… I have nothing to say here. Just read on and enjoy. Or not. … I'm not sure whether a chapter like this should be enjoyed. Anyway, I do not own these characters. Well, on with the chapter.

Chapter 26: Eyes of Sorrow

Pain… massive amounts of pain… the searing pain of plasma slicing along her left side, the icy pain of the depths of space cutting along her left cheek, the aching, tired pain of planets covering her entire body, and the gamma burst of mental and emotional anguish throughout her mind. That was almost all that she knew for a long time. She knew that she was female, and she knew the Pain. She had forgotten her name and almost everything else about her. However, she did remember somebody else, somebody who she loved. A boy. Yet… that was all she could remember.

She was in some sort of vast multi colored sea of Pain. However, she could also feel her physical body at the same time as she felt the aether of Pain around her, felt the eddies and currents of Pain flowing around her. It was an odd sensation

The Pain… it overwhelmed her mind, her memories, her very being. … She couldn't hold on for much longer like this. If it was just the Pain, she would have been fine. But it was the fear of the Pain, the pure bone chilling fright that gripped her being at the thought of the Pain that got through to her. She gripped onto the memory of the boy for dear life, as that was all that was keeping her from losing herself totally in the pain. She struggled to remember something, anything else about him, to help her hold on better. Just as she was about to give in to despair and fling herself into the Pain, give herself up to its advances and end it all, a flash of white light filled appeared in the multicolored ocean of pain that she swam in. It was a ghost of a memory, nay, even less than that. The sound of a boy's voice laughing. Not a boy… the boy. Somehow, she knew that that voice belonged to him. She concentrated on the sound of his laughter, on the pure elation it held, on the way that it seemed to speak to her, as if that laugh had been laughed only for her.

Suddenly, an image popped into her head… mind… consciousness, of a boy with spiky brown hair and piercing blue eyes which held a gentle gleam about them that suggested great mirth at something. He had a slight tan, and was smiling a broad smile that, again, seemed to be meant for her, and only her. Her heart… center of emotions… whatever it currently was that enabled her to feel emotion, it became filled with a deep feeling of love so intense that she momentarily forgot about the Pain.

Sora … the name came flashing across her mind like a bolt of lightning through a storm filled sky. That was the boy's name! Sora! Suddenly it all started coming back to her. Her name was Kairi. She was fifteen years old. And she willingly put herself into this condition to save Sora, the love of her life, her best friend in the world. She remembered everything. She remembered her friends, her family, everything. She remembered that she has faced the Pain before… and won.

The Pain had lost its ability to frighten her. She had already put aside her fear of it and faced it before, she remembered, and she could do it again. Everything gets easier the second time, after all. After what seemed to her to be a few minutes, she actually began to feel proud of the pain, a sort of sick pride that she had found somebody for whom she was willing to go through this intense pain for.

A burst of colorless light appeared above her, and she had a sudden urge to swim into it. Slowly, but surely, she made her way through the aether towards the light. Until, finally,, she reached it… the feeling of the aether around her disappeared and…

And suddenly, she was surrounded by darkness. She began to panic. Did she make the right decision? Did she break something inside of her? What was going on? Instinctively, her eyes opened, and the darkness was replaced by…, well, a lighter, more grainy sort of darkness, like one would find in a hospital room with the lights turned off. Which was basically where she found herself. She attempted to move her left arm and felt a streak of pain shoot up her left side. Suddenly, the lights came on in a burst of, well, light. She was temporarily blinded by the light as her eyes had been closed for the past two days.

While her eyes were closed, her other senses began to take note of her surroundings and the state of her body. She was wearing a loose fitting gown of some sort, nothing else, and appeared to be in a hospital bed. She could feel the spots along her arms where IVs have been connected to her. Her entire body ached, especially the left side of her chest and her left cheek.

