The next few days were spent in Traverse Town. They hadn't left to train in Twilight Town and Sora spent a lot of time meditating. He needed to understand himself better. He thought he knew himself pretty well until Ven popped out of his heart and changed everything. He didn't think his own darkness was so close to the surface until he'd lost control of it during training.
Meditating didn't lead to any sort of enlightenment, unfortunately. Not anything he'd hope to find anyway. It might also be that he didn't have the patience for it and his mind wandered way too often. DiZ was the one that suggested it, so of course Sora didn't follow through as well as he would have liked to. It was like learning science and math and stuff. It was just so hard to concentrate!
In their off time, Sora noticed Ven hanging around Kairi more than usual. Not that it bothered him or seemed to bother her at all. It was just something he noticed and thought odd. It seemed like when Kairi went off on her own, Ven followed.
He had been acting so strange. Since they day after the incident. Sora thought it might have been that Ven thought Sora was weird, then remembered it started sometime after lunch. Sora noticed Ven disappear for a while. He tended to do that sometimes. He'd go off on his own and nobody really questioned it. They all did that. Sora usually just went to explore the area and make friends with some locals.
Well, he couldn't call them locals. They thought of Traverse Town as their home as much as Sora did. It was where they landed and formed a makeshift life, but they seemed more at home here than Sora. The ones he preferred to hang out with were a group of kids from a place called Shibuya. Well, they were second to his best friends.
Best friends… Sora heard Kairi and Riku use that term to describe each other. They were friends who were closer than normal friends. People you could talk about anything with. So, Sora was glad to think of Aqua, Ven, Kairi, and even Riku as his best friends.
Riku certainly began to let up around Sora. The two of them found themselves alone together from time to time. Things stopped being weird, thankfully. They spoke often about training, but even began to talk about Riku's life before all of this. Sora asked and Riku didn't even hesitate to tell him.
"Our world always felt… small to me." He told the brunette. "For as long as I could remember, I wanted to leave. I knew the strength I needed wouldn't be found on our tiny island and I tried to find so many ways to leave." He told Sora of how he and Kairi built a raft, described their friends Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie, explained what school was like, what home life was like, Riku's parents. Sora wanted to know everything.
"Did…" Riku bit his lip, hesitant. "Did Kairi tell you about your family?" Sora shook his head. He didn't ask and she hadn't brought it up. He didn't even really think about them. So, Riku told him. Riku told him his parents were lost with their world. That they were still searching for him, even after everyone else had stopped. That he had a little sister that he never met who would be about six now that had also been lost.
"I'm sorry."
Sora shook his head, smiling. "No, that's great." His grin widened. "I can't wait to finally meet them."
Riku gave a small smile which Sora had grown to realize was his genuine smile. When he was faking it, it would be wide and sarcastic. It was the only smile he'd give Sora for a while. He realized the difference when he noticed how he'd smile at Kairi in comparison. "You will."
Sora thought Riku probably trusted him more now. At least he hoped he did. He felt he proved himself enough to be trusted.
And Sora trusted all of his best friends. Even Ven, who Sora knew was meeting up every now and again with Axel. They'd only met up maybe twice since Axel found them in the gardens, but Sora was wary. Axel was their enemy, though Ven insisted he wasn't. Ven told Sora that they talked about what had happened since they'd met. The information wasn't anything that Sora hadn't already known. They told of their travels and missions and there wasn't anything for Sora to worry about. Besides, Axel was busy and couldn't meet with Ven all that much.
It worried Sora. Especially since Sora couldn't tell anyone and that was all he wanted to do with this information. Maybe next time they went to Twilight Town, Sora could talk to DiZ about it. DiZ kept secrets well, and he'd know what Sora could do about it (maybe. He might just tell Sora to dispose of the Nobody.).
Sora's meditation brought him back to Ven's strange behavior. Sora wished he could describe how different Ven seemed to be acting but the only way he could was weird. He was more distracted than usual, constantly itching for some sort of fight, and didn't leave Kairi alone. Not in the way that would annoy her and attached to her hip, but literally would make sure that Kairi was never by herself.
What was up with that?
"Hey, guys," Riku addressed his fellow Keyblade wielders one afternoon while they hung out in Aqua, Sora, and Ven's apartment. "Anyone wanna talk about what DiZ said when he mentioned the Organization was looking for their own Keyblade?"
What? Oh. Right. Sora had completely forgotten about that.
