What, wait...what's this? Is this...an UPDATE? So soon? Why yes. Yes readers, this is a review! Yay! I actually updated on some semblance of a reasonable time! Yay! Let's all applaud the learning fanfic writer!
Now.
Okay, so yep, here's a real chapter. Long once more. I have a feeling that they're going to be a habit, so get used to having long chappies. Although, the thought has occured to me that if I started to split these up, the wait wouldn't be so long. What do you prefer? Longer chapters, longer wait, or shorter chapters, shorter waits (although not a guarentee)?
OMG new Reviewers!:
(Chapter 1) Sora's Sacrafice- Thank you! Keep reading to find out! Oh, and yeeeeeah. Lesbianism is very much in store. Sorry! :)
L'uke-chan- Sho nuff! Pssh, it confused me, and I wrote it! Ah yes, the love between a woman and a bleeding heart is very strong, lol. Thanks! (Really cute poem, btw!)
(Chapter 3) Jayrin Paige- I know! Thank you! Kiwi! -cooes too-
(Chapter 1) ScreamforSOH- Aw, thank you so much!
(Chapter 6) Naruta13- Omg, Sheila, you are! Hehe, I'll have to make you a regular now!
hanakitsunechan7- Aw, thank you! Glad you understand that real life is always number 1. But I try to get the chapters out when I can. Lol, I'm pretty sure the party is over...but you never know, Demyx could've found a sitar and hosted a sitar listening beach party somewhere! Lol, jk, thanks for the review!
Naruta13- You're way ahead of me, Naruta. Hyperventilation has not vanished...its...well, you'll see. :) You're actually the only one who's noticed, so that's really great that you like my story so much to have remembered! Thank you!
(Chapter 11) Inuzukagirl77- Well, long review for a long chapter. It balances out. XD And I know, right? I was just sitting there flipping through channels when I saw it on, and I was like, "huh, I better give Blue and Steve a hello!" and suddenly I see some guy who was definitely NOT in a green sweater, named Joe! Haha, but ignore that. Thanks for the review!
Alright, I won't keep ya! Get to reading!
Enter Sora:
How do you go back to the way things were, after someone's hurt you? How do you forgive and forget like nothing's happened?
Even though all hospitals pretty much suck majorly, there is something kind of fun about being in one with all of your friends. And yeah, sure, okay, so we had to perform horrible, ridiculous fitness tests that pretty much immobilized us with exhaustion. But that didn't match up to the fact that we all had cots right next to each other, in our own room!
Not to mention the free ice cream!
"Honestly, you boys really should be a little bit more respectful. Many patients in this hospital aren't as lucky as you are to get these privileges." Our nurse, Nurse Tifa, chided us as she handed us all individual bowls of cookie dough ice cream. We had pushed our cots together so they were like one individual bed, and were all now playing Scrabble.
Now, that may not seem like a very…chaos inducing game…but when you play it with a bunch of 16, 17 and 18 year olds, it gets pretty dirty and awe-inducing.
"Do the rules say anything about spelling changes to the words?" Riku asked distractedly as he switched some letters around in his little bin. "Like switching out some letters, only it still makes sense when you pronounce it?"
"Riku, just take your turn already. The sand has been gone in that hourglass for like…an hour. It's just a freaking game." Roxas finally snapped, getting impatient at Riku's "strategic playing". I shrugged pointedly at Riku. He had a point there. Besides, now that Riku was taking so long, we all had to resign ourselves to watching a Dora the Explorer marathon on the room's TV, and while the show was cute and whatnot, it got really estupido after the first ten episodes.
"Fine. Okay, here. M-A-S-T-U-R. Master. There." Riku huffed, placing his letters down on the board with what appeared to be male pride. I let out an amused breath while Roxas immediately began challenging it, and pointing out, with good reason, that M-A-S-T-U-R was not the same as M-A-S-T-E-R, even if it did sound the same.
As they argued loudly, I couldn't help but notice the way Tifa was staring longingly at Riku. Um…why was she looking at him that way? Yeah, I know Riku is beautiful and stuff, but that wasn't really the kind of look he received on a regular basis. Especially not by an adult. But her staring, and my staring at her staring, were both interrupted by Axel's sudden exasperated declaration of, "look, just add a couple of letters, like this, and it becomes a real word. Now will you two both kindly zip it? Some people are trying to watch the damn TV!"
I glanced down at the Scrabble board. Axel had added -bation, making Riku's word into masturbation. I rolled my eyes at him. Nice.
"Oh boys. What am I going to do with you?" Tifa sighed, as she took the game from us, subtly hinting at us to eat our ice cream before it melted with a piercing look. Riku sighed too, and for some strange reason, it sounded like a carbon copy of Tifa's.
"Well, you could always release us." Riku suggested, half-playing but half-serious. We all perked up at that. The four of us had been trying to get out of this hospital for hours! And I know that hospitals have protocol and stuff for this kind of thing, but still! We had taken all our tests and passed with flying colors, were in perfectly good health, and all been good little boys by waiting patiently in our room and obeying all orders. There was absolutely no reason for us to still be here. And yeah, okay, so maybe this was better than going to school on a Monday morning. But it was still kind of a waste of time.
"You know I can't, Riku. I really wish I could but…I can't do anything for you." Tifa admitted, and, in a move that shocked all of us, began to tear up. Roxas furrowed his brow a little in confusion, and even Axel had dragged his attention from the screen to stare at Tifa.
Riku stood up and went to Tifa, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a little hug. "Hey. Shh…it's alright. We understand. I was just joking around, Nurse Tifa."
Roxas and I exchanged bewildered looks. As if I knew what the hell was going on…
"Okaaaay…" I drawled confusedly, tilting my head at them.
Riku had been this strange little enigma, a puzzle -if you will- that I hadn't been able to take my eyes off of ever since the party. I couldn't help but watch him obsessively, unable to guess what he would do next, and eager to know what he would do. It was just that…now that I didn't have the anger and guilt blocking me like a shield I didn't know how to act around him. Everything thus far that I had said to him was categorized into three things: 1. when I thought out every little thing I would say to him next. 2. When I was in the mood, so the words just popped out; this had backfired many times because they usually got me in trouble, those words, and 3. When I was embarrassed, meaning that whenever I felt really mortified, words would just ooze out, like, like word vomit.
Not to mention that whenever I do say something category three embarrassing, I blush like crazy, so everyone suddenly knows that I've just said something stupid. It's beyond frustrating. Of course, Roxas finds it funny. But at what expense?!
The hospital door suddenly opened, and in sauntered Kairi in all of her beauty, holding four bags of McDonalds and looking very proud of herself. She paused when she noticed Tifa and Riku, but otherwise remained the same, coming over to us with a huge smile on her face.
"Hey guys! How are you all doing?" She asked happily, plopping down in the middle of us, where the scrabble board used to preside. "I brought you some real food!"
Roxas snorted and shook her head at her, no doubt resorting back to his artificial food phobia. I don't know what his deal was, but I loved fake foods. And that's not even saying the McDonald's food was fake! Kairi gave him a look before tossing him a bag with his name on it.
"I got you Subway, Mr. Ungrateful." She snorted as he thankfully tossed the McDonald's bag aside when he fished out his sandwich. She tossed us all individual bags with our names on them, peering up at Tifa, who had long since let Riku go. "I'm sorry, Nurse Tifa, had I known you were here I would've picked you up something too. Hospital food has to get old after a while."
Tifa just laughed and cocked a hip at her. "Sweetheart, when Tifa's around, nothing ever gets old."
We all gave her strange looks before turning back to our food, exchanging wry looks behind her back. I don't care what Riku says, that woman is odd.
"Well, I'd better take off. I had just wanted to give you your desert before I left for the day. I'll tell the crew not to send you any dinner since Kairi was nice enough to give you some already." She finally said cheerfully.
"Bye, Nurse Tifa!" We chimed together like good little school boys as she walked out the room, shutting it gently behind her. Once her footsteps faded, we all sighed in relief and relaxed.
"I hate being a good boy." Axel grumbled, taking a big bite out of his Big Mac. Kairi had taken care to order us the food we liked most since she knew us so well. That was so like Kai, always looking out for us, especially now that we were in the hospital. She'd gotten Axel a Big Mac with cheese and a large order of fries, Roxas a Cold Cut Trio Sub with real apple chips, Riku a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese and an apple pie, and me a Premium Grilled Chicken Classic sandwich with a medium order of fries.
"Please. Making dirty words on a Scrabble board hardly seems like good boy material. Besides, you're a pyro." Roxas pointed out, humming in satisfaction at the taste of fresh meat with real apple chips. I snorted. EWW…it was too healthy for my taste.
"And you're weird." He retorted around his burger. "You're too healthy for your own good."
Riku laughed, leaning back on his elbows and accidentally brushing his long hair against my cheek, causing me to break out in a deep blush. Oh man…I was going to have to control myself!
"What we need to do is lock him up in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory." He suggested to Axel, and both of them burst out in guffaws. Kairi rolled her eyes before yanking Riku back up to a sitting position. "Sit up while you eat, before you get sick and delay your release even further."
I took this as a chance to join into the conversation and distract myself even further from Riku's perfection. "Speaking of that, did they mention anything to you when you signed in at the front desk?"
Kairi sighed and shook her head, letting the locks fall back gently into place around her face. I was struck with the fact that both of my best friends were ridiculously beautiful. Even Axel and Roxas were abnormally sexy, although with Roxas it was more of an adorable sexiness. And me? A klutz.
Don't think that my clumsiness had faded. No, I was still just as klutzy as ever, maybe even more so since the party. I had already broken three of the machines in our room, two TV sets, and had dropped five glasses of water. Water I then proceeded to slip on, sending me inevitably flying into Nurse Tifa's perky bosom.
Exactly.
"Well at least we're done with those stupid fitness tests. If I have to run for three hours on that treadmill again, I'm going to rip it out of the wall and throw it at them." Riku complained, but grinned playfully at me. "Then again, if we were all as horrible at it as Kiwi here, maybe the three of us could get exempt from it too."
I sputtered indignantly, but the four of my "friends" just ignored me and kept chatting as if I couldn't hear them.
Axel smirked. "Funny. But can we all just put a pause on everything so someone can answer me this: why do you call him Kiwi?"
Kairi and Roxas both looked at each other before bursting out laughing while Riku merely shushed them with a grin before turning to Axel with a serious look on his face. "Well, you see Axel, there's a quite reasonable explanation for why I refer to him as Kiwi and not Klutz."
Riku grabbed Roxas' empty Subway wrapper and held it behind my head. "Pen." He ordered to Kairi, and she obliged quickly with a snicker. I rolled my eyes up above me so I could try and see what Riku was doing. What was going on? And why were they all laughing at me?!
There was a quiet moment in which all I could hear was Kairi and Roxas' muffled giggles, Axel's curious sounds, and the sound of ruffling.
"There!" Riku finished, making sure to peck my forehead with a kiss as he leaned away from me. I blushed and immediately looked towards the floor. Calm down, calm down…deep breaths…
I was distracted by the wrapper Riku held up high above his head. It was an outline of my hair, only he had colored it in sloppily with the black pin. And to finish it off, he had drawn a sloppy circle around the whole thing, making the outline of my hair look distinctly like…
I smiled sheepishly. A kiwi.
A slow smirk grew on Axel's face as Roxas burst out laughing again, and I couldn't help but let out a couple of embarrassed chuckles with him. Maybe it was kind of funny.
The door opened again, and slowly Namine entered the doorway. She had her blonde hair all pulled on one side of her shoulder and was wearing a white baby-doll shirt with a pair of jeans. She must have changed after school before she came over here. I glanced over at Roxas. Uh oh…I had a bad feeling about this.
"Um…hi guys." She murmured, smiling a little. We all watched as she reached in her backpack and unveiled a bouquet of daises. "Axel…I brought you some flowers."
Axel's face softened as he took the daises from her. "Thanks, Nami. But I thought that the boyfriend is supposed to get the girlfriend flowers, not the other way around."
I bit my lip. They were boyfriend and girlfriend? When the heck did that happen? I chanced a quick look at Roxas. He was scowling down at his apple chips, looking a little like he wanted to throw up. I sent a panicked look to Riku, who returned it in an equally horrified expression. We had to do something!
"Hey Roxas, how about the three of us sneak out and go to the beach?" Riku offered quickly. Roxas stared at him like he'd just grown three heads, and I had to agree. What the heck was he talking about; we couldn't sneak out of a hospital! What if something was generally wrong with us! And what about Kairi; we couldn't possibly leave her!
"You want to sneak out?" He asked in disbelief, Riku's craziness having effectively distracted him from Axel and Namine's cute couple-y bantering. Kairi scrunched up her face and frowned at me. But what could I do?!
"Uh, Riku, that's a nice thought, but…we can't sneak out of a hospital." I insisted, shaking my head decisively. "We just…can't."
"I think we can." Riku disagreed, giving me a grin and a quick kiss on the cheek. "And we are."
As I blushed furiously, Riku reached under the bed and fished out three long black cloaks- where did he even get those?-, tossing me and Rox the smallest sizes.
"Put these on. Okay guys, here's the plan. We're going to leave the room, and we'll need you, Kai, to lock the door after us. Then no one gets in and everyone will think we're just rebelling and being stupid, silly teenage boys." Riku explained
Roxas jumped up in excitement. "Alright! Let's do it!"
At least one other person was crazy enough to want to do this.
Kairi stood up too; only instead of looking as excited as Roxas did she looked very, very pissed off. I cowered slightly in fear. Uh oh…an angry Kairi was terrifying.
"Do not think for a minute, that I'm going to let you to not include me again. We're supposed to be friends, Riku." She complained angrily. I quickly went over to her and slid an arm around her waist. I didn't like to see Kairi upset. It was like seeing your mother cry or something.
I glared at Riku, and he just looked at her for a long moment before folding his arms and leaning against the wall. He peered down at her through his bangs. Oh man, that was one sexy look…
"How long have you felt like this?" He demanded softly. Kairi faltered, and I felt her pulling me closer to her, almost as if I were her protective shield.
"Ever since you started…" She began before freezing up and turning away. "Never mind. Look, I'll just stay behind and lock the door like you said."
Riku narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but Roxas was already too hyped up to notice much of anything remotely emotional. "Let's bounce, guys!" He exclaimed, grabbing Riku's arm and practically yanking him out of the room.
That, or he was still trying not to notice how Axel and Namine seemed to be in their own little world of daises.
I sighed. "Kai, what's wrong?"
Kairi stared down at her hands. "You wouldn't understand." She murmured so quietly, that I almost didn't hear her. But I did. And I know it made no sense, but I felt kind of hurt by her comment. Hadn't we been through a lot of drama together? I would think I am the only one who understands her at all! Roxas would probably just think it's that time of the month for her; Riku would probably worry about it for a while before shrugging it off and making a "mission" to get back on her good side, but me…
I love Kairi. I want to be there for her like she was there for me when Riku broke my heart. I can understand, and I wish she would get that.
I looked at her with a sudden determination. "Kairi," She slowly stared up at me. "You don't have to tell me what's up with you and Riku now. But don't tell me I won't understand. You know better than I do that I definitely would. We're connected, Kai. Remember our promise?"
I held out my fist in front of her. She sighed, defeated, before giving me a small smile. She pumped mine with her own fist before we both made explosion noises as we wriggled our fingers away.
"God, Sora, are you sure you're not straight? You and Kairi seem to have a strong connection there with your explosions." Axel quipped dryly, and Namine chidingly smacked him on his shoulder. He playfully gave her a pout.
"Hey! I'm injured!"
"Yeah right."
Kairi and I both turned away from them. It still felt almost…wrong, to see those two together like that. It was just hard for me to swallow Axel with anyone else but Roxas.
Oh, speaking of Roxas…
"I'd better get out of here." I said with a small little grin, hopefully managing to have comforted her. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled up at me. But I wasn't fooled. There was still something going on with her and Riku, and I was going to figure it out.
"Okay. I'll see you later, Sora."
The hospital hallway
I left our room, quietly closing the door behind me, with a nervous giggle. I wasn't really used to this kind of stuff; getting in trouble, I mean. That was Roxas' and Axel's forte. Me? I've been good little Sora my whole life. So this adrenaline rush…the high…was definitely unfamiliar for me.
That could also explain why I screamed like a banshee when Riku placed a hand on my shoulder from behind me.
"Hush, Kiwi. We're trying to sneak out, remember? Not alert them to our position!" Riku whispered into my ear, and I shivered. He was much too close. His scent was all that I could smell, and his body heat was all that I could feel. Oh...I missed the feel of his body against mine…
What? No! No I didn't! I shoved myself away from him. That's not what I wanted. Really. I gave him a reassuring smile at his questioning look. There was no problem here. Time to keep moving…
"Guys…I don't think we're in a regular hospital here." Roxas suddenly pointed out to us slowly and we both looked over at him. He was on his toes, looking through the window of the room right across from ours. Riku immediately went to investigate, but I cautiously narrowed my eyes at the window. Who knew what was in there? Roxas was not one to scare easily, so there could be a dead body in there for all we knew. But me…horrifying things seemed to affect me more deeply. So if there was a body in there, it would take me at least a month to rid the image of my mind.
"Kiwi, you have to see this." Riku murmured in wonder. Okay, now he had me. I just had to go see what was in there. I walked over to them and wriggled my way in between them. Once I was comfortable, I peered inside.
There were about four or five doctors inside, all of them holding down a giant creature very similar to the one that the cloaked stranger and I took down at Kairi's house. They were shouting loudly at each other, probably telling someone to go get reinforcements or something. And then, the creature, with its startling yellow eyes and mist of darkness streaming from its entire being, looked up at us. At me.
It gazed so intensely into my eyes, that I felt almost immobile. I felt like I was seeing into darkness itself. And what I saw…wasn't pretty. The creature finally let out an ear piercing roar, releasing me from its sight but giving away our position. All of the doctors looked up at us, and…
"Kiwi, come on! Run!" Riku shouted, breaking me out of my trance and yanking me painfully down the hallway. I could hear heavy footsteps running after us, and suddenly my adrenaline rush of danger was back.
"Crap, you guys, I knew we shouldn't have tried to sneak out of a freaking hospital! What is Tifa going to think?" I shouted, but I couldn't wipe off the smile from my face. This was kind of exciting. Besides, I may be cautious, but I was no wimp. I was probably braver than the two running boys in front of me, even though I didn't show it all the time.
Roxas laughed wildly in front of us, and I knew that Riku had made a good suggestion when he planned for us to sneak out. Ever since Axel had converted him to the dark side, trouble was the one thing that Rox was allowed to lose himself in without a care in the world.
"Okay, there are the doors! Just keep running!"
Papou Island
"We're going to get in so much trouble for this." I mused as we all lay next to each other in the sand with our hands behind our heads. But I didn't really care. Surprisingly, I wasn't worried at all…I really did need to spend more time here. Besides that, compared to a quiet old boring hospital- minus the scene we had just witnessed- this was the life!
"Hopefully." Roxas sighed happily, and both Riku and I sat up to stare at him. I shook my head. Jeez, Roxas was becoming more and more like Axel every day!
"So, changing the subject, whad'dya suppose that thing in the hospital was?" I wondered aloud, leaning back down and staring up at the sky. Riku made a noise in the back of his throat and raised an eyebrow down at me.
"Why? Did it scare you?" He teased, and I rolled my eyes at him.
"You wish. I was just curious. And as if you weren't just a tad bit apprehensive…"
Riku sighed loudly and both Roxas and I peered over at him in bemusement. "Look," He began, his eyes raising to meet the same sky I was looking at just a few minutes ago, "I've seen some crazy shit in Bastian Bay. Stuff like that doesn't faze me anymore."
At the exact same time, without rehearsing, Roxas and I both scoffed, and at the same time chimed, "Because Bastian Bay is just so great" in annoyance.
Riku sat up, but Roxas and I remained reclining. I glanced at the blonde, and he glanced back at me, and I instantly knew that we had an understanding. Neither of us really knew how to interact with Riku when he was talking about Bastian Bay, because those were hard times for all of us. It was just extremely uncomfortable.
How do you just discard three years of bad memories?
"Okay, I have an idea." Riku suddenly suggested, and now we all sat up, so we were eyelevel. "Let's play Truth."
"Truth? Like, as in, dare?" Roxas asked skeptically, and Riku gave him a playful smack on the back of the head.
"No, Roxas, not as in dare. Truth is a game where you take turns asking questions." He explained, and I nodded slowly. That probably would be a good game for us to play. The reason why everything is so awkward is because we don't really know each other anymore.
"Okay, I'll go first. Riku, where did you go at the party? After the attacks? I looked up, and you had disappeared." I wanted to know. I mean, it was just a little strange that he just ran off like that- that's not Riku's usual style and demeanor.
Riku bit his lip and looked away from me. "I…I, uh…got scared."
Roxas scoffed. "Bullshit."
Riku narrowed his eyes and growled at him. I gazed back and forth from the both of them. What was the big deal? Why couldn't Riku have been scared? Why was Roxas calling him out on this? Jeez, what did I miss?
"Oh, c'mon Riku, don't give me that look. You know full well that's a lie." Roxas exclaimed, a little smile making its way onto his face. "Liars never prosper, you know."
I smiled too. I couldn't help it; Roxas' rare smiles were infectious. "He's right you know."
Riku rolled his eyes and shot us sarcastic looks. "Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely going to hell for it, I know. Anyway, Roxas, you're breaking the rules. You're not allowed to question the honesty of the answer."
"Whatever. It's your turn." Roxas snorted. I hummed to myself and stretched my arms behind my head. This was kind of nice. Sometimes it's nice to just be, you know? I kept wondering why Roxas was so grumpy today, though. It was probably because of Axel, but still. Maybe there was something else on his mind.
"Okay. Roxas, what did you and Axel talk about in the basement?" Riku demanded, and I dropped my arms quickly to stare at Rox eagerly. That's what I wanted to know!
Roxas huffed indignantly. "For the life of me, I can't figure out why you two would possibly care."
I don't know what the heck he was talking about. Why wouldn't we care? We're his best friends; we're supposed to know everything! See, I think it's this kind of attitude that ruined the three of us in the first place. We all kept things from each other. Well, from now on, that was going to have to change.
"Well, you going to answer?" I finally asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Rox shifted uncomfortably, and I could already tell that whatever was said, it was extremely embarrassing to him. Eh, too bad, he was going to have to get over that.
"You mean I have a choice? Alright then, I pass." Roxas declared. Riku sighed and poked him on the forehead with his index finger.
"You're such a rule breaker. That, my friend, is once again, illegal in the game of Truth." He pointed out, and I finally just cocked my head at him in disbelief.
"You know what I think Riku? I think there's no way you'd remember every single rule of a game that sounds like it belongs in a girl's sleepover party. I suspect you're making stuff up." I proclaimed, giving him a playfully suspicious look. Roxas laughed.
"Brilliant deduction, Watson."
I stuck my tongue out at him. Meanie.
But at least that hadn't changed.
Outside of the hospital
"We can't go in soaking wet guys." I pointed out reasonably, shaking out my hair like a dog. Riku in turn leaned over and squeezed the water from his long hair. He looked like a god, standing like that with his hair tumbling down his strong, muscled arms.
I think I wanted to cry.
Roxas ran a hand through his now completely flat hair and lifted his hood up over his face. He shrugged at me. "Sure we can. And anyway, stop acting so responsible, you know full well it was worth it."
I had to agree. It was completely worth it. After learning more than I needed to know about Roxas and Riku (Roxas was still a virgin, Riku dyed his hair black last year- even his pubic hair, Rox took nude pictures of himself with sushi all over his naked body, and those were the tamest facts), we all decided to go on a reunion surfing trip.
Yeah, didn't think that one through.
"Alright, Kiwi, you do raise a good point." Riku sighed logically. I smiled. See, Riku appreciated my thoughtfulness. Someone had to be the reasonable one around here, and it seems as if he's ready to fill those shoes!
"So we're going to sneak back in dressed as nurses!" Riku finished. If this were an anime, and not my real life, I would've sweat dropped. Ah well. It's not like I wasn't used to this. This kind of thing- Riku coming up with some crazy plan- happened more often than not.
Suddenly, a long sharp sword entered my peripheral vision, and I swirled around quickly (but obviously not quick enough) to see Riku's face only mere inches away from its edge. Busted.
And I didn't even have to look up to know who it was.
Which, if you think about it, is kind of disturbing.
"You shall do no such thing." Sephiroth, terror in its purest form, ordered coldly, causing all three of us to shiver. "You are still patients in this hospital until you are released, and until that time, you will not indulge in any extraneous activities while I am around."
I couldn't stifle a giggle. It was a little too late for that, we'd already snuck out and been surfing for the past hour.
Sephiroth turned his gaze to me, and my laugh died in my throat. I looked away nervously and tried to maintain my breathing. Calm down, Sora, he wasn't that scary.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a nearby plant wither and die. Yes he was!
"Dad, it's not that big of a deal." Riku frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and hiding his eyes behind his long bangs. "You haven't even been here."
Sephiroth glared at him, and both Roxas and I exchanged awkward looks. This felt like a family spat…and unless Riku told us about it, it was none of our business.
"Okay, well we'll let you two sort this out while-" I began, both Roxas and I taking steps toward the hospital doors, only to be yanked back by our hoods by the tip of Sephiroth's sword. He didn't even bother to glance at us; he merely held us up so our short legs were off the ground. He was just going to let us dangle in thin air?!
"And just whose fault was it that I wasn't here, Riku? It wasn't I that chose to runaway with Cloud like thieves in the night." Sephiroth retorted, also looking away from Riku. Both were silent for a second, each too busy in their thoughts to notice that Roxas had slid himself out from under the sword. I gestured wildly at him to you know, maybe save me, but all he did was stand there and mouth, "how?!"
What did he mean, "how?" I think it was called pulling me out from under Sephiroth's sword!
"Riku! There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Cloud suddenly shouted, his voice muffled by the glass of the hospital doors. He waited patiently for the doors to slide open automatically before finally just shoving them open himself, striding over to us like a man on a mission.
"Where the hell have you-!" He paused, having just noticed just who it was Riku was talking to (or not talking to, depending on how you looked at it). His eyes widened, his checks reddened, and his fists clenched besides his legs. He looked away.
"S-Sephiroth. What are…what are you doing here?" Cloud stammered. Roxas and I exchanged looks and rolled our eyes. Jeez, he'd been here for like, three days. But I guess every time they've been in the same proximity, Cloud was sleeping, out of the room, or just too lost in his own thoughts.
That happened a lot with Cloud.
"I came to see Riku…and…you…to see how the two of you were doing, when the heartless attacked." Sephiroth answered with little to no emotion, sliding his glare to Cloud with practiced ease. "But I see you were just fine with Leon here to protect you."
Cloud blushed even deeper, and suddenly I got a very strong feeling that we should leave. I nudged Roxas and he nudged me back. And both of us slowly took a couple of steps away. Well, at least we were, until Riku looked up at us, me in particular, with a look of sadness and panic.
I stopped. I couldn't leave Riku. He needed us.
"That's none of your business, and you know it. Besides, it's not like I asked you to come back here to check up on us like we're babies. Stop treating me like I'm your little kid, and start treating me as, you know, your husband." Cloud snapped, his eyes suddenly flashing.
Sephiroth didn't even bat an eyelash. "I treat you like a little kid, because you insist on acting like one." He responded indifferently. Cloud fumed at the lack of concern in his voice. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. It was weird seeing Cloud and Sephiroth go at it like they were still teenagers. I guess I forgot that they were people.
I know, I know, definitely a kid thing, but it was something I hadn't grown out of!
"Well you know what, Seph, I'm not a kid anymore- a fact known and appreciated by Leon, who seems to like the manly aspects of me…my body included!" Cloud shouted, and both Riku and Sephiroth looked surprised…until their expressions morphed into different reactions. Riku looked away, hurt, hiding his eyes once more in his bangs, while Sephiroth just looked extremely pissed off.
"Cloud…" Riku murmured, as if he was wounded, and Cloud turned to him with a sudden look of anxious regret. Oh Cloud, why did you say that?! He reached out to touch him…
…when Sephiroth grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him so they were only mere inches from each other.
"You let someone else touch you, Cloud?" He demanded roughly, pulling him closer to him.
"Don't touch me!" Cloud barked loudly, shoving away from his husband.
Riku eyed them nervously, and that's when I knew I needed to step in.
See, here's the thing about Sephiroth and Cloud. They've grown up together their whole lives, and even though the majority of their past they were friends, they had always had an emotional pull to each other. That's why things that would normally scar a regular relationship, like Sephiroth physically hurting Cloud (and not in an abusive sense, because I know for a fact that Seph has never actually hit him), doesn't even phase those two.
But Riku however, is a little different. He grew up with me, Kai and Roxas, who, with the exception of Roxas, had loving families with man and woman. Riku has always grown up wondering why he didn't have a mother, and therefore, he's grown up without a real big sense on love. All he sees is the kind of treatment Seph gives Cloud.
I mean, obviously Cloud shows him infinite affection. But there are a lot of things that even Cloud is uncomfortable sharing. The guy is pretty quiet; he can only reveal so much without shutting that emotional door again.
In Riku's defense, that's probably one of the reasons why we didn't work out.
Anyway, the point is that I know what bothers him- well, what used to bother him. And seeing Sephiroth and Cloud argue has always been one of them.
"Riku, let's get back to our rooms, man." I interrupted loudly, not only grabbing Riku's attention, but making Cloud and Seph aware that we were still freaking here!
"Let me escort you three." Sephiroth said flatly, his tone losing that emotion now that he wasn't directing to Cloud anymore. I sighed. No wonder Riku wanted to come back so badly. If this is what he had to go through every day, his life sucked!
The hospital room
When we got back inside of our rooms, we walked in to find Namine gone, and Kairi and Axel propped up side by side, watching Titanic on TNT.
TNT: because they know drama!
Pssh, try living in Destiny Island. Here's a place that knows drama.
"You know, there are a bunch of other objects floating around. Rose could've used her arm as an oar and propelled them over to that barrel."Kairi pointed out, drawing a triangle on Axel's extremely long leg.
He tilted his head at her. "Honestly, I don't think Rose would be up for that. She was just too fucking cold to help Jack get something to sit on."
Well, sounded like they were having a lot of fun while we were gone. I stood by the door, watching as Riku plopped down next to Kairi, sighing and resting his head against her shoulder. And of course, the first thing she does is look up at me like I did something.
I shook my head at her and mouthed, "Sephiroth."
She just nodded understandably and ran a hand through his hair, even though she was angry at him just a mere two hours ago. But that's how friendship works sometimes. You have to be willing to forgive at the right moments to preserve a relationship.
I guess I had forgotten that. Suddenly my feet were extremely interesting.
Axel looked up and saw Roxas with his hood up, looking like a drowned cat who had just witnessed his best kitty friend get eaten by a dog.
"Jeez, you three, what's with the gloomy expressions?! Just a couple of hours ago we were making dirty words on a Scrabble board! Get over here Rocky! You too Sora!"
Roxas snuggled in next to Axel and I snuggled in next to him, and we all sat and critiqued the end of Titanic together. Still…it didn't feel right. It felt kind of…gloomy. Which, hey, was probably completely our faults.
But hey…gloomy or not…it felt real.
And right now, that's all we needed.
How do you go back?
I had just closed my eyes to fall into a calm, peaceful sleep like the rest of my friends, when the door burst open. My eyes shot open as the familiar sounds of boots entered my ears. Uh oh, I had a feeling I knew who that was.
I sat up, noting that everyone else was still asleep. Then I glanced at the door. Oh god.
Sephiroth, Cloud, Leon, Reno, Aerith, Zack, Nurse Tifa, Rude, my mom and dad, Roxas' mom and dad, Mrs. Tomura, Rikku, Yuna, and Paine, and finally Axel's dad all stood in the doorway, glaring down at our peaceful figures. I gulped and hastily shook Roxas awake. If I was going down, he was going down with me.
"Uh, hey guys! May we, uh, may we help you?" I asked innocently, Roxas and me both widening our blue eyes up at them, fishing for pity. Nurse Tifa looked as if she were about to melt. Good, that means we had at least one of them hooked.
"Awww!" She cooed, making as if she were about to run and hug us, but Cloud, who remained as stern as possible, grabbed her hand at the last second, murmuring, "Stay strong. They do that every time they get in trouble."
Dang it! Tifa blinked in confusion for a second, probably wondering what just happened. I sighed. Man, she was the only one who wasn't used to that. She would've been our only hope. But now, thanks to Cloud…
"Did you really think we weren't going to notice that you boys had snuck out? Honestly. We're your parents. We know you better than anyone. And we had a feeling that if we gave you even the slightest amount of freedom, you'd take advantage of it." Mom snapped angrily, and my dad put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them comfortingly.
"Now, now, Felicia, they're teenage boys. It isn't as if we didn't always do the same thing when we were their age." He reasoned, giving me a wink from behind her. I grinned at him. Good old dad, always looking out from me. Unfortunately, mom caught my grin, and I quickly tucked it back in, replacing it with remorse and sadness once more.
"Oh, great Sunny, that really fixed things." Roxas' father, a stern military lieutenant colonial, sneered, looking pretty pissed off. Roxas glared at him and gave me an anxious look. Great, his dad was here. Roxas' parents had gotten a divorce about two years ago, and ever since then Roxas' dad, who normally wasn't even that affectionate in the first place, hadn't been the same ever since. He was terrible to Rox; he never paid any attention to him, he was always putting work before him, and not only that, but he constantly made Roxas feel guilty about the divorce, as if it were his fault!
It made me mad to think that the one person who hurt Roxas the most is the one person I can't protect him from. I frowned. It really made me hate his dad.
"Hey, he was just trying to show another perspective on it!" Cloud retorted, his best friend protectiveness starting to kick in. Like me and Riku, Cloud couldn't stand when someone was mean to his friends. "Maybe if you did that for Roxas once in a while, no one would hate you so much."
Aerith stepped forward slightly and placed a hand on his clenched fists. "Cloud, he was probably just worried about Roxas, just like the rest of us." She said softly.
"Or he was just trying to make the rest of us feel like asses and bad parents for not fucking screaming at them for breaking his beloved rules." Reno offered up like the no-helping drama starter that he was.
"Oh, as if you have a better plan to how you want to handle this?!" Mrs. Tomura, Kairi's mom, screeched, and suddenly all of the adults were bickering like a group of little kids.
By this time, if everyone else was asleep, they were awake now, all staring at their parents like they were finally seeing this as just a pair of older teenagers. As they continued to argue loudly, the rest of us "children" were silent, turning to each other and just widening our eyes. Finally, Riku broke the silence.
"I think I liked it better when they were screaming at us." He commented lightly, running his hand through the tangles in his now damp hair. I tried not to drool at how graceful he looked doing it.
"I know. They're fucking worse than us!" Axel marveled as well, actually looking kind of disturbed. Kairi seconded the motion with a slow nod, grimacing at the high pitched screeches her mother was emitting. I…don't know how I felt about this. I mean, I know that my parents' lives weren't all about me, but it was weird to get a glimpse of them in their own primes. It was just weird.
Besides that, I had a lot of questions for them. What was that creature in the other room? What kind of hospital were we in? Who was that weird guy in the cloak that had helped me fight that shadow two days ago?
Those were just three of the hundreds of questions floating in my mind. And maybe if mom and dad and Cloud would stop yelling at each other, they could sit down and answer them one by one.
"Do you want to sneak out again?" Roxas asked with a grin, and we all started cracking up. What? It was funny!
But I think Roxas had finally said the magic words. Sneak out seemed to register in our parents' brains, and they all stopped talking abruptly to turn and glare at Roxas in unison. Rox froze and cowered slightly behind me.
"It was a joke. You know, ha ha, that was funny, good one…and whatnot?" He explained with a nervous chuckle.
"You boys-" Mrs. Tomura began in a threatening tone, but Kairi stood up and walked up in front of us, almost as if she were protecting us from harm's way. I melted inside. That was so sweet.
"Mom, you all are always trying to protect us, which is…well, understandable. It's terrific, actually, because you all do it so well, we're always safe. But mom, Cloud…everyone…we're not kids anymore. We have developed brains; we can think for ourselves now. Better yet, we now have the ability to comprehend." She explained softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
As my eyes watched for their reactions, they landed on Yuna, Rikku, and Paine; I had forgotten they were even there! But what had really startled me was the way Yuna was staring at Kairi as if she were the most magnificent creature on the earth. Which, you know, wasn't good, considering Tidus loved Yuna, and they were an item.
And now, I think maybe it was my turn to say something.
"Kairi's right. We can understand things now. We want to understand things now. That's why we always have a million questions floating in our heads, and that's why Google is one of the most visited websites in the world. But guys…there are some things that only our parents can answer. So please…just answer our calls." I pleaded, giving them all my most sincere expression.
Sephiroth, surprisingly, was the first out of the adults in the room, to speak. "Sora, for once in your existence, you stand correct. What is it that you wish to know?"
Riku nearly gagged on the invisible piece of nothing in his throat, which had been happening to us a lot lately. We both stared at each other in shock. In all of our lives, Sephiroth had never made a claim that Riku or I were ever right. But now, he was doing it so easily, as if he'd been admitting our correctness for years.
Could this change have been stirred from Cloud?
I stole a glance at him. He was staring at Sephiroth with an odd look on his face, like he was somehow wondering the exact same thing. Leon, however, looked as if he were about ready to punch in a wall.
"Okay, guys, let's just tell them now." Zack reasoned, walking up to Kairi and I and sitting us gently back down onto the bed. He smirked. "They can understand. They want to understand." He teased, mocking me.
I blushed as Riku burst out laughing. Jeez, good to know I had a best friend who would defend me against verbal attacks!
"Alright. We're supposed to wait until the last full moon of the year, but…their abilities are developing prematurely anyway. Let's let them know now." Aerith agreed, running a gentle hand down my face. She got on her knees so we were eyelevel.
"Sora," she began softly, "do you wish to know who you really are?"
My eyes widened in shock. What? What was she talking about? I knew who I was; I was Sora Kaci Hikaru.
But then…what was the strange key that kept appearing two days ago? And when did I learn to fight with it?
"What the hell are you all blabbering about? This is nonsense. I only visited this ridiculous place to be sure that Roxas was fit to receive the proper reprimand. It is bad enough that I had to take off work for this." Roxas' father scoffed, folding his arms. Roxas' mother, who had remained silent for this whole ordeal, winced and glanced at her son.
Roxas was staring quietly at his feet, an embarrassed flush growing on his face and ears. I don't think he was used to anyone else seeing how his father treated him. I frowned. Still, it wasn't something to be embarrassed about. If anything, he should be pissed off, just like I was!
"Oh, I forgot about you." Sunny muttered darkly to himself, before looking up kindly at Mr. and Mrs. Haiku. "How about you two return to what you were doing? We all pretty much have this covered. You too, Mrs. Tomura. I know how much it costs to have to drive all the way up here."
The three parents didn't have to be told twice. Although, to Mrs. Tomura's credit, she did look at Kairi in hesitation as the other two filed out.
"Kairi, sweetheart? Are you sure you're okay?" She verified, pausing with her hand on the door. Kairi nodded with a reassuring smile.
"I'm okay, mom."
Mrs. Tomura debated it with herself for one last lingering moment, before finally nodding and leaving as suggested. Yuna, Rikku and Paine, all looked at each other before looking back at the adults in the room, who were staring pointedly at them.
"You can hint all you want, but we're not leaving. Those five over there weren't the only ones who sprouted weird science-fiction-y powers. Besides, Axel's my brother. And he'd just tell me anyway." Rikku reasoned in her cheerful, bubbly voice.
Axel made a face at her. "No I wouldn't, you annoying waste of flesh."
Rikku simply smiled. "You would if you knew that I have your lighter."
"I have tons of lighters, get the picture?"" Axel sneered, rolling his eyes at her as if she were the most stupid being in the entire world. Rikku grinned wider.
"Yep, you have tons of lighters. But you only have one from Roxas." She sang, dodging the sudden jerk from Axel, who had stood up and was now glaring at her. The only thing that was holding him back from pummeling her was his father, who was rolling his eyes at his children with a sigh.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd ever met Axel's dad. He was bald, but muscled; kind of like Rude, only he was slightly shorter. He wore strange goggles over his eyes, and had an outfit that consisted of tight spandex and more spandex, with long black boots. His eyes were covered, so obviously I couldn't see them, but I'm guessing that they were green.
"Shut up, you two. This isn't even about either of you." He drawled, grabbing Rikku's arm and pulling her away from Axel. "Sit down."
"Actually, this does kind of involve them." Reno corrected, leaning back on his heels and flashing him a smile. But when he saw the annoyed look on Cid's face, he replaced it with a smirk. "I see someone got on the wrong side of the airship today."
"Can we get back to the explanations, please?" Cloud cut in, walking over to sit next to Riku, but leaning over so he could see my face. "Now Sora…what do you want to know?"
Aerith and Cloud were staring at me earnestly, and I snuck a glance at Riku. He was watching me too, although for some reason, it was with wariness, like he wasn't sure about what I was going to ask.
But in my heart, I knew just what was really bothering me. And I wasn't going to leave this room without a straight, honest to Zeus answer.
"Okay. Cloud, Aerith…who was that guy that helped me fight the shadow?" Then I turned to Riku with a serious look on my face. He was going to answer this whether he wanted to or not. "And Riku…where were you?"
How to do you go back to the way things used to be? The answer is:
You can't.
Two words. Sephiroth's. Back. Oh shizz! Looks like our Leon is going to have some stiff competition. Especially since technically Seph and Cloud are still married!
Not much to say about this chapter. Most of the plot line is continued in Riku's chapter next time, while this chapter is more on character insight, and character development. Especially Sora/Roxas/Riku development. I would mostly say this focuses on how the relationships are doing. Next chapter is hardcore plot.