Whoa, lots happened in the first chapter, didn't it? If it feels like I'm rushing into it a bit, I'm sorry. I'm still kinda new to this whole plot twist thing. But anyway, let's get to what's going to happen here.

Sora reveals his gift to Xaros – and Xaros is more shocked than pleased at receiving them. He doesn't feel ready for such a gift. Before he could refuse, they are interrupted by an old friend of Sora's and the atmosphere clears…until he leaves. Then things take a turn for the worse, when the precious gift gets stolen and only horror awaits them…

Ch. 2: Blood

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

I stared at the gleaming silver blades uncertainly. Each blade of the swords was a bit longer than my forearm, and their guards were pure gold. The handles appeared to be covered in padded leather. The hilts were adorned with a clear, golden gem in the center, and the pommels had the same strange stones, but they were larger than those on the hilt and had a Star of David inscribed on its lustrous surface. It was unlike any gemstone I'd ever seen. But I wasn't concerned with that. What boggled me was that Sora was giving these to me at all.

He can't be serious, I thought feverishly. There's no way he's giving me these. These look priceless! It's just not possible that he's giving me these. Just impossible!

But as I continued to look over the polished surface of the blades, a strange feeling crept up into my chest: I felt relieved. I didn't know where the relief came from. Why did I feel this way? I was sure this was the first time I had laid eyes on the swords, but still, they felt so familiar…

A considerable amount of time must've passed since I'd laid eyes on them, because when Sora spoke it was as if it was coming from far away.

"Xaros, is there something wrong?"

My head jerked up. "Uh, sorry…what?

"You've been staring at the swords for five minutes. There isn't a problem, is there?" Sora looked slightly nervous now. I wondered what the expression on my face was showing them.

"N-no, everything's fine," I said finally, looking down again. "Just…overwhelmed. You sure you want to give these swords to me? I mean, what would your friend say if he sees you giving his swords away to a stranger? Won't he mind?"

Sora gave a restrained chuckle, like he found me funny somehow. "No, of course not. I think, actually, that he'd prefer it this way…no, I'm sure. He definitely would have wanted it like this. Better than lying around not achieving any purpose, he would say."

I still wasn't reassured. I stared back down at the swords again apprehensively. What would happen if I did actually take these magnificent swords? What then? They weren't clubs or wooden facsimiles. These were the real deal. I could do serious damage with weapons like that…I didn't trust myself with them. I couldn't.

Yet a longing to hold the blades in my hands was growing in me; it was so strong it almost hurt to resist the temptation. These swords were priceless, one of a kind…and dangerous. I would never find its equal in my lifetime, so why waste it? This was a privilege; I should see it as one. My low self-confidence battled with the urge to claim them as my own. But as powerful my desire to take up these swords was, I couldn't accept them. These should go to someone else who would be more careful – more responsible – with the blades than I ever would.

"Sora, listen…" Sora faced me expectantly. "I – I don't think–"

So quickly that none of us knew how it happened, the swords disappeared from the case and reappeared in my hands in reverse grip. I was so startled that I nearly dropped them, but I managed to hang on, feeling the utter astonishment on my face. But my surprise was nothing compared to Sora's and the twin's reactions. They were completely flabbergasted.

"Xaros – how – how did you –?"

"What the hell just happened –?"

"Did you see that – the way they disappeared – it was like they flew into his hands – that's crazy –"

"Yes, yes, magnificent indeed, worthy of applause; bravo, bravo," a new voice drawled.

In unison, the three snapped their heads up and focused on a point somewhere behind me. I whirled around and – to my chagrin – saw that it was none other than the same guy who had accosted Sora and me the first day. There was something different about him, though, but I couldn't place it. He was perched idly on the brick wall separating our backyard with that of our neighbors. How he'd gotten there without any of us noticing, I had no idea.

I glanced over at Sora uneasily, and half-expected him to go berserk on this guy since that's what he'd done last time. But Sora remained strangely unconcerned. If this was anything to judge by…he actually looked bored. He even rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. Ven, Roxas and I exchanged wide-eyed glances. What was going on here?