"I did ask him," Aqua said as she brushed pushed aside some papers on their table. It was all of DiZ's reports that he had given her. She had been pouring over them for days. "He said he didn't know the details. Just that they wanted a Keyblade for themselves."
"Well… we're all that there is," Riku motioned to the group. "How exactly do they plan on getting one?"
Kairi, Ven, and Sora looked at each other. Oh boy. That was something to worry about, wasn't it? Were they going to try and recruit one of them? Sora couldn't imagine that going over very well. None of them were exactly jumping for a chance to join the exclusive Organization XIII. It wasn't like the Keyblade could be stolen. The wielder had to follow.
"Maybe they plan to get Aqua to pass them one?" Kairi suggested.
"Which she'd never do," Ven retorted, almost defensively. It was unnecessary. They all knew Aqua rather die than pass a Keyblade to one of the Nobodies.
"Of course not," Riku shook his head. "But we all need to stay on our toes. We're not sure when they'll make their move. The King has been doing what he can to gather information from them, but it's been difficult to get near."
"What about DiZ's devices?" Ven asked.
"They only monitor the worlds and the Keyholes," Riku explained. "They aren't spying devices."
The five of them drew a blank. Riku finished the quick dinner he put together for them, setting it on the table. It wasn't much, but Sora enjoyed it nonetheless. He loved food. He tasted everything he could get his hands on. He had yet to find something he didn't like. Then again, everything he ate had been suggested by Kairi or Riku. Aqua was just as eager to eat anything she could get her hands on as he was. Not that hunger was ever an issue—Kairi and Riku had more than enough Munny to feed all five of them. It was just that eating was something they never needed in the Realm of Darkness. Ven even expressed how surprised he was to see Aqua eating something she didn't like. She had forgotten she didn't like red peppers and was eager to scarf them down.
Taste, texture, hot and cold… Sora wanted to experience all of them.
After dinner, Sora and Kairi went off to get their usual sweets for dessert. They would buy from a shop in the second district and hang out in the fourth district. It was nice to see all the lights and color and people. Sora enjoyed the mere presence of it after being alone in the dark for so long. And being here, in this bright city filled with people, sitting next to Kairi with his chocolate covered ice cream, was the best part about the Realm of Light.
They sat at the very highest point of the district. Usually, people couldn't reach up this high. Kairi was actually a pretty good jumper. She made it up there on her own, without Sora even having to pick her up. Sora liked high places. He always had. Whenever he got the chance, he'd go to the highest point and look over their new surroundings. DiZ usually used him as a look out whenever he was able.
Isn't funny how sometimes, just when you were talking about something or someone, they just happen to show up? No, not funny. Weird. No, not weird. Scary.
The scent smacked him right in the face. It was so close. Like, right behind them.
Sora stopped, mid-laugh to slowly turn. A man hung in the air behind them, upside down, grinning. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, dark and graying. A scar gouged his left cheek and an eye patch covered his right eye. He smirked at him, his grin crinkling his good, golden eye.
"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Kairi jolted, twisting to face him. Sora tossed his ice cream aside, summoning his Keyblade. The Nobody laughed, tapping his gun against his shoulder, looking between them. "This a date?"
Sora leapt at him, swinging his blade. The man vanished, appearing in front of Kairi. A teleporter? Damn it. Sora hated those. Kairi jumped at him, swinging her own Keyblade. Sora flew through the loft, right after her. The man vanished again and the two landed.
"Sora, you keep him busy." Kairi directed. "I'm going to get people out of the way."
"Gotcha."
Kairi grabbed his arm. "Be careful. And don't—"
"I know," Sora grinned. He wasn't going to underestimate him. He was going to give it all he had with… two Keyblades. No flying. Like Aqua told him. If the man got away, he didn't have any intell to bring back. He wasn't going to be the army Riku thought him to be, but he was going to be brutal.
Kairi ran off. Sora followed the Nobody, whose presence vanished and appeared periodically. He chased him through the district, never quite getting him in his sights. But he certainly was vocal.
"Where did you come from, kiddo?" the man asked. "Didn't think there were any other Keyblade masters around besides Riku and Kairi."
"They aren't masters," Sora corrected. "Not yet."
"Oh, right." The man laughed. "No, no. The only Keyblade Master left disappeared years ago. Oh, wait! That's right! She's back. Master Aqua sure is a fire cracker, ain't she?" Sora saw him standing on an awning. Sora ran up to him, watching him smirk. "Heard she was trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Where you with her?"
"None of your business!" Sora swiped his blade defensively.
"So you were," the man mused. The longer he looked at Sora, the more his smirk fell. "You know, he gave me that same look. Heard he's back, too."
"What? Are you just going to ask questions?" Sora laughed. He didn't know what this guy was talking about and frankly didn't care. "Come fight me."
"Feisty, aren't you?" The man snorted. "Just like him." He slung his weapon onto his shoulder. "You're interesting kid. But, you aren't my target. Even if you would be a better option, in my humble opinion. Taking out XI and XII. Was that by yourself? Impressive. But, orders are orders."
He was beginning to monologue. Sora hated monologues. They bored him and confused him because he barely understood what was going on. He knew this guy was the bad guy and Sora was the good guy. Sora rolled his eyes, throwing his Keyblade while the guy was wrapped up in his talking. The silver and gold blade smacked the man right in the face. He stumbled back, holding his face as the blade circled back to Sora.
"Hey!" The man aimed the gun at Sora. Sora rolled out of the way as a bullet flew at him. The man was gone faster than Sora could blink. Sora turned as the man was suddenly behind him. What was his name again? Sora couldn't remember for the life of him.
The Nobody shot, point blank at Sora's face. He expected pain and a lot of it. He expected maybe death, darkness, and maybe the worst headache of his life. But all he felt was… discomfort. It was strange and unsettling and the man's laughter filled Sora's ears.
"I gotta confess something. These aren't my normal bullets," he confessed. "They're special. Don't worry, though. You'll see what they do soon enough." The man raised a second gun. "But this one. This one has my usual bullets. And they're pretty painful."
Sora looked down the spiked barrel, gulping. He looked back up at Xigbar, giving his own smirk. He summoned a Keyblade behind Xigbar, sweeping him from under his feet. Sora jumped back as the man fell back, catching his second blade. "You sure you want to get into this? You've got me and Kairi against you. You're going to get your butt handed to you."
"You're cocky, kid." The man scowled, jumping to his feet. "And, like I said, you aren't my target." He warped out, his voice carrying back to Sora. "Oh, Princess! Where'd you go?"
This… did not bode well. Sora grit his teeth, hoping Kairi finished clearing out the district. He ran towards her. Kairi?! Kairi was his target?! Why?! Sora had to get to her first. He had to be with her to protect her—to have her back, corrected himself. She would kill him if she thought he was protecting her. She insisted she could take care of herself and he believed her. He just wanted to make sure she stayed safe.
When he found her in front of the Flick Rush, blocking bullets. There were a few people running into the arena to escape the fray. Sora ran next to her, casting reflect as a barrage of bullets shot at them.
"Glad you could make it," Kairi gave him a relieved grin. "What happened to distracting Xigbar?"
"Is that his name?"
"Yes."
"He started monologueing."
"You know, sometimes it's a good idea to let them keep talking." Kairi chuckled, blasting an ice spell at him. "You can probably learn what they're up to."
"I'd rather just hit them in the face."
The two rolled away from a large, green bullet that the man shot at them. Xigar warped behind them, shooting. Kairi blocked, sending his red bullets back at him. Sora jumped, trying to reach him. He vanished before Sora got near him. He turned as Kairi cast Stop. Unfortunately, the man was completely unaffected.
"Sorry, that ain't gonna work, Princess."
It was difficult to get close. Kairi used her wide range of spells to attack from a distance. Sora used up his Shotlock, trying to do some damage. They hit their mark, but he could heal and block, too. Sora wasn't used to that. He was used to the mindless Heartless enemies, which didn't often block and had to rely on other Heartless to heal them. He was growing used to it, thanks to their training.
The space changed. Sora blinked and missed it and their space changed. It was still the fourth district, but things shifted, disorienting him. Kairi grabbed him, looking at the chasm that appeared at her toes. Sora pulled her to the solid surface, looking around. Xigbar stood at the end of the platform that twisted and turned like a maze. He shot at them. Sora blocked.
"I'll get 'im," Sora assured as she rushed at him. He leapt over gaps, running and blocking. Kairi was right at his feet, keeping up.
"Not alone you aren't," she argued.
He knew from watching Kairi argue with Riku that it was absolutely no use trying to stop her. Sora only wanted her to stay safe and the safest place for her, frankly, was farthest from Xigbar. If she was his target, Sora knew that he would not stop until he had obtained his objective. Now, exactly what he wanted with Kairi, Sora had no idea. He really didn't care, either. He knew it couldn't be good and she'd get hurt.
