He managed a weak smile.
"Sorry. I... Bad dreams. We thought you were a Heartless." He let Riku touch noses with him, and then hesitantly nuzzle him, obviously trying to give him some sort of comfort despite the unfamiliar body.
"You dream of Heartless?" Riku asked, sounding surprised. "I didn't know you had dreams of what happened."
"I don't usually when you two are around. And not even always of Heartless, or things that happened. Just... possibilities. Darkness. You know. Stuff." He shifted uncomfortably despite Riku's attempts at calming him down. He didn't really want to discuss his nightmares – they weren't a problem very often and he didn't want his friends upset. He knew they would understand, he didn't worry about that. He did worry about them – especially Riku – blaming themselves for not noticing them, or something equally stupid.
"No. I don't. You never mentioned it and I never thought... that you dreamt of darkness. You're Sora. I didn't even think you saw there were anything but good outcomes," Riku murmured, pressing closer. Sora turned his head to catch a glimpse of Riku's eyes and sighed at the guilt he saw in them. Riku was much too ready to find himself guilty. He wondered if his friend would ever forgive himself for everything that had happened.
"It's not your fault," He reminded him. Riku shot him a sharp look.
"Really? Someone else opened his heart to darkness? Our world was destroyed Sora." Riku was glaring out into the rain. Sora didn't bother trying to make him look over.
"Riku, one of us was going to end up with the Keyblade. The Heartless can track the Keyblade. So, if you hadn't opened up to the darkness, the Heartless would have come – and all of us would have been lost. There was no one to help us there. No one to explain what they were. Who knows what would have happened then – Ans- Xehanort's Heartless probably would have gotten Kairi." He couldn't say it had turned out better this way, because he didn't know. But they had both ended up with a Keyblade in the end, and their world was back. Kairi was safe, he was safe, and Riku was safe and whole.
Riku appeared to be thinking about it, cocking his head and still not looking at Sora. "Our world was doomed?"
"Well... I don't know. I mean, we know where the keyhole is, and it was easy to get to, even then. So, maybe you would have locked it in time." He didn't mention the other worlds that would have been doomed if they had only saved their island. No one would have come to them – they expected eventually the Keyblade would turn up in Traverse Town.
"Locking the world wouldn't have stopped the Heartless from appearing. Just from destroying the world. I don't think I could have learned fast enough – and Xehanort's Heartless still would have come for Kairi. Just fighting on the island wouldn't have been enough for me to defeat him. We still would have failed." Apparently, Riku's mind was determined to be pessimistic no matter what Sora said. Sora rolled his eyes – and then looked around, frowning.
"Where's Kairi?" Sora didn't panic. Not quite anyway. Riku wouldn't have left her alone if it were dangerous. But he should have noticed, he should have realized immediately that she was gone. But he hadn't and Roxas stirred in his mind, worried and angry with all three of them, but silent.
"She's in the shelter we found. Also, Sora? Is there anything to eat besides bugs around here? We can't eat the plants, Kairi tried. Our bodies throw it up." Riku was looking slightly uncomfortable and Sora wondered if he hadn't already guessed what the only other option was.
"We could hunt," He suggested as he trotted out into the rain. "So where's this shelter?"
"We could... but aren't the animals all sentient?" Riku lifted a paw to point, apparently not realizing how absurd that looked. Sora resisted laughing even while Riku said, "It's just over there. We found a cave, mostly hidden by these damn plants."
"The plants are good cover. And um, yeah, they are." Sora looked away and hurried off toward the caves. Riku trailed behind him and he could practically feel the puzzled gazes as the wheels turned in Riku's head.
"Sora... Have you been hunting here?" There was no judgment in Riku's voice, just pure almost morbid curiosity.
"Simba killed it!" He quickly protested, and immediately winced and said in a small voice, "I was too small to catch a meal for all three of us... Nala was with us. But... I helped."
There was a pause and then Riku had increased his pace to come beside him. "This is the cave, behind here."
"Sora! Riku found you then. I was afraid you might have wandered off!" Kairi exclaimed upon seeing him. He pretended to pout at her implication.
"No, he was just being lazy like usual and sleeping while we did all the work." Riku smirked in his direction. He growled in mock anger and crouched down. Riku's tail lashed at the unspoken challenge and lowered into his own crouch.
"Not in the cave, you two. I'm trying to dry out the leaves," Kairi said, and Sora noticed some leaves piled as if she was trying to make a bed out of them.
"I still think we could just sleep in the gummi ship," Riku muttered.
"I heard that," Kairi sang. Then she quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Sora. "Did you sleep in the gummi ship?"
"Nope." He didn't mention there's had been even worse equipped for sleeping. He had specifically designed this one so they could actually have a room to sleep in – instead of in the cramped cockpit with Donald's snores and Goofy sprawled out half on top of the controls. It hadn't been too bad after awhile, and he eventually got used to the snores – but he was always worried that Goofy would shift in his sleep and they would go careening off into space. Sleeping as a lion was much more preferable.
Besides, he was quite sure if Riku slept in the gummi ship they all would – and while he preferred to just block it from his mind, he was missing being able to touch Riku just as much as he was sure Riku was missing him. He was sure Kairi actually wanted to sleep. At least if they were moving he had to pay attention to the controls. Or Riku did, if he wanted to drive. Either way, it would keep them off of each other for the ride.
After the ride wasn't even an issue.
End Chapter Five.
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