Did you all like the twenty-page chapter?

I did.

Too bad this one isn't twenty pages XD. Sorry guys, not enough time. I want this done BEFORE one in the morning.

By the way, please note this. Everyone has their breaking point. This just happens to be when Sora reaches his.

A Metallic Taste

Tails

Moonlight, as thick and pearly white as fresh milk, poured through the ajar windows and slicked through the air to spill over their beds in luminous folds, encasing both boys in a gentle embrace of darkness and light. The winds whispered soft lullabies in their ears, desperate to replenish stolen comforts that were slowly disappearing with every tick of the clock on the wall. Their sheets shifted with their moving bodies, refusing to stay still and making a loud noise that cut through the atmosphere and blended in with what sounded like the hoots of an owl in the distance, probably lounging on a gnarled branch of one of the many trees in the Mystic Forest that spread around the castle in a crescent moon shape.

"Sora... you're not asleep, are you?"

A candle, which once burned brightly in the dark room, finally shortened its wick enough to hit the puddle of wine-colored wax. With a hiss and a sputter, its life ended quickly and the warm glow dispersed itself, subduing to the darkness that immediately took it's place.

"No... These beds are too soft."

Eyes glowed softly, bright colors shining brighter then the moon, refusing to meet the other gaze, as both sets were settled in opposite directions. This, of course, was the only reason they wouldn't look at each other. Flipping over was just too dutiful of a task.

And the mountain of lies would soon topple over if any more was added to it.

"Did you sleep any last night?"

"Yeah... Heh, I was so tired I just sort of passed out."

"Hn."

"What about you, Riku? Sleep any last night?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I did."

"That's good..."

Dead silence.

Awkward silence.

It just doesn't belong.

We aren't strangers.

We're best friends.

So many...

...secrets...

...why can't he tell me...

Why can't he just leave it be?

Talk to me, Riku.

Say anything.

This isn't the end. You promised...

...I promised...

"That we'd always be together."

It wasn't so much that they'd spoken their thoughts out loud, words stumbling from their minds before a dam could blockade their way that surprised the two. It was that they'd both spoken at the same time.

The exact same thing.

"What're you talking about?"

And again. Maybe they weren't drifting as far apart as they both thought.

"Um... nothing." A quick hand swiftly messing up one side of his spiky brown locks.

Or maybe it was worse then they'd both predicted.

"It isn't nothing," is what Riku longed to say. The sentence was already at the tip of his tongue, ready to fly out, but his mouth snapped shut a moment later. A thick lump was settled in his throat, and as much as he tried to swallow it down, all it did was swell with mounting panic as Sora continued to remain quiet.

This isn't like him. C'mon, Sora, just talk to me.

"I..." A thick swallow could be heard over the buzz of silence. "I've... I've changed my mind."

Riku didn't bother to raise a eyebrow quizzically at this. Even if Sora was facing him, it was too dark to see. Sora was the one bathed in moonlight, and only a strip of it stretched far enough to brush against Riku's waist. "Changed your mind about what, Sora?"

And finally, finally, Sora shifted on his soft bed that ran parallel to his friends and sat up straight, shoulders twisting until he could properly give Riku's back a stern look. "It isn't nothing, Riku."

We need to talk, right?

"We need to talk."

This time, Riku couldn't hold back a smug expression, his lips twisting into a tiny smirk. "Sora, go to sleep."

"Like Hell I'm going to sleep!" Sora snapped back, a pout evident in his voice although his face was out of Riku's view at the moment. "I want to talk about earlier!"

"I don't," Riku muttered stubbornly, curling up tighter into a ball and wincing in the process. The salve had done wonders so far, but it still hurt to stretch his skin even a bit. The scabs made his body feel stiff and strange, numbness shattering with every move he made to be replace by pain that made him cringe. But truth be told, Riku wanted very much to talk.

Because something deep, deep inside of him was screaming that he wasn't the only one who was keeping secrets.

"You know me so well, Riku." More shifting, crisp linen scraping against bandages and skin as Sora leaned forward, the bed creaking with the strain of Sora's weight. "So you should know that... I know you just as well. And... you want to talk, too."

Heaving a heavy sigh, his warm breath tickling the silver bangs and sending them drifting upwards for a moment before settling over his green eyes once more. His pale eyelids slowly slid shut, blocking out the darkness, green irises hidden from the sight of Sora's dark shadow reflecting on ghostly gray walls. "So what if I do?" he was whispering. "What does it matter?" The lump in his throat was expanding again. "There's nothing to talk about, really."

"You mean you won't let yourself talk." Sora's words were frozen, sending sparks flying between the two, icy shards ripping into Riku's ears and echoing there for a moment or two afterwards. A bitter tone Sora never used, ever in his entire life. His voice scared Riku more than just a bit, the numbness in his body starting to tingle in fretful anticipation, which only heightened as Sora continued. "Riku, all I want is to fucking talk. Or is whatever's going through your head too complicated for dumb me to understand?"

"Sora, don't be such a brat," Riku muttered. "Don't you think I would tell you if I could?"

"They're just WORDS, Riku!" Sora snapped. "It's one thing to act on them, but another to just SAY them! And you can't even give me that! Damn it, Riku! We're stuck in this damn HELL HOLE for the next two years and there's no way I'm going to spend it alone!"

"You won't have to!" Riku responded quickly, astounded, as he struggled to finally face his fiery friend. His face contorted into one of agony, and he gritted his teeth against it. His breathing was growing shallow as he struggled to keep up with his frantic heart that seemed to have some sort of jump start, adrenaline soaring through his body and giving him the energy to full sit up. "Sora, I'll always be here! How could you think I'd let you stay in this place by yourself?"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN AND YOU KNOW IT!"

Sora was standing now, towering over Riku and looking taller then the older teen has ever thought he could be. His bright blue eyes were shining brightly with a fiery rage that was slowly starting to bubble out, seeping off in a dark aura that made the shadowed walls look the bright of whites. Sora's fists were clenched by his sides, nails cutting into the flesh of his palms and leaving crescent shaped indents in his skin. The blood seemed to be glowing and roaring in his body, as his face seemed to be glowing red.

With his next words, Riku felt sure that at least half of the castle would soon be awake.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE HERE WITH ME DOESN'T MEAN I WON'T BE ALONE! PROBLEMS DON'T GO AWAY JUST BECAUSE YOU MAKE THOSE DAMN PROMISES THAT WE BOTH KNOW YOU WON'T EVER KEEP! THINGS WON'T GET BETTER IF YOU KEEP ALL OF THESE SECRETS FROM ME!"

The lump in Riku's throat was bulging so that now his breathing had become labored, and his eyes were growing impossibly wide. Not just because of Sora's painfully obvious statements.

I can't... I can't breathe!

"And you wont' even LOOK! at me!" Sora continued, his rant growing more and more wild with every angry flash his eyes gave off. Riku's eyes had shut now, and were clenched. His fists were even whiter then normal, as he balled his hands, clenching tightly at the bed sheets. "Riku..." His voice was quieting down now as the words he's just raved slowly came back to him, biting at the edged of his heart as he was filled with guilt at yelling at his friend.

It's all too much... I can't breathe... It's just too much... What's happening?

I CAN'T BREATHE!

"Riku... please look at me, Riku," Sora said softly, voice much more gentle now that he was the shape Riku was in. He looked too distressed for words.

If only he knew just how much.

"I'm sorry," Sora continued, failing to notice how Riku's posture was slowly disintegrating as he slouched down, slowly falling back onto the bed. His whole body was slick with sweat, something Sora couldn't see because of the dark. Silver locks of hair stuck to his face and neck, sprawling out onto the white pillow as he struggled to breathe. The lump had expanded and now filled his whole throat, making it's way to what felt like his heart.

Sora couldn't hear Riku's tiny whimper of distress as he said, "We can... we can work this out, right? We'll do it together."

"S-Sora..."

"Hm?" Sora smiled gently, leaning down and closer to his friend. "What? Gonna tell me I'm a sap, now?"

Riku could no longer see, even as he opened his eyes.

"Riku... you're shaking. Did I really hurt you that much?" His hand drifted downwards and towards his friend's, gently wrapping his fingers around it. "Oh Gods... Riku, you're freezing! Riku! Riku, what's wrong?"

"G-g... ge-get... G-g-gooo..."

"What's happening?" Sora cried out, using his free hand to firmly clamp it over Riku's sweating forehead. "You're so cold!"

"G-go... go get-get..."

"Is this the disease?" Sora cried, near hysteria, his other hand flying to Riku's chest. His fingers splayed over a firm bicep, feeling a quickening heartbeat. It pounded firmly, too firm, under his sweaty palm, even beneath the layer of bandages and pajama top. And then...

It beat once.

A long pause.

"G-go get..."

A faint beat.

Longer pause.

A heartbeat.

"G-get..."

And then...

"Get Aerith..."

...nothing.

"RIKU!"

All of a sudden, the moonlight was blinded as a new light flooded from the ceiling after the quick click of a switch. It illuminated Riku's chalk white face, his green eyes staring, unblinking, past Sora's quivering shoulder and at the ceiling. Sora's fingers quickly searched under his skin, pressing with a bruising force, trying his hardest to find a pulse.

"HELP!" Sora was screaming. "SOMEONE! PLEASE!"

A blur of color, and a blond mop of air was shoved abruptly in his range of vision as a man, clad in nothing but navy blue drawstring pants, hunched over and quickly began to feel at Riku's wrist for a pulse.

Cloud.

"C-can you help him?" Sora choked out, throwing all pride aside as he clutched desperately at his friend's shirt. Tears soaked his cheeks without his noticing it, streaming and drizzling down to the hollow of his neck before dripping onto Riku's unmoving body.

Cloud didn't answer for a moment as he forcefully shoved Sora's hands away. He clenched at the fabric of Riku's shirt and, with a might rip, tore it off, revealing a wiry frame that was covered in ace bandages, not an inch of skin showing.

So absorbed in what the blond was doing, Sora almost missed the words muttered to him in a rush.

But he heard them all the same. And without a moment of hesitation, before another breath could be wasted Sora was flying, literally hopping over the bed and darting towards the door. His hands slammed at the door and, even though the doors weren't designed to open that way, a splinter of wood later and the doors were forcefully ripped from their steel hinged and swinging off, allowing the frantic brunet to escape with those words haunting his conscience.

And he screamed it at the top of his lungs.

"G-go get... g-get... get Aerith..."

"Quick! Find Aerith!"

"AAAEERIIIIIITH!"

Heads

Medical books were sprawled open on the oak desk, words blinking up at her in black, diagrams and charts circling with intricate patterns before her unfocused eyes. And as invigorating as the entire history of the human heart was to her, Aerith just couldn't find the energy in her to focus when it was so late at night. If the clock on the wall was correct, then it was one 'o' clock at night.

But she had research to concentrate on. The disease, one she was trying so hard to figure out, had to come from somewhere. And Aerith was trying her hardest to figure out well.

It could very well make the life or death decision for a boy who was presumably sleeping in the infirmary two floors up.

Aerith sighed, shifting in her chair so that she could rest an elbow on the table and sit her cheek in her palm, turning the page idly with her free hand. It was all stuff that she already knew and, quite frankly, it got boring to reread after the twentieth time in one night.

But Aerith was stubborn on the subject. There could be something she misses, perhaps a hint---however small it may be----that could give her the answer she needed.

Maybe a cup of coffee would help me concentrate?

The lack of energy coursing through her veins made the decision for her. She gently rested her hands on the edge of the wood and pushed herself back, chair sliding silently against the thin carpeting of their vast library. Yawning and rubbing at her green eyes tiredly, Aerith stood. She stretched her arms high above her head and arched her back, getting the kinks out before rolling her shoulders for good measure.

Did I just hear a scream?

The brunette paused.

I must need that coffee more than I thought.

And with this thought in mind, Aerith walked away from her work table and pushed open the oak doors, letting herself out before turning on her heel and heading left, towards the kitchens.

A hazelnut coffee with just a pinch of sugar and a hint of cream sounded excellent right about now.

And so, ignoring the screams she could have sword she'd heard (and was still hearing), Aerith made her way down the hall, towards the stairs that would lead to the kitchens.

Tails

There was a stitch in each of his sides now, and breath was getting harder and harder to find. Sora didn't know how far a person could live without breathing, but he was sure it wasn't very long.

Time was running out.

Doors were snapping open everywhere he went as his hoarse screaming echoed throughout the entire castle. He'd fought off any calls that came after him, ignoring the curious and frightened gazes that were focused upon him.

"AERITH! AERITH!"

His voice was hoarse now, but his words still rang loud and true as the mantra continued to pour from his mouth in bellowing screams.

"AEEERIIIIITH!"

He wouldn't let Riku die!

"AAAAEEEEEERIIIIIIIIIITH!"

A blow to the chest finally stopped the screaming boy in his tracks as all air was knocked from his lungs. He could feel his own feet leave the floor and the whole world turned upside down for the briefest of moments as he fell head over heels. He caught the sight of shaggy-haired brunet and a muscular, naked chest before be came crashing down to the ground.

Ouch.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" a deadly hiss whispered in his ear, and Sora was all too aware that Leon was now pinning him to the ground with a bruising voice keeping the boy from moving.

"Aerith..." Sora was whispering. His breath came out in quick gasps as he huffed for air. Air that his friend couldn't' even breathe in at the moment. "I need Aerith... Please, let me go!"

"What do you need Aerith for?" Leon asked with an expressionless tone. His cold gray eyes stared unceremoniously into Sora's. And this, more then anything, spurred the teen into a state where strength didn't even matter as he himself heaved the tall man off of him.

"RIKU'S DYING, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" he roared, his voice cracking somewhere in the middle. But he didn't care. The only person he cared about in the whole damned world was dying and this man was denying him the only glimmer of hope he had left to hold onto. "IF I DON'T FIND AERITH, HE'S GOING TO DIE! NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!"

Leon stood, stunned into silence. His mask of indifference had slid off, and his expression told that he'd never been yelled at like that in his life by a person half his size.

And he still wouldn't move.

"I SAID TO GET OUT OF MY DAMN WA---!"

"Sora, what is the meaning of this?"

"AERITH!"

Sora didn't think he was ever so relieved in his whole life to see just one person.

The brunette came sweeping down the hallway, a thermos of a steaming liquid clutched tightly in one hand as her green eyes glared disapprovingly at the other two. Sora didn't back down at the look, instead moving forward faster then she was walking. Before he could get a word in edgewise, however, Aerith said, "Sora, what on earth are you doing out of bed?"

The last straw finally snapped.

"I'M HERE BECAUSE I NEED SOME DAMNED HELP!" Sora's throat would surely start to bleed soon with all of the screaming he was doing, but that wasn't too concerning to him at the moment. Struggling to calm his raging temper, Sora let the rest of his words quickly tumble out, no longer in the mood to play stupid games like this. "Riku's stopped breathing!" he explained quickly. "We... we were fighting and he just went all cold, he started to shake and then he stopped breathing! Please, you have to help him!"

Sora expected the nurse to stare in stunned silence, as Leon had done. To question his words, to make sure he spoke the truth.

But she didn't.

"Leon!" she quipped. "Go find Donald and bring him to the infirmary as fast as you can! Tell him to bring his staff, the weakest one he's got. And I don't care if you have to carry him, but I want both of you in the infirmary five minutes ago! Now GO!"

Leon left without another word. His legs flashed beneath him, bare feet slapping against the tiled floors as he took off on a well-memorized path, ripping through the throngs of people gathering by the outskirts of the hall and watching with wide eyes.

Sora blinked. Then he heard that tapping of feet scampering quickly over the floor, and he looked over to where Aerith had been. For a moment, he stood there, simply confused.

And then he turned and saw that Aerith was already racing towards the infirmary, leaving Sora behind without a second thought.

"H-hey!" he stammered, starting after her despite the fact that he was already out of breath. "Wait up!"

It didn't take long for Sora to catch up with the brunette whom, despite her dainty looking appearance, ran as quick as lightning. She flew up the staircase with Sora at her heels, who was running much less gratefully but just as swift. Sounds blurred past them with a quick zip, the pounding of footsteps and the rush of blood the only noise that they could hear. Background noise, consisting of murmurs and creaking doors, was drowned out by the beating of their hearts.

And neither one of them looked back.

Heads

By the time Sora and Aerith reached the infirmary, a small crowd of people had gathered by the doorway. Sora literally pushed him and Aerith a path, shoving the solicitors out of the way. Some feel over, crashing into others, making sounds of protest that rebounded off the door as Aerith slammed it shut behind her.

Cloud was where Sora had left him. Riku's shirt lay torn and discarded over the side of the bed, and Cloud had tore off the bandages that were wound tightly around the teen's chest to gain better access to the heart. The blond's left hand has two fingers pressing under Riku's chin to check for pulse as he used his other hand to pry open Riku's mouth, pressing his ear to it to listen and feel for any puff of breath.

Obviously, none were detected. Sora stood awkwardly at the edge of the bed while Aerith hurriedly left for the storage cupboard at the end of the room, watching as Cloud firmly pressed his mouth Riku's and let out a deep gust of air before drawing away and compressing the area under the boy's ribcage a number of times Sora couldn't bother to keep up with. He was too busy grasping at Riku's hand, holding it firmly in his own, as if the simple gesture would bring back the life to those unblinking eyes. Fill in the color that had drained away from him with his last breath.

But Riku couldn't be dead... the hand in his... it was sweating.

"He's sweating," he heard Aerith murmured distractedly as she returned to their side with a black metal box clutched in her shaking hands as she set it down on the bed. "He's still alive."

"...still alive."

'Still' alive?

Still?

Sora bit his bottom lip hard to keep back a sob that threatened to pass his mouth, hard enough so that a metallic taste entered his mouth. His hands were clutching desperately at Riku's cold one now, as if letting go meant Riku'd finally slip away from him for good.

"Sora... you may want to turn away," Aerith was advising him urgently. She flipped open the catch of her heavy-looking box and began to shift through its contents. The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard the more she searched until, finally, she pulled out what looked to be a steak knife. Only instead of a wooden hilt, it had a shiny metal one, and the blade had no ridges on it. It ran around six inches long and ended in a deadly point.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" Sora stuttered, watching as she brought it closer to Riku's heart. Cloud, he now noticed, has stop the chest compressions and was standing back, watching Aerith work carefully to cleanse as much sweat and blood from over Riku's chest as possible. She was bringing the tip to the skin now, and Sora clenched his teeth shut.

If he let out a little whimper when Aerith finally sank the scalpel into Riku's chest, neither adult noticed. Or at least they pretended not to.

"I need to get to the heart," she explained, obviously choosing her words carefully. The shiny blade was dug in a diagonal slash across Riku's chest, sinking in a good two inches. Blood seeped from the wound, bubbling over and staining pale skin into a torrent of crimson. Once she was done with this, she made an identical one in the opposite direction. Sora couldn't help but feel a bit queasy as he watched the nurse make an X-shaped wound over Riku's heart, a deep one that gushed thick, rich red blood.

And he finally looked away as she began to peel away the skin, forming an odd look square hole in the teen's chest, around three inches in all directions. Sora didn't look back around for several more moments, and that was only when he heard faint whisperings in a dialect that he couldn't understand. And when he didn't, he immediately felt the sickness in his stomach start to rise up, the taste of bile filling his mouth as he struggled to swallow against it, forcing himself to watch.

Riku's skin had a red tint to it now, looking a sick sort of pink. Aerith hand was hovering above the wound she'd inflicted on the teen, glowing a deadly looking green. The cut had stopped bleeding, and the blood seemed to be drawing itself back in, the crimson droplets that had managed to escape drying and caking on glowing skin. And then, Aerith's hand was pressed fully against the square puncture, blood oozing up and slipping up the crevices between her fingers.

"What... what are you doing?" Sora squeaked, taking a small step back beside himself, although never letting go of Riku's hand. Aerith, however, was too engrossed in her work to listen to any words spoken to her.

Sora was silent for a few more moments, slowly inching back to his original position. But he was compelled to repeat his question when his best friend began to squirm around on the bed, his lifeless eyes still blank and staring as his body rocked.

It was Cloud who answered him.

"She's pumping Riku's blood for him," Cloud murmured quietly, watching was a hint of curiosity in his eyes at the scene before him. He gently pressed Riku against the bed by his shoulder with apparent ease as the boy started to rise from his bed a little too far. Once Riku was secured safely, the blond continued with, "She can't heal him with magic, so she'll have to jumpstart the heart somehow. For now, she's doing the heart's job herself."

"You mean... Aerith is pumping all of that blood... with just her hand?" At Cloud's nod, Sora stared at the nurse in awe, mouth slightly agape.

"Don't ever under-estimate Aerith," Cloud said quietly, a hint of amusement hidden in his voice despite the situation.

Ignoring the adult's tone, Sora continued to watch in wonder as Riku's chest heaved in a slightly uneven pattern under Aerith's glowing hand, the mouth wide open and sucking in air with deep gasps and letting it out in what sounded like a low whistle. His body was still convulsing just as badly, but Aerith seemed to have found her rhythm and the silver-haired teen had ceased his bucking, simply rocking on the bed instead.

So absorbed in the situation, Sora didn't care to take notice of the arrival of two more people. One was squawking loudly, a large staff in one hand that had a mage's had perched at the end, and was tucked under a tall brunet's arm as he carried the outraged duck to Riku's beside.

If either found anything odd about the boy's condition, they hid the emotion. Leon simply crossed his arms, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that he was standing in a room full of people in nothing but his boxers, and watched as Donald muttered something about being so rudely interrupted about something or another as he rolled up the sleeves of his pinstriped pajama top and batted the poofy end of his nightcap from the front of his face.

Not a word was spoken between the two mages. Donald walked dutifully up to Aerith's side, peering over at the wound on Riku's chest. He watched for a few moments, taking in the shaking of Riku's body and how blood was slowly starting to seep from the cuts that marred white skin.

"All right, Aerith," he muttered quietly, raising his staff. The end of it, which was glowing amber, the aura seeming to seep through the room with a warm glow, over Aerith's hands. "When I count to three, move your hand..."

Aerith didn't bother to nod, not a word passing from her lips. She seemed to be in a trance where no one could reach her, not even if someone screamed at the top of their lungs in her ear.

"One..."

Sora opened his mouth to warn Aerith, but a firm hand clamped down on his forearm and yanked. Out of surprise, Sora dropped Riku's hand. He stumbled backwards and into a firm chest. Looking up angrily, Sora saw eyes that matched his own staring down at him.

"Two..."

Sora looked away, turning his gaze back to his friend who was jerking almost violently on the bed now, his head thrashing back and forth. It seemed that magic couldn't force the heart to work forever.

But then... what was Donald planning on doing?

"THREE!"

It all happened in the span of two seconds. Aerith's hand snapped back as soon as the number was snapped and she darted backwards, away from the bed. Donald brought the tip of his staff down until it was pressing deeply towards Riku's heart and then, with one word, the room exploded in yellow light.

"LIGHTNING!"

Sora shut his eyes against the brightness, grunting as Cloud forced him farther away from the bed. Every hair on his body stood on end, prickling up and towards the mage and his magic. A loud buzzing noise filled the air, sparks flying every which way.

And then...

A loud scream.

End Chapter

I haven't left a cliffhanger in so long, so I just couldn't resist! Hahaha... this story had already gotten pretty long. Riku might have died.

Or did he?

Heeheehee. That was a lot of fun to write. Hope you all liked it! Please drop me a review!