Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or anything Disney.
Chapter Six - Land of Dragons
The ride in the gummi ship had been interesting to say the least. Kairi had found out exactly how amusing – and slightly frustrating – it was to have two hormone driven boys in the gummi ship who wanted to be all over each other. At least Sora had tried to keep them apart. For most of the time. But the gummi ride to Land of Dragons was over two days long and Kairi knew for a fact Sora had apparently dropped any excuse he had not to spend all his time on Riku. The "on" being almost literal at least in the last few hours before they reached their destination, when Kairi had walked out of their shared room and found that Sora had pinned a very willing Riku to the wall of the small corridor. It had been a bit embarrassing to ask them to move so she could walk by and get to the bathroom.
So Kairi was very glad to see the next world come up. Apparently Riku had already been there. She looked down at the Land of Dragons and smiled. Maybe they could have a snowball fight – actually, better to say definitely, even if they weren't expecting one yet. She would make sure it happened. She glanced up toward Sora, who was acting normal now – much to Riku's chagrin. It amused her sometimes to think that Riku was the one who tended to act clingier. It wasn't like Sora was going anywhere. There was no reason to rush.
She shook her head of those thoughts. The boys could certainly handle their own relationship, and Sora was pretty good at talking about things for a boy, so if it became an issue he would confront him on it. She cleared her throat and asked, "So, do you have any idea where we're staying?"
Sora scratched at the back of his head and shrugged ruefully. "Not really. We could stay at the palace, or in the village – kinda rather be in the village. It's less stuffy – though we have to drop in to at least say 'Hi' to Mulan and Shang and the others."
She glanced at Riku, who looked faintly curious. She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. He shrugged, but said, "The village was a pile of ash and rubble when I was here."
She briefly caught Sora's scowl and hoped that would get cleared up. Apparently something about that made Sora at least annoyed. Well, she would be annoyed as well if she had been there and Riku hadn't said a thing. "I think staying in a village would be okay. What do they have for a hotel?"
"I dunno." Sora cocked his head, looking thoughtful. "I was bunking with the soldiers the first time we were there, and it was burnt down pretty quickly even then."
"Ah," Kairi said diplomatically, then smiled, shrugging the detail off. "We'll just have to find out then!"
"Something the great Sora doesn't know? Amazing," Riku said dryly. He sounded off – she eyed him for a moment. Not that the comment itself wasn't half expected, but his tone sounded a bit too harsh. Perhaps because Sora wasn't acting the same as he was in terms of frustration? She shook her head. That was looking into their relationship too much. Maybe he just disliked revisiting the places he had been.
She saw Sora actually work to control his tongue and was surprised. Rarely did he make an effort – and then it was usually because he knew what he said would be insulting or hurtful. She resolved to get each of them alone within the next couple of days – as much as she liked seeing Sora making the effort, he wasn't very good at keeping his tongue – Riku was better, but he tended to say things even after he had thought about them, knowing his friend would be angry at him and he would probably end up getting hurt as well. Sometimes she believed there was at least a little bit of a masochist in Riku.
"Why don't we just go down?" She said while Sora struggled to find something to say. She found relieved blue eyes looking over at her and couldn't stop her heart from speeding up just the tiniest bit. So they weren't dating and wouldn't ever be again – some part of her would always look at Sora a bit different for being her first love. She pushed it down however, ignoring Naminé's sigh and just smiled back at Sora in understanding.
"Fine," Riku muttered, and Sora set the transporter.
Kairi had managed to get Sora to go for a walk. This wasn't as hard as she would have thought it would be, and at least it stopped the eerie silence. Both boys seemed as if they wanted to say something, and a couple of times she had seen Riku take a step forward, arms lifting slightly – and then it fell back to his side and he stopped. They had seemed so happy about coming here before. Apparently on second thought – or first actual thought for all she knew – they reconsidered.
She glanced around the cave they had wandered into, and she looked curiously at the small shrines of differing colors in the walls. "So, what happened the last time you were here? With Riku?"