Sora stopped in front of Kairi, blocking the spear-like bullets. They shot back at their attacker, stunning him for a moment.
"He's only using one gun," Kairi noted.
"His other one does this weird thing… they went right through me." Sora motioned with his finger, going through his wrist. He didn't exactly want to tell her he was shot point-blank in the face.
"They went through you?" Kairi repeated.
"Yeah," Sora nodded. "He said we'd see what it does soon enough."
Xigbar regained his composure, warping away. Just like that, he was above them. Red bullets shot at them, Sora throwing himself over Kairi to protect her. He felt the spears hit his back repeatedly. They didn't pierce him, like Larxene's kunai, but they stung and burned, radiating heat. His skin broke open and his shirt tore as they pummeled him.
"Out of the way, kid."
"I won't let you hurt her!" Sora cried, holding her tighter to shield her.
"Aw, come on." Xigbar sighed. "You felt them. They don't hurt at all."
Sora pushed Kairi aside, brandishing his weapons, flying at him. He vanished again, appearing a few feet away. Kairi rushed at him, surrounded by light, hitting him in the ribs with her weapon and all of her might. She cried out a spell, hitting the man with a blast of light. Xigbar fell out of the air, tumbling away. Kairi was on him, swinging her blade, knocking him into the air. She slammed him back to the ground.
Sora was always amazed to see her fight. She was awesome. She used her light to her advantage, her small frame gave her speed and grace, and she expertly used her blade, as if she had always wielded it. It was natural for her to beat her enemies into submission.
Sora was right next to her. The two of them raised their blades, swinging down at Xigbar. He threw his arms in front of him defensively, vanishing. As Sora turned, Xigbar was behind Kairi, holding a gun to her back. She froze, her eyes wide.
"Better to end this quickly, right?"
It was as if time had stopped. The only sound that echoed through the district was the pew from Xigbar's gun. Kairi's mouth opened in a silent gasp as her chest pushed forward, light bursting from her chest. She reached for the light, her eyes going dark, her body falling limp. Sora released one of his blades to catch her with one arm, looking at the light that glimmered just above them.
"There we are," Xigbar smirked, aiming at the light with his other gun. "The Princess's heart."
The spark of light began to move. Sora cast Reflect around it, keeping it where it was. A red bullet ricocheted off of it. Her heart?! Her heart?! How did that gun do that?! Sora dropped Kairi, leaping up to grab the heart out of the air. He cradled the sphere as he landed by the girl, holding his blade to Xigbar.
"What did you do?!"
"Uh, I kind of need that," he pointed to the item in Sora's hand. "Part of my mission."
"You'll never get Kairi's heart," Sora growled through gritted teeth. "What did you do?!"
The man backed up, raising his hands. "Ya see, those bullets were made to retrieve hearts." He explained. "They replicate the essence of Heartless. You know, they can just reach their claws into your chest and pull out your heart so… we wanted to see if we could do that. Mission accomplished. Now, there's a couple of scientist who want to study that heart so…"
"Never!" A Keyblade appeared behind Xigbar, hitting him in the back as hard as Sora could make it. It disappeared, replaced by another one coming from another direction. It went like that until Xigbar found a chance to teleport away.
"Got it! Got it!" he shouted from a rooftop. "I'm gone!"
And he was. The area returned to normal in a flash of light. Sora looked down at the glimmer, still being encased with his reflect spell. He held it with both hands as he got to his knees. The light… was so warm. Kind. Gentle. So full of love. Sora couldn't help but think that Kairi had such a beautiful heart. He didn't think any other heart could compare.
Sora rolled her onto her back. "Sorry I dropped you," he said, giving a nervous smile. The girl only stared vacantly, as if on the cusp of sleep. Those blue eyes void of light. Sora held the heart above her chest, praying it would return to her once he released it.
Biting his lip and hoping, he released reflect around the heart. Her heart twinkled, suspended above the girl. Slowly, it fell, sinking back into her chest. Kairi blinked, the light returning to her blue, blue eyes. Sora's heart raced with excitement and relief as she turned her gaze back to him. Before Sora could say anything, she threw herself at him. Her arms wrapped tightly around his chest with her face buried into his neck. For a moment, he wasn't sure what to make of it. He wrapped his arms carefully around her, holding her close.
Their embrace carried unspoken words.
Thank you.
I will always protect you.
Mmm fluff.
Anyway, this fight scene was short and quick. There will be a longer one with Xigbar later, promise.
Thanks for reading!