This is the chapter we have been waiting for. Kairi's fate is revealed here.
… I think this might be my favorite piece I have ever written. I'm completely obsessed with shit like Cowboy Bebop and I think that this is the first time ive ever been able to write something halfway as good as what they have on that show.
… And I've just realized how weird my life actually is. My girlfriend is a diehard Card Captor Sakura fan and I'm a huge Cowboy Bebop fan. How the hell does that even work? They're both classic examples of the two opposing sides of anime, fun and cartoony with magic and dark and gritty with sci fi.
Sorry to ramble like that, its just that I've seen some things lately that have chilled me to the bone and leave me really worried for my friends. You know who you are. Things could be different this time. You never know.
Before I ramble on any further, I present to you this next chapter with characters I do not own featuring.
Chapter 21: Pain
Sora sat there, staring at the cold black metal of the dirty deck of the ship beneath him. It was scuffed and scratched from years of people walking over it. A small puddle of blood was by his right side. It had formed from the slow dripping of the red stuff of life from a rather wicked cut right by his right eye and cheek, which was only one of a rather extensive collection of newly acquired bruises, cuts, slashes, and abrasions. His left leg was painfully gnarled and twisted. His hair was tinged a reddish gold from sand and blood caked into it.
Yet the pain he felt externally could not hope in its wildest dreams to match that which he felt within. He was filled with an agony so deep, a despair so dark, a sorrow so profound that it was all he could do to prevent himself from just falling apart. He had no idea that she was that devoted to him, that she was willing to do something that damn foolish for him.
He began to slump forward, his back sliding along the metal of the bulkhead behind him until his head was staring at the point where the wall across from him and the ceiling intersected in a sharp crease.
If she died because of him…
No. I refuse to think that. She's not going to die. She can't die! She's all I have left, the only thing that's making my life worth living. Without her… I don't know what I would do. … I can't live without her.
He flashed back to their arrival on the ship, Riku helping him walk as the battle concluded around him in a loud silence. He was too shocked to hear anything at all. About twenty paces in front of them, Xion and Zexion were gently carrying Kairi, running towards the ship, looks of worry on their sweat plastered faces. Eventually, they reached the cool shade of the ship. Riku had told him to stand somewhere and then he ran off somewhere to get a doctor. Sora had stood there for a moment, then wandered off down a corridor until he found a convenient bulkhead to collapse against.
After a minute of silence, he banged his fist against the cold metallic surface of the bulkhead behind him, the frustrated sorrowful rage filled melancholy that he was feeling reaching a critical level, forcing him to do something, anything to relieve the pain. The jarring sensation of bone grinding against metal was a slight relief from the maelstrom of emotions that lay within. Tears began to stream down his cheeks, leaving crimson streaks running along in their wake as they ran through the grime and blood that stained his entire body.
… She loves me. Why else would she dive in front of a blade meant for me? ... she loves me. … Do I love her?
That question ripped through the hurricane of his psyche, destroying what little order the storm had had, leaving behind only chaos in its wake. He searched for some answer, any answer to his question. Does he love her? Does he love her? Do I love her?
It almost destroyed him, that question. It tore through him, ripping him to shreds. If he loved her, that would make the pain of what had just happened all the more painful, right? But if he didn't love her, then she did what she did for a feeling that he didn't reciprocate, and that added guilt would increase his pain to a level that he didn't think he could bear. Yet he had to know. He couldn't stay in this state of unknowing forever, cause that would also tear him apart, leaving him an agonized wreck of a human being searching for something he might never find. It was a lose-lose situation.
Then… he found what he was looking for, deep within the core of his soul. That spark of hope that things will turn out okay, that Kairi will be fine, that Xemnas and those who had died weren't really dead, that they were hiding somewhere and were going to jump out and yell surprise and it will all be a joke and everything will return back to normal. Inside of that spark, he found his answer. Any future without Kairi will have to be a future lacking him as well. He just couldn't live without her.
... I love her.
The realization hit him like a punch in the stomach. His subconscious had been aware of this fact for a while now, but now that he was consciously aware of it… it hurt like a bitch, yet somehow made him feel … better. It rubbed hydrochloric acid into the already excruciatingly painful mental wounds he was experiencing, yet somehow gave them meaning. As if there was some reason for his pain. As if love somehow justified the agony that his soul was going through.