"It's not that big of a deal," Sora muttered, but she could tell he was upset. "Until he started being an idiot I was ready to forget it but... It's hard not to say anything to him about it. Especially when he wants me to."
"Maybe you two should just spar? Usually when you're having difficulties talking that eases the tension, right?" She frowned when there wasn't an answer and turned to find him looking away from her and studying the walls. "Sora?"
His shoulders slumped. "I don't think it would help. We already fought here once."
"What?" She walked around to peer into his face. Which was hard since he had his eyes lowered and his spikes needed to be cut – the longest ones in front were beginning to get in his eyes when he lowered his head like that.
"Well, he was dressed like Organization XIII!" Sora protested, looking away and crossing his arms.
"And you... attacked him?" Kairi asked incredulously. She had thoughtRiku had been the one to do something wrong. Then she paused. "Wait, I thought you hadn't seen him before all three of us were together again."
"I didn't know it was him! He didn't say anything!" Sora was mixing his glare with a pout and it wasn't a good combination. Adorably awkward, but still not so good.
"So... are you mad at him?" Kairi asked, frowning.
"Not really. Not for that. Just, in the past few hours, he started acting like this." He let his arms drop, looking confused and Kairi sighed. Riku was too complicated sometimes.
"I'd say leave him alone to sort it out, but knowing Riku, he would probably get more grouchy the longer we let him be." She wondered if she could get Riku to go on a walk – probably not.
"But what's his problem?" Sora asked, running a hand through his spikes and tugging at one in frustration.
"Well, it couldn't have been that fun for him to be able to see you but not be able to talk to you – maybe he thinks you'll be mad at him now that we're here." Kairi shrugged. It could also be he was just reminded of the fact he had given in to darkness – usually he was quieter and less snappy when he was brooding, but not always. Trying to end on an upbeat note Kairi added, "I would say maybe he felt guilty about the fight, but... Well, this is Riku."
Sora rolled his eyes, grinning suddenly. "If he didn't want to fight he could have portalled out of there, or just run again. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it."
"Well, since he wasn't going to hurt you badly and he was obviously too good to really be hurt, he probably thought of it as an impromptu spar." Kairi giggled, knowing that while Riku probably hadn't disrespected Sora's skills, he did have an opinion about his own.
"Some spar," Sora grumbled. "I would have liked it better if all the Rapid Thrusters hadn't been there. I kinda thought it was Riku as the fight went on, you know."
"Of course you did. The same way I believed Naminé that it was Riku even after I had seen what he looked like. Our hearts are connected. We can always tell, Sora – as long as we're actually listening. Some of us have more of a problem with that than others." Kairi began to walk away as she spoke, grinning as she heard Sora's shoes shift behind her.
"Hey! Kairi! What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded. She giggled – and ran, knowing she couldn't really outrun him and also hoping he wouldn't cheat so she would at least have enough time to get outside.
The cave walls passed by and the outside loomed close. Sora was catching up much to quickly. She hoped she was close enough and dove for the entrance just as he shouted and tried to grab her. She landed in the snow and grinned, turning over to see Sora's confused expression. She grinned and threw the snowball. He was too shocked to dodge the first one, and there was snow in his eyes at the second.
But then he was dodging under one and into a roll behind her – where he proceeded to stuff snow down the back of her shirt. She shrieked loudly, turning many of the nearby villagers in their direction. "You cheater!"
"It's not cheating if there aren't any rules!" Sora laughed – and choked as Kairi through her next snowball into his open mouth. She grinned, unrepentant. That's what he got for not paying attention.
It was a blur of snow after that, as they headed into the village, forcing villagers to duck down under the barrage of snowballs. They hid behind houses – and Sora cheated again by looking down from on top of the houses until she did shout out a "No using those abilities!" rule, which he shouted was unfair since he was the only one who had them and she replied it was fair because of that fact.