"Give it a rest already, man." Sora stood, putting his hands in his pockets. "You tried that on me already, and I'm not falling for it twice. What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"Aw, that's too bad," the guy on the fence said, his voice sounding playfully remorseful. "You should've seen the look on your face last time. I regret not having a camera with me that day."

"Don't remind me." Sora stepped toward him, picking up the wooden sword that he'd tossed aside earlier in his hurry to bring out the case while he was at it. He weighed it in his hands before saying, "You know something…I might knock you off that wall just for that." Then with blinding speed he swung at him, fully intent on making true on his word. Just as quickly, the stranger whipped out his own wooden sword and blocked it; a dull clack sounded at the two sticks met in midair. The stranger then leapt off the wall, easily clearing the six feet that separated him from the ground, and brandished his weapon.

"Oh, you getting serious, huh? All right, you asked for it, so I'll deliver!"

"In your dreams!"

Done mincing words, they began to spar. Neither of them managed to touch the other during most of the round. Their reflexes amazed me; they seemed to predict each other's every move and compensated with a move of their own, though neither could quite overcome the other. I was reminded of the fact that the swords were still in my hands when I'd tightened my fists after seeing Sora blocking the oncoming weapon an inch from his throat, so I laid them back in the suitcase, shut it carefully, and went back to watching the duel.

Ven and Roxas still looked confused, not that I could blame them. I was about as lost as they were in the matter, but I was too busy watching the match between the stranger and Sora to care very much.

As expected, Ven couldn't curb his curiosity for very long. "Would someone please tell me," he demanded exasperatedly, "just what the hell is happening here? Who is he?"

Sora and the newcomer stopped in the middle of their fight; Sora had been about to deliver a sideways thrust and the new guy was preparing to block it. The two stared at each other for a second, and then exploded with laughter. I couldn't see what was so funny about the situation, and judging from the bewildered expression on Roxas's face, he shared my sentiments. Ven, however, looked even more annoyed than before – if that was even humanly possible.

Sora noticed his brother's irritation but was unable to completely stop himself from laughing all that quickly. Sora finally caught his breath somewhat several minutes later, and managed to stutter, "S-sorry about that, guys – don't worry about anything; this is a – a friend of mine. His name's Riku Miyano."

"'Sup, guys," Riku said, raising a hand in greeting. "Hope you enjoyed that as much as Sora here did."

"Very funny," Sora said icily as Riku removed his costume. "I'm sure you enjoyed it, didn't you? You seem to have an unfortunate liking to teasing me just because you're older than I am."

"Beyond words, buddy. Beyond words. And of course, that's not the only reason. If I didn't tease you, then that means I don't like you. And I can't have that now, can I?" Riku flashed a playful grin, at which Sora rolled his eyes irritably before walking away, wooden sword slung over his shoulder.

Now that Riku had the ridiculous cloak off, I could get a better image of him. He was slightly taller than Sora, and I put their age differences at a year at most, Riku being the older one. His hair was silver and hung past his shoulders, and his eyes were a shade of aquamarine. And I was starting to think that Sora was the most complex dresser here; Riku was wearing plain blue denim jeans, somewhat baggy but tighter to his legs than Sora's jeans ever were, and had black and yellow skateboard shoes. He wore a black T-shirt underneath his canary yellow vest, which was unzipped, and had sweatbands on his left arm. Other than that, he was just as normal as everyone else I knew (which wasn't saying a whole lot).

Sora returned to Riku's side, looked sideways at him and stated, "You have got one hell of a timing. You almost gave Xaros and my brothers a heart attack. Ease up next time, okay?"

"Xaros?" Riku asked blankly. "Who was that again…?" Then his cyan eyes found me kneeling on the mat a little ways away, and recognition crept across his mouth. "Oh! You must be him! The one Sora wouldn't shut up about!" Riku narrowly avoided the stick that was making a beeline for his head before continuing, "So you're the infamous Xaros Skyloft, huh? Nice to finally see you face-to-face after all these weeks! Man, did Sora talk about you nonstop."

