Disclaimer: I, Sora's Sacrifice, do not own Kingdom Hearts (none of em'!) or any of the characters or creatures in it. This is just a fanfic! That is all.

A/N: OK, I have finally found the time to type!! I am so proud of myself! Ok, I gotta hurry and type some other things while I still have the muse to! I really hope you like this chapter! I think it was kinda rushed at the end…oh, well. Enjoy anyway!

P.S. I finally started reading Twilight! You know, the book series. I love it! And I love Edward!

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Broken

Chapter 5: Forgiveness

Sora walked up the concrete steps of the school he had come to hate so much. Destiny High. A stupid name for a stupid school. Sora told himself not to blame the school, but if it weren't for the school, if it weren't for the bullies, if it weren't for Riku...

No. He would not blame Riku for this. It was not his fault. It was his father's fault. All of this was because of him, because of his mother's death...no, he wouldn't blame her for this, either. He knew it was wrong and it wasn't their fault. They didn't do anything except be kind to him, be his friends, show him what friendship really was. Apparently the 'friendship' he had shared with his father before his mother died was fake. Sora did not allow tears to fall down his cheeks as he walked to his locker, ignoring the stares and whispers he got from the other students. He wished they would all just go away. That they would stop looking at him, stop talking about him. He wished they would just forget he even existed.

But sadly, the world is cruel, and there are some people in this world that are very unfortunate. Sora was one of those people. He didn't know why the world hated him, but they did. Was it his clothes? His shoes? His face? His spiky hair? Did it offend them somehow, or did they just not like him and decide that he was one of the losers that needed punishment for being...worthless? Worthless, weak, helpless, lame...there were so many words to describe how Sora felt. One of those very many words was guilty. Guilt is a very horrible feeling, one of the worst. When you do something wrong, something that hurt someone else, it's almost like you can't forgive yourself. Like...like you've committed the biggest crime--no, sin, in the world, and you can never be forgiven. And the world is right along with you, making you feel worse and worse until you just can't take it anymore. Until you finally break down from guilt, from that horrible feeling inside of you, in your heart. It may feel small at first, but it grows and grows until it's so big that you can't stand it. You feel like screaming, like tearing out your hair, like crying so much that you bleed, but none of these actions, and no others, make you feel any better. They don't take away the guilt. You may feel like you can never be forgiven, like there's no way out and you are going to be tortured by the guilty feeling in your chest for the rest of your life. Like you are the worst person ever and you don't deserve to live. You may try to escape this fate, but even death will not take that feeling away. There is only one way to make that horrible, guilty feeling inside go away: forgiveness. Forgiveness is the escape from everything. For all of your sins and all your sins to come. Everyone makes mistakes, and though forgiveness is the way out, not everyone can gain forgiveness...

Sora was tired, hurting (both on the inside and on the outside), sad, lonely, guilty...

He sighed silently and opened his locker. When he was done with his locker, he closed it and looked at the clock that hung on the white school wall. Sora cursed himself for being early and sat down on the bench near his locker, resting his head on the palms of his hands. And then the bell rang, the school bell, to be exact. It was time to go to his first class, his first stupid class.

Sora wasn't even sure why he was in school. I mean, if you were Sora's father, and you abused Sora, would you put him in school? It sounded pretty stupid to Sora, but he was still glad he was in school. Just because he was abused didn't mean that he should miss out on education.

Sora heaved himself up and headed for his first class, wincing at the slight pain he felt when he shifted his weight from the bench to his feet. Kids walked, ran and skipped to their classes, passing Sora by as though he didn't even exist. Some kids even bumped into him, some causing him to nearly fall over. But Sora didn't blame them. He had never done anything to help the world. He had never done anything...important. He had never made his existence noticeable in the world; no one should have acknowledged him. He didn't blame them if they were mean to him, if they bullied him and bad-mouthed him. He didn't blame them...

The halls were almost empty; Sora was almost to his class. When he got to the entrance of his class, he saw something silver out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to the right and saw Riku entering a different classroom, a giggling Kairi latched onto his arm. Sora furrowed his brows, confused. Had they started going out? It looked like Riku was enjoying it on the outside, but Sora could see past that. He saw how Riku was sad, confused, and actually kinda hurt on the inside, though he may not admit it. Riku would never let go of his pride, and Sora knew that he wouldn't let one kid like himself stand in Riku's way.