When she was able to see again, there were a few people standing over her with concerned, yet happy expressions on their faces. Most of them were robed in the white clothing that doctors and nurses everywhere seem to wear. She tried to spot a specific face from among them, but she couldn't see him and his beautiful smile among the throng of people congregating around her bed.

"Where's Sora?" she asked, confused and scared that he wasn't there. "Is he ok? Nothing happened to him, right?" she asked, panic and worry beginning to set into her voice. If he wasn't all right… if he had died… she had no idea what she would do. A few tears began to form in her eyes.

"… well… he's not dead if that's what you're wondering." Said one doctor with a heavy British accent as the rest of the collected doctors around her began to scan the many monitors attached to her and get into small arguments over what some of the readings meant. There is nothing like two medical professionals arguing over what the handwriting on a medical chart said to cause one to think that something is wrong. Doctors are made to read crappy handwriting. … oh no.

"Then where is he? What happened?" she asked, her mind racing through all the possibilities could prevent him from being here. Maybe he's paralyzed, or he's in a coma! Or… what if he didn't want to see her anymore? What if he changed? What if he didn't love her anymore? What if…

"He's over there in that bed on the right. He is still sleeping off the surgery we performed on his leg. However…" the doctor halted for a moment, and his voice turned sorrowfully grim, which when combined with a British accent is … disturbing, to say the least.

"However… the damage to his leg was very serious. We did as much as we could for him, but he may not be able to walk again. If he hadn't walked here to the transport or refuse to go to the medical ward on the transport, things might be different. He said he did so because he didn't want to take any attention away from your wounds. There's a 50/50 chance that he will not be able to walk. And even if he does, his mobility may be severely limited. ... I am so sorry." Said the doctor as the tears began to stream down her face.

"… does he know yet?" she asked, her heart aching for her boy friend/lover/ soul mate/ best friend. Just the thought of Sora not being able to walk chased every happy emotion from her mind. He was always that guy who could never sit still, who was always running around getting into trouble, who was always doing something. He only sat still when he passed out from exhaustion. Running, jumping, fighting… it was a part of what made Sora Sora.

"He hasn't regained consciousness since the surgery, so we haven't had a chance to inform him of his circumstances. And… we thought that you would be the best person to tell him. I mean… you two are very close, and bad news is best heard from somebody close to you." said the doctor in a voice that spoke of years of hard bought experience in matters such as this.

"…" she remained silent, her eyes distant and full of pain and a deep bitter sorrowful anger at the world for doing this to the person she loved, as well as an overpowering sense of guilt and self hatred and blame. This was all her fault, she was sure of it. Somehow, someway, it was her fault. If she had moved faster before, or if she had not gotten injured during that insane stunt to save his life, or if she had not lost track of him for that moment in the battle and had protected him in the first place, then he would not be in this situation. If she hadn't gotten injured, everything would be fine. It was all her fault.

"I am sorry. I truly am. I know you do not want to hurt him, but trust me if you are the one to inform him he will experience less pain." said the doctor in a sympathetic tone of voice that made her feel a little better for some reason.

"… Ok… I'll do it. I'll tell him." she said, her voice pained. Maybe if she apologized afterwards he will forgive her. Maybe he will still love her, though she had no idea why he would.

"… Thank you. I know this is hard for you to do, but... it will be easier coming from a friend… or a more than friend. It is easier for you to show empathy to him than for a total stranger to." Said the doctor in a voice that paradoxically contained both logic and sympathy. There was a short pause in the conversation.

"… and how am I doc?" she asked, her voice filled with sorrow.

"Well… the Invisible's blade did not cut too deep into your side, so no internal organs were ruptured. The blade was also poisoned, but we managed to cure the poison before it did any major damage to your body. The slash on your cheek also seems to be healing well. However, you will have a scar on your cheek and on your side. All in all, you are a very lucky person." Said the doctor, still in that sympathetic voice of his.

"So… I'll be fine?" she asked, stunned and saddened at the fact that there wont be anything to punish her for not being good enough for Sora, for not moving fast enough or precise enough to protect him, for getting hurt while protecting him and causing him to get hurt even worse for her.

