Chapter 5
Does your heart desire…Trust?
Roxas and company were all settled around a small campfire, Cloud and Zack both slept sat up against a tree, their weapons leant against their shoulders, Reno lay sprawled out on the ground, where as Roxas was curled up, sweat dripped from his forehead as visions of what happened replayed in his mind, his face contorted in fear. Unbeknownst to the group darkness shadowed over them, eyes of red and teeth of white shone in the tree's white light. Cloud stirred to the uneasiness surrounding them, his ice blue eyes shifted to look around, he tightened his grip on his mighty sword, a huge, black shadow ran across in the distance, slowly he stood up,
"Zack…Zack" he whispered, Zack shook his head, his blue eyes rose up to Clouds, Cloud placed his index fingers to his lips, Zack nodded and to got in a battle stance, Cloud silently crept up to where Roxas and Reno slept, a sound of a twig breaking made Cloud raise his head quickly, he quickly scanned the area, whilst looking ahead Cloud shook Roxas's shoulders, Roxas whimpered at the contact, he opened his eyes, his sky blue clashing with Ice blue, he opened his mouth but Cloud shook his head silencing Roxas, Cloud then poked Reno in the back with his swords hilt, Reno shifted uncomfortably to this,
"Stop it you jerk," Reno groaned, Cloud frowned and poked him harder,
"Leave me alone!" Reno yelped, Cloud's hand quickly covered the red heads lips; silence quilted the air, Roxas's eyes narrowed to adjust to the light,
"Some things out there" he simply said, suddenly a low growl shattered the silence, the gang leapt into battle positions, the white trees before them began to disappear, the trees snapped before them, and then a huge bear burst through the forest, its fur glistened in the light, armour covered the bears back, chest, neck and head,
"It's an armoured bear!" Reno cried, the trio gave him a well-duh- kind of glare, the bears red eyes burned at them, it then raised its mighty head, now it stood on its hind legs and must have been around twenty foot, the foursome stared up at it mouths open in shock,
"Bugger" Zack sighed, he then raised his sword and leapt up at the creature, he waited till he was above the bears head, he then brought down his sword upon the creature, however metal scraped against metal, the bear shook its head throwing Zack off, he landed gracefully on the ground, Cloud gave him a concerned look, Zack shook his head in signal of confirming that he wasn't injured, Cloud turned at ran at the bears torso, the bear glared down towards him, it then raised its paw and swiped at him, barely missing Cloud leapt out of the way, the paw swiped into a tree causing the tree to shatter into splinters, Roxas took the opportunity and with his two swords Oathkeeper and Oblivion he used his spiral leap and attacked the bears torso, it had no effect, the bear swung its huge paw and wiped Roxas away, he landed in a huge heap on the floor,
"ROXAS!" yelled Reno, Roxas slowly lifted his head, his arm was sore but wasn't seriously damaged, he had managed to form a protection sphere around him before the bear struck him, he stood up warily and ran from the beast,
"What are going to do?" Reno asked, the gang looked at him,
"I don't know" Cloud said, everyone looked at Zack and he shrugged,
"Not good" Roxas said as they looked onwards at the bear, hope slowly leaving them.
Ciara ran through the forest at high speeds, she leapt over fallen logs as if they were nothing, Sora grasped onto a handful of fur on her shoulders, his Keyblade at the ready, he looked onwards between Ciara's ears, her body moved with such grace and gentleness, Sora had grown accustomed to the movement of her back underneath as she ran, he thought it odd to ride a wolf, but in some way it felt like riding a horse, suddenly Ciara came to a halt which nearly made Sora loose his balance,
"What's the matter?" he asked as he attempted to look over her shoulders, she remained quiet,
"Ciara?" he asked again, Ciara's ears flicked back to him then forward again,
"Bear" she simply said as she moved forwards, Sora took this chance to peer over the side, and he saw a set of huge tracks, he looked forwards again,
"Err we seem to be heading in the same direction as it" Sora said, Ciara chuckled slightly causing Sora to shimmy to one side, he righted himself and smiled sheepishly,
"I think your friends are where the bear is heading" she said, Sora's eyes widened in horror,
"We have to hurry then" he said, Ciara nodded her head as she quickened her pace so now they were in a full gallop, Sora bit his lip in fear of what might be happening to his friends.
