AH! Sorry I keep taking so long. Everything is so stressful these days :'( !

Chapter 3

Axel had left in a hurry because of something he had heard on the news. Zexion hadn't quite caught on to what happened. All the redhead got out that was comprehensible was "Riku, Sora, later," which was no help.

Zexion turned the TV back on, seeing the news for himself. The news reporters were live at a scene depicting a crushed car. The reporter mentioned a body not being in the car and no tracks to determine foul play.

The slate haired boy smiled and turned off the television, settling back in the armchair that he had sat in.

He looked at the front door for a few seconds to confirm that Axel wasn't coming back for some forgotten item. When he was certain he was alone, he relaxed his body and closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he went completely still.

He reached out with his mind, latching on to a nearby shadow that was cast off a vase. The shadow that he occupied darted forward, speeding from shadow to shadow until he was in a familiar house.

The room was empty, all except for one lone person.

"Namine'" the shadows whispered.

The blonde girl jumped, startled and looking around before realization hit. She relaxed.

"What is it?" she responded.

"Looks like there is another one joining us soon." the whisper of the shadows could have been missed by normal ears. They are about as distinct as a whistle of wind. Namine' would get chills whenever Zexion contacted her this way. It was still too creepy to get used to, especially since she was new.

"Really?" she answered, moving closer to a particularly dark area of the room. "Would your knowledge have anything to do with the news?"

"Yes, actually," the voice was certainly clearer in this area, "he is also a friend of this group we occupy."

"Good. The full mission can start soon." the girl said with a small smile. "Luckily I found an easy target."

"Indeed it can."

Zexion's mind lost grip on the shadows of where Namine' was. The dark cloud sped toward him before he could brace himself and left a sharp, stabbing pain in his head. He gasped in his seat, eyes snapping open.

He clutched his head and leaned forward, waiting for the world to stop spinning. That was not how the connection was supposed to break. Something was off.

He sat up and looked down at himself. Blood soaked the front of the gray shirt Axel had lent him. Zexion quickly lifted the clothing, inspecting a large crater that took up most of his ribs down to the middle of his stomach.

"Fuck… not again."

He had to get out of the shirt and find another, all without Axel noticing when he got back. The boy groaned and stood up, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

They really needed to hurry and finish the mission.

All he wanted out of it was to be healed.

"Sora? Sora… you need to wake up now."

Sora squeezed his eyes shut tighter and clenched his fists.

"Okay, I know you're awake. Open your eyes, it's okay. It's only me."

Sora didn't react for a few seconds then finally opened his eyes, looking up at his psychiatrist of three years, Dr. Valentine. He took the time to look around the room, seeing Roxas and Axel had made their way to his house.

"Roxas! Riku…" Sora started but his twin only shushed him.

"Relax, So. We heard. Just relax." the blonde said to his brother softly from his seat on the arm of the couch. Sora frowned. He knew that tone.

"Sora, I understand this is a very stressful event okay, but please cooperate." Dr. Valentine said calmly. Sora nodded, staring off into space. "No, Sora, focus on me. I have a few questions for you."

Sora groaned and grabbed a nearby pillow to cover his face with. Roxas reached over and tugged at the pillow.

"You are being such a kid, Sora. It's embarrassing, cut it out!" he said, growing agitated as Sora yelled muffled no's from behind the pillow.

A sigh was heard and the pillow was effortlessly lifted off of Sora's face, revealing an unamused redhead in its wake.

"For the record, both of you are embarrassing. Anyway, on with the questions, Doc." he said, nodding toward the raven-haired male.

"Thank you, Axel," Dr. Valentine said, nodding back, "I see you are feeling better, since you are up to these antics?" he said, raising an eyebrow at Sora.

"I don't want to talk about this. Can I please just sleep?" the brunette asked, finally sitting up.

"Have you been taking your medication?" Dr. Valentine asked anyway, clicking his pen for use. Sora glared at him for a moment before looking away.

