A/N: Heya! Like I said before, drawings are underway, as well as different scenario plans on my DA account. Once I get everything underway, I'll have a link to my DA account on my profile page... enjoy!
PS: I'm basing Riku's house on the small glimpse of his porch seen in the beginning of the KH manga (or something along the lines of that...). So, bear with me until I draw out a sketch of what I think his house looks like.
PPS: Sorry for so many scene changes in this chapter, but it's the only way I can make things... well, make sense. Also, I'm hoping I got Riku's personality right... Anyhow, once again, enjooooooy!
She gave both Riku and Sora a desperate, afraid look before running up the hill, past the village before them and towards a path surrounded by tall, concealing grass.
Sora, mouth still agape at what had happened, turned to Riku with an unbelievable look. "Riku!" he shouted at his friend. "Now look what happened!" Riku looked away, stating he obviously wasn't interested.
Sora clenched his fists angrily and quickly stepped closer to Riku, looking him in the eye.
"Buh-Gh-UGH! World Order, Riku!" he stammered angrily, his voice slightly cracking when he shouted his friends' name.
Riku exhaled sharply out of his nose, staring down at him.
Sora backed down, disappointed, and stepped back a few steps away from him.
"For heaven's sake, I know you better than that..." he mumbled, before turning around and running off after Laura.
Riku scoffed, frustrated at the entire situation, and stormed off to a house up on a nearby cliff.
Sora ran as quickly as he could past his village and after Laura, earning confused, concerned stares and small worried shouts from his fellow villagers.
He smiled nervously towards them before running even faster up the hill.
Looking down the valley from where he stood up at the top of the hill, he saw no trace of Laura. Looking back at the now set sun, he sighed.
"Way to go, Riku..." he mumbled to himself before jumping in a spin high up into the air, using his abilities gained from his last adventure to fall at a slower pace than usual.
Why is he acting ruder than usual? He's never like that to girls... Sora thought to himself, looking left and right across the ocean of tall grass in search of movement.
"Oh!" he smiled as he saw a familliar blonde-headed figure, running towards the market area of the islands.
Quickly changing his position onto his belly, he swooped down to the ground in one quick movement, closer to the city.
Smiling to himself at the convenience of his gained abilities, he darted off towards the town market.
Riku slammed his front door behind him, thoughtlessly kicking off his shoes, which both slammed the door one after the other behind him from being flung off his feet with such force.
He made his way to his kitchen, sat down on a stool in front of the island and rested his head face-down on crossed arms against it.
After waiting a moment, he gave out a long, exasperating mixture of a frustrated groan and sigh.
What's her deal with me? The entire time I was around her it felt like we were on the opposite ends of a magnet, pushing eachother away...
He slowly rested his head against his arms and shifted on his stool. He sat like that for a moment, then stirred again.
His heart felt like what he did was wrong, but his mind didn't want to admit he was being a jerk.
"It's her fault that she walked into the portal..." he mumbled into his arms, but then paused to think for a moment.
But... I wandered into the darkness at one point, too. That's hypocritical, he judged, sighing.
Sitting up, arms still crossed, he looked beyond the kitchen and the dining table to the large picture window in the dining room.
So what is it, then? He glared at it for a moment. Tensing up all of his upper body muscles, as if to restrain himself from looking out of it, he then loosened up, as if he had given up.
With a glum look of guilt on his face, he slugged off the stool and dragged himself across the way to the large dining room window.
The sun had just recently set, leaving a shadow of the reds, yellows and oranges that has once graced the sky, along with a darker blue on the opposite side of the sky. A wall of dark, over-bearing thunderclouds hung idly in the distance, just past the mountains.
Riku could hear the faint sound of the radio from in the living room, which was, of course, playing something that absolutely related to his situation: Ain't no Sunshine When she's Gone by Billy Withers.
It didn't mean he had to like it.
He threw the closest object, a small day planner of his fathers', at the 'off' button in a frustrated episode. It hit it dead on, turning off the radio, as well as making it fall off the small table it sat on.
He gave it a look, stating he did not feel like picking it back up.
Sora's frustration came back to haunt him in his head, making him feel even worse about it all. Riku took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds.
No, I'm not going to see if she's okay. Sora's got it covered, like everything else, he decided in his thoughts, still not breathing out.
Seconds later, his conscience got the best of him. "Yes, yes I am going to go see if she's okay..." he contradicted, letting out all of the built up air in an annoyed sigh.
"Stupid keyboy's rubbed off on me," he complained dully, impatiently grabbing his white, yellow and blue long-sleeved jacket off a dining room chair.
Walking hesitantly to the front hall, he slipped on his worn sneakers before heading for the door.
The tall grass engulfed Laura's entire body as she sat on a rock amidst it. Crying, frustrated, afraid and confused, she wiped her eyes, crossed her arms on her legs and buried her face into them.