"RENO!" Roxas called as Reno was knocked to the ground, Roxas ran to his side, he helped sit him up,
"I'm fine don't worry about me Yo" Reno said weakly, but he put on a winners smile, Roxas smiled back at him, a loud roar ripped him from his thoughts, the bear swiped at the duo, Roxas closed his eyes and readied himself for the impact…nothing, Roxas opened his eyes again to see Cloud fending of the bear with his sword,
"You two ok?" he asked strained, Roxas helped Reno to stand and got into a stance,
"We're good" they both said, Zack then knocked the bear in its side, the bear snarled as it turned its head towards him, with one huge swipe of its paws, the gang ended up in a huge heap on the ground, battered and sore they didn't have the strength to stand,
"Damn it!" Cloud said through gritted teeth, the bear rose on its hind legs once again and stood before the gang, its huge shadow covering the ground before it, it let out a terrifying roar that made the very earth tremble, then a low howl filled the air, a strange wind blew through the forest, the bear seemed to become uneasy as it glanced from side to side, the full moon shone brightly above the forest, suddenly a huge wolf leapt over the tree's upon its back was Sora,
"Sora you're alive!" Roxas cried, the bear snarled as it turned its head towards the duo, Sora then leapt of the wolf's back,
"Vortex!" he yelled, and then a wind began to spin around him causing him to spin as well, he spun holding his sword out, striking the beast with force which knocked it off balance, Sora landed upon Ciara's back once more, Ciara landed on all fours on the ground before the fallen creature, the bear rose again and lunged at the two, Ciara gracefully side stepped the attack and lunged at the bears neck, tooth bit through metal as the bear growled in pain, it quickly raised its head taking Ciara and Sora with it, Sora let go of Ciara's fur and landed on the ground, he looked up to see Ciara still clinging onto the bears neck, the bear then raised its clawed paw and swiped her off its neck, Ciara landed on her side, she let out of whimper but quickly got back on her feet,
"You ready?" she asked, Sora nodded his head, a white light surrounded the duo, Sora raised his Keyblade up towards the moon,
"Wolf's song!" they cried, the ground shook as Ciara howled out, and the light vanished,
"Hunting Fang!" they both cried as Sora leapt on Ciara's back and they charged towards the bear, Sora swung his sword and Ciara charged into the great beasts torso, the trio vanished into the forest, leaving the rest behind,
"Err what just happened?" Reno asked, they all had sat up and shrugged their shoulders, Roxas' s eyes were wide with shock of what just happened, he attempted to stand but his legs buckled beneath him and he fell,
"SORA!" he yelled, his voice echoed through the air, desperation started to grip at Roxas's chest, suddenly whimpering could be heard, it got closer, and then walking out from the trees was Ciara and Sora, both bloodied and panting hard, Ciara collapsed beside Sora,
"Ciara…are you ok?" he asked in a shaky voice, Ciara looked up at him with pained eyes, she forced a smile,
"I'll be fine, I just need to rest" she said as she closed her eyes, Sora panicked, he struggled to remain standing but he still tried to awaken Ciara,
"Come on get up…pl…please" Sora said in a quaky voice, his vision blurred, his head became light, he then passed out onto Ciara's back,
"SORA!" the gang called, suddenly forgetting their own pain, they ran to the duo, Roxas grabbed Sora and cradled him in his arms, Blood trickled out from the corner of Sora's mouth, cuts covered his entire body, a large gash gnawed at his left side,
"Oh Sora…" Roxas sighed, Cloud grabbed Roxas's shoulder,
"Reno can you get the helicopter here?" he asked, Reno nodded as he whacked out his cell phone, Cloud then looked over to the wolf, who had opened her eyes and was now staring at him,
"Thank you for looking after him" Cloud said, the wolf glared at him, a silver light then appeared around her body, it got brighter causing the gang to close their eyes, they opened their eyes once again to see a young woman with silver hair and fur clothing standing before them, blood trailed down her arms and seeped through her fur garments, she looked pained but still she held her strong posture, her hair glistened in the moonlight,
"You must leave" she said, the gang looked at her, Cloud stepped towards her slowly, he outstretched his hand,
"You can come with us" he said, his features softened, the woman before him was simply beautiful, her gold eyes contrasted her silver hair, her figure was that of a Goddess, slightly tanned skin, curves in all the right places, she stood about just the same height as Cloud 5 ft 11, she must have been around 24, she lowered her head
"I can't" she simply said as she stepped back, Cloud continued to walk towards her,
"You're too injured to stay here" Cloud said firmly, Ciara just glared at him,
"I have suffered worse" she said through gritted teeth, Zack shook his head,
"He's right you know" he said, Ciara turned to face him,
"I have lived here for 24 years" she stated, Zack shrugged,
"Yes but our friend that you helped, he will want to know if you're ok, so it's best if you come anyway" Zack said, Cloud nodded, Ciara stared at Sora who lay limp in Roxas's arms, her eyes saddened but she quickly shook her head,
"I am the guardian of the forest, I have to stay here" she growled, suddenly flames enveloped her body, the flames grew, and then in a huge burst the flames vanished to show the wolf, Cloud only just stood up to her eye level, her eyes glazed over as the lose of blood started to take effect,
"You…have to go" she panted, her body swayed slightly, she turned to leave but her legs crumpled underneath her and she fell to the floor.
Ciara woke to a bright light gleaming in her eyes, lifting her hand above her eyes she noticed that she was no longer in her forest of white tree's, no now she was in a room of black, literally black walls, black carpet, curtains, duvet and pillows,
"How cheerful…"she said to herself, she looked towards where the only light was coming from, a small strip of light pierced through the black, velvet curtains, she undraped herself from the duvet that covered her, and shakily walked towards the curtains, pulling them back ever so slightly, her eyes widened as they gazed a steel forest, building spread through miles on end, people strode around with weird clothes on, no trees of white, no trees at all, Ciara panicked slightly as she pulled the curtains closed again, her eyes adjusting to the dark.
