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Glue & Duct tape
Chapter Four . Friends or Foes
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I never expected to have a girl on top of me at the age of fifteen. Being the remotely self-conscious teen that I am, I know I am good-looking. That doesn't mean I'm not virtuous in some aspects, such as premarital sex. So when I woke up with a nest of crimson hair on my collarbone and legs more slender than mine wrapped loosely around me, I wondered what the hell happened to the promises of not throwing my life away.
The second thing I wondered was what exactly had happened last night. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't stalling at detaching Kairi from me – these thoughts came and went in less than three seconds. There hadn't even been enough time for me to jerk up and recoil like a hermit crab retreating into its shell before she stirred with a soft moan.
I saw a sliver of sapphire beneath sooty lashes before they fully opened to stare directly at my torso. "Whuh?" Slow, mangled speech slid from her lips, slurred and disoriented before her eyes jumped wide, probably the same moment she realized I was that oversized lump beneath her. Last time I checked, I wasn't some breezy hill to doze on on a balmy spring day.
Righting herself, it was now painfully noticeable that she was straddling me. My embarrassment, however, could not equal hers. While I felt a blush rise on my previously creamy cheeks, she flushed an alarming shade of red which matched her hair.
"Ohgosh! Riku!"
'Ohgosh' was right. She made that expression sound scolding, as if I was the cause of these brash actions – when, clearly, she was the one on top. The girl who I had known for years whipped her leg around like she was dismounting a horse, bumping my leg with her rough manhandling and flashing a line of thigh in the process. I grunted and contemplated a flirtatious remark, but decided I was still too mystified for wisecracking my friend of the blatant opposite gender.
Now if it were Sora –
Oh, God. I don't even want to know why he would be in a dominant position on me.
Or why he'd be wearing a miniskirt.
However, it was fortunate that that name had come up. It sparked some memory of what had happened – and perhaps it also explained why Kairi and I had been outrageously sprawled out across each other in a street.
Yes, street. It was dark and dank, made out of cobblestones layered with grime. If I were to scratch my fingers across the ground, my nails would probably be caked with the foul stuff. Shadows dappled the walls, casting duplicates over the unsanitary foundation that resembled hulking figures. For some reason, they made my head hurt. Not far away was a corner leading to another wing of the path, occupied by collapsed cardboard boxes stained with God-knows-what and numerous sheaves of wind-strewn newspaper. The alleyway, in a whole, reminded me more of a catacomb than what you'd find in our hometown. The boxes were coffins, the paper bones and other bodily remnants, and the disarrayed bricks on the walls were the niches that stored the corpses in.
Not a pleasant thought.
I propped myself up, leaning back against a wall and watched Kairi stand and brush herself off. Her white blouse was smudged with what appeared to be soot, so she pinpointed that yet eventually gave up with a sigh. Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she returned her attention to me, this time blush-free.
"Where are we?" Nervousness warbled in her voice as she glanced to each side, taking in the unfamiliar (and unbeautiful) scenery.
I shrugged apathetically. "The hell if I know." I didn't even remember how we had gotten here.
On cue, memories began to flood back into my bewildered mind.
"I'm going with you."
"I won't hold you back."
"I promise."
She seemed to see what registered in my eyes. "You remember now, don't you? We're here to find Sora." The last part was said quietly, as if in reserved mourning for what she thought may already be lost.
"Like I said, Kairi, he still has a chance. If that door led us here, then there had to be a good reason behind it." That's right, the door. The door I was supposed to open. The persistence of this intuition in my dreams had been proven incorrect. Though it was somewhat of a relief that I didn't have to touch the adjacent handle for the door to oblivion after all, gloves on or no, I couldn't help but feel an approaching sense of doom.
And I never had that feeling before.
The door only complicated matters. Currently, we had to discover where we were and who could help us get to Sora. At least, that's probably what Kairi was thinking. I'm a male. I don't need help or have to ask for directions. Calm, cool, and collected – that was me. Kairi would probably lead me to the nearest sleazy pub or whatever obscenities this place housed the first chance she got.
"Riku! Get up and let's go find somebody who can help us."
I'm also never wrong.
I didn't want to get up. I was brought back to earlier – maybe the day before for all I knew. She tried to summon me up with my name, but to no avail. I had always scouted for some kind of action in my life, and now that I was presented with some, all I wanted to do was crawl up in a little hole and hide under a rock.
I was sinking deeper into an oblique state of mind. This was how I was when something kept me up at night. This was how I was now. Mental overload, maybe. Unresponsive and disconnected from everything around me, I focused on all the things that had occurred to me in the past week; a million thoughts spinning around my brain then settling into a constricting death lock. Returning to what I thought was the origin of all this, I saw myself, a five year-old once more, standing in the what once was spacious cavern of the Secret Place.
Sora was there.
"Hey Riku, what's that?"
"I don't know. It looks like a door to me."
"Wicked! I wonder where it goes to."
"Probably just to the other island."
"Want to find out?"
"Maybe later. Have you met that new girl yet?"
Why hadn't I been so inclined to see what was behind it then? Even Sora was more enthusiastic about it than I was – of course; he was the king of drama.
"Riku."
Poke.
"Riku, are you awake?"
Jab.