They were both on opposite sides of the main street, hiding behind corners of houses and throwing as many snowballs as they could without getting hit when Riku came into view. Kairi paused a moment, and saw Sora peak out. Their eyes met as Riku scowled and looked back and forth from one form half hidden in shadows to the other. "What are you two doing? The whole village – "
Riku was cut off when two snowballs hit him in the face. He spluttered, spit it out, and glared as they came giggling into view. "What the hell was that for?"
Kairi felt torn. They had just been trying to have fun, but Riku wasn't really in the mood. She stepped closer, intending to apologize – and Riku waited until she was just a few feet away before scooping down and raising his snow toward her – and then they were both hit.
"I thought you were smarter than that, Kairi. Like Riku would let us get away with hitting him like that and not throw back." Sora was grinning, already spinning another ball of snow in his hand.
Kairi glanced at Riku. He nodded. She took a step forward, scooping up snow slowly and grinning slyly at Sora. He tilted his head and smirked at them both, saying to the unspoken thoughts on their faces, "You have to catch me first."
Then he threw his snowball and twirled around – and like the great big cheater he was, he used quick run. Kairi glanced over at Riku to see him wiping snow out of his eyes. "Truce until that cheater up there is defeated."
Riku's grin was almost feral. "He's going to wish he had never seen snow."
Kairi laughed and began to run after Sora, who was now a distant figure actually on the slop up the mountain. Well, at least they wouldn't be bothering the villagers anymore. "I think I will too. We're not exactly dressed for the weather."
"Warm clothes later. Kicking his ass now," Riku growled, quickly overtaking her, his eyes on the distant figure – who appeared to be waving at them. Kairi narrowed her eyes. Sora was going to regret that.
Kairi gasped in the thin air of the mountain and let herself collapse to the ground briefly. She would have been worried about getting her clothes wet with snow – but they were already soaked. She glanced over at the boys and rolled her eyes as she saw Riku had decided the best way to "punish" Sora was to sit on his back and press his face into the cold snow. They were all very wet at this point, and she was pretty sure even Sora's magical clothes didn't protect him from wet and the freezing air.
"Riku, you need to let him breathe eventually," Kairi panted as she caught her breath. Riku grunted, but released Sora's head – and Sora lifted his head and tried to glare ineffectually over his shoulder. It probably would have worked better if he hadn't been shivering just a bit. Kairi frowned worriedly. They all should get in soon – and frankly, Sora had actually hid himself under the snow at one point.
"I think we should get back where it's warm," She suggested, her teeth chattering. Now that they had stopped moving, she felt a lot colder.
"It's his fault, bringing us all the way up here," Riku grumbled – but he didn't seem to be in bad spirits the way he had earlier.
"Sorry," Sora offered, more to her than to Riku. "None of us are dressed for the weather."
"No, we aren't," She agreed as Riku stood up and stepped away from Sora. He offered a hand to the brunet teen, who took it tiredly. Kairi had to grin at that – at least they had managed to wear him out.
"You two are soaked," Riku commented. Kairi pouted, eyes narrowed as she looked at him. After the first snowballs Sora had hit him with, he had rarely been hit, and was in fact, mostly dry.
"Jerk," Sora muttered – and sneezed. Riku smirked.
"Aw, is wittle Sora sick?" Riku cooed. Kairi giggled and clapped her hands to her mouth at Sora's injured look. When the Keyblade was summoned to Sora's hands she rolled her eyes.
"I'm going down to get warm before I get pneumonia. Come down and join me when you realize that being raised on a tropical island doesn't make for good cold resistance." They didn't seem to be listening to her, as Sora was now lunging at his boyfriend, who was continuing to mock him mercilessly as Sora sneezed again. She hoped one of them did get sick.
Three days after the snowball incident Kairi regarded the door to Riku and Sora's room curiously – right alongside Riku, who was looking more than a little annoyed. She was now beginning to think that despite what the villagers would have thought, they should have just given Sora his own room. However, if they had, it probably would have taken them longer to realize he was sick. The first day he had passed it off as just a small cold and they had gone to visit Shang and Mulan – but neither of them had believed it the day before and since then Sora had been restricted to the room he shared with Riku.
