The Tale of the Lost

PandaShadow

Doing Something Right

A/N: Hi there. I am proud I managed to get this chapter out today. Honestly, I don't like how it turned out. I had an immensely hard time writing it, and it got to the point where I wanted to throw my laptop across my room in frustration. It's super short, which I apologize for, and the descriptions get quite lackluster. Maybe one day I will come back and edit it, but right now I just want to be done with it so that I can move on.

Anyway, there is some relevant character development here. Yeah. And thank you to everyone who reviews. And thank you to my beta ArmadillloHunter, even though she hasn't yet seen this chapter. Really, I just want to get rid of it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I own Meera. And my plot. Don't steal them. I'll… I don't even have a good word for it today. Just don't do it. Please?

Without further ado, I present chapter eight!

Meera stared at Kairi as she was attempting to explain what had just happened to her. All she could pick out was "stop" "time" "lady" "portal" and "you." It was entirely unhelpful; how was she supposed to form any conclusions from that set of words?

"Kairi," she interrupted, "calm down. Take a few deep breaths, and then use punctuation when you talk."

Said Keyblade-wielder did as she was told. She braced herself against the brick wall beside her as she thought of a way to more clearly convey to her new friend exactly what had happened. "Well," she began, "there was this lady named Evelynn. And I think she knows you. And she stopped time, but I could still move. She told me to tell you that, involving whatever you picked up today, if you are ever in trouble, all you have to do is say her name into it and... she would protect you? Something like that. She said to always keep it with you."

Meera crinkled her face. "If that isn't suspicious, I don't know what is. Did she have black hair?"

"No," Kairi answered, confused.

"Well, then. Pretend I never asked," Meera continued. She thought, perhaps, that this "Evelynn" was behind the crows that seemed to be following her everywhere, but the mental image they gave her was of a woman with curly, black hair. Therefore, if Evelynn didn't have black hair, she must not be the crow-lady. She was about to continue asking Kairi about exactly what happened, curious as to how everything seemed to involve her lately, but she was interrupted by the sound of two teenage males bickering.

"I told you they would be fine."

"But you didn't know that! What if-"

"It doesn't matter 'what-if', Sora. The point is that they are fine. Perfectly safe. Standing right there. Completely unharmed."

Sora pouted, but his face lit up a little when he saw the expressions of the two females. Lea was just apathetically leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. "Oh, hi."

Meera raised an eyebrow and Kairi smiled. "How nice of you to come looking for us." The burgundy-haired-girl stepped closer to the pair as she spoke.

"You should know that he didn't even consider the idea until you decided to leave, too," Riku contributed, earning him a glare from Sora.

"Oh?" Meera asked, staying where she was. "I see how much my presence is valued." Kairi turned around, as though she was going to apologize for them, but Riku spoke before she got the chance.

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't just run off with Axel, or Lea, or whoever, without even giving us an explanation," Riku bit back. It annoyed him that she would try and blame them for not "valuing her presence" when she made such selfish decisions to begin with.

"It isn't any of your business what I do or who I hang out with!" she exclaimed, not realizing how close her words were to Riku's when he had been justifying not going and looking for her. It seemed his own argument was turning back on him.

"That was exactly my point!" he yelled. Lea's eyes opened at that moment, and he scrutinized Meera's expression. While her face had tensed, she didn't seem to be upset. He chose not to intervene. After all, if she was going to keep the truth about him a secret from them, he would give her the opportunity to prove that she could handle the consequences.

"It didn't sound like it was your point," she responded, though not yelling. "It sounds like you don't think Kairi and I can handle ourselves. I know I suck at magic right now, but I'm not an invalid, Riku. And Kairi is perfectly fine on her own."

"I didn't even want to come and look for either of you!" Riku was still yelling. Meera took a deep breath and tried to ignore the memories that his voice yelling at her was dragging up from the depths of her mind. She could handle it. She could handle it.

"I'm not sure which is worse," she snapped, "thinking we can't handle ourselves without someone breathing down our shoulder at all times of the day, or not even caring at all."

"It's hard to care when you make it so abundantly clear that you wouldn't do the same for us!"

Meera's heart skipped a beat. "I could never care about you now that you've made it clear that you don't give a damn about me!" It was too similar. She had built up her wall; her wall had kept out the memories of yelling and violence. Unfortunately, her wall wasn't strong enough to withstand both yelling and similar words and meanings. It felt as though a part of her sternum cracked, and the world around her began to blur as tears filled up her eyes. She didn't want them to see her like that, so she turned and ran. She didn't know where she was going; she just ran and ran until she was exhausted and slumped down against a wall, curling up into a ball and openly crying into her knees.

"Damn," Lea muttered. "I should have seen that coming." He turned his green eyes on Riku, taking in the confused expression painted on his face. Sora and Kairi had simply observed the exchange with their mouths slightly open and their eyes wide. Lea pushed off of the wall and started off in the direction Meera had run off in when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't," Riku said. "I don't understand what I did, or why she hates me so much, but this is my problem and I'll deal with it on my own." Lea turned and scrutinized him again. He seemed sincere; the confusion was certainly genuine, and he even looked a bit concerned. He wasn't sure that hearing even more of Riku's talking would help the problem, but Lea supposed it wouldn't hurt the situation overly much to at least let him try. He nodded and got out of Riku's way. The silver-haired-boy only briefly hesitated before taking off in the direction Meera had gone.

"Axel," Sora addressed the used-to-be Nobody, "what's going on?"

"It's Lea, kid. How many times do I need to tell you?" he explained, facing the pair he was left alone with. Sora's eyes grew steely and Kairi's sparkled with concern. This was a problem he hadn't anticipated, though he really should have. He could either tell them what was going on, against Meera's wishes, or simply refuse to explain. "And it isn't really my problem to share." He went for the second option.