"Riku!"
I noted a hint of desperation in her voice, and once more my mind returned to when she had tried to rouse me when I was sleeping on the beach.
My eyelids fluttered closed. I suddenly realized how tired I really was. So very tired. Had we not just been sleeping? I couldn't remember.
"Where are we again, Kairi?" I could barely detect my own murmur.
"Riku . . . ?" Her voice wavered, now steadily growing more and unsure. She was scared. I didn't blame her. But was she scared for me or for her or for us?
Drudgingly, I dragged myself up in a more erect sitting position. A grunt escaped my throat in revulsion as I had to dig the heels of my hands onto the squalid cobblestones in order to do so. I forced myself and my mind on the matter at hand. Sora. Right. Must get to Sora. Must find him and then proceed on saving him. Yes. I made the task sound horribly robotic. It wasn't. In fact, it was harder than I had originally thought it would be (or lacked thinking) as we had rushed towards the Secret Place.
"Don't worry about me," I retorted and finally stood up, wriggling my shoulders to free the crick that snuggled up close to my neck.
Kairi was the thread against the background of the shadowed street, adumbrating my sanity. Lingering hesitantly a few feet away, she waited until I wasn't looking at her to pad over and slip her small hand into mine once more. This time I hardly twitched in surprise.
We walked the short path of the alleyway like that, placidly hand in hand. The minute we turned the foreboding corner that led us to our release from the glum prison, we stumbled upon a town square that all but equaled its dark atmosphere. I blinked, eyes struggling to adjust with the dim street lights as the only source of brilliance.
My vision landed on a plain wooden sign with large, somewhat ragged block letters engraved into its melancholy façade.
WELCOME TO TRAVERSE TOWN.
"What's with this place?" I asked to no one in particular.
"It's almost . . . spooky," Kairi commented, fishing her gaze around the plaza.
"Hello!"
Chipper vocals strung together in a benign greet wasn't something I had been expecting. My head turned back and forth, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice, couldn't, and had to do a double take. That's when I felt a tug on my hand and glanced at Kairi, who in turn glanced down near my feet and pointed at a small white duck wearing a green T-shirt.
She seemed as dumbstruck as I was. I just stared. The redhead, being the more cordial of the two, artfully thrust her elbow into my ribs and responded to the talking duck. It was freakier than an especially aggressive shadow.
"Hello."
"Uh, hi . . ." I was about to ask what kind of steroids this thing was on, something that would amuse only myself (whenever I tried to be funny, I tended to be the only one who laughed at my jokes) when Kairi swiftly interjected before I was considered a fool by this little duckling. Like I cared.
"I'm Kairi, and this is Riku. We're new around here; could you maybe tell us where we are . . . ?"
This kid was all smiles. If you could smile with a goldenrod beak. It opened to say something, when something else caught its eye.
"Ah!" Yelled the duck. Or quacked.
I followed its gaze and saw one of my friends dancing in the pool of harsh light a lantern made. Oh, yeah, a shadow. Its orb-like eyes seemed to absorb the light and change it into something much colder and more alien than its original luminance.
Were they here, too, or had they followed us? I could've smacked my forehead at this impulsive inquiry. Of course they were. We had gone through the door that seemed to spawn these nightmares.
It quivered grotesquely, as if its limbs were made out of jelly. Watching the beast made me scowl and feel a familiar gnawing dislike for itself and its kind.
"Dammit." I growled and let go of Kairi's hand so the keyblade could appear. By her telltale blue eyes widening in fear, she was trying very hard to remain halcyon and not back away.
But to my miscalculation, the shadow vibrated once more and then shuffled off into the corner from whence we came and disappeared. As did the keyblade, unneeded after all. I noticed that the duck youth had vanished also. Chicken.
Wait, wrong bird.
I would have released my hostility if not for what happened next. From behind I heard Kairi shout, "Watch out!" and twisted my body around to see a massive blade just inches from my face.
I had begun to put my arms up in a clumsy block that wouldn't mean squat for my self-defense, but that was what saved me from gaining a concussion. The silver sliced through my gloved hand and cut into my palm, digging itself deeper as I pushed on it. Rivulets of scarlet rapidly traced the veins of my arm. I bent my leg at the knee and kicked out with it, causing the attacker to back off. Shit, this wasn't worth it.
There was barely enough time for me to glance down at my hand to see the skin around my wound flayed in the middle, a river of blood, showing the meat beneath the layer of lighter skin. I fought my pain like I fought my opponent; efficiently.
But what was this? Like I said before, something was up with this town. First I woke up in a sinister alleyway with Kairi on my lap, then passed through a stage of nausea, was greeted by a macabre sign and a deranged duck, and saw one of the monsters from my nightmares. Now some guy was beating me up. I didn't get beaten up. I beat up other people.
I folded my good hand up into a balled fist, ready to sucker punch the assailant when I remembered my keyblade.
He was a tall young man who was adorned mainly in sable leather, long brown hair hanging in his eyes. He was very still as he gripped his four-foot long weapon with both hands out in front of him, and though slightly awkwardly built, shuffled his feet in a graceful way that was almost feline as he quietly waited for my attack. I already disliked, maybe even hated him.