"Uh, yeah. Nice to…meet you too, Riku." Honestly, what did you expect me to say to something like that?

Riku raised an eyebrow, and then rounded in on the twins. "So you two are Sora's little bros, huh? Didn't expect you to be twins, though. Who's who?"

"I'm Roxas," Roxas began. He'd been so quiet that I'd almost forgotten that he was there. "The red tomato over there is Ven. He's older than me by three minutes." He gestured behind him to indicate Ven, who hadn't moved from his spot, and whose face hadn't completely blanched out yet. His face flared bright red again at his younger brother's words.

"Damn it, Roxas, would you cut it out already?" Ven snapped.

"Cut what out? You're the one taking it personally, not me. I'm only stating the truth. Honesty is the best policy, right?"

Ven looked like he wanted to storm over to his brother and beat him up with his boomerang (which was highly probable, since Ven still had it tightly clenched in his fist) but Sora, sensing his brother's intentions, managed to cut in before Ven could retaliate to his twin's comments.

"All right, enough with the greetings, we all know each other. Now why don't we go inside and order some pizza. I haven't eaten all day and I'm starved. What about you guys?"

His words made me realize how famished I was. We hadn't eaten anything since early in the morning. And I mean, early. The sun had barely risen when we'd gotten to work. Pizza was sounding really good right about now.

Roxas took this as an opportunity to escape his brother's seething glare (he probably noticed that he'd gone a little too far; Ven looked like he was at the breaking point) by yelling, "I'll order!" and dashing into the house before Ven made a move. He made as if to charge after him, but Sora managed to calm him down by placing a hand on his shoulder to restrain him and gave him a warning look before winking. I guess Sora has that effect on people.

Roxas poked his head out of the back door and called out, "Hey, how many boxes are we going to order?"

"Six should be plenty!" Sora called back, and then looked over at Riku. "Guess you're staying for dinner, am I right?"

"Yep, since that's what it looks like. Money's on you though."

"Nice try buddy. After scaring those three half to death, you owe us. Besides, you get paid better than I do."

Riku let out an exaggerated sigh, and then grinned in defeat. "Fine. You win. I'll pay."

"Guys?" Roxas had poked his head out of the back door again. "What toppings do you want?"

"Anchovies and pepperoni!" Riku shouted before any of us had a chance to consider. We stared at him, and he just shrugged. "What can I say, I'm the adventurous type."

"Pfft, I don't care about that," I scoffed. "Just don't sneak any anchovies on my slice or else I'm going to hamstring you. I'm serious."

Laughter rang out, and in the midst of this Riku put a hand over his heart and the other halfway raised in a mock vow. "I do solemnly swear that I will not shove any form of Italian seafood down Xaros's throat, and if I do, God help me; I will let him slug me all the way to Mars if I sneak anchovies onto his slice."

I raised an eyebrow critically. "I'm going to hold you to that vow, you know."

Riku cussed then complained, "Damn; and it was such a good idea too!"

Sora gave Riku a friendly punch on the shoulder. "You know, I don't think it's such a good idea to mess with him, Riku. You never know what might happen, right?" As he said this, I could've sworn that I saw them look at each other with anxiety-tightened eyes for a split second, but it was gone so quickly that I just assumed that my eyes were making something out of nothing like yesterday, and disregarded it.

"For once, I actually agree with you," Riku answered him. "Xaros doesn't look like the kind of guy you'd want to cross, anyway."

I opened my mouth and was about to argue with them that I couldn't possibly be all that dangerous, when Roxas poked out his head for the third time. "Guys, pizza's here! We need to pay!" he announced.

"All right; I'm starving!" Ven appeared to have completely forgotten that he'd just about been ready to rip his brother's throat out, and rushed to the back door, almost tripping over a stray piece of equipment as he went with a startled, "Whoa!" The rest of us followed behind him, chuckling as we went.

"Hey. Xaros." I turned to see that Riku was beckoning me to come closer. "Quick, get over here."

I walked up to him with a puzzled expression. "What's up, Riku?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Riku inquired in a low voice, his eyes becoming vigilant as Sora drew nearer.