Except now that door was locked. Kairi found herself more amused by this than anything else. Mostly because she could think of a perfect solution to this, but Riku seemed to have forgotten it – and Sora apparently had forgotten that would be the solution as well.
"He's just being a brat," Riku complained. "He kicked me out! Said I was fussing. I don't fuss! If he wasn't acting so pathetic I wouldn't keep asking if he needed anything!"
Privately, Kairi was quite sure Sora was doing his best to not act pathetic, as she had seen him a few times trying to act normal and walk around when it was obvious he was not. Riku definitely fussed. Sora was sick, and she was sure he probably enjoyed someof the attention – but not to the point Riku took it. "So why haven't you opened it?"
Riku glared at her. She looked at him innocently. "He has the key, Kairi. I told you that."
"Yes, I'm sure he does," She responded patiently. "More than one, in fact."
It was delightful to watch understanding dawn on Riku's face – and she had to laugh as he snarled. Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand and he whipped it forward to point the blue and black tip at the lock. It glowed, and a light hit the lock. Kairi smiled as the sound of the lock turning open could clearly be heard. Riku stomped into his room and she quickly followed, watching as he opened his mouth to growl out, "Sora, you st..."
She followed his gaze and heard Naminé sigh happily. He looked very comfortable, and very quiet. He wasn't even snoring – not that it was surprising, she had been sleeping in the same room with him most of the trip. But while she wouldn't dare call him cute when he was awake, she felt anyone seeing him asleep would have said she was justified in thinking it. She heard Riku sigh and looked over to see that his face had softened.
"Impossible to be mad at him?" Kairi asked, beaming.
Riku snorted and shook his head – but he still spoke softly. "No. I'm still angry – but he needs his sleep."
"Sure," Kairi said knowingly, ignoring his sharp glare. She took the time to look over their room. Not much different than the one she had been given, and there were all of Sora's clothes for the week piled next to the other bed. Kairi blinked, looked again – and clapped a hand to her mouth as she nearly giggled and she felt Naminé's obvious surprise. "Riku, is he sleeping in your bed?"
Riku seemed to freeze and she caught the faintest hint of pink on his cheeks before he lowered his head enough for his silver hair to cover it. "He might be. Who knows why."
'Somehow I don't think he'll be able to be very angry with Sora when he wakes up,' Naminé commented. Kairi smiled and crept out of the room and down the stairs. She would just leave them alone – besides, she wanted to go shopping by herself. They had only gone out shopping here long enough to find someone with extra coats – since apparently the moogle did not carry coats. It had been interesting to see Sora arguing with it about the value of carrying winter coats in a snowy climate.
'I think Roxas told him to stop. He had a funny look on his face at the end of the conversation and cut himself off a few times,' Naminé said and Kairi nodded in silent agreement.
"Do you want to shop? We don't have to do it here. I was planning on leaving the boys a note and going to the Imperial city," Kairi said.
'By ourself? I don't know, there haven't been Heartless, but... There could still be bandits.' Naminé seemed doubtful. Kairi half agreed with her – but she had those daggers, and Riku probably wouldn't even notice she was gone, and Sora was too sick to notice. She felt a pang of hurt at the thought, and knew it wasn't quite true – the city was still a fair distance away.
'Wait until Sora is better. You might not be able to make it back within a day – probably won't, if you plan to do any amount of shopping. And you can probably buy some things here. The moogle sells jewelry – I've seen Sora wearing some of it.' Naminé was definitely against the idea. As much as they both wanted to fight, neither one was very good.
"I'm pretty sure that's some kind of specialized jewelry," Kairi mused, thinking about it. Some of it was quite nice – though she had snickered to see Sora wearing an earring the first time she had noticed. He had tried to explain they were magical, but she couldn't help but laugh.
'The boys still have most of the money, anyway – you can always ask to borrow it ad just have them wander in the same area. Then we can buy them gifts and they won't be angry with us for wandering off,' Naminé suggested reasonably, and Kairi sighed.