Sora tore his gaze away from the attractive silver-haired teenager and back to the plain door in front of him. He put his hand on the cold doorknob and twisted it open. He was greeted with noise coming from the other students, but no glances. Not even one. Not even from the teacher sitting behind the desk. Sora was used to this, though. The only time he ever got any attention was when kids were teasing and/or bullying him, when he was answering a question asked by a teacher in class, when his father was yelling, screaming, shouting, hitting, kicking, any other type of abusing him, and when...when Riku would talk to him...but that was over. He didn't have Riku anymore. Of course...there was that one time with Naminé the day before, but Sora knew that that was probably just a one-time thing.

Sora entered the classroom and shut the door behind him, quietly taking his seat. Five minutes later, the class started, and the students quieted down. The teacher began talking, and Sora tried to listen, but he just couldn't. His mind was focused on Riku. What was he going to do? He had to do something. Was he just gonna sit back and let his only friend (if he was still friend, that is) be taken away from him? This wasn't fair. None of this was fair.

Class seemed to end faster than usual to Sora, and before he knew it he was in front of his locker again. He grew to love his locker, after some time, it was a weird sort of shelter to him, a shelter from the world. An excuse to not pay attention to anyone, to not listen, to not care, and an excuse to ignore Riku. It wasn't that he wanted to ignore the older teen, but it was so hard to face him when he knew he wasn't supposed to, especially after the other day...

Of course, it wasn't guaranteed that Riku would talk to him again. In fact, Sora thought that Riku would probably never want to talk to him again. What Riku wanted, he got. What Riku didn't want, he didn't get. Riku's life was pretty easy, except for the fact that he didn't do too well in school and that he visited the principle's office often, that and the fact that he got detention a lot.

--

Before he knew it, Sora was walking down the front steps of the school, trying to think of somewhere he could go instead of home. Of course, that wouldn't work, because if he was…distracted again, then he would just get it worse that night. Sora sighed heavily and continued walking, deciding it would probably be best if he went home. He had some homework to catch up on anyway, and he shouldn't have to get bad grades just because of Riku.

"Hey, Sore-ass," someone called from behind him, and Sora could tell this wasn't going to be good. He turned around to face the guy who called for him.

"Me?" Sora asked—already knowing they meant him, mind you—pointing to himself.

"Yeah, you," the other kid replied, a slightly aggravated expression on his face. Sora noticed that there were two other guys there, and immediately knew what they wanted.

"Can I help you?" Sora asked, his voice weak and helpless. The three guys snickered, and then one in the back, a kinda buffed dude, came forward and grabbed Sora by the arm roughly.

"Yes, you can. You can not try to get away while we break all your bones," the guy in the front—Sora was guessing he was their leader—answered, smirking evilly and cracking his knuckles. He gestured with his head for the other guys to follow him, and started walking away. They dragged me along with them, and no matter how hard Sora struggled he couldn't get away.

They brought Sora to a dark alley and threw him against the hard, cold brick wall. All of them came at him at once, trapping him in a small corner. The pain was ten times worse then Sora had thought it would be. All of them, with what seemed to be all the strength in their bodies, starting kicking him at once, all over. It hurt so bad. Sora could hear and feel some of his bones actually breaking, and he yelped in pain when they did. He could feel his eyes stinging, and sure enough tears started to fall down his cheeks seconds later.

To Sora it felt like this went on forever, when in reality it had only lasted for a couple of minutes. One of them stopped, and Sora hoped his 'punishment' was almost over. It was then that the 'leader' took something out of his pocket…a knife. Sora's eyes widened. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve any of this. The older teen started to slash at Sora over and over again, cutting him everywhere. Blood poured onto the ground and splattered on the walls surrounding him. More tears, and screams, came from Sora, earning him a hard kick in the jaw.

Sora begged them to stop several times, but they ignored his cries and continued beating him. The kicks got harder and harder, the cuts deeper and deeper. Sora knew if this went on for much longer he would be finished, of course, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe it would be better if he died, right there and then. No one really cared about him, after all, and it was not like he had anything to live for.

It was then he heard someone else's presence enter the dark alley. He figured it was another one of them, and didn't even bother looking. Wait, there was more then one. Two, maybe three? Sora shut his eyes tightly, the tears still escaping, unable to scream for help due to the damage done to his throat and jaw. Sora soon began to feel dizzy, and he knew this was the end.

