This chapter is the result of insomnia, pressure, nervous-break downs, annoyance... and everything else I'm feeling right now. I've been trying to write for quite some time, and it's gotten to be the hardest thing. And people reminding me at every corner that I haven't updated in a while does NOT help at ALL! So if this chapter sucks, it isn't my fault. Well, actually, it kind of is. Everything is my fault.
A note on the chapter title. Bloody knuckles is a game, and fits well with the chapter. In the game, two people sit across from each other and take turns flicking a coin at the other's hand; said hand is curled into a fist and is standing on the table with the knuckles facing the shooter. The first person to make the other person's knuckles bleed is the winner.
Enjoy. And please note that this chapter will be re-written when I'm in a better mood. Or when I care.
Bloody Knuckles
Tails
Steams twirled gently from the ground in the splattering drops of water that fell from the tall ceiling, a thick fog erupting in every direction and hiding their escape route. They couldn't see left or right, but Riku seemed to know where he was going, seeing as he had grabbed Sora and was leading them both into the heart of the steam. The hot water vapor stung and dug at their skin, and Sora could smell the strong scent of burning cinders, oil, and burnt flesh from Riku's back, which was blistering and bleeding rather quickly under blackened bandages.
Coughing and sputtering in the icy cold rain, Sora struggled to keep up with his friend, trying his best not to let his feet fall from beneath him on the slippery cobble-stone. The sounds of shouts echoed behind them, slurring together in an unreadable blur. All Sora cared about now was Riku and where the older teen was leading him. The brunet wasn't even sure if Riku knew where he was going, but seeing as the boy had never led him astray before...
Eventually, they crossed into another hallway. It seemed that the fire had spread here too. With a hiss and spur, life threaded itself through the mechanics of the fire alarm and bells sent shrill sons vibrating through the castle as more cold water continued to fall. It felt oddly numbing on Sora's hot, tanned skin as beads of sweat glistened and mingled with fresh water on his brow. It soaked through his clothes, making goose bumps rise along his skin.
Feeling the hackles at the end of his neck rise, Sora sped up out of pure nervousness. "Where are we going?" he panted as he ran. When Sora received no answer, he asked again, "Riku?"
Without saying a word, Riku hurtled himself at Sora, bowling the brunet over. They crashed through a door, a door Sora hadn't even noticed was there. They both landed head over heels on a hard cement floor of the dark stone room, which was small and cramped.
Groaning, Sora watched as Riku untangled himself and quickly squatted by the doorway, that was missing a threshold, and clamped it shut, the door gliding silently on its hinges and enclosing the two teens in a thick blanket of darkness. Not even a single stream of light flowed through the bottom of the door.
The two teens sat still, the only noise being their heavy gasps as they struggled to regain their breath. The pitter patter of water from the devices on the ceiling echoed through their tiny shelter, like tiny little drums with the drummers beating up an inconsistent tune that molded together into a sultry melody.
Voices were heard, voices inaudible through the stone door. Panicked voices, angry snarls, the trampling of feet that splashed through puddles that now stretched across the marble floors of Disney Castle in thick sheets.
When the yelling and talking had died away with the last of the footsteps, and only then, did Sora speak. "Riku... what's going on? How did you know this room was here?"
Riku didn't answer. He was too busy sifting through, from what the brunet could tell, through a tin box, from the sounds of things. Finally, a light exploded in a flurry of sparks that slimmed down to a tiny flame on the end of a waxy wick at the end of a dusty candle. Riku had lit it with one of the matches hidden under his shirt, matches he's taken from Aerith's infirmary. There was an empty tin box, opened, next to Riku who sat cross-legged on the floor. The light sparkled off of the blood that was slowly pooling around him and glistening all over his body.
Sora's previous thoughts were blown away at the sight of the blood. "Riku! You're bleeding!" After a moments pause. "Maybe we should..."
It was then that Riku chose to interrupt, voice strict. "Don't you even think it, Sora."
"But look how badly you're bleeding!" Sora exclaimed. "There's no way me and you can fix that! We need help..."
"Then well get it from some strangers who take pity on us," Riku said grimly. "Sora, what did I tell you? No one here can help us. No one!"
"Then what are we going to do?" Sora cried. His voice seemed to be magnified tenfold in the tiny stone room, rebounding off the walls. "How can you even move?" he asked in a quieter voice, voice soft with curiosity and sadness. "Don't they hurt?"
"No," Riku replied hurtfully. "I can't feel a thing."
"But how?" Sora asked, cocking his head and scooting closer to inspect a large scrape mark that ran from the older teen's shoulder to the pocket at the opposite side of his elbow.
"I'll explain it to you later," Riku promised, in a tone that convinced neither boy. "Right now, we have to get out of here and somewhere safe."
"But where is safe?" the younger whispered in an urgent hush. "They'll be looking for us all over!"
"We'll find a place," Riku said sternly. "Now stick close to me until I say so, you got that?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded. "Are you thinking we're splitting up again?"
Riku sighed heavily. Now was not the time for Sora to reveal his most stubborn side; the fire alarms would only go on for so long before they lost their watery veil of cover. If they were to escape, they had to do it in the water. Not only would it wash away Riku's bloody foot prints, but this way no one would be able to tell for sure who they were.
That is, until they got close range. But Riku wasn't planning on letting this happen.
However, unbeknownst to Riku, who was dragging Sora out from their safe spot, not all things would go as planned.
Especially, with all things considering, they'd practically locked the prison door and ate the key themselves.
Heads
Despite the freezing wetness that poured down upon their heads, over their bodies, sinking deep into their shoes, Riku didn't feel the least bit cold. In fact, he felt toasty warm, surrounded in his own security of wet heat.
And that was what concerned the silver-haired teen the most.
Riku knew the severity of his wounds. He also knew how badly they were bleeding. Breaking through the numbness, settling down in his skull was a throbbing dizziness that he could not shake off. And he had a sneaking suspicion that water wasn't the only thing creating suction between his feet and the floor.
Glancing down, Riku noticed with a lurch in his stomach that red blood ran in tiny streams down his legs and his bare feet were nothing but red blurs as he raced down the hallway alone, having sent off Sora in some other direction some ten minutes ago.
The brunet had been resilient at first, furious that Riku had even suggested they'd split up for a second time, but in the end, he had caved in to his best friends wishes and followed Riku's direction down a few of the hundreds of hallway in the castle. he path left, Riku knew, to a line of windows that lined the first floor. Sora could easily jump out of one of them and go to the abandoned fish market, where Riku had said they would meet.
Why had Riku not gone? The silver-haired teen could have easily followed his friend made a break for freedom, but there were several reasons as to why he had chosen to take the longer route. First of all, the Castle staff were undoubtedly suspicious of Riku's knowledge of Disney Castle'' interior by now, wondering how Riku could have known that there were wells of oil hidden underneath the stones that lined the corridors when they themselves had never known of the wells' existence.
And second, Riku's plan was to be spotted. And soon. That way, they'd follow him and leave Sora alone. For the moment. The plan was amateur and overly cliché, but it was all Riku could come up with. His blood-deprived body wouldn't let his mind clear itself enough to some up with a better solution.
After a few more minutes of walking through the halls, ears peeled for any noise under then the thunder of water raining down on him, when Riku realized what else was slowing him down. The after-affects of the medicine he had taken were starting to kick in, exhaustions ticking to his bone like a burr and making his brain funny, vision blurring into a pallet of multi-colored streaks, blues and grays intertwining in a massive shock that shook his whole body.
With a soft groan, Riku whipped his head back and forth to clear his head, instantly regretting doing so when he swayed lightly on the spot.
"Damn it, I've lost too much blood," Riku croaked, breathing heavily. The warmth was suffocatingly sweet, the sharp smell of copper and salt stinging the hairs in Riku's nose with a fiery burn that only served to send a tiny wave of sparks through his face, the medicine blocking out the pain.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Riku started to walk forward once more...
...and ran into a rock-hard chest, rebounding and stumbling backwards, gasping. It was...
"I've got him!" Cloud yelled, lunging forward to grab at Riku, who backed away frantically. Riku had only meant to let them see him, not get this close!
Struggling to maintain his footing, Riku spun around only to run into another man who, unfortunately, managed to grab the teens' upper arms in his strong hands before Riku could get away.
"Now how the Hell did you get out of there?" Leon hissed, steel gray ices glinting in the rain. His clothes were badly scorched, but still held together just fine. Black ash powdered his cheeks and hair and neck, the back of his hands and palms. And now it smeared along Riku's arms as the man curled his fingers into a vise-grip around the skinny appendage.
Riku twisted wildly, eyes flaring as he glared at the man who was at least a full head taller then him.
"Come on," a voice said behind him; Riku could feel the blond man's gaze burning into his bruised, blistered, and bleeding back. "Let's get him back to the infirmary..."
And it was then, for the second time that day, that Leon got barreled over by a teenager. In a blur of brown spikes and creams, Sora had vaulted himself over the banister overlooking the particularly-large hallway and dived in a vertical track towards the older brunet.
Riku stumbled a bit as he was released, shaking his head and clearing it a bit before lunging forward into the skirmish, which consisted of Cloud trying to subdue Sora, and Leon, slightly disoriented, trying to get to his feet as Sora landed weak punches wherever he could hit.
Ducking the frantic swiping motions all three were making, Riku managed to grab at Sora's skinny shoulders and yank him backwards from the fray, jogging backwards for a brief moment for a brief moment before spinning them both around and sprinting in the opposite direction, Leon and Cloud not too far behind.
The rain was thick and heavy, cold as it re-drenched their sodden clothes and leaving behind a residue of dust and, in Riku's case, blood.
Sora must have made it outside before he heard the yelling, Riku noticed absent-mindedly, to absorbed in his escape attempt to really put too much consideration into the matter. Damn it, Sora, why won't you listen to me?
The world seemed to slow down for a bit, the whole planet spun on it's axis like a drunk. His footsteps swerved to far to the left, to the right, left, right, left... left... right...
"Riku, come on!" Sora encouraged, panting heavily. The water was thick on his face, gleaming on tan skin and dripping into concerned cerulean eyes. "We're almost there, Riku!"
Forcing himself to steady his paces, his lungs to resort back to their short gasps and gulps of much-needed oxygen, Riku's footsteps became straighter and more useful then his previous sprint. With an encouraging half-smile, Sora let go of his best friend's arm; Riku had never even noticed when Sora began to steady him.
Unfortunately, the two were unable to go unnoticed for long because before long, guards began to pour out of every crevice imaginable; other corridors, windows, door, dropping from the ceiling... it was all quite annoying. Their bright uniforms were dulled into pastel colors in the streaks of water from the extinguishers above their heads, but it did nothing to cool off the red-hot tempers most of them seemed to contain.
A great hissing noise erupted from somewhere behind them, lighting every drop of water in a unearthly light, each drop like tiny drops of fire ignited in thin hair as they splashed into molten pools of lava at Hell's grounds beneath their feet. A great ball of fiery magic flew over Riku's' shoulders, exploding not two feet away from him. He stopped abruptly, skidding in the slickened floors with Sora by his side.
Their feet seemed to run in place on their own accord for a brief moment or two before they finally managed to swerve away from the hissing ball of fire that dwindled and roared as the assault of water savaged its fiery light. Ducking to the left, ignoring the giant smoldering hole in the floor, the two teens ran through a pair of dimwitted guards who could only blink stupidly as two bodies pushed their reedy ones aside in favor of the deserted corridor that they blocked.
"Damn it, you let them get away!" Riku heard Leon snarl from somewhere behind them. But the voice was distorted, blurry, a mere echo that cast a slight shadow on the world of problems he had to deal with right now.
Like the rat who was standing right in front of them, face in a determined grimace and a steady stance, hands clutching at an oddly shaped weapon. It resembled a sword at the hilt, except it was made of a silvery material from which dangled a thin chain, a tiny pendant on the end that Riku couldn't make out in the rain. The rest of the weapon was made of gold, and instead of a pointy blade, a molding took it's place. Riku could made out three dulled points, but not much else.
But no amount of rain could allude the head, two large, disk-like ears sprouting into the ear. They were now tense and lay back, as ready for battle as King Mickey's heart.
"Sora, stay behind me," Riku commanded, moving forward a bit and leaning over in front of his friend. Sora remained silent, staring ahead at Riku with an unreadable expression on his boyish features, blue eyes locked straight ahead and body rigid with tension.
"I don't wanna hurt you fellas," King Mickey warned in his high-pitched voice that was slightly echoed in the rain. "If you'll just come with us, we promise we won't hurt'cha!"
"Don't believe him, Sora," Riku said calmly, although it was really a waste of breath; Sora didn't look convinced in the least. "Just stick with me."
"How about we try something different?" Sora suggested, his voice a silent whisper in the etchings of rain in the air.
"..."
"You stick with me."
"Sora... What the Hell are you... SORA!"
But it was far too late for Riku to grab a hold of Sora's arm as the brunet plowed past him, face aglow with anger as it burned with fury in the cold water. Riku could only watch in horror as the world seemed to slow down, Sora running in an agonizingly slow pace in his mind's eye. Water flew up in splattering sheets of wet in his wake as he ran forward, like a wave crashing and curling with an indestructible pace as he billowed toward his target; Mickey.
Tails
Sora didn't care if he was being reckless. All he knew was that Riku was weaponless and, even if he did have a weapon, he probably couldn't held one up in this state. So Sora, even though he, too, was weaponless, had done the first thing that popped into his mind. The brunet wasn't too good at thinking things through.
In those five seconds it took to travel from his best friend's side to the treacherous king's, Sora tried his best to formulate a plan. Any plan.
Sora gritted his fists together, ready to throw anything at the mouse he could; punches, kicks, mauling. But when he had his fist clenched, he realized that it would not close completely. Why?
Because there was already something in his hand.
Sora didn't hesitate. He didn't bother looking down to see what was causing the radiating smoothness in his hand that vibrated with a power he had never before felt. He did notice, however, that the mouse hesitated, shock etched across his face with his jaw hanging open, eyes wide. And then, raising his arms high above his head, both hands clutching at the warmth now, Sora swung down with all of his might.
King Mickey just managed to swing up his own weapon as Sora brought down his, a clash of silver and gold briefly illuminating them in a glowing orb in the thick water. And it was then that, for the first time, Sora caught a glimpse of his weapon.
In his hands was a gleaming sword, in the same shape as the king's with several key differences. The hilt was gold, not pale silver, and the blade itself a perfect contrast with it's silver shine. The thing dangling from the hilt, Sora noticed, was a thin chain with a mouse head dangling from the tiny chain; King Mickey's insignia. The head of the blade was shaped oddly like a crown, and resembling something of a key.
"The Hell...?" Sora murmured in awe, staring wide-eyed at the weapon. But no matter how odd it looked, the teenaged boy could feel waves of power seeping through the leather-bound handle that sprouted between a golden square of a hilt, seeping into his numbing palm and fingers with a comforting warmth. Every ounce of drowsiness had left him, replaced by a blazing courage that he'd never even known he possessed.
But the power, he realized, filled him with a fair amount of fear, as well. The tingling the weapon sent up his spinal cord was electrical, possessive, almost, as it would around his whole body. Sora felt as f the weapon had somehow lodged itself into his heart and refused to let go, rising a lump in his throat the size of a large apple.
Sora decided to end this battle as quickly as possible.
But Mickey had gotten over his initial shock and now had his own blade raised, shoulders hunched and arms tucked into his chest, point of the weapon pointing to Sora's chest with the hilt at a perfect parallel with the ground.
"I dunno how you got that, Sora..." King Mickey said, a cryptic nature underlying his words, "but you don't know what it can do. Just... put it down..."
Sora could hear the clash of metal and heavy footsteps behind him, shouts mingling in with them, as the guards closed in. Riku was standing behind Sora now, eyeing the weapon skeptically. His body, the brunet could see, was tense and rigid, a red blur in the downpour. His silver hair was matted and caked with the teen's own blood. and Riku's breaths were getting shallow.
"And we need to get him," King Mickey nodded in Riku's direction, "to Aerith! Please, for your own sakes! I'm only tryin' to help!"
"Well guess what?" Sora hissed.
They were getting closer.
"WE DON'T NEED YOUR FUCKING HELP!" Sora screamed at the top of his lungs, voice a loud echo in the thunderous avalanche of wet and footsteps. With a growl, Sora brought his arms back in an swift motion, fluid as water rippling over stone, and brought it down in almighty swoop of metal and muscle.
Mickey was momentarily stunned at the unexpected motion and he had no time to block the oncoming attack. Sora's blade hit him hard on the side, just below the ribcage, send King Mickey's feet flying off of the ground as he sailed across the floor before ramming into the fancy floor, water lubricating the white marble so that the mouse slid before he finally slammed into the wall. His head slumped tot he side, and the rest of him followed as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Sora looked up hesitantly, breath heavy and strained, to his blood-stained friend.
"Let's go."
Heads
There was no mistaking it. Riku could no longer deny it; the feeling crept up his spine, sending familiar shocks of electricity to his brain, foretelling what excruciating pain he would be feeling any moment now.
The potion was wearing off.
Not only was the pain slowly starting to reawaken, but a dizzy haze seemed to be permanently clouding his motions and mind. The room seemed to be spinning slightly, wobbling under Riku's feet as he struggled to remain running. But eventually, the world tilted too far and his ankle twisted beneath his other foot, crippling Riku's leg and sending him sailing down to the floor. The air was knocked from his lungs; Riku coughed, desperate to get back it back, and he felt something hot and sticky fill his mouth with a coppery taste before spraying out in spurts as he hacked.
Sora skidded to a halt as, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riku trip and land harshly on the over-flown floor. Riku was starting to cough, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth and spurting out at the intervals in which he took a turn to sharply cough in the frigid air.
"RIKU!" Sora cried, rushing over to his friend's side. He feel down to his knees, the jolt hitting his kneecaps hard and causing his calves to tingle and grow hot at the blow. Ignoring the slight pain, Sora bent over, wrapping an arm securely around Riku's trembling shoulders. "C'mon, Riku! Just a little longer..."
But it didn't seem Riku could hear him. His breath was growing frighteningly faint, eyes clenched together tightly in a thin wrinkle with burrows so furrowed they seemed to form one straight, thin eclipse of a silver line. Blood soaked Sora's hands, running down his arms and blossoming into thick red vines on his skin, soaking through the shirt and dying it crimson.
"Riku!" Sora cried when his friend didn't answer. Tightening his grips on the trembling shoulders, Sora shook him lightly at first, and then more roughly when Riku didn't respond to this either. "Riku, PLEASE! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
The sprinklers had stopped now, and the air wasn't suffocating wet anymore. Water pooled around the two boys, tinted bright red with Riku's blood. It mingled with the water and silently drained down Riku's face in cryptic lines of a forgotten language, quietly writing away the teen's dwindling life.
What can I do?
A quiet sob
Riku... no... you can't leave me here...
"Please... please wake up..." Sora shook with the unbearable weight of grief that pressed down heavily on his heart, emotions boiling over to the brim and leaking out through his eyelids.
Don't... we haven't even cleared our names yet... we aren't free yet...
"Don't leave me here!" Sora snapped out in fury, nails biting into pale flesh. "You made a promise Riku!"
DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!
"Please... we can help you..."
It took a moment for the sobbing boy to realize that that didn't come from inside of his head. His tear-filled eyes slowly rose and met bright green ones, which were staring down at him in urgency and pity. Her brown hair was matted down from the rain and she had a large green bruise on her arm. Beside her stood several others Sora recognized, including the black-haired girl, Cloud, Leon, and the king. All of their eyes were transfixed on the brunet and the now-unconscious boy laying in Sora's arms.
Sora tightened his grip.
"He'll die if you don't get him help!" the brunette woman exclaimed hurriedly, taking a step forward. When she saw the small boy scoot back a bit further, taking RIku with him, her eyes took on a pleading look. "Sora... you have to let us have him, just for a while! Please... he'll trust you, won't he? You can stay with him..."
I can... stay with him...
"Sora, what did I tell you? No one here can help us. No one!"
What choice do I have, Riku? Please! What choice... choice...
"Sora..." a raspy voice gasped from below him, voice lowered to a faintly soft tone that only Sora could hear.
"Riku... please... tell me... what should I do?" Sora choked, unaware that all eyes were now locked upon him.
"I trust you," Riku whispered, eyes still close as his head rested on Sora's lap. Sora could barely feel the pumping of a heart under his sweaty palm that resided on Sora's chest, clutching at the fabric as if letting go meant death.
But then again... if he didn't let go, it would mean death anyway.
But Riku trusted him... he'd said it himself. Riku had never before said he trusted anyone... and now...
"Please..." Sora whispered, voice a mere shadow of it's former gaily nature.
I hope... I hope I don't let you down...
"...help him..."
Sora felt something shift on his lap, and he blinked through the swamp of blurriness tears had painted over his eyes to see the tall blond silently scooping Riku into his arms. Sora sat still unmoving and silent as a grave, as Cloud straightened up, Riku's head resting on the tall man's shoulder. Sea-green eyes bore down into Sora's, staring, unblinking and never leaving Sora's until they were out of eye range.
"Let's get him to the infirmary," the brunette urged, and she trotted off to the left, Cloud following closely behind. Sora's gaze followed the two until they rounded a corner and his silver-haired friend could no longer be seen.
And there, stranded in a puddle of sticky blood and fresh water, Sora remained. Steeped within broken shards of tarnished memories, a deep rift in his heart quickly filling with anguish as he cried, the dam finally breaking.
And Sora sat there, waiting, trembling in the warm air, weeping silently as his last hope was carried away.
End
You should all fear the random lines of pure angst that were scattered everywhere, like McDonalds' in Center City.
Wanna know why this took so long? Well I can't tell you. Gripe all you want, say I've lost interest, doesn't matter to me. Oh, and if I get one more review asking me to bug Digital about BR, or heavily hinting that I should bug her, heads WILL roll.
And Please refrain from bugging me to update as well. Just say what you liked most in your review, and tell me how you liked it. Those are the only reviews that keep me going.
Hope the chapter was worth your time. So until next update!