"Okay, okay... But I'm still going to see what the moogle has. Just in case." There was no response from the other girl, so she assumed that was agreement. Satisfied, Kairi headed toward the moogle's shop.
Staring at the shops and stalls in front of her, Kairi felt her eyes widening. "Wow. This is... a lot. The Bazaar was too, but this is... very different."
"Yes, it is. Um... Do you two mind if I do some shopping of my own? Alone?" Sora sounded a little nervous and Kairi tilted her head as she looked at him. He had been working on something when they weren't around – she had caught him at it a couple of times. She shrugged, knowing he would tell her when he was ready.
"I don't mind. I need to shop alone too." She grinned at them both and glanced teasingly at Sora. "Presents, you know. And someone has a birthday in a month."
"Andyours isn't far behind," Riku reminded her, his eyes lighting up. "I don't see any reason we can't all wander by ourselves for awhile."
Kairi blinked, recognized that look in his eyes, and was glad he wasn't dragging her along with him to help with Sora's present. Most of the time, both boys disliked shopping, but when it came near time for Sora's birthday, and then hers soon after, he was terrible to shop with. Their presents had to be absolutely perfect, and no matter what someone said, somehow he took it as that the present wasn't right, and went at it again. She glanced at Sora, saw him meet her eyes and they both silently acknowledged their luck and fear at the same time – before disappearing into the crowd with a very quick farewell to Riku.
"What would Sora like?" She mused. It was harder to shop for the boys now – plus, she wanted to get him a birthday present, and just get both of them presents in general.
She spotted a shop with jewelry in the window. While she was sure that normally they didn't wear much jewelry, she had seen the jewelry and "armor" that the boys wore. When trinkets and anklets started counting as armor she didn't know – but she didn't plan to argue with Sora about it again. Naminé looked out curiously and said, 'Not much of it is girly, and a lot of it is almost unnoticeable. Maybe some of it will be like what they wear now.'
Kairi hoped she was correct and stepped into the shop. It was... different. It even just felt different to her, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she stepped further into the shop. A shape appeared from the darkness and she momentarily tensed – but then the shape was a young woman smiling welcomingly at her. "Hello. Welcome. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?"
Kairi hesitated, eyeing the woman. She didn't want to say anything that would sound crazy, but she could at least stick to he basics. "I have these two friends. Boys, and they're... warriors. And while jewelry may not be the best thing to get them, I was thinking there might be something special?"
The woman smiled pleasantly. "No worries. We have some items with... special properties. My brother makes some of them himself. Come this way."
The woman beckoned her forward to the back of the shop and Kairi followed, resisting the urge to grimace as that feeling became stronger – like there was some kind of energy moving around her. Her hands twisted nervously in the material of the coat she had bought. The woman glanced back and glanced at her hands then at her face with evident surprise. "I hadn't realized you were sensitive to the magic. Are you sure you don't want to buy something for yourself?"
Kairi smiled, relieved to have an explanation for the strange feeling. "No, thank you. But maybe one of the boys will wander in later. We're all buying presents for each other today."
"Oh? That's nice of you," The woman commented. "How good friends are your boys? I have this set, and they make for good friendship gifts. Supposedly they connect the two wearing it. Perhaps not useful in battle, but..."
The woman trailed off, peeking nervously from beneath her black hair at Kairi. She had to smile. That sounded like something that they wouldn't mind wearing, and she wouldn't be as nervous about giving it – if they didn't work, it was the symbolism that meant something. "I think that would be perfect for them. They're very good friends."
"Oh good," The woman said, seemingly relieved. She stepped up to a cabinet and pulled out a key. "These are special, so I keep them locked up. I don't want them lost because some thief thinks they look valuable."
The woman took down two armbands, thin and silver with a small gem set in the middle of each. "These two are a set. The gems may change color sometimes – but I'll leave that to your boys to figure out why."
Kairi took them hesitantly and looked them over. Color changing jewels? That didn't sound good. Still, she would give them to her boys. It was probably just a special kind of gem and this was just superstition. Maybe the woman was even trying to get her to pay more for something that really wasn't good quality. But, she didn't think so. It looked nice, and felt nice. "How much?"
"Five hundred munny for the pair," The woman said. Kairi nodded. It was difficult figure to decide if it was expensive or cheap – it depended on how real these bracelets were.
'I think they're real. At least, it would be nice if they were,' Naminé offered quietly. Kairi looked up at the woman, decision made as she passed over some of the money Sora had given her before they had reached the city. "I'll take them."
"Good. If you'll just come up here – " The woman was interrupted as a handsome young man stepped out of the shadows in the back of the shop.
"Wait a moment, sister. I too have something to offer the young woman. A good luck charm that many a young warrior has worn – and all are still alive, a rare enough thing when young men go to war. It is a simple piece – see?" The man stepped forward, displaying a dark silver chain. With strange markings on it. "I don't know what language it is in – but it seems to work, no?"
Kairi hesitated – but her boys could always use a good luck charm. It was the thought that counted, and as long as it wasn't too expensive, she could still go and get other presents that would definitely be useful. "How much?"
"Three hundred munny – I would sell it for more, but there is no guarantee it doesn't wear off after so many others have used it." She glanced at it again. Was it her, or did the markings seem to shine just the slightest bit. Perhaps there was still magic in it after all.
"Okay. I'll take that too," She agreed, a bit more warily. She hoped no one else was going to pop out and offer her anything, But the man just smiled and walked toward the front – the woman behind him. Kairi watched her, a bit puzzled as she noticed her stiff back. Was she having problems with her brother?
"Is something wrong?" Kairi asked softly as she strode forward to match paces with the woman. She was granted a quick smile.
"No, not really. I... Well, we are having a slight family quarrel. Nothing to worry yourself with, I assure you." The woman's smile was bright and friendly and reminded her enough of Sora's that Kairi relaxed almost automatically.
She bought the items without further incident, casting one last glance back at the pair. The man's green eyes met hers and he smiled. She hesitantly smiled back, but as she turned to the woman she could feel a shiver climbing up her back – she just didn't know why. The woman walked her out amiably and she was sent on her way. She glanced at the sky and blinked. She had spent more time in there than she had thought – she would have to hurry if she wanted to buy more presents.
It would figure that just as she had finished shopping Heartless would appear just as the meeting place for the three of them came into view. She was proud of herself later for how quickly she dropped her items and managed to get her daggers out – and even killed a couple of the smaller ones, though she realized it was much harder when she didn't have a Keyblade in hand – though the one magic spell she had learned worked better than she had thought.
She stumbled back and fell when a neoshadow pounced on her, just managing to bring her hands up, and a ball of bright white light issuing from them, knocking the neoshadow out of view, and hopefully out of existence – but there were three more to take its place. The next moment there was a familiar tall figure in front of her and she scrambled to her feet as Riku knocked the Heartless back and she found she had her first good view of them in awhile. There were many more than there had been in any previous battles since Xemnas had been defeated – they were still around, of course, but usually only in small amounts that the warriors of a particular world could deal with. This was much more than that normal amount.
"Fuck," Riku swore viciously. "There shouldn't be this many. Are you hurt, Kairi?"
She blinked at the question and then shook her head – but his back was to her. "No, I'm fine."
"Nice spell," Riku commented almost absently as he destroyed another wave of Heartless. She just nodded and turned around suddenly, seeing movement out of the corner of her eyes. She trained her eyes on the moving darkness and attacked. She was uncoordinated with the daggers, an inexperienced, but if her friends had learned in battle, so could she. And she hadn't done half bad with the Keyblade that time.
"Kairi, try this!" Riku said sharply, and she turned to have a familiar golden Keyblade thrust into her hands, the flowers decorating it almost seeming to be alive as she touched the hilt. With no other choice, she let the daggers slip, promising to pick them up again later – and then without wondering why or how Riku could give her a Keyblade and still have one of his own she thrust herself at the Heartless.
Even with the Keyblade and her one spell she didn't do as well as she would have wanted. Riku was staying near, but she didn't want to be a burden. But the Keyblade was heavier than she remembered, growing heavier with each swing.
A Neoshadow jumped at her. She blocked and went for a counterattack – but her arm over extended and she could see the Heartless closing in. She cried out as darkness clawed at her and Riku shouted her name. Her heart beat fast, darkness trying to wrap itself around it. But darkness didn't belong in her heart and instead she could almost feel her body and heart separating once again and Naminé shrieking in her mind.
And then the feeling was gone and she collapsed to her knees, panting, staring up at the boy with his back to her – and the two Keyblades in his hand. His hair was very blond. As if hearing her thoughts, Roxas said, "Sora offered to switch while we were shopping. I accepted. Get up, Kairi. Don't let them weaken you."
Roxas's tone was not the friendly comforting voice she wanted, but he offered good advice, even if he was eerily calm about the situation. Then Riku's voice was behind her as she climbed to her feet. "There shouldn't be this many of them."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Roxas replied dryly. He raised one of his Keyblades and Kairi stifled the urge to gasp as lightning came down, destroying a large mass of Heartless in front of them. She had seen Sora do that – and she supposed if Sora could borrow from Roxas, it worked both ways.
She raised the Keyblade defensively as the Heartless swarmed in. There was definitely something wrong with this. Unless there was some darkness rising in this world there shouldn't be as many Heartless as there were. Or at least that somehow the Heartless were feeding off the world's heart. She didn't see how that was possible.
The battle was slowing – her breath was coming short and fast as she gasped for breath and energy, but at least the Heartless were almost gone. Roxas was destroying them with each stroke, Ultima and Fenrir were blurs in his hands and Kairi almost stopped to stare. His feet barely touched the ground before he was moving into another combo on another clump of Heartless. Riku was doing well, but it was nothing like watching countless hearts drift up around Roxas and disappear into the sky.
Her Keyblade bit into the darkness of a regular Shadow and she whirled around for more as the pink heart floated up behind her – but there was nothing. She blinked and stared, first seeing Riku, breathing hard and scowling as he turned in a circle, searching for unseen enemies. She turned her eyes to Roxas who was breathing as heavily as Riku – but looking perfectly calm as he walked toward her. "There are no more."
"How do you know?" Riku snapped, slowly coming closer, his posture still guarded.
"Because we destroyed them," Roxas answered with a smug smirk. Inside her head, Naminé giggled. Kairi just rolled her eyes. He was either overconfident with their skills – or with his own.
She raised up her hand holding the Keyblade when Roxas's eyes flicked to it curiously. "Riku gave it to me."
"Yes. He did that in the castle," Roxas murmured, looking puzzled and his own Keyblades dissipating as he gently laid a hand on hers. His eyes roamed over its surface as if searching for answers. When she glanced up after his hand had lain there for too long, it was Sora meeting her gaze with a shrug.
"It's interesting. Roxas is thinking about it," Sora told her, taking his hand away from the golden blade. She wondered if he was all Sora, really. He looked too serious, even if they had just endured a battle they shouldn't have. His mouth was turned down into an unfamiliar frown and his eyes slid away from hers when she stared at him, silently questioning.
She was about to ask him what was wrong and could see Riku edging forward with determined eyes when the hiss of metal being unsheathed could be heard. All three turned to look at a shaky group of soldiers in uniform, one having his sword aimed in their general direction, in a way that might have been mildly threatening had his arm not been shaking. "I demand to know who you are."
"We're the ones who just saved your city from being overrun by Heartless," Riku snapped. The soldiers glanced at each other, and a few hands dropped uncertainly from the hilts of their swords.
Sora cleared his throat. "I'm Sora."
Kairi almost fell over in shock as immediately the soldiers relaxed and the leader started apologizing profusely. She glanced at Riku, who was staring at the soldiers with one eyebrow raised in disbelief. They defeated countless Heartless and saved the city, but were apparently counted as a threat... And all Sora had to do to get them to back down was tell them his name? She had known he had friendships with Mulan and Shang, who were apparently high up in the ranks on this world – but she hadn't know his name was that well spread. She glanced at Sora, taking in his surprise. Apparently he hadn't either.
"Well, um... You're forgiven. We're going to go now." Sora had turned away from the soldiers and toward them. "I'm going to find where Roxas dropped our stuff. Then we're going home."
Riku nodded, and Kairi studied them both. The slight emphasis on home put a chill down her back. Her suspicions were confirmed when Riku replied, "We'll go back to the village and start packing."
Kairi sighed and went to collect the boxes and packages she had dropped. Her eyes went up to the study the sky where so many hearts had just disappeared. The stars were just beginning to appear in the evening sky. One twinkled brightly in her eyesight before dimming. She squinted but couldn't see it anymore. Probably when it became darker she could look for it again. Despite herself she had to smile. At least the stars were still shining.
The ride home had been tenser than she would have liked. Her sleep had been uneasy and plagued with dreams she could only remember as burning yellow eyes and the sun being blotted out by darkness. She told herself it was just the effect of having fought her second big battle. But the boys were affected as well and they had been through larger battles.
Riku was sleeping just as uneasily – and Sora was barely sleeping at all. He had slept just once and woken up with a shout of denial as they flew back through gummi space, stopping only once – by her orders. They had needed to get out of the gummi ship for a few hours. She had hoped she could convince Sora to tell her about his dream. But whenever she tried he went pale and tight lipped. By Riku's increasingly frustrated and concerned expressions as they flew toward home, not even he had better luck. She couldn't imagine what he could have dreamt about that was making him withdraw from both of them.
As the gummi ship grew closer to their destination, she hoped seeing home would snap Sora out of it. She peered up from the screen and out the window, her eyes squinting for that first glimpse of Destiny Islands. Her hands were tight on the edge of her seat, feeling unaccountably happy with the thought of seeing their home again and her face stretching into a delighted smile as she waited.
A minute passed. Then two. Sora had slowed the gummi ship. Kairi felt her heart plummet. There was no world in front of her. There was nothing. Just empty space. She glanced over at her brunet friend. His head was bowed and his knuckles clutching the arms of the pilot's chair tightly enough that they were turning white. "Sora?"
Riku echoed her a moment later when silence answered, his voice concerned. "Sora?"
"It's gone," She heard him choke out. She blinked back immediate tears, denying it inwardly and stared at him, inwardly pleading at him to take it back. Instead, he stood up and scrambled out of the room. Her eyes followed him and she continued staring at the door, willing him to come out and tell her it was fine. He had made a mistake. They had somehow managed to make a wrong turn, that was it.
She turned hopeful eyes toward Riku. He didn't meet her gaze and she resented the fact that his bangs allowed him to hide so easily. "Riku... He... We're just in the wrong place, right?"
"We should get out of here," Riku replied evasively, and took Sora's chair. Kairi stared at him.
She closed her eyes for a moment and felt Naminé sharing her pain. She didn't open her eyes as she asked quietly, "And they're all gone? Again?"
It wasn't the same this time. They couldn't have changed it then. This time, if they hadn't gone on vacation, it would still be there. For all they knew, someone had just been waiting for them to leave before opening their world to darkness once again. In the end, their world was gone and they had failed their families.
"Yes," Riku answered shortly. She stood up, understanding he needed to deal with it himself before he could help them. She walked out of the room. She stared at their doorway, raising her hand to open it – and letting it fall away. Sora was in there. She didn't know if she could handle him being depressed. He was always the one who held them up.
She sat down in the hallway, and couldn't think of how they would get their world back somehow. All she could think about was Selphie and Tidus playing in the sand, or her adopted parents clutching her worriedly when she had come back – and how they all must have looked when the darkness came for them.
End of Chapter Six. Next chapter will have some angst, but being that it's the three of them... Well, the three of them together can't be angsty even for a chapter. But finally we get into the adventure part of the plot!