"Hey, cut it out!" one of the newcomers demanded, his voice full of anger, hate, and urgency. His voice sounded kind of familiar, but Sora couldn't quite make it out. The three guys who had been beating Sora stopped to look at who had just spoken. One of them chuckled evilly, Sora thought it might have been the one with the knife, but he wasn't sure.

"Well whaddya know? It looks like Riku came back for his little toy," the teen teased, spinning the knife in his hand. Sora's eyes shot open. He looked in the direction the other guy's voice had come from, and sure enough, Riku was there, as was Wakka. The other two guys chuckled evilly, getting ready to charge at them.

"Just shut up and leave him alone," Riku demanded, and Sora could have sworn he saw a very, very tiny little blush under those silver bangs and on his flawless cheeks.

"Oh yeah? Make me." And then all three of them, at once, charged towards Riku and Wakka. Sora wasn't sure what was going to happen, and he felt too weak to call out to them. More and more blood poured out of his small body every second, causing Sora to lose consciousness.

--

Sora opened his eyes slowly, and almost immediately they met with two aquamarine ones, basically covered by long, silver bangs. "Sora?" Riku asked, concerned.

"Riku?" Sora asked, his voice a whisper, just making sure it was him (his vision was still a little blurry). Riku smiled a little in relief, nodding softly. Sora looked around the room confusedly, and then asked. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital," Wakka answered before Riku could. Sora sat still for a moment, and then all of his memories came crashing down on him. And…that's when the pain came back, as well. There was pain all over his body, everywhere, unbelievable pain.

"Wh…what happened?" Sora asked, confused as to why and how he was in the hospital. Riku and Wakka looked at each other for a moment, and then back at Sora.

"Uh, you kinda got beat up…" Riku answered, stating the obvious. Sora shook his head slightly.

"No, I mean what happened after I passed out?" Sora explained.

"Ohhh…" Riku said—even Riku had his stupid moments.

"We beat their butts, man!" Wakka exclaimed, proud of himself. Riku was smiling victoriously along with Wakka. Sora took a moment to respond.

"You mean…you two actually beat them?" Sora asked, surprised.

"Yah, man!" Wakka answered, nodding.

"They were actually pretty weak," Riku added, only realizing after he said that how weak that made Sora sound. Sora closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath and then letting it out, wincing at the slight pain he felt when he did.

"Oh…" Sora said, his voice still very faint. He tried to smile the best he could and then said, "Thank you." Riku smiled softly at Sora, and Wakka had a larger smile, a proud one. Riku's was more sympathetic rather then proud.

"No problem. I'm just sorry we hadn't gotten there sooner," the silver-haired teen replied, slight regret in his voice.

"It's okay." It hurt Sora when he spoke, so he tried to say as little as possible when he did.

"So, are you feeling any better?" Riku asked, worried about his little friend. Sora nodded.

"Yeah," Sora lied, trying to smile. "Hey, Riku…" he continued, his smile going away, "I…I'm sorry," he finished, hoping Riku would understand. Riku just looked at him for a moment, and Sora could tell by looking into his two amazing aquamarine eyes that he knew what he was talking about.

"It's okay, Sora." The way Riku said his name made Sora feel weird. His voice was so soft when he uttered his name, and Sora was unsure whether that was intentional or not.

"Yo man, we gotta go now or we're gonna be late!" Wakka was talking to Riku, nudging him on the arm. Riku nodded to him, and then turned his attention back to Sora.

"I guess we gotta go. Err, see ya later, I guess," Riku said, walking to the door.

"Bye…" the injured brunette said, trying to smile again. And then they left. They were gone. And then Sora felt it…forgiveness.

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A/N: Yeah…I think this was kinda short. Sorry. At least I finished it, right? Well, thanks for reading, please stick around for the rest of the story! And please reveeeeeeiw!!

P.S. Guess what! I burned my feet the other day! Yeah, it was actually pretty stupid of me. You see, we had to walk to some gas station or something, and I decided not to wear shoes. Of course, I wasn't thinking about the blazing hot sun making the cement sidewalk we had to walk on like an over. Sooooo, yeah. It wasn't that bad though, only for the first day. When I woke up in the morning they were much better. (beta fish says Avatar much?)

P.P.S. Oh yeah! The season 3 finale for Avatar: The Last Airbender was awesome!! I mean, words can't explain how good the ending it was! It was unbelievable!! Oh, and, of course, at least 4 reviews for this chapter for me to continue, ok guys? So, review please!