To Absent Friends Chapter 2; Unpleasant Findings
Sora was sleeping fitfully in his bed when he heard a tapping on his window. At first he tried to ignore it, dismissing it as a branch from the palm tree in the back or perhaps a very dumb bird. However when the tapping became a distinct banging, Sora had no choice but to rise and see what the commotion was.
Groggily rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a fist, Sora stumbled over to the window to see who had decided it was a good idea to disturb him at this hour
"Kairi, what's wrong are you alright?" Sora asked as a teary-eyed Kairi began to climb into the window. Kairi looked hesitant for a moment then took a deep breath.
"Sora, there's something you need to know." She said, pacing back and forth. Sora took a seat on his bed as he watched her closely.
"What is it?" Sora asked, now confused. It was the crack of dawn and neither him nor Kairi were known to willingly wake up before noon.
"It's Riku, he's missing." Kairi began miserably. Sora jumped up at her words but she held up a hand for silence. Sora pouted but sat down reluctantly. After everything that had happened, fate had decided to crush Sora's hopes of Riku being there when Sora needed him the most.
"I saw some these strange guys at his house last night, but they were so scary I couldn't do anything." Kairi continued trying hard to stop the sobs. She felt so ashamed and helpless that she wasn't able to help her friend.
"It's alright Kairi, we both know you would have done something if you could have." Sora placed a hand reassuringly on Kairi's shoulder. She smiled gratefully whipping away a tear.
"They set fire to Riku's house-"
"Is everyone OK?" Sora interrupted nervously. He didn't know how Riku would take
"I don't know, they can't wake up Riku's folks and you know what light sleepers they are." Kairi said remembering the many stories Sora had told her about his and Riku's sleepovers at that house. "But the really weird thing is they couldn't find a trace of Riku." Sora seemed to collapse in despair as he thought about what she said then something in his mind clicked.
"Those guys you mentioned earlier, do think they took Riku? What did they look like?" Sora asked franticly.
"One of them was carrying something wrapped in a sheet. They were tall, with silver hair, wore long black coats and had eerie green eyes." Sora's eyes went wide with recognition.
"Did one of them have really long hair, have a wing sprouting out of one of his shoulders and carry a sword almost as long as him?" Sora asked remembering Sephiroth. The silver-haired man had once challenged him to a duel in hopes of gaining the Keyblade for himself, but Sora had defeated him. Perhaps Sephiroth had decided Riku might be an easier way for him to gain its power.
"One of them did have long hair but I didn't see a wing or a sword. Another one had hair almost just like Riku's, and there was the big guy with short hair." Kairi answered gesturing with her arms about how big the guy was.
Sora nodded and looked down at the rumpled sheets on his bed wondering if he'd ever see Riku again.
Traverse town still stood, though when the worlds separated many assumed that it had been destroyed. It was smaller and run down now, as Donald and Goofy found out to their dismay.
"Didn't the king say there was an epi-something going on."? Goofy asked as he scanned the empty streets. Since they have arrived to respond to several distress calls, neither Donald nor Goofy had seen one person.
"Epidemic! But I can't see any sign of it." Donald quacked loudly, irritated at being sent possibly on a wild goose chase. The eerie stillness of the city was getting to him; even a slight sign of life would be welcome.
Goofy was about to ask something else when they heard something, a shuffling from the mouth of a nearby ally. Donald and Goofy exchanged a glance before heading to where the noise was.
A Large Body Heartless was blindly shuffling through the ally. Donald noticed that it didn't look right, its shadowy flesh seemed somewhat drawn and its gait was zombie like. As Donald and Goofy approached the creature, it turned around and fixed its dimly glowing eyes upon the two.
"Ahh." Goofy called out in surprise as the Large Body charged at him, knocking them both into the nearby wall. Donald fired a spell distracting the Heartless before it could crush Goofy, who twirled and knocked it off of its feet. A second spell ended the Heartless' existence.
Donald frowned, Large Bodies weren't that easy to defeat even with him using his Save The Queen and Goofy his Save the King. The duck took a quick look at Goofy and wondered if he understood something was wrong as well.
"So, who do you think sent out that message then?" Goofy asked as they emerged from the ally. Donald shrugged and they continued their search for a sign of life.
Deep in the ally that Donald and Goofy had left behind, a man of about thirty-five years of age lay crumpled in agony. He made no move to contact the strange visitors, half relived they hadn't found him. Everyone in this town had gone mad and he didn't want to be the next one to die.
As he turned his attention to the bruise-like star shaped blotches on his arms, the crunching paper alerted him to the presence of another. The man barely had time to scream as the figure lurched forward, muttering 'reunion' in a toneless voice.
"What was that?" Goofy asked as he heard the blood-curdling scream. Shaking, he turned to Donald who wasn't faring any better. "D-do ya think we should check that out?" He asked nervously.
"Well it is a sign of life." Donald answered, gathering his courage. "We should go check it out. Without another word, both Donald and Goofy went back to the alley.
"Oh no, we're too late." Donald didn't want to look over his shoulder, he didn't want to see Goofy's expression. He could only stare dumbly at the pool of blood and the torn remains of what had once been a human being only a short while ago
The bar had been closed for nearly an hour and cleanup seldom took over thirty minutes to do, but Tifa was still trying to find something to do. The Turks always brought bad news with them when they visited her. Unfortunately, she knew she was running out of reasonable delays and decided to face them.