"… not quite. If this is like other cases we have seen of wounds from the blade of an Invisible… you will experience a pain in your wound every time you are near one of two things: When you are near the blade that inflicted your wound and when you are near any deposit of pure nothingness left over from the start of the universe." Said the doctor.

"So… I'll be fine basically." Asked Kairi.

"As long as you stay away from those things, yes." Said the doctor.

"… When will Sora wake up?" she asked in a curious, anxious tone.

"… In about five minutes. We have an expert in pain medication here who can predict these things with relative ease. I have lost more money to him on bets about these things than I care to admit." Said the doctor in a joking tone of voice.

"…"

"… ok, that was a bad joke. I apologize. I'll inform you when he is awake." Said the doctor as he walked away.

Kairi spent the next five minutes in silence, thinking about what to say to Sora, how to tell him that he may never walk again, and how to apologize for causing him to be in that position.

Those five minutes were gone in a flash, and suddenly Sora was awake. After about ten minutes of commotion, the doctor came over to her and started preparing her to walk. (AN: They have a lote better healing technology here than we do, so she can walk that soon after what happened to her, ok.) And then… she was there, at the foot of his bed.

"Hi…" she said nervously, not sure what else to say. Despite her sorrow, she was feeling elated at seeing him.

"Hi…" he said, a tone of… awe, astonishment, something along those lines in his voice and a look of pure affection and love present in his eyes.

"… the doctor said there's a 50 percent chance you will never walk again. And even if you do, it will probably be with limited mobility." She said in an emotional voice, watching Sora's expression turn from love to… a heartbreaking sadness. After about two seconds of that, she couldn't take it anymore.

"… im sorry. I am so sorry. This is all my fault. This is totally my fault. Im sorry. I don't blame you if you hate me. I hate me. If you don't want to see me ever again, I don't blame you." She burst out all of a sudden, tears flowing down her face as sobs racked her body.

"What do you mean? Why do you hate yourself! Why would I never want to see you again? You jumped in front of a fucking sword stroke that was meant for me! For god sake, I should be fucking apologizing to you! Kairi… I love you! I love you like I love life itself! I would never want to leave you. I would never leave you. Period. And if I had to I promise ill come back to you. Now … come here and tell me how this is your fault." Said Sora, a look of honest confusion and pure compassion and love on his face.

"If I hadn't gotten injured saving your life, you wouldn't have refused to get your leg looked at, and it probably wouldn't be in this shape right now. So… it is my fault" she said tearfully as she approached Sora's bedside.

"…Kairi… this is not your fault, ok? I did that because I love you. You are the most important thing in my life. Without you… I may as well not live." Sora said, sorrowful compassion in his eyes as tears streamed from them. "Now come closer." She obeyed, coming well within arms reach of him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer, so that the upper half of her body was against the upper half of his.

And… he kissed her in the most passionate kiss that that part of the multiverse has seen in a long time. It made her forget her fears and made everything seem right with the world. Yet she knew it really wasn't. And that it was probably her fault. … but that could wait for later.

… I know this ending sucked. I wrote it just now, and its like 12:30 in the morning where I am. And I have to get up and go to camp tomorrow… or later this morning technically. So… I'm really tired basically. I know that is no excuse, but… I'm sorry. If you guys want, I will rewrite the ending when I get back from camp. So review and let me know. Please. I also intended this to be much longer, but I ran out of time to write it. If I had had just one more day… : (

Well… review. And I'm sorry I kind of lied. I meant for this to be a Sora and Kairi chapter, but I got carried away with Kairi. And i know she sounds all depressed and angsty and out of character for the way I usually write her, but this is what always lies beneath her. This sort of angsty self blame feeling that everything is her fault and that nobody actually likes her and that everybody only hangs with her out of pity. … I know that feeling too well.

Again… review. Adios, guys. Till next time. … now to go and collapse in a room with AC and sleep.