You don't want to fuck with me, I thought, brows knitted in potential fury, because when you fuck with me . . .
"You're fucking with one fucked-up motherfucker." I finished, and with that spout of confidence, lunged foreward and rammed the slender end of my keyblade that had materialized at the tone of my last obscenity into the man's chest. He couldn't even lug his giant sword up in time to counterattack. I had won.
We stood there facing each other, the brunette's stringy hair shielding his visage as he doubled over, clutching a slight gut, making it so that his expression was unreadable. My panting was that of a tiger's, and I imagined him as one, too. I saw us circling each other and wanting another bite. A little more than breathless, and with an injured hand to boot (my right one, naturally – it always has to be the one you use the most), I wasn't going to go in for another go. Despite that, the aggressive tension still burned up the oxygen in the air we were toiling to breathe.
After what seemed like years of waiting, the stranger maintained a position where he could speak.
"You're good." I glanced down again at my palm which was bleeding profusely, soaking through the glove and staining it a darker black. "I assume you've had practice." His drawling voice of dry sarcasm got on my nerves, which right now were very raw and exposed like the open skin of my hand.
"Yeah," I spat, to my distaste. But I couldn't help to feel proud. Being thrown into battle conflict with the shadow monsters had really helped me out.
"That's just the keyblade doing its work."
If I were Sora, I'd scrunch up my nose and try to look intimidated but only succeed on looking helplessly cute, in Kairi's opinion. Or I'd cry. Crushed as I was, I showed little reaction to his smart assed comments.
The man was motionless and expressionless, but I thought I saw a tiny pinch of a smirk on his lips. I examined the weapon he had called a keyblade. So that was what it was. Giving it a good swing, I stored that piece of information for later use.
"All right, He-Who-Knows-It-All. Why don't you tell me what my name is? Or do you not know that?"
I had almost gotten the impression that I was a prodigy of some sort, known across the world . . . or worlds. Half-expecting an accurate reply, all I received was a methodically blank stare that could have been a glare. So he didn't know it. Score two for Riku.
"It's Riku," I told him, vaguely smug.
"Leon."
"No, Riku." Amidst my impatience, I only just realized what he had meant after the words shot from my mouth. My down-turned lip did not completely conceal my embarrassment.
But I was pissed. This was the enemy and he had taken his pound of my flesh and ounce of blood. Now that we were through with physical fighting, I was still mentally hyped enough to work out my tongue.
"Right. Can I call you Lee?"
"Riku," Kairi warned from behind me. I had nearly forgotten she was there – we both had.
"How about Leah, then?" I sneered, ignoring Kairi's advice. Bet you 300 munny she was exasperatedly thinking 'Boys!' Regardless of whatever she thought, this wasn't being immature. This was a quicker way of revenge.
Upright and over his previously winded state, the man cocked his elbow and rubbed his temples with his free hand. "Why did it choose you?" As if I was a fuck-up. Maybe I was. Hadn't I just admitted that a few seconds ago? I had lost Sora. That was as good as any reason to be considered as such failure.
"Aw, Leon, quit brooding!" A merry voice piped up out of nowhere, swiftly grating on my nerves and arresting my own emo predicament. I looked up to see a girl with her charcoal hair cut severely short who had just slapped Lee good-naturedly on the back. The intention of this gesture was friendly and optimistic but only caused him to appear further disgusted, now at her annoyingness rather than my pitiful show of opposition.
She was followed by another girl clad in pink and a broad bow that tied onto her Rapunzel version of a braid, and who set some distance between her and the other female like someone would when they were wary or even scared of another. I didn't blame her.
"Welcome. Riku, is it?" Her large jade eyes shifted in my general direction. My vision was getting sort of fuzzy, so it was hard to tell if she was looking at me or not. I could only assume so because she had addressed me by my name.
"And Kairi." Said person took a step foreward, determined not to be left out of this conversation. Funny, she hadn't been too willing to back me up as I had sparred.
A smile graced her lips and she tilted her head in a greeting. "I'm Aerith." Normally her voice would have sounded like soothing chimes to me, but at the moment everything's pitch was warped and particularly unlovely to my ears. Oy. Headache.
"I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" We all offered the short-haired chick a glance but nothing more. Mine was the weariest of them all. It could have even beat Leon's.
"I believe you've already been acquainted with Leon." Aerith clasped her hands in front of her, ignoring the interruption.
"Maybe a little too acquainted." I winced, unoccupied at the time to feel a fresh surge of pain coursing through my left hand which I cradled against my stomach. Unoccupied because my mind tended to wander during conversation. Not that I was attention deficient like Sora; communication tended to bore me.
Slender hands previously lowered now flew up to cup her face. "Oh, you're hurt!" Finally someone besides me had noticed my mangled hand and arm, covered in a sleeve of slick, bright red blood. Too bright for my tastes.
"My God, look at all that blood!" The self-titled ninja exclaimed, leaning in for a better look. I was instantly a freak in the freak show, or an accident on the side of the road so all the rubberneckers had to slow down and scout for some gore or corpses that they knew would never be there.
"You aren't helping, Yuffie." Intoned Leon. Did I see 'Superiority' written across his face? Yes, I think I may have. The bastard took pride in causing my injury. I just wished I could punch him again.