"But Lea," Kairi began, "if she is really in trouble, or something is seriously wrong, don't you feel like we should know?"

Lea shook his head slightly. Those two had barely known Meera for a week and they were already almost as concerned about her as they would be for any other friend they'd had for years. "The only reason I know about her problem is that I was there for a good portion of it," he explained. "I imagine she'll tell you when she's ready."

"Does this have to do with her trying to kill herself a bunch of times?" Sora asked, forgetting that Kairi hadn't been made aware of that fact. The girl's eyes widened, but Lea spoke before she could ask for clarification.

"She's still trying that?" he asked exasperatedly. She had only tried once when she had been in his custody, and he had hoped it was a one-time thing. Apparently not. "Her ability to rationalize her own actions has always astounded me, but this is taking it to a whole new level."

"Wait, Sora, what are you talking about?" Kairi finally asked. He turned in her direction as though he had almost forgotten she was there.

"Oh. Well, Cloud told me before we left to keep an eye on her and that she tries to kill herself every now and then," he explained as if was no big deal. Kairi remained silent as Sora thought about exactly what he said. "I don't suppose that would have been enough to provoke her to try again, do you?"

"Sora, didn't you ever think Riku and I should know that?" she asked, frustration seeping into her tone. "Maybe he would stop being so harsh if he knew that she was mentally unstable!"

"She isn't mentally unstable!" Sora explained. "When she isn't in one of her suicidal spells, she is completely normal."

"That doesn't make her mentally stable. It just means that her instability has to be provoked," the burgundy-haired girl responded. Lea decided the argument had gone on long enough.

"Look, it should be fine. I was just talking to her earlier and, once she gets her emotions out of the way, I'm sure everything will go back to normal," he comforted the two. "Well, then. I'm going home. If you need me, you can ask Hayner where I'm staying. If you don't need me, don't bother me."

He walked away as Sora and Kairi exchanged a confused glance. "Well, I guess if he thinks it's fine..." Kairi began.

"Then it must be okay. I'll trust him. He was, apparently, there when everything happened," Sora finished. Kairi faced him directly.

"Were you really that worried that I couldn't handle myself?" she asked him, her voice soft. His cheeks lit up, but not quite enough to catch the burgundy-haired girl's attention.

"I mean, I trust you and I don't think you're helpless, but I just don't want you to hurt or abducted or anything like that," he explained, scratching the back of his head and avoiding her eyes. She smiled.

"Thank you, Sora," she responded. "It makes me happy that you care about me."

Meera didn't move when she felt someone sit down beside her. It wasn't like she didn't know who it was. That did not, however, mean that she wanted to deal with him. She would have liked nothing more than to be able to sit by herself and let out her emotions, but it appeared he wouldn't let that happen.

"I don't know what I did-"

"You didn't do anything," she interrupted without raising her head. "This isn't a problem you can fix, Riku."

He was silent for a moment. "Fine. I do know what I did. I yelled at you. And it got you upset. That's what I don't get."

"You don't need to 'get' anything," Meera responded. "It isn't your problem."

"You make it my problem when you start freaking out and running away from us," he explained. She looked up then. His expression was apologetic, and his lips were placed in a grim line. "Did you ever consider that, maybe, the reason I don't care is that you expect me not to?"

"Maybe I wouldn't expect it if you proved me wrong," she replied quietly, her eyebrows bunching together. He looked straight ahead of him again as he thought of a response.

"Well, if we're going to keep going on this journey together," he began, "then Kairi was right, back in Radiant Garden. We should at least try to get along. Truce?" he asked, looking back at her and sticking out his hand.

She stared at it with an expression he likened to how one would look if they smelled vomit in a trashcan they were passing. Ignoring his hand, she pushed herself off of the ground. He looked away as she wiped dirt off of her shorts and legs. It was unfortunate that she wasn't going to agree. He supposed he would just have to try harder... and yell at her less.

Or, at least, that was his plan before she saw her pale hand stretched out in front of his face. He looked up and saw one of her slender eyebrows raised expectantly. "Are you just going to keep sitting there, or are you going to grab my hand and stand up?" she asked. Riku smiled a small smile and grasped her hand, fragile-feeling and so much smaller than his, before rising to his feet in front of her. Her grey eyes didn't seem particularly happy, but she didn't look upset anymore either. He supposed that meant he did the right thing - finally.

"Olette offered to let you and Kairi stay the night at her house," he said. "I can show you there. If you want, I mean." Meera tilted her head before nodding and following him.

They didn't talk much on the way there. It seemed that neither one of them wanted to disturb their new truce with snappy words or feelings, and Meera certainly wasn't feeling anything unsnappy. It didn't take them long to reach Olette's house, however, and before Meera knocked on the door, she turned to face Riku again. Seeing his face got less and less difficult every time.

"Thanks," she told him, "for caring enough to come after me." Without giving him a chance to comment, she knocked on the door. Only a few seconds later, Kairi opened it and smiled.

"Glad to see everything worked out," she said, glancing at Riku's surprised expression. Meera simply nodded and walked through the door with the other female, leaving Riku to stare at it the closed slab of wood as though it was what thanked him instead of the red-haired girl.

Yes, it seemed he had finally done something right.

A/N: Well, there you go. Sorry about the second half there. I really did have issues with it. It included me staring at the screen for about two hours, hoping the words to convey what I wanted to convey would just magically pop into my head. Review if you so desire and, as usual, the next chapter will be up on Sunday!

C. E. Taylor