"Yes…"

"Sora…" he said in a warning tone.

"I didn't need it anymore! I was fine! I just wanted to be normal again, okay?" Sora snapped, raising his voice. There was a brief silence before Dr. Valentine put his pen and notebook down and leaned forward in his chair.

"I understand that. And no one is blaming you, but you can't just make those decisions for yourself. Your… predicament is too far deep-rooted to-"

Sora's eyes snapped up toward the man, a cold glint cutting off his sentence like a knife.

"Don't you dare," he said. His voice had dropped to a low, menacing growl that practically froze the room. "Don't you bring that up, Vincent."

Roxas and Axel looked at each other, concern lacing both of their features.

"What? What is it other than the whole Zexion thing?" Roxas asked.

"Nothing." Sora snapped, standing up and tossing the pillow aside. "Nothing, nothing, nothing!" he screamed, grabbing his head, tugging on his own hair harshly.

Axel rushed over and grabbed his hands, forcing them to his sides. Roxas had stood up and watched with tears in his eyes.

"Call an ambulance to come and get him," Vincent said and at Roxas's expression added, "it's for the best."

Roxas nodded and pulled out his cellphone, wandering into a hallway to make the call. Axel struggled with Sora still as Vincent walked over to the two.

"Sora, listen. Stop fighting your friend and listen. Calm down, I will not push any further, I just need you to cooperate." he said.

"Fuck you!" the young boy spat. "Fuck you! You only stress me out more. You are fucking worthless."

He struggled some more in Axel's strong grip and got fed up with not being able to get free. He quickly leaned forward and chomped a vicious bite at the redhead's upper arm. Axel yelled out and released his grip.

"The little bastard bit me!" he shouted, glaring murderously at the shorter boy.

Sora took that opportunity to run for his room, unaware that Roxas was still in the hallway. He sprung into attack and pinned his brother, holding his arms against the wall.

"Sora, stop this!" he pleaded.

In perfect timing, two men in uniforms came into the hallway, Axel and Vincent crowding around the other end. Roxas stepped aside so that they could get to Sora.

"No! I am not going with them!" he shouted as they began to pull him towards the living room. "Roxas! You can't let them do this! Look, I'll listen!"

"Wait!" Roxas exclaimed suddenly, causing the two men to pause. He walked up closer to his brother, seeing that his eyes were completely unfocused, he sighed.

"Sora, Dr. Valentine says you may be relapsing. And the way you're acting now…"

"I am fine. I just want to find Riku. That's all. Please." he answered. The anger in his voice had dropped to a helpless whimper and he begun to tear up. Roxas felt horrible that this was happening to his brother. He was going through enough shit with his day to day anxiety, and now Riku was missing and he had no choice but to do this.

"We want to help you, So. We do. You have to get better. We'll find Riku, and you'll do your best to get to him, all right?" the blonde responded.

"So you're just going to let them send me off?" he yelled, tears rolling down his face. "No! I won't do this! I'm not going out there!"

He almost broke free of the slackened grips he was held by, but the medics were too fast. One used a free hand to pull a syringe from his deep pockets and looked up at Roxas apologetically.

"Sorry, it's kind of necessary. Either he comes willingly or we have to sedate him." he said. Sora spat at the man.

"Sedate me. Go ahead. Because I will not go with you that easy." he said.

"Sora, chill. Please, just go with them. We'll be right there okay? I don't want to watch them knock you out, the protective big bro feelings will come out of me and we don't want that." Axel finally spoke up, with a light-hearted smirk. "and you're upsetting Roxy. Riku wouldn't want you like this either."

"Yes, and you won't be there forever, Sora. Just relax and cooperate and you're back before you know it." Vincent added.

Sora had calmed down a little by then and looked at each of them with tear-filled eyes.

"Why do I have to go away? I'll listen. I can't go out there." he said quietly.

"You have to go because we can't be here to keep an eye on you all the time. Until we find Riku, or you learn how to cope, this is what we have to do." Axel said in good nature.

"I'm so sorry, Sora. It's for the best right now. I don't want to see you get worse and I can't help on my own…" Roxas stated. Sora didn't move or respond for a while. It was quiet as if everyone in the room held their breath,

"And you'll be there when I get there?" he asked. Roxas nodded. "And you won't all just disappear?"

"I put it on my life, buddy." Axel said.

Sora took a deep breath.

"Okay…. let's go."

Namine' insisted that she wanted to go for a walk. Demyx would rather stay indoors and mope around from all the stress he was feeling, but the girl was giving him epic puppy dog eyes and the expression always hit his weak spot.

"You know," Demyx said once they left the house, "not to be insensitive, but I thought you wouldn't want to come out here so soon after being dragged off by a strange man."

Namine' seemed not to be listening. Her eyes were focused on the wooded area directly across from the house. Her eyes glistened with horror and her breathing hitched.

"Namine'? Namine'! Hey, I'm sorry," Demyx said, grabbing her arms. She gasped and quickly turned her head away from the woods and toward the dirty blonde and down to his hands. He quickly pulled away.

"I didn't mean to open new wounds, or invade your space." he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Its… it's fine." Namine' responded. "Let's just go, please."

Demyx didn't question it any further and started to walk in the opposite direction. It was silent as the two walked along, Namine' was more focused on looking around than paying Demyx any attention.

"Do you not remember the outdoors either?" Demyx asked, then paused. "Maybe you weren't from around here… do you remember that by any chance?" Namine' shook her head.

"It all looks so new and pretty. Like I could just stay out here all day." she said cheerfully.

"Yeah, I like to go to the park sometimes and play my guitar. Just, whatever comes to me, you know?" Demyx said. "It's a nice place to just sit and think."

"Can we go there?" she asked. Demyx shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" he said, turning to the right. Namine' followed close behind, barely listening to anything the boy said. Her eyes rapidly moved around the area, making sure to get a view of every section.

From her perspective, everything looked as though she were looking through a camera. She mentally took pictures of every direction she looked and stored the images away. She found paying so much attention to the scenery at the moment pointless, but it was her current task.

Her interest did spark full force when she got a good look at the park.

She had no idea it would be that easy. That it would be in this exact location.

"Wow, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.

There were several well-kept trees lining the wide circle of the park. A large fountain sat in the middle of vibrant green grass.

People sat on wooden benches reading, talking, some were napping. Children were running and playing Frisbee. A few people walked their dogs and a few people were having picnics.

But there was way more to this park than these people knew.

Namine' turned to Demyx with a look of genuine interest.

"So, how about you tell me more about this park?"

It was not okay.

He was not ready.

Stepping outside was the worst decision he could have made.

It was not just the fact that it was outside where no one was ever safe. It was also without Riku. Riku, who had vanished when he went outside.

Sora felt dizzy. His head spun and he felt like he couldn't breath. His chest felt crushed, all he could do was desperately gasp for oxygen.

The medics had allowed Sora to walk out the door alone for comfort, they had to rush to catch him. His entire body went limp and his vision blacked out. He could just barely make out various voices yelling his name.

When he awoke, he was alone. In the dark.

He looked around, eyes slowly adjusting in the dim moonlight that came from a high up barred window.

"Sora, chill. Please, just go with them. We'll be right there okay?"

So much for that, he thought.

Panic started to well up in his chest. He curled up on his bed and gripped locks of his hair into his fist.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay…." he mumbled to himself. A quiet noise caused him to snap out of his mini breakdown and look to his left.

Someone else was there. Just staring back at him.

"Umm," he started, pausing to gulp, "Roxas?"

Whoever was across from him remained silent. Sora could faintly see the figure move, and far too fast for him to react.

Dark blue eyes were directly in front of his. He could feel the other's breath over his mouth. They smelled of orange and some spice he couldn't quite catch.

He couldn't move. Fear held him down in place.

And just like that, the other person was gone.