It was far too late for that, though. I saw the world swerve in front of me like a video camera being jerked to the side, causing the picture to lag on in a potential blur of indistinguishable colour. Behold, God, I was woozy. Too much blood loss could be the only reasonable explanation.
I dubiously felt a supportive hand on my shoulder and I thought it was Kairi but I couldn't be sure. That was a second before my world turned its lights off on me and I fell back into oblivion.
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I had only fainted once before in my life. That fateful day was one of the few at the end of summer vacation, when the days seemed to grow shorter and dusk settled earlier. Sora and I's battle had driven us down to the rocky shoreline, an array of clashing blunt wooden swords. Pausing to take a breath, the next thing I knew I was whacked on the back of the skull by Sora's weapon.
"Yes!" He cheered; glad to have finally gotten me as I was forced onto my butt by the impact. On the way of landing, the back of my head my head clacked again onto something hard. This time it was rocks.
I was out with a minor concussion for five minutes. In the meantime, I only imagined Sora standing over or dancing around me. When I awoke, sand was collected at my upper-lip to form a moustache. Grains tumbled into my mouth when I propped myself up and I thought I'd pass out again by suffocation.
"Riku! Are you okay?" Sora, caught off-guard (apparently he thought I'd stay out all night), dropped to his knees and scrambled to my side, faking concern.
"I'm –"
"I swear to God you fainted!"
"I –"
Sora whipped his spiky head around. "Kairi, Riku fainted!"
"Sora, dammit –"
"Riku really fainted!"
I expected him to launch himself up and down some more a yell 'Yippee!' I shut my mouth with a snap and growled to myself. I tentatively touched the base of my head and came back with a spot of blood on my index finger, like a single crimson tear. It glared mockingly at me with a nearly metallic brilliance caused by the sun's dying light.
Kairi walked over and, after a brief examination, went to fetch the first aid kit she stored in the island's shack. I could almost understand Sora's excitement, as I was hardly ever injured by him. I did all the damage. I sent him home with bruises and speckled in colourful cartoon band-aids all the time. Sora's mother had almost threatened me to keep away from her son, but she knew the wish was a fruitless one. We were inseparable. This victory had been well waited-out.
After Kairi dabbed the scratch at the nape of my neck with disinfectant and a cotton ball, she insisted on kissing the place that had been abraded.
"It'll make it feel better."
I was silent, and she took the hesitance as a conformance. Before her heavenly lips could brush against my skin, however, Sora shoved his big face between us and smacked his own lips on my wound.
"Dammit, Sora!" My hands turned into claws, swatting at him.
"But I was the one who did it! Shouldn't I have kissed it?"
Kairi giggled at the brunette's absent-mindedness. "Don't worry Riku; Sora's kiss is as good as mine."
I was friggen contaminated. And it wasn't true. She promised me that next time I'd get that kiss that Sora had replaced with his own. I purposely got hurt a couple more times on that happy note but it was never good enough to get that kiss.
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I was out for double the time this incidence. My eyes gradually opened and stared up at a rich burgundy canopy. So I was in a bed. Nice. It felt plush and comfortable on my aching body. How did they get me in here? Teamwork. The thought of Leon helping carrying me almost made me want to shudder if no one was watching. He probably just stayed back and let the girls struggle with my dead weight, though. That was a somewhat more pleasing conclusion.
I tried to sit up but a hand appeared on my chest and set me back down. Aerith. "You're awake." Even with a sweet smile adorning her face, I couldn't help but point out that she always stated the obvious.
"Sweet dreams?" The sour voice at the rear of the room (which I discovered was a hotel suite) could only be Leon. I closed my eyes and counted to three to keep myself from saying something much more biting back at him.
"Drink this," The girl at my bedside said, dipping a pitcher of emerald liquid to me.
"What is it, absinthe?"
"We tried to force it down your throat. It just wouldn't go."
"Aw Leah, you're too kind, looking out for my health like that." Not absinthe but potion. I downed it because I wanted to be rid of my headache. The taste was bitter and made my tongue shrivel up inside my mouth.
"We didn't have time to properly dress your wound yet. Hope you don't mind." Yuffie stood with her hands placed on her hips at the foot of the bed. She was as close as allowed; a grandiose chest blocked her knees from touching the soft mattress. I was grateful for the moat.
"I'll do it." Kairi, who lingered near Yuffie but managed to get a little closer to me than the ninja had. Her presence was the only one desired in this entire apartment.
The information tempted me to look at my hand, which had a cotton pad placed on the palm, held in place with what seemed to be Scotch tape. The blood on my arm had been washed off with a damp cloth but I bet whatever had gotten on my shirt hadn't. That's when I recognized the silken feel of the sheets against my torso and noticed that I was shirtless.
"Jesus, you took off my clothes?"
Yuffie grinned. "Leon did the honours."
"Did not." The brunette protested, but with the same lack of enthusiasm I knew him to have. Sicko.
"We had to wash them," Aerith calmly explained, though pink spots had appeared high up on her cheeks. Apparently she had been against stripping me, but also felt it was necessary. "They're in the dryer." So it was Yuffie. Now I really did shudder.
"I'm out of here." My normal hand reached up to rip off the covers, and I was intending to march out of the room and find my way to wherever I needed to be (which was clearly not here), and get my tops on the way out. Two things held me back: the fact that I didn't want to be seen stripped to the waist, and Kairi was still here.
"Riku, please. These people are trying to help." Kairi said, not too loudly.
Help? They wanted to freaking molest me!
I forced myself to calm down in spite of her, letting out my pent-up breath. "What do you mean, help?"
"They told me about what was happening. About those shadow-things, No Hearts –"
"Heartless," Leon droned, a verbal eye-roll.
"And your weapon, the keyblade. Riku, they'll help us get to Sora." She flashed her oversized eyes at me like a puppy dog would, begging for a treat. Really, her mentioning of Sora was the bait. At my word, everything could happen. They all looked at me, expectant.
Hadn't I been taught countless times in school not to succumb to peer pressure? ". . . Right. Just tell me what I need to know."
It was like a heavy dampening weight lifted off the room.
"Good man!" Yuffie pumped her arm in the air in a triumphant manner.
Aerith nearly clapped her hands together, comparable to prayer. "Thank you."
"I knew he'd give in eventually." Egoistical Leon. Why didn't this guy just go hang himself to save him from embarrassment?
Kairi leaned over and awkwardly draped her arms around my neck in a hug. That was the best of all, I think (though wouldn't openly admit it).
" . . . After I get something better on my hand." Hate to spoil the fun, kiddies, but it was starting to hurt again. I was beginning to wonder if that was actually a shadow in the middle of the gauze or my vital body fluid leaking from the web of capillaries in my hand. Soon I'd find out.
"Right!" Yuffie said, hopping up from the edge of the wardrobe chest, chipper as day. Did I mention that my head was hurting again?
"I'll go get your stuff." With feline grace, Aerith slipped from her perch on a cushioned stool and walked off into the room connected to this one, Yuffie in her wake.
Mine and Kairi's gaze adverted to Leon, who was propped against the far side of the wall, muscular arms folded across his white T-shirt. We dared him to go. After a couple seconds of staring contest fun, he retreated stiffly with a 'humph.'
Kairi was the slight projection of a specter, gliding towards the wooden night stand where mummy-like wrappings lied in a pile and took a seat on the same chair Aerith had rested on. Nimbly she plucked the patch of cloth off my hand and we both inspected the wound and the back of the gauze, which had nearly soaked through with blood.
"Not a pretty sight," I commented, trying to fill the silence that was not quite uncomfortable.
"Nope." It didn't seem to unnerve her, however. Too many times she'd seen me bloodied up, I guess, and had gotten accustomed to it. I wriggled up into a sitting position against the velutinous pillows to make life easier, letting the sheets drop and gather in my lap. Too many times she'd seen me shirtless also, as we swam in the ocean back home. She set to work and I didn't try to say anything else until she was done. The feeling of her hands gently brushing against mine was like the sensual feeling of downy dove wings. I was entrapped and there was little disturbing me from my trance as I watched her cover my hand with clean ivory cloth. When her beautiful hands went still, I muttered something, thinking it wouldn't be heard.
"Don't stop."
Both our eyes rose to meet each other's, alarmingly different shades of blue. I began to raise my arm and her hands followed with it while I physically felt my heart thudding in my breastbone. I raised my hand near her lips – she allowed them to briefly touch the bend of my knuckles before she placed my hand back on the bed. I was washed over with numbness.
She breathed. The hotel room seemed to come back to life, flooding with renewed colour. The striped walls, dark chocolate and gold, blared like fire engines in the corner of my eyes. "I hope you'll listen to them, Riku." Kairi said in a low voice.
For some reason, my mood hurtled into abjection. Or maybe just bitchy. "Whatever they have to say, better be good."
She paused, drawing in her lower lip, as if I had inflicted pain onto her. I didn't bother think over what I had said because I had meant it. If they didn't have any helpful advice that would aid me in reaching Sora, then they'd pay dearly for wasting my time; for wasting his time.
She shook her head lightly, sadly. "I miss Sora." The statement hung in the air, vulnerable and longing to not be alone. I just sat there, looking at her without truly seeing her.
The summer before my father died was another summer of miss; that was when Sora's parents thought it'd be a grand idea to take the kid skiing. Kairi and I saw him off the morning he was going to take a plane up north to some place much colder than our mild sea-surrounded island, and we laughed at how bundled up the brunette was. The spikes protruding from around his ears were matted down by earmuffs, and at least two coats were clamped onto his figure, making him look like a marshmallow, or maybe even a badly dressed Eskimo. He had waddled around in circles before finally falling onto his rump on the sand and staring up at us, coffee-coloured lower lip crawling out in a pout. "What, it's going to be cold!"
"Aw Sora, we'll miss you," Kairi proclaimed after a chuckle, and squatted down to hug him (which proved to be somewhat difficult, as his jackets got in the way). I was surprised to see tears standing out in her cobalt eyes.
I made a sound in the back of my throat, clearing the lump that had begun to form there. "It'll be lame without you. I won't have anyone to pulverize."
"You'll have Tidus."
"You know it's not the same." We stared at each other solemnly, until Sora broke out in a smile.
"I'll show you my frostbite when I get back."