"You're probably wondering why we're here, yo?" Reno said leaning casually on the bar as Tifa sat on the stool to Rude's right. Tifa gave him a curt nod.
"Kadaj is back." Rude said grimly, staring into his glass of beer regretfully. Tifa's jaw dropped at his announcement and she spends several moments opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water.
A-are you sure about this?" Tifa asked clenching her fists to her side unconsciously.
"There have been," Rude began slowly as he watched his crush gasp in horror "several reports. The WTO has confirmed them."
"Where are they, the forgotten capital again?" Rude looked desperately to his partner who nodded and pursed his lips
"Nibelham, but there was a major sighting in Icicle a few days ago. If things get out of hand…" Tifa bristled at Reno's words.
"You'd like the remaining members of Avalanche to clean up your mess, is that it?" She asked angrily.
"We know this might be difficult for you, yo. But, we don't have many options." Reno argued looking slightly desperate.
"Cloud's gone, you know that." She choked out with a silent admission that she'd never have the strength to face any of the clones. Reno felt like scum but didn't know how to make things right.
"Yes, that was the most funerals I've ever had to attend, ever." Reno admitted bitterly. He remembered what had happened the last time Avalanche had fought Sephiroth; hell Reno doubted there was anyone on Gaia that could forget that day, the day when half of Gaia's heroes died.
"But if we don't face this now, there will be more funerals later." The redhead was shocked at the calm voice that suddenly spoke from right behind him. He could see Rude reaching into his shirt jacket for his pistol while Tifa merely let out a sigh and looked over Reno's shoulder.
"How long have you been there Vincent?" She asked with a bitter smile and Vincent moved to her side.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack, yo!" Reno shouted once the shock of the other's sudden appearance has worn off. "We weren't doing anything." He huffed sulkily.
"Long enough." Vincent said absently before taking a seat, watching Rude and Reno closely.
" We first got the information from some of Reeve's men and we're helping them out." Rude added defensively.
"I thought you guys and Reeve kept in touch, yo. Why didn't he let you know?" Reno asked trying to regain some semblance of control.
"Maybe because he knows that we lost in the last battle." Vincent replied sternly, with a glare that said this conversation was over.
Kairi sat on the porch and waited for Sora to come down, the brunette was trying to contact King Mickey. Since Kairi had told Sora about the guys who had been at Riku's house last night, he seemed convinced that their friend was no longer on this world.
It hurt her to see one of her best friends in pain but didn't know what to do. So Kairi decided to come out here where they could have some fresh air while figuring out what to do next.
Sora emerged from his house a short while later, still frowning. Kairi offered him a weak smile as he sat down beside her.
"I couldn't get anyone." Sora said glumly shaking his head in despair.
"Maybe you'll have better luck later." Kairi replied cheerfully.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Sora said with false cheerfulness. In reality, he was about ready to scream. Who knows why Riku had been taken and for what evil purpose. It had only been a few weeks since the final battle with Xenamas and already the darkness wanted to claim Riku once more.
"Hey Kairi, Sora! What are you doing up and about so early?" Both Kairi and Sora looked up to see Selphie Tilmitt running up to them. She was wearing a goldenrod sleeveless blouse and a short green and yellow plaid skirt with ankle length white socks with weird yellow birds on them and brown loafers.
"Hey Selphie, what you doing?" Sora said once again faking cheerfulness. Selphie looked at him and Kairi for a moment, apparently lost in though.
"Oh no! I didn't ruin a moment between you did I?" Sora was floored by his friend's suggestion. He loved Kairi, but since his return from The Castle That Never Was, the though of being romantic with her just didn't appeal to him.
"Not really," Kairi answered offhandedly, for which Sora was grateful. "We were just talking. So, what did you want to see us about?" Kairi asked knowing that Selphie must have wanted something or she wouldn't have come all the way out to Sora's house.
"Tidus and Wakka have a game today, so I thought you guys and Riku might like to go see them play. Maybe we could pack a lunch and have a picnic, it'd almost be like a double-date." Selphie said dreamily. Kairi couldn't help at smile at her friend's constant romanticism. Selphie had confessed that she harbored a crush on Riku shortly after the silver-haired boy had returned to the islands.
"Riku can't come to the game today." Kairi admitted nervously. "I was just talking to Sora about that."
"Why not?" Selphie asked, slightly crestfallen.
"He disappeared last night, no one knows where he is." Kairi answered, deliberately leaving out both the fire and the mysterious men she'd seen last night.
"You don't think he's going to go away again do you?" Selphie asked horrified. Both Kairi and Sora had to bite their tongues as Selphie voiced their silent fears.
"Don't worry though, I'll find him." Sora piped in with a determined gleam in his eye.
"Yeah let's all go look for him." Selphie piped in jumping up and down in enthusiasm. Sora looked questioningly at Kairi who suddenly looked very thoughtful.
"Selphie, why don't you and I go watch the game. Sora knows better than anyone where Riku's hiding places are." Kairi suggested brightly and to their relief it seemed the brunette girl was going along with the idea. "And Sora has my cell number and will call it as soon as he finds anything." Kairi continued in a tone that told Sora he'd better do as she said or he'd be in big trouble the next time they met.
"Since that's all settled then, I think I'll check the island first. See you guys later and tell Tidus and Wakka that I'm sorry I had to miss the game." Sora called out as he took off towards Riku's house.
TBC
A/N: I'm trying to get to Riku and I'm fairly postive he'll show up next chappie, I'll also explain why his parents can't wake up.