"He... he couldn't have really meant that... right? My world... HAS to be there, still..." she whispered between hiccups.
She refused to believe that the reason the path had appeared was because her world was falling into darkness. "Manhattan can't just disappear whenever it wants to."
She took a deep breath, not wanting to cry anymore. Releasing all of the air she had taken in shakily, she got up to her feet. "That's ridiculous!"
Just as she was about to walk out of the grass onto the brick path, she saw Sora...fly...right...past her? No, that isn't right.
She shook her head, and began to stray away from the path... and away from town.
After pushing away countless stalks of the tall, wispy grass, she watched the remnants of orange, yellow and reds fade off with the already set sun.
"So pretty, for somewhere so foreign... Almost surreal." she remarked, awestruck by the sky's slowly disappearing warm hues.
"Hey! Lady! Lady!" a young voice called out to her and she bolted around, scared half to death.
She looked down in front of her to see two kids: a boy, who looked about 8, and a girl who looked about 4 or 5.
They both stared at her for a moment, causing her to think she had something on her face. Feeling around her face for anything, she found nothing.
"Who are you?" the girl shouted, scaring Laura once again. The two kids both laughed hard at her reaction. She quickly regained composure, an annoyed look on Laura's face.
"M-my name is Laura..." she stammered, and knelt down to their height.
"Who are you?" she asked the two. The girl stepped forward with one foot, hands confidently (comically) on her hips.
"Kira!" she replied valiantly, her thumb pointing to herself. Laura painfully turned the other way, towards the sky, in embarrassment for the girl.
Oh golly.
The boy pulled on Laura's pyjama bottoms impatiently due to the inattention. "My name's Toby, Lowa!" he told her excitedly.
Laura smiled at his inability to pronounce her name. Lowa. How cute. "Now what are you kids doing playing in the grass here? The sun's setting, you know!"
The girl smacked her hand onto her face, sliding it down. Laura almost cracked up.
"Toby! No, we gotta get home now! Mommy's making dinnah!" she exclaimed rather dramatically to her assumed brother, grabbing his hand and pulling him away.
Toby turned around, and waved his free arm towards Laura as he was being so desperately pulled away by his sister. "Bye Lowa!" he yelled back to her. Laura simply waved back.
What strange kids... Just where am I? she thought to herself, turning around.
As the wind began to pick up at multiplying speeds, she quickened her pace through the grass as she approached a large forest.
She hadn't noticed, however, the fast-approaching, intimidating shelf cloud just behind the mountains.
"Laura," Sora called out in the market streets, "Laura! Come on out, he didn't mean it!"
It had been two and a half hours since Laura had run off after what Riku had said to her, and he could've sworn he had passed the same fruit stand about sixteen or seventeen times before the current time. He was exhausted.
He kept thinking about the same thought over and over again: Why would Riku be that rude... and to a girl?
Each time he had thought about it once more, he became even more frustrated with him.
It wasn't like Riku to have acted like that. I mean usually he wooes all the girls, like some 'ladies' man'... he stopped to grimace out of frustration, but quickly continued on.
Sora walked over to the cheese merchant a fourth time to ask about his new-found, blond-haired friend, but was let down another time.
Standing in the center of the market street, Sora put his hand to his chin.
"No one has seen her... how could she just... disappear?" he asked himself, puzzled. The breeze took a turn for the worse, turning into a slight chill.
Groaning, he looked up to the wall of dark, intimidating thunderclouds climbing over the mountains at a threatening speed. The bottoms of the clouds then began to pour themselves out, forming virga on the underside.
"No way... a typhoon? Now?" he complained uneasily. He had completely forgotten.
His mom had warned him about the forecast she had heard on the radio the previous night.
To Sora, the danger of Laura being on her own without any sort of protection grew even more severe than before.
She'd never survive in this weather without shelter, he feared, clenching his fists. I've gotta find her! he turned towards the only option left: the forest. He was about to dash off in the direction of the tropical forest just as two little kids rushed to his side.
"Sora! Sora! Hey, Sora!" the one little boy called to him, tugging on his baggy pantleg.
Sora turned around, smiling at the boy. "Sorry, kiddo, I've got a friend to find right now," Sora gestured away from him, but the other kid persisted.
"We know, we know!" she continued for the boy, "we seen her when we was playing in the grasses." The boy grew a bashful look on his face. "Her name was Lowa," he added, proud of himself for remembering her name. The look on Sora's face evidently displayed that her name rung a bell.
Lowa... Lowa? ...Laura!
Sora's face lit up with hope and knelt down to their height.
"Oh, you did? Where did she go?" he asked, and the girl grew a guilty look on her face, as if she weren't supposed to tell.
"She goed to the forest, Sora..." she replied, rather quietly and slowly. Sora's expression darkened. "She did, did she?" he mumