Sassy's Note: And now I will reveal a little bit more. Just remember not to start hating me.
The World's Heart
"Hey? You okay?"
Sora looked up at Riku, eyes wide and innocent. With half a laugh he grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"You're awfully quiet as of recently." Riku leaned up against the tree. The two of them had snuck away to the small island for some peace, but Sora looked far from peaceful in Riku's opinion.
"Really?"
"Yes. What's up?"
Sora cracked his knuckles distractedly and took a moment to respond. "Guess I'm just missing Kairi. Bit nervous about college too, I guess."
"It's not like you to worry."
"Yeah, I know, but this is… a big change, right?"
Riku snorted softly and ruffled Sora's hair. "It's nothing we can't handle."
"Yeah. I know."
They both went quiet, but it wasn't that usual comfortable silence they usually sat in. It was tense. Sora was nervous. Riku examined him carefully. He was sitting cross-legged in the sad, idly drawing patterns with his fingers. His brow was slightly furrowed, and he was biting on his lip. He seemed fidgety. A bird cried overhead, and he jumped. Something was definitely not right with the boy.
Riku dropped down in the sand beside his best friend. "Sora."
"Hmm?"
"Look at me."
"What?" Blue eyes caught Riku's inquiringly.
"I'm going to ask you one more time, and I want the truth. What's wrong? You haven't been acting like yourself at all. Is it Vale? Are you really that worried about college? Or are you still stuck on that door?"
"But… but, nothing's…"
"Look, your mother's worried and I'm worried. Just tell me, Sora. Please."
The brunet bit his lip again and looked back down on the sand. Riku just waited, watching him closely.
"It's… well, I hope it's nothing," Sora finally said. "I know you'll probably think I'm crazy, but I really, really don't like that door. It always gave me the heebie-jeebies, but now it's a lot worse." He raised his gaze back to Riku. "You don't… you don't think I'm crazy, do you?"
His voice sounded so unsure of itself that it stunned Riku for a moment. He thought back to hearing the things he had. That disembodied voice… the feeling that he himself was going crazy. Could Sora be hearing it too?
"Why would you think you're crazy?"Riku asked, his voice a whisper.
"Because… because it won't get out of my head!" Sora's hands clenched into fists. "I keep thinking about it and it won't go away! And… and I'm… filled with all these questions. Why is it here? Where is the keyhole? What's stopping those Heartless? Why do I - …" He stopped suddenly, chest heaving with emotion. So something was in his head.
"Sora…"
"I don't understand, Riku," he said softly. "I don't understand… why."
"Why what? Sora, you're not making any sense." The silver-hair teen leaned over closer. "Has anything been… talking to you?"
Immediately Sora sprang to his feet, eyes wide. "We can't talk about it here!" he said frantically. "Come on, let's go home!"
Riku, nonplussed and slightly horrified, rose to his feet as well.
---
"You two are no fun tonight," said Ileana with a fake sigh of sadness. She gathered up her paperwork and stored it away in a briefcase. "So I'm going to run off to bed. Goodnight, boys."
"Goodnight," Sora said with a slight smile.
"Night," said Riku.
"See you in the morning," she said, smiling at them, before she vanished from the doorway.
It would be the last time Ileana would see her son before he disappeared.
---
"Sora," Riku said sternly, catching the brunet's shoulder as he tried to walk past. Sora put up a weak struggle, but then sighed in defeat.
"Yeah…Okay, let's talk." They sat down again on the couch. Sora still wouldn't meet Riku's eye, so the silver-haired teen took the initiative.
"What were you saying before? You freaked out when I asked if anything had been talking to you."
"I… I thought you may have been hearing it too, but I wasn't sure until now… Heh, so I'm not crazy. Not if someone else can hear it too."
"What exactly are you hearing?"
Sora fidgeted a bit more, like he'd been doing all through dinner. "It's… a voice." He paused, and Riku waited. "And it tells me things. Like, about the door."
"What kinds of things?"
"Tells me that it's not solid and it's quite easy to get around if you know how. It said that the Heartless know how. They can do it if they wanted to. They're just behind the door."
Riku stared at Sora. How could there possibly be anything behind the door? Heartless did not wait for an invitation to come out and devastate a world. They did as they needed to in order to devour the hearts they needed.
Maybe Sora really was going crazy. It was a horrible thought.
"Didn't… didn't the voice tell you that, too?" Sora asked meekly. His bottom lip was swollen and dark red from all the gnawing and abuse on it.
Riku slowly shook his head. "It says… retarded things to me.Something about a prince." He snorted. "Like I know any princes…"
"… Prince?"
"Yeah. Something like that. I don't know. It's vague and sporadic. How often have you heard it?"
"… More often than you have… I… I'm sure of it."
Sora really looked upset now. In fact, he looked almost ready to cry. This also discontented Riku. If they were both hearing the same voice, then something was up, and he was willing to bet all the munny in his name that it wasn't good. Riku, however, had been in situations like this before, and as such, knew that panicking or getting too upset would not help at all.
"Hey, hey, calm down," Riku said, laying a hand on Sora's shoulder. "This is nothing to lose your head over."
"But…"
"Shush." He playfully thumped the younger teen's forehead. "Now, listen. In the morning, we'll call up Leon and the others and tell them what's going on. They'll get King Mickey on it, and everything will be okay. You don't need to worry about this. You're not going crazy. The voice isn't hurting you, right?"
"… No…"
"Then it can wait a few hours. You look exhausted. Go get some rest. In the morning, I promise, we'll start trying to figure all this stuff out."
With a smile, Sora stood. "Thanks… I…" He looked at Riku for a moment, then pounced. With a startled yelp, Riku fell off the couch with an armful of emotional Sora.
"What… the hell?"
"You're the best," came the whispered reply as Sora hugged him tightly around the neck. "I'll never find a better friend than you."
---
Riku woke up early the next morning. He found himself eager to finally deal with this door mess so Sora would go back to normal. As normal as Sora ever was. It was disheartening to see a boy normally so passive about danger lose his head over something.
In the kitchen, he went about making coffee and toast as always. He even poured a glass of juice for Sora and set it on the table where the brunet usually sat. He was in an unusually good mood despite what had happened the day before. He sat down, sipping his coffee with a small smile.
It was thirty minutes before anyone else entered the kitchen. Ileana shuffled in, chirping a good morning in Riku's direction. She was delighted that coffee was already made and promptly kissed both of his cheeks.
Riku checked the clock. It had been a full hour and Sora had still not come down. It was unusual, yeah, but stress and worry always made Riku more tired than ever. He'd give his friend a bit more time until he finally went to get him.
At the two hour mark, Riku began to worry. He didn't think Sora had ever slept in this late. Ileana had already run off to work, telling Riku check on Sora and make sure he was alright. She seemed worried about him, too. Riku figured he would go upstairs, pounce on Sora, and tickle the boy out of bed.
As he ascended the steps, he began to feel… strange. Like, a warmth he couldn't explain, followed by a sudden horrible chill. He shivered.
"Sora!" He called out before even at the top of the stairs. "You up yet?" No answer came. With a frown, the silver-haired teen jumped up the last few steps. "You sick or something, Sora?" He rapped his knuckles a couple of times on his bedroom door. "Hey! Open up, sleepy!"
Still, no answered was forthcoming."Sora?" Then, that warmth came and settled over him, speeding away as fast as it came, and Riku panicked.
"Sora! Open the door!" He beat on it with his fist. "SORA! Sora, I'm coming in!" With all the strength he possessed, he slammed his side into the door, and it gave. In he tumbled into the smaller Keybearer's room. Clothes and all sorts of things were strewn about the floor. Books and DVDs lay haphazardly all over the shelves. The bed was unmade, and the covers were lumpy, but there was no Sora to be found beneath them.
Riku's heart pounded wildly against his rib cage. His eyes darted around the room. Okay, no sign of an attack. That was good. He looked to the bedside table. Sora's cell phone lay there. That wasn't good. Sora usually took his phone wherever he went.
The silver-haired teen summoned the Way to Dawn to his hand and stepped further into the room. Nothing jumped out at him. He moved slowly, though, on his guard. He didn't sense anything. In fact, he seemed to be the only living being in the house.
He took a few deep, calming breaths. Okay, so Sora wasn't in the house. There were plenty of other placed he could be.
---
Riku had checked across the entirety of the mainland, and he was sure Sora wasn't there. With only one more place he could possibly be flashing across Riku's mind, he rowed as fast as he could toward the little island. He was there; Riku was sure of it.
---
Leon was only a bit startled when his phone rang. It was lunchtime, and usually by now no one – not even members of the Restoration Committee – bothered to call him. Cloud and Aerith looked at him expectantly, and with a shrug, he pulled his phone out and looked down at it.
"It's… Sora," he said, a bit dumbstruck, staring at the device and the name it displayed.
"Well answer him," said Aerith with a bit of a laugh. Cloud shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Slightly abashed, the scarred man brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Leon…" The voice definitely wasn't Sora's. It was much too deep and much too strained.
"Riku? Is that you?"
"Yeah…"
"What's up?" Cloud gave him a raised eyebrow, and the man shrugged again.
"Something's… not right…" The teen's voice sounded so helpless at that moment that Leon knew it was something serious.
"What's wrong?" he demanded, springing to his feet. Cloud did the same. Aerith's eyes widened.
"I-I… I can't… find… Sora's missing."
---
The gummi ship touched down on the beach in front of Riku. He shielded his eyes from the sand it kicked up and took a step backward to allow the hatch to open. As soon as the engines died away, out of the ship came Leon and Cloud, Aerith and Yuffie, Donald and Goofy, King Mickey, then finally Reno and Rude. Riku nodded stiffly at each of them. Cid gambled out last. He was obviously the one who had piloted the ship.
"Hell of a ride," he said offhandedly. "Long, too. The sun's settin'."
"We won't be able to go tonight," said Leon, worriedly rubbing the bridge of his nose.
The King stepped forward and directed at Riku, "Where's his mother?" Riku, biting his lip, pointed towards the house not too far away. Mickey nodded gravely. "I need to speak with her." Riku nodded as well, and the mouse started off in that direction. The teenager nervously watched him go, hoping he could sooth Ileana's fears about her missing son.
Riku felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. Aerith smiled reassuringly at him, and appreciating her presence, he returned it feebly.
"First thing in the morning," said Leon, fingering his Gunblade, "We'll check out that door."
Riku nodded. He was ready.
To be continued…
Sassy: Wow, that was kinda boring, wasn't it? No matter, it'll pick up. Getting tired of flashbacks, yet? Get used to them; they're important.
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