A.N. Awright! Next chapter! Sorry it took so long. Oh, and my e-mails screwy, so I don't get any mail at all. Zip, zero, nada, so I'm sorry if you sent me a PM or whatever and I didn't respond. It's because I didn't get it at all…so yeah.
Oh, and thank you so much to my new reviewer, Chibified Zombie! YAAAY FOR YOU YOU GOT YOUR NAME IN HERE WOOTNESS! Yay for flaming emo rampages, XD. Anyhoo, I'm just going to let you read this and tell me what you think, kk? And I hope the next chapter after this will be up quicker. I'll try my best! X3
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Another shot rang out, and Roxas yowled, stumbling and falling. Riku skidded to a halt, fighting his own pain, rushing to the blonde's side, starting to panic slightly. Roxas staggered to his feet, but fell back, dizzy with pain and blood loss. Riku whimpered, nosing the blonde wolf, trying to get him to stand. The silver wolf knew that if they didn't keep running, whoever it was chasing them would catch up, and most likely kill them on the spot, no questions asked.
It was too late, however, as the blonde man skidded to a halt in the trees ahead of them, and as slowly advancing on the two with his sword raised. Riku stood in front of the injured Roxas, his sides fiery with agony, teeth bared in a snarl. He'd rather they kill him than Roxas. Anyone but Roxas.
A thump behind him made him turn, but as he did, another bullet slammed into his shoulder. He whimpered, backing away from the two. Leon and Cloud were glaring at him as they came closer cautiously, and he braced himself. He wouldn't, couldn't let them near Roxas, but in his condition he had no chance against these two.
Cloud lunged, and Riku lurched out of the way, feeling the sword clip fur from his side as it grazed by him. He backed up still further, and nearly tripped over Roxas, who had finally gotten to his feet.
The blonde wolf was snarling at the two men, but his gaze was resting upon Riku, and the injuries that he had sustained seemed like nothing compared to the silver wolf. Roxas shook his head, embarrassed that he had been weakened so by one shot. He growled at Riku, trying to tell him to get away from here, but the silver canine huffed, shaking his head.
Cloud growled and swung again, the sharp metal carving a line of bright red across the side of Roxas' face. Roxas yelped and jumped away, right into the sights of the brunette. Just having landed, Roxas could only watch as Leon pulled the trigger.
The shot rang out, and there was a yell of pain. Roxas whined in confusion and surprise as Sora fell, clutching his shoulder. Riku barked, running towards his friend, but Cloud blocked him, the sword across his shoulder, ready to strike, and Riku backed off, aware of what the weapon would do to him if it connected.
Roxas, on the other hand, was at Sora's side in a second, whimpering. Sora grinned weakly at him, chuckling, "Hey there, blondie."
Using the wolf's back, Sora pulled himself to his feet. Leon stared at him in amazement. "You're…actually protecting that thing?"
"Yeah," Sora grunted. "I am. Because they didn't do a damn thing to anyone."
"It was a wolf that killed Aerith. A silver wolf. And right now, we've cornered it. It has nowhere to run. And you're trying to save it? Aerith is dead—"
"They didn't do it!" Sora snapped, cutting Leon off angrily. "They wouldn't touch anyone! I've been around them before, they would never do anything to hurt me! Or anyone else, for that matter!"
Cloud glared at the brunette, still keeping an eye on Riku at the same time. "What the hell, Sora?" he said loudly, almost yelling. "It doesn't matter what you think! For all you know, they could've done it! What makes you so sure they didn't do anything to Aerith?"
"B-because…uh…" Sora trailed off, knowing that he was going to pay for this. "Because I know who they are."
There was a loud thud as Sora hit the ground again, his face on fire from where Cloud had punched him. Riku snarled, trying to get to his friend, but he had only taken one step when the tip of the sword was placed against his eye. He froze, not daring to make another move, knowing that the blonde was pissed enough that the slightest movement could set him off. Roxas whined, looking from person to person.
"You lied to us, you son of a bitch!" Cloud shouted as Sora picked himself up, wobbling. "You said you didn't know who they were!"
"Cloud—" Leon started, worried, but Sora interrupted him. "No. He's right. I did lie. But that's only because I knew that if I told you, you'd wait and kill them in broad daylight without thinking about it! I don't want anyone getting hurt!"
"This isn't about people getting hurt, Sora!" Cloud yelled, getting madder. "This is about finding whoever killed Aerith, and making sure they pay for what they did!"
"You don't know that either of them did anything! You're just killing them on a hunch, on one piece of evidence! That's not enough to kill them! There's bound to be more than one person with silver hair that's a werewolf! Sephiroth, Xemnas, they all had silver hair, too! Just because there's a wolf with silver hair doesn't mean they did it!"
Cloud thought about it. "But—"
"But nothing!" Sora snapped, getting pissed off. "Say Cid did something stupid, and the only clue that people had was that a blonde did it, and they killed you because your hair was blonde, too! It's a mistake, but it's too late to correct it, because you'd be dead."
Marching over to the black-clad man, Sora yanked the sword away from Riku, who immediately, after giving Cloud a haughty look and a sniff, marched over to the brunette, checking his wound carefully. It didn't look too bad, but it was definitely still bleeding. Sora needed to get it looked at.
A stab of pain reminded him of his own injuries, but he did his best to ignore them. Right now, he wanted to get Sora looked at. The Keyblade Master, unfortunately, didn't have a werewolf's regenerative powers, and would keep on bleeding until something stopped it or he died.
Leon, too, seemed to realize this. "Sora…we need to go back and get that looked at," he said, obviously horrified that he had been the one to inflict such an injury. "You could bleed to death if you're not careful."
"Fine, but we'll have to look at those two as well," Sora said stubbornly, pointing at the wolves. He addressed them directly, saying, "You two wait until you change back and then come to the beach where the airship is. We'll be waiting there."
"Oh, no," Cloud said dangerously. "You may have convinced me not to kill them, but I don't trust them in the least. They're coming with us now."
Sora started to protest, but Riku nudged his hand. The brunette looked down at the silver wolf, and saw the message in his aqua eyes.
'It's all right,' he seemed to say. 'We'll go.'
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A.N. Augh! Another chapter with a long gap! I'm so sorry, everyone! FORGIVE ME! Je n'ai rien á déclarer.
Anyway, YAAY! Sora got shot! Along with everyone else of course. I also really wanted to see Sora get punched, so I put that in because I felt like it. And yes, I am aware that Cloud didn't ask who they were, but I'm really lazy and he'll find out later anyways.
So thank you to all my beautiful reviewers, and a small message for those who dislike the story: Votre femme dit la même chose de vous. And I love all of you who have stuck with me through this whole stupid thing. Sorry for making you wait in vain for a GOOD chapter. I'm still working on it. XD
P.S. Sephy shall be making his reappearance soon, and Cloud might end up hurting someone after all. Not who you think. Heh heh…
Sans vous je ne suis qu'un ver de terre, mon reviewers!