"Gross. Get out of here," I shoved him back into the sand and leapt onto my paopu tree, not bothering to watch him retreat to where his parents were waiting. It was a good idea not to, because then I didn't repeat the image of him leaving me over and over again throughout that tenebrous summer without him.
After some time of staring at my bandaged hand, Kairi got up and drifted towards the door. Before it opened, I made sure I said, "I do too."
Yuffie walked in, nearly hitting the redhead who was positioned near the door. "Aerith's got your stuff," She declared, before noticing Kairi. "Oh shit, Kai, didn't see ya there." Handing her an apologetic smile, she turned her attention back to me. Under her breath, she whistled.
"Remind yourself who this is, Yuffie," Aerith proclaimed subtly as she suddenly materialized through the doorway like an apparition. In her arms was a mass of canary yellow and black – my shirt. Upon handing them to me, I snatched them to my bare chest, Yuffie's hungry gaze seeming to penetrate my skin.
"Oh, yeah. The Keyblade Master. Huhh, that doesn't mean I'm not able to look at him, Aerith!"
The Keyblade Master? I let it slide. Ask questions later, get dressed (and away from Yuffie) now. Heading off towards the small bathroom, I tried to give the ninja a wide berth but she had planted herself right near the door. She smirked deviously at me as I stalked past her. Once I got inside, I slammed the bathroom door and locked it. Safe, unless she had a lock picker on her person. Why would I not be surprised if she did?
Only until after I had slipped the shirt over my head did I scan the lavatory. Everything was bleached white so that it nearly glowed. The typical hotel bathroom. Even paying good munny for a two-roomed suite didn't change the place where you washed, shit, and pissed. I stared at myself before the tall mirror that reached the ceiling, seeing my face that was smudged with soot and dirt. Deciding to wash my face to finally make myself presentable, I gripped the faucet and splashed icy cold water on my visage, clearing away the grime, so of which was probably day-old.
Now I had to face the door again. No kidding – I was afraid Yuffie might have her ear pressed to it, listening. Building up a significant amount of courage, I peeked around the corner to see people lounging on chairs, the bed, and walls. Yuffie was on the bed. My sigh of relief was inaudible but not inconspicuous.
I chose to shift around the hallway's bend and stand against the wall opposite of Leon.
"Do you think this is your world?" The inquiry didn't quite catch me off-guard. I knew that when Kairi and I were sucked into that foreboding gateway to Traverse Town that Toto, we weren't in Kansas anymore.
I shook my head.
"Good. So you aren't disillusioned, it isn't. You see, there are many worlds . . ." And so Leon droned on, blah blah blah blah, and my eyes began to glaze as I watched Kairi, who was watching me.
"Riku, you aren't listening to me." My chin tilted in the man's direction and my eyes narrowed.
"You're right. I'm not."
"You said –"
"Forget what I said. How the hell will this crap help us any?"
"Riku!" Kairi interjected, "Don't you know? Sora may be in one of the other worlds! We have to get to them first in order to get to Sora!"
I held her gaze, which was nearly in tears. I blew out the air in my cheeks. "Go on."
Leon shifted positions slightly against the wall. "Right. That weapon of yours?" As though it had heard itself being mentioned, the oversized key appeared in my hand. "It's what brings the monsters, called Heartless, to the worlds. It wasn't supposed to be this way, originally – people weren't supposed to know about the other dimensions out there. But now they do."
Whoopee. "You make it sound like it's my fault." I hadn't brought the Heartless to Destiny Islands. Or had I? Dammit.
"It isn't," Piped in Yuffie, "The Heartless want people's hearts. They just go wherever the keyblade goes."
"And it's with me." I looked down at the key that had already slaughtered God knows how many of those shadow creatures. I didn't ask for any of this. It was all starting to be a little unfair to me – or maybe a lot unfair.
"It's getting late," Commented Leon. "We should stop for the night, and then tomorrow . . ."
"Tomorrow you start your journey," Aerith finished. It was settled, or so it seemed.
"I just want to find Sora." I didn't want these Heartless getting in my way.
"And go back home?" Questioned the martial arts pro, almost sympathetically.
"If I can bring him back, yeah." Really, I didn't miss Destiny Islands yet. I knew Sora did.
"You can do that. After you get rid of the Heartless." Leon, of course, had no sympathy. Fine. I didn't want it.
"Come on, Riku. You need to meet someone else." Oh, boy. Hadn't I already been acquainted with far too many colourful characters for the day? The leather-clad figure began to walk towards the door, leaving me in the dust. Grudgingly I followed him out into the hallway, floored with a ruby rug that had intricate patterns sewn into the design. Walking at his heels I felt like his subordinate, and walking side-by-side we'd be more like buddies. I was neither. I ended up dragging back so it'd be clear to any passerby that I was with this guy unwillingly. Maybe they'd file a report for kidnapping. Just maybe. It wasn't too much for someone like me to hope for.
We didn't see anyone on the way out, however. He opened the double-door exit to the complex, not holding it open for me. I wasn't a lady. I shoved the door to swing wide, but with my bad hand.
"Fuck." Expelled from partial pain and dread, my voice stung two new pairs of ears.
"Gawrsh, Donald, he's a potty mouth."
"Awwwwrgh."
The unintelligible grumble came from the planar golden beak of a duck clothed in what appeared to be a sailor's suit. No pants. He could have been the father of the duck . . . ling, I had encountered earlier. The one who was offended by my language was a tall black dog, or maybe an otter. He, at least, was fully dressed.
I pinned my back against the closed doors, motivated to escape back through them and seek refuge in an abandoned room.
Instead I switched my accusatory glare to Leon, who was standing amongst the gawking duo.
"This is Donald and Goofy. They were sent by the king and are going to accompany you on your travels," Leon quickly explained, for once, as if that'd slow me down in socking him.
"Hyuck, that's right! And you're . . . ?" The dog's – Goofy, what a fitting name – muzzle hung agape. I swear there was drool built up in the corner of his mouth.
My keyblade appeared in my hand in a scintillation of light.
"The keyyyyy!" Donald fawned in his scratchy voice, gasping and splaying his feathered hands wide. He nearly squealed.
I figured this torture would never end; might as well deflect some of it.
"Want to see it?" I asked, and like a good sport, proffered the golden and silver blade.
The water-preferring bird cackled, preparing to dive in and gobble up the blade. Sweet Jesus, these animals were one day going to take over the world.
"Too bad." I feinted, whapping the end of the keyblade across Donald's forehead. He plopped to the ground on his plumaged rump and "Awwwwrgh"'ed again.
"He ain't very nice, either," Goofy observed.
I heard snickering, and caught a glimpse of Leon covering his mouth with a gloved hand, attempting to stifle it. Oh yeah. Very badass, Lee.
Now recovering from his bump, Donald was out for blood. A flame of anger replaced the greedy glint in his eyes, and I held the blade steady. "Get any ideas, duck, and you're a done tom turkey," I snarled. Not like I actually thought he could do any damage. I just liked the feeling of being intimidating. It was like I was the guy with the gun. I was in power.
"Well . . . sir, we'll be waitin' for you tomorrow morn' at our ship. Come to the front gates if you will – that's where it's parked." Goofy gawked, placing a restraining hand on Donald's shoulder.
Like I'd go with those two 'tards. I'd rather fly across the worlds with Leon.
On second thought, that was arguable.
"I'm Riku." I held out my encased hand, pretending nothing happened at all. Bad idea – what if the duck thought he could get revenge by squeezing too hard? He just stared at it and I quickly withdrew.
"We're going to go get some supplies . . ." The muttering Donald waddled off with the awry Goofy and disappeared into a shop flanked by neon lights.
Unbelievable. "I'm not going with them."
Leon spared me a quirk of his brow. "You don't really have a choice."
He turned a corner. I followed. My shoes clacked annoyingly on the cobbled street.
"Where are we going now? More friends to make?"
"I thought maybe you'd be thirsty."
I could think of many dirty things to go along with that. Instead of replying with my originally intended 'What the fuck,' I kept my mouth shut and soon we arrived at what looked like a bar. Well, of course it was. A pretty lady stood outside of it, wearing a sage dress made out of light material that clung to her voluptuous hips and complimented her thick yellow hair. "Hullo, Leon," She greeted him in a husky tone, thwarting me as she directed all her attention to the brunette. I didn't particularly feel left out. I wasn't looking for women ten years my senior to play with my hair and cajole me into going to bed with them. Leon, though . . . I eyed him vigilantly, anticipating him to fall. My hopes were extinguished when he brushed by her, barely returning her hello and stepped into the pub.
A sneer affronted her heavily-lipsticked mouth as she ripped a drag from her cigarette. "Been trying to seduce that boy for months, no luck." She glanced in my direction, as if just now noticing me. You could have cowered in her sleazy glare. "What're you lookin' at, pretty boy?"
My turn to flee.
I was greeted by more scents of smoke inside the building, which hung in the air like London fog. The whole place was dim and holding many secrets, most of the dark. Shadows that I couldn't fully make out loitered in abstract corners and tables, probably drunks. I remembered there were Heartless inhabiting this town, and this hangout was as good as any alleyway for them to be lurking. Calling up my weapon, I held it tightly at my side like a child clung to a teddy bear in bed, like it'd keep away the monsters. My refuge. I figured there were guys in here with knives strapped to their wrists and shanks stuffed into their waistbands, anyway, so my weapon would be accepted.
Leon was sitting languorously at the bar, long legs stretched out over at least two other stools, a bottle of beer in his hand. Reluctant (though not showing it), I picked a chair to sit on by his boots. They were far from immaculate; dogshit was caked on the bottom of them. Pleasant view.
Another beer appeared by his hand – he flung it across the surface of the mahogany bar, and it coasted into my reach. I stared at him, uncomprehending.
"Everyone needs a break. Drink's on me."
Damn. I had never drunken before. Except for that one time, when Sora and I snuck into the refrigerator and stolen my mom's wine cooler . . .
"This is sweeeeeeet!" My best friend hurrahed, holding the slender bottle above his head and then falling back against the couch. I thought I heard snoring. Knocked out after less than a pint. I had had to carry him back to my bed because I needed a place where I could keep him behind a door. I slept on the friggen couch that night. I was that self-sacrificing of a friend.
So, I had never had a sip. I had dared Sora to do so before me and after he was unconscious, it lost its glamour. Besides, when he woke up, he woke up with a headache. Hung over, too. Jeesh, what a softie.
"Right. You're only fifteen." Leon was kind enough to point out, but his tone was condescending as he looked down at me. This guy didn't look much older. Maybe it was the oily hair that made me guesstimate a couple years.
I grabbed the bottle around its neck and popped off the top in a sign of acquittal. Through the mist, I saw a glimmer of a smirk.
"To celebrate the Keyblade Master," He mocked, and we clacked glasses while watching each other intensively.
I took a big-ass swig and instantly regretted it. Trying to look tough didn't always get you far when you're faking. The amber liquid swished over my tongue and down my throat, burning it. I coughed, almost had to pound my breast, and squeezed my eyes shut, but it could have passed for random allergies. Leon witnessed the theatrics all in good cheer. I now hated him more.
"Problem?"
"P-Piss off," I coughed, swallowing the dryness in my mouth.
"Leon! Riku!" A frantic voice caused us both to stop focusing on my gag attack. Aerith was running into the bar, trailed by Yuffie. How she got in the lead, I'm not sure, as the sight of the ninja's athletic legs and Aerith's dress were quite contradicting. "It's Kairi. She's gone!"
Oh. Hell. Looking at the distraught Aerith and befuddled Yuffie, I thought, never trust a girl to do a job.
"Gone?" Leon surmised, voice languid. Damn him. I, on the other hand, was temporarily struck speechless.
"The Heartless," Yuffie panted, her hands placed on her knees, "They got into the hotel and we tried to keep them away. But there were too many of them."
"We left Kairi in the room, and when we came back, she wasn't there." Aerith concluded.
I suppose this news caused me to fall into another phase of narcosis. I still could think; just not act. Dammit! Why did this shit have to happen to me? I didn't ask for Sora to be stolen away from me, and now Kairi. I didn't want the keyblade in my possession. Quite clearly, I was irresponsible for the job.
No wonder you heard of so many wives leaving their alcoholic husbands.
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We didn't find her. It was late and we searched all over town, battling whatever Heartless came in our way, and we didn't find her. She was long gone. But gone where? Was she safe? Was Sora?
No. The Heartless had gotten both of them. And I had become fairly and well acquainted with these buggers in the past month, especially the past two days. If you were in their clutches, you weren't safe.
When the moon was a spidery gossamer in the midnight sky Leon suggested that we get some rest and resume searching tomorrow. I didn't want to comply – I wanted to keep on looking for my two friends, the last of humanity I could really relate to at the moment. I would go on without food and sleep and water and waste away to nothing before I'd give in and give up.
I stayed in bed thinking, unable to drift off. It suddenly dawned on me how truly messed up everything was. The last forty-two hours had been pretty weird, and it was guaranteed that it'd only get weirder. Was this our fate, or an obscured destiny? It was up to me, the Keyblade Wielder, to put our lives back together again because this wasn't the way it was supposed to be, just not the way it was supposed to go. It brought my mind back to when we were younger, and Sora had accidentally broken Kairi's charm made out of Thalassa shells. It had once resembled a star-shaped paopu fruit, but now lied on the earth in indistinguishable fragments.
"I told you not to put it in your back pocket, Sora."
"I forgot about it when I sat down!"
"Kairi didn't want you to forget." He had brought it to me at my house with a worried expression plastered on his brown face. Pleading.
"Can you fix it?"
I took a breath and examined the wreckage. "Maybe," I answered truthfully, and he followed me into the living room and waited while I gathered up materials.
"This is all we have." I dumped a roll of duct tape and Elmer's school glue onto the floor.
"That's fine, we can make it work," Sora replied hastily, digging into the scene of the crime and slopping bead of glue onto the jagged edges of the shells. He tried to poke two fragments together but they didn't match.
"Here, like this," I reached over and tore off a good strand of tape and wrapped it around the figure. It began to lose its shape.
"No, that's not right!"
"How would you know, dumbo? You didn't even remember it was up your butt!"
"Riku!" Sora gasped, then laughed. I laughed with him. We were getting stressed out, trying to make it good for Kairi.
When we presented it to her an hour later, she considered it at first shocking, and then agreed on it being a laughable matter. She nearly had to stand up on her tip-toes to put her arms around us in an embrace.
"You know, whatever you two do is always good enough." She whispered in our ears, as if she had expected no more.
If I had to resort to just glue and duct tape to solve this puzzle again, then so be it. I couldn't do anything about what material I used, just so long as it was efficient.
With Leon's light snoring on the sofa guiding me towards the door, I stepped out into the hallway and left the hotel. I walked the deserted streets towards the huge front gate where Goofy had informed me some sort of 'ship' was docked, and I only assumed it could get me to other worlds. That was where I needed to be; not here. And I needed to do this alone.
Slowly, the heavy doors creaked open and hissed shut as I stood on the other side of them seconds later. I faced what looked like a space ship, vibrantly hued but toned down in the darkness. Somehow I managed to get inside it and started it up.
I was heading for the stars.
I was going to find Sora and Kairi.
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N.otes
This equals crack. It's what you get when you read too much Anita Blake. Bitchy Riku!