"Uh, sure." I became slightly unsettled at his countenance. I didn't like the look on his face. "Whatever you need."

"Okay then, listen up." He edged closer and whispered in my ear, "I'm sneaking anchovies onto Sora's slice. I already told Ven before he ran in, so he knows too. Be sure not to tell him, you hear me?"

I fought the urge to glance behind me in case Sora was watching. "Yeah. I hear you. I won't breathe a word, I promise."

"Okay, good." We drew apart as quickly and discreetly as we could, but we couldn't completely avoid suspicion. Sora walked over to us, his eyes narrowed.

"What were you two talking about?" he asked with an apprehensive expression, crossing his arms.

"Oh, nothing, really," I lied casually. "Riku was just telling me to remind him that I was going to send him sailing into outer space if he put anchovies on my slice, that's all."

Sora's expression cleared. "Oh, I see. But you know, you can still do what you like. Not like Riku doesn't deserve being punched, right? Just putting that out there." He grinned and jogged into the house calling over his shoulder, "Cough it up Riku; the delivery guy isn't going to wait forever!"

I stared after him, unable to believe how easy that had been. He was more gullible than I had thought.

"Hurry, before he gets any pizza," Riku muttered mutinously, and gave a devilish grin before he pushed me along, both of us laughing at our shared private joke. Everything seemed completely normal, and gave no hint to the horror that would soon follow.

The swords lay abandoned on the old mat.

Dinner was quite uneventful until Sora bit into his slice, and we all cracked up at his flustered and disgusted expression. When we'd explained that it was all Riku's idea, Sora promptly kicked him out of the house swearing revenge against him someday. Other than that it was perfectly normal.

After dinner, my thoughts wandered back to the first day I came here. I slouched on the sofa, running them through my head.

The cryptic words the cloaked guy left about my past. Sora getting upset when I asked him for details. The tears in Sora's eyes as we brushed past our oppressor. What did it all mean? None of it made any sense to me, and nothing seemed to fit together. Why should my history be kept shrouded? Was it worse than I could imagine? Was it too dangerous for them to tell now? Or were they just being cruel? But no, Sora wasn't like that, that much I knew for sure… No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make heads or tails out of any of it.

"Xaros, you okay?"

Roxas's voice pulled me from the depths of my thoughts. I flinched. "What?"

"You've been really quiet." Roxas sat next to me and appraised me with worried eyes. "Is something bothering you? Want to talk about it?"

I hesitated. So far neither Sora nor I went into detail culminating the events of the trip here to these two. It didn't seem like it would be the right thing to do, and on the other hand, Sora hadn't said anything to them about it, far as I knew. I didn't want to be the first to divulge the whole story, and Roxas seemed worrying enough as it was, so I didn't want to stress him out any more than I needed – or wanted – to. In the end I decided against it.

"It's nothing," I said. "Sometimes I just like to let my mind wander when I've got nothing better to do."

"Oh." Roxas knit his eyebrows, and for a second I was afraid that he'd see right through me. But then he sighed and stood up. "All right then, I guess I'll leave you to it. I have a few things to take care of myself, anyway. I'll be seeing you, then."

When Roxas stepped into the hallway and disappeared from sight, I breathed a sigh of relief and sunk into the sofa again. That was close.

I needed to clear my head, and I decided to go into the backyard to breathe in some cool evening air. As the back door came into view, I saw something that made my heart skip a beat.

A dark silhouette glided over the practice mat like it was some shadowy ghost, pausing in front of the suitcase that held the swords – my swords that I had neglected to bring inside. I was surprised at the way I regarded them since I had tried to refuse them earlier, but now I wouldn't have it any other way.

Without any hint of hesitation, the figure scooped up the case and made to escape through the backyard gate. I bolted through the back door and ignored the pounding of feet behind me that I knew was Sora and the twins. I didn't care about them, the only thing that mattered right now was the fact that the swords were being taken; they were being stolen from me –

"Xaros! What's going on? What's the matter?" Sora caught me by the shoulder, his grip surprisingly strong. I tried to pull free but he was holding too tightly; I wouldn't be able to escape soon enough to get them back. I slumped backwards onto the grass, feeling as if all the air had been whooshed from my lungs. They were gone…they were gone, but I didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be true, it couldn't…

"Xaros, talk to me!" Sora demanded, jerking me upright. "What's happening? Why did you just take off like that?"