"I need to get out of here" she whispered to herself, suddenly she caught a glimpse of a darker shadow in the room, squinting her eyes she saw a figure sitting by the far wall, she slowly crept up on hands on knees to see who it could be.
Roxas never slept when they got back, they had all come back around four thirty in the morning, tiredly they all trenched back into the house, Roxas carrying Sora and Cloud carrying Ciara, who had turned into her human form at some point. Roxas had placed Sora in bed after cleaning his wounds and bandaging them, he had removed his new clothes, which seemed to have repaired themselves, he didn't remove the choker, that's because he couldn't, so now Sora lay in bed in a bed shirt, well one of Zack's tops, so it looked like a huge night gown on Sora. The young Keyblade master never looked so vulnerable, bandaged up and weakened, yet he had a face of an angel, his light brown hair, fanned around his face,
"Sora…man, I don't know what to say" Roxas growled out, he sat on the bed next to Sora, he gently grasped Sora's hand and squeezed it gently, tears pricked at the corner of his eyes, and they trickled down Roxas's skin onto Sora's cheek, Roxas silently sobbed to himself,
"Rox…Roxas?" a voice groaned, Roxas opened his eyes to stare into pained sapphire ones of Sora, he then tightened his grip on Sora's hand,
"Hey, I'm here, its ok" he said, Sora smiled at him weakly, he lifted his free hand up above him, it trembled slightly, Roxas grabbed it softly and Sora weakly held onto it,
"Roxas…I'm sorry" he said, Roxas peered down at him,
"What for silly?" he said, a smile on his lips,
"I didn't get there in time..." Sora said his voice trembled as he spoke, Roxas frowned slightly,
"No it was my fault, I shouldn't have left you" Roxas said, Sora stared up at him,
"He looks so broken, not smiling like he use to" Roxas thought to himself, his lips trembled slightly as they both stared into each others eyes.
"Oh no, not him" Ciara whispered harshly as she glared into the darkened face of Cloud, she silently backed away, her eyes never leaving his face, suddenly her hand came in contact with something cold, Ciara froze to the sudden sensation, she let her hand explore the coldness blindly, it felt smooth like metal…wait metal? She looked down towards where her hand lay, her eyes widened when she saw that her chest armour and fur garments were lying in a pile on the floor, she gazed down her body to see that she was wearing nothing but a huge black top that just covered her lower body, her cheeks burned in embarrassment,
"They're all men…that means?...how dare they!" she growled in her head, she looked at Cloud once more, not caring about not waking him up she rose and stood before him…SLAP! Cloud yelped as he raised his hand up to his now red cheek, eyes full of shock and confusion,
"What was that for?!" he yelled, Ciara just glared down at him, anger obvious in her golden eyes,
"How dare you?!" she growled fiercely, Cloud looked at her quizzically, suddenly he noticed that she was standing next to her garments and his face reddened,
"Listen to me first before you jump to conclusions" Cloud began he slowly rose from his spot, his hands raised up before him in a defensive manner, Ciara just snarled at him,
"What is there to listen to?" she hissed, her hands flaying around, Cloud sighed in frustration, Ciara just growled at him, her hands now placed on her hips, her teeth bared at him,
"Look, I had to change those clothes and bandage you or else you would of bled to death" Cloud stated, Ciara rolled her eyes,
"I don't even know you…and you go and change my clothes whilst I'm unconscious" Ciara snapped at him, Cloud shied his eyes away finding the carpet very interesting,
"I'm sorry but I had to do something" Cloud defended, Ciara shook her head, she then knelt in front of Cloud and brought her face near his,
"I hate you…and I don't know you" she growled out, she then stood and went and picked her clothes,
"I'm leaving" she snarled as she walked towards the window. Cloud quickly recovered from his shock as he saw Ciara waltz towards the window, he leapt up and strode across the room,
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, he then grabbed her hand and pulled her against him, her back connected against his hard chest,
"Let go of me, you have no right!" she snarled at him, she turned and struck him continuously on his chest, however Cloud did nothing but only tighten his grip upon her wrist.
Roxas growled incoherently mutterings, as he heard the scuffle that was happening down the hall,
"We did warn him" he mused to himself, he drew his attention back to the fallen key blade master, Sora's face had become flushed with red, cold sweat formed on his forehead, his hair becoming damp from the moisture, his breathe became short and harsh, through gritted teeth,
"Sora?" Roxas said, his eyes widened, he placed his hand upon the boys' forehead and quickly withdrew it,
"Damn it!" he cussed, he leapt off the bed and quickly ran into the bathroom, he then grabbed a hand towel and soaked it with cold water, he then ran back over to the bed and placed the towel upon Sora's forehead, it seemed to have worked slightly, his red cheeks seemed to lighten of colour, Roxas sighed heavily in relief,
"Come on Sora…" he growled out