Yet all the love and meaning in the world didn't stop the fact that pain was pain and it hurt. The slight stream of tears turned into a quiet sobbing accompanied by a river of tear drops dripping down his face.
He had no idea how long he sat there trapped in the pain that now had purpose. He would have stayed there for an eternity if it hadn't been for the pitter patter of footsteps coming from farther down in the corridor. Sora didn't move a muscle except to close his eyes. The pitter patter got louder, until finally he could sense that the person was standing right in front of him.
" She'll live." Said a voice that was painstakingly familiar. It reminded him of Kairi in some ways.
He recognized that voice from somewhere long ago. Then he realized what she had said, and all thoughts of who she was and where he recognized that voice from disappeared from his mind. All of his thoughts turned to Kairi.
"It was a close thing at first. She had lost a lot of blood, and the blade was poisoned. But she'll live. She will have some pretty nasty scars and might be messed up emotionally. But she's alive." The voice said, compassionate and empathetic and full of sorrowful joy.
The tears began to streak down Sora's face again, a great tide of them as sobs sacked his body. These tears were not of sorrow, but of a joy so profound that it quite literally left him breathless. … the pain really did have meaning after all. She was alive, and that was worth any amount of pain that could be inflicted on him.
"Now… lets get you looked at. When Kairi had been conscious for about a minute before fainting again, the first thing she had said was 'Is Sora all right?' Don't make me telling her yes a lie." The voice was soothing and oh so damn familiar. Who was this person? His eyes shot open.
Standing above him was a blond haired girl of about fourteen. She had a slight build and delicate features. Her eyes were a color of blue that he had only seen one other time in his life, on…
"Naminé." He said, his voice full of wonder.
"Yep. That is me. … I'm her Nobody. Now hold still so I can take a look at your leg. You've really messed it up bad. How the hell did you make it this far anyhow?" she asked as she examined the indicated part of his body.
"Pure adrenaline and willpower." He replied, wincing as Naminé began to probe his injured leg.
"… shit. I had forgotten how strong your willpower can be. You do know that your leg is broken in no less than three places?" she said, grim amazement present in her tone of voice.
"Really? … is that bad?" At that response, Naminé started to chuckle.
"I had also forgotten how funny you can be Sora." She giggled, then her voice and expression took a turn towards sorrowful. "Yes, that is bad. Very bad. It needs to be looked at by a doctor immediately."
"That bad, huh?" Sora asked, grimacing.
"Yes, that bad." Naminé responded in a grim voice.
"Well, do you think I can walk any further on it? Cause I don't see any doctors wandering down the hallway." Asked Sora, the joking in his voice masking the concern deep within him that Kairi's sacrifice may be for naught, that he may die anyway and leave her all alone in the world.
"No. Taking a single step more could cause irreparable damage to your leg. Why didn't you go to the medical ward when you arrived on ship" asked Naminé, curious and concerned.
"Because I didn't want to take any attention away from Kairi's wounds." Sora said.
"That's sweet, if foolish. … I'll be right back with a stretcher so i can get you to the medical ward. Don't move from this spot, ok?" She said
"As if I can." Sora grinned, gesturing at his mangled leg. Naminé chuckled.
"I can see what my sister saw in you." She laughed, then her face donned a more serious and concerned expression.
"I'll be right back, ok?" she said, concern evident in her voice. She was a couple of feet away when Sora's voice rang out behind her.
"Wait. Why are you here?" he asked, curious.
"Because it is time to end this war once and for all. That is why. You'll hear more later." She responded over her shoulder.
"Is Roxas here to?" he asked, his voice filled with cautious excitement. Naminé stopped in her tracks. Hesitating, she responded a moment later.
"Yes. Roxas is here." She said in a voice that was almost too calm, as if she was controlling it to not allow any emotion into it. She walked off down the corridor until she turned left, the clanging pitter patter of her footsteps disappearing into the distance.
As soon as the sound of her footsteps was gone, Sora began to weep. He wept for the joy of Kairi living. He wept for the elation of being able to see his brother again. He wept for the sorrow of the possibility that Kairi had nearly died in vain. He wept.
That is the end of this chapter. I hope you liked it. Well, I'm off to go and read the boatload of manga I just bought while getting a birthday gift for somebody. Adios, my friends. Please review!