"…the swords…" I managed to convey after several attempts. "The case…he took it away, the swords are gone –"

"Over my dead body," Sora interrupted heatedly. "We're getting those swords back if it's the last thing we ever do. Which direction did the thief go?"

"He – he left through the gate – I saw him turn into an alley –"

"Damn it," Sora cursed under his breath. He straightened and turned to Ven and Roxas. "You two, you need to do me a favor. Roxas, you make sure that no one gets in or out of this immediate area so we can make sure the thief doesn't get very far. Seal it off, you hear me? Put barriers around the whole network to keep him from escaping. And Ven, you need to convince everyone in the neighborhood that nothing special is going on tonight. We don't want anyone being suspicious of what we're doing; it's too risky. You two got all that?"

Nothing that was coming out of Sora's mouth made any sense to me, but the twins understood. "We got it," Roxas affirmed. "I'll go on ahead." He then headed out the back gate and disappeared into the dark.

Ven, however, didn't move from his spot. He gave Sora a knowing look as he asked, "So, I guess this means that the gloves come off tonight, huh?"

Sora shot a pained look in my direction before nodding. Ven started to head off, but Sora stopped him. "Ven…" Worry creased Sora's eyebrows as Ven turned to face him. "Watch yourself."

Ven started at his brother's words, then smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. "I'll do my best." Then he left, too. I noticed that both of them had gone bare-handed.

"Sora, they didn't even –" I tried to say, but Sora cut me off again.

"Don't worry about them," he said, though I thought that he looked a bit nervous. "They're more than capable of taking care of themselves. Right now, we've got to focus on getting those swords back. That's our top priority, got it?"

"Uh…okay," I answered. Abruptly, Sora pulled me into a standing position and released me so quickly that I almost fell down again, but Sora didn't seem to notice.

"Come on, let's go," he urged, pushing me ahead of him, and I acquiesced without questioning him. I didn't need to. The moment the swords had been taken from me, there had been a constant tickling in the back of my head – as if the tickling was some kind of indicator of where the swords were.

"This way," I said, and immediately ran down the street and into the alley right at the outskirts of the neighborhood. Sora trailed behind me without a word. He was defenseless as well, not having brought even a stick. It was strange, but I focused on the sensation; I didn't need to hesitate at crossroads. It told me where to go.

I led us through the numerous twists and turns until we hit the last dead end, where we cornered the thief. Strangely, he seemed to be waiting for us. When we cornered him, I noticed that he was wearing the same garb as the guy who assaulted us on my first day. A knot tightened in my stomach.

"Well, now," the thief said casually. "Didn't take too long finding me, did you?"

"Oh, we have our ways," Sora said darkly. "But let's cut to the chase. You've got nowhere to run, so just hand over the swords before someone gets hurt. I don't want to be forced to resort to violence."

I shuddered involuntarily at his words. I knew all too well that Sora wasn't mincing words. He was true to what he said, and he meant every syllable, which meant that his subtle threat wasn't an empty one.

To our intense surprise, he laid the black suitcase on the cracked asphalt. I grew wary. What did this guy have up his sleeve?

He undid the latches right in front of us and lifted the lid, then began to admire the gleaming daggers.

"Impressive," the figure said in mocking admiration. "These blades clearly have been very well taken care of."

He reached into the case, and I wanted to yell at him to stop, but my voice got stuck somewhere halfway through my throat, and no words came out. I could only glare at him in numb revulsion.

He grasped the handles.

No, he can't, he can't take away my swords, he can't… I thought desperately, and to my shock the swords disappeared from his hands and flashed into existence in mine in reverse grip. I was so surprised I hardly knew what to say.

The thief appeared to be as stymied as I was at the phenomenon. "Those blades…they are…but no, it's not possible –"

I stared at the swords tightly grasped in my hands, dumbfounded. I was so stunned that all I managed to say was, "…What the hell…?"

Having nowhere else to turn, I looked to Sora for answers. He hadn't even chanced a glance in my direction, as if the blade vanishing from the perpetrator's hands and reappearing in mine was a perfectly normal occurrence. All his focus was centered on the figure before us. If looks could kill, the thief would've been blasted into ashes; Sora's glare had so much venom. This wasn't the first incidence where Sora had looked dangerous to me…

The thief apparently hadn't counted on me taking the swords back, but that didn't seem to faze him. A newfound gleam in his eyes made my stomach churn in fear.

"Hmm, didn't expect that to happen…" He appraised me, his expression hungry. "No wonder the Master wants you dead…aren't you intriguing…"

Fear gripped my chest so tightly I could barely breathe. There it was again – the Master. Just who – or what – was that? The first guy had mentioned it, too…I wasn't sure why, but hearing that name made me tense.

"That makes things much more interesting. I'd love to test your powers…but I'm afraid that I'm not exactly cut out for combat." He held out his arm as if setting something loose. "In that case, I'll have your friend there do the honors of testing you for me."

After what seemed like an eternity, a gasp of pain split the chilled silence. The second it took me to find out that it had been Sora who had cried out was the same second that I saw him gripping his head in agony and fall to his knees. There was no culminating sound, but I could see that something was very wrong.

I wanted to help him, but was clueless as to how I could go about doing that. I didn't so much as take a step toward him before he was on his feet and metal clanged against metal. I was in complete disbelief.

Sora had attacked me. And he'd been attacking to kill.

I was just about to shout at him; why did he try to kill me just now? Before I could articulate my storm of protests, my attention had been diverted by the sword.

And why wouldn't it have? It had flashed into his hands in a swirl of bright blue light. Any sane person would have wondered the same thing.

It was a long sword; it looked similar to a katana, except that it was longer and the blade was slightly wider. The blade of the sword glowed faint shade of blue, and the silver hilt was emblazoned with a strange blue stone surrounded by intricate filigrees. The pommel, like my butterfly swords, was crested with a similar stone to the one on the hilt, except that these were glowing with a fierce light. I didn't know what it was but I could tell that it wasn't any ordinary gemstone. It radiated power. I couldn't keep him off me for much longer without my skin burning raw-red.

Sora pressed me harder. He had attacked me out of nowhere, and after a moment's pondering, I thought I knew why. His eyes had turned completely red so that even his pupils vanished, and his face was blank and expressionless. I wanted to come up with a logical explanation as to why he looked that way, but everything jumbled up in my brain as I made a realization that made my stomach drop to the soles of my feet: Sora had somehow fell under the manipulation of our sword thief, and his will had been completely severed from his mind. I couldn't come up with any other deduction after everything I'd seen.

I couldn't hold him off any longer. I abruptly slashed to break his stance then leapt to the side, avoiding the sword as it sliced the concrete telephone pole that had been behind me moments before like it was butter. It collapsed with a thundering crash, making dust billow everywhere from the debris. I caught my breath as a horrible realization lodged into my brain: This wasn't a practice duel. If I lost here, I'd lose more than a match.

I rolled into a kneeling position as our enemy laughed behind the strings, hiding in the shadows of the towering buildings. "That's all you have to show for your strength, Skyloft? Personally I don't think that the Master should concern himself with a weakling like you!"

At these words, I tightened my grip on my swords so hard my knuckles turned white. "I don't give a damn about your stupid 'Master'! Let Sora go! He has nothing to do with whatever you're talking about! If you want to see how strong I am, then you shouldn't hide behind your little puppet as he does all the work. You're nothing but a coward!" I immediately knew that I was going to pay dearly for saying that, but I didn't care. I was only concerned about Sora. What if something happened and I hurt him?

Right then time seemed to stop.

"'Coward'…?" he said slowly through clenched teeth. "You dare…call me a coward?"

Sora charged again, and once again our blades met in midair. He swept his feet underneath me and knocked me backward onto the asphalt. As I hit the ground I saw Sora's sword whistling through the air, making a beeline for my throat. I had enough wit to roll away before the tip buried itself in the asphalt where my neck had been seconds ago.

Instinct then took over. No second thoughts, no deliberations. I fought to survive. I needed it if I was going to walk away from this fight. If he charged, I blocked it. If he slashed, I parried. If he broke through my guard, I sidestepped. Action, reaction. Every time I was too slow in reacting, I received a small cut in consequence.

Sora struck again and again, barely leaving any room for me to counterattack. The rage of the puppeteer was getting the better of him, and was only focused on watching Sora's sword slice through my ribs. He made Sora attack me relentlessly.

Yet, his uncontrollable rage would save my life.

Sora's sword disappeared from his hand in a flash of light when he managed to break through, and he seized my wrists in his uncanny iron grip, leaving me defenseless.

This is it, I thought to myself. I'm about to die since I smart-mouthed a freak. God, I'm such a dumbass.

He kneed me in the gut and knocked me down to the ground again, pinning me to the spot. His grip tightened, and I knew that I had run out of options.

"Die, you heathen!" the thief wailed in pure revulsion. "Die!"

Sora pressed me down harder into the ground, making the sharp rocks dig through my jacket. I let out an involuntary groan of pain as one managed to cut through and embed itself into the small of my back. I was wondering how much longer I was going to last when I saw something that both relieved and frightened me.

Awareness had flickered into his eyes; I could see them widening slightly, although the red didn't wear off. He released my right arm and covered his face with his hands, shuddering and gasping with the effort of trying to fight off the influence controlling him. The veins in his face were popping up and sweat poured from his brow. He ground his teeth together. His grip on my left wrist, which had loosened moments before, suddenly tightened again. Then he did something that I still hadn't forgiven him for doing to this very day.

He twisted my left arm and swiftly plunged the sword into his gut.

The howl of agony that ripped from Sora's lungs then was the most blood-curdling sound that would ever hit my eardrums. It was made even worse that Sora was right on top of me and globs of blood were now splattering on my face and jacket. Sora's grip slackened and I was able to pull the sword free.

Suddenly I felt an empty space in the tense atmosphere. The puppet-master seemed to have left now that he had lost his only method of defense. The black suitcase lay abandoned. I made to toss away the swords that were still in my grip, but they disappeared in a flash of gold. But at the moment I didn't care about why that had happened. I didn't care about his sudden absence. I didn't even care about the blood soaking my clothes. All my attention was on Sora, who had collapsed beside me, his fresh wound exposed and pouring out blood.

He was breathing heavily, the intakes of breath getting more labored by the second. His eyes were half closed, once again his normal blue, but it was losing its shine quickly. Somehow, I knew that he hadn't hit anything vital, but his loss of blood was enormous. If I didn't stanch his bleeding soon he would die. I took off my blood-stained jacket and covered the wound, but it soaked through almost immediately. The flow of blood wouldn't slow…

"…Xaros…" I jumped a little at the sound of his voice, weak and tremulous as it was. He tilted his head to face me. Blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth, indicating that some internal damage had been done. "Is…he gone?"

"Yeah," I assured him, my voice cracking. "He's gone…you're safe now."

"That…that's good…" He looked skyward again, looking content.

The sight of Sora appearing to be so weak and helpless, on the brink of death, hit me like a sledgehammer. My mind wasn't prepared for the onslaught of terrifying images that now shot through every crevice of it. My body shook with the effort of keeping the emotions at bay. I had to hold it in, for his sake…

Sora faced me again, this time with pain and guilt inscribed on his features. "Xaros…did he…what did he make me do? Did I…hurt you?" He gasped in pain.

Anger and irritation hit me like a whiplash. He was concerned about me? He was the one bleeding to death and he was the one wondering if I was okay?

"Don't you dare waste your energy worrying about me," I demanded, my voice shaking. "You need every ounce of strength you can get. You need to rest."

His glazed eyes assessed me for a moment. Then he shut his eyes. "Damn…it hurts…" he whispered, the agony breaking through. "It hurts so much…"

"Don't move, Sora. You'll be fine."

"I don't know…how much longer…I can stand this…the pain…I can't stand it…" Tears formed in his eyes and ran down his cheeks, washing away blood in tiny trails.

"It's okay, I've got you." I took his hands; they were ice-cold. Even as I spoke the color was draining from his face. "You'll be okay, Sora. I won't let you die on me."

He'd lost too much of his strength to manage anything more than a smile at my words. Then Sora's eyes began to close as he whispered, "Tired…so tired…"

"No, Sora!" I cried. "You can't fall asleep. You'll never wake up again! Stay awake, please; Sora, stay awake!"

I wished I knew what to do…what was I supposed to do?

"Sora! Xaros!" That was Ven…somehow he had found us.

Even in his state of torpor Sora heard his voice. Instead of sounding relieved like he should've been, his tone was nothing short of terrified. "No…no, Ven stay away – stay away –"

"Sora, what's –"

"Xaros, you've got to tell him – keep him away from me – please – Roxas…get Roxas –" Sora tried to get up, but his legs failed him and he collapsed again.

"Why?" I asked frantically. "Why can't Ven help? I don't even know where to look for Roxas –"

"It doesn't matter – keep Ven from seeing me like this, he's –"

His words came too late. Ven rounded the corner and froze. His eyes widened in pure terror as he saw that we were both covered in blood. He took one look at us, covered his face as he fell to his knees in unmistakable fear and screamed, "Noooooooo!"

"…No!" More tears dripped from his eyes as he watched his brother sink into panic. "Ven – no –"

"Wha – what's wrong with him, Sora?" I asked him, panic in my voice. Ven screamed at the sight of blood…was it possible that he –

"Go to him, Xaros – hurry –" Sora gasped in pain in his second attempt to sit up, and collapsed again. He covered his wound to stanch the bleeding and ease the pain. The blood trickled through his fingers. "I…I can't move…you need to go – I'll be okay – Roxas will be here soon, just go to him – quick –"

Sora was clearly anything but okay. But his tone and countenance, both wild with worry, made me swallow my rebuttal and I hurried over to Ven, who was crumpled on the ground, still covering his face and screaming.

I was unsure of what to do. I knelt, then hesitantly put my hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Ven…it's okay, it's alright…I'm here…" I didn't know what else to do.

Ven didn't react for a few moments, still convulsing in fear.

Suddenly he wrapped his arms around me for comfort, and whimpered, "Blood…the blood…there's so much blood…make it go away…make it stop…" Then he broke down into hiccupping sobs into my shoulder, clutching my sleeves tightly.

Then Roxas came into the alley and saw what had transpired. As he beheld the scene his eyes filled with pain. I met his tortured gaze for a few moments, then muttered, "Roxas…I've got Ven. Don't worry, he'll be fine. Go take care of Sora."

Telling Roxas not to worry was like telling him to stop breathing, but he understood. He nodded and headed over to where Sora lay.

I pulled Ven closer, patting him on the back to calm him down. His sobbing eased somewhat, but he kept shivering, and didn't release his hold on my arms.

I chanced a glance at Roxas and Sora. Roxas was acting as a crutch for Sora, who leaned heavily against him, his complexion pale, and still weak from his loss of blood. The deep cut on his stomach had somehow disappeared. I wondered how something like that had happened, but because of the sullen state I was in, I was just glad that Sora wasn't losing any more blood.

How had it come to this? This wasn't right. We were supposed to be happy today, sharing jokes, teasing each other. And here I was in a dark alleyway watching my friend bleed to death by my own hand and feeling his brother tremble in fear of blood beneath my arms. How did such a perfect day go so wrong?

Still in my embrace, Ven started to whisper more words, his tear-wet eyes still closed.

"Father…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

Second chapter…done much quicker than I thought, and I'm very satisfied with it. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I had writing it.

And yeah I know, I just noticed that I'm really mean to Ven. I'm sorry, he just somehow ends up getting the worse end of the stick. I don't mean to do that, honest! If you're a fan, please don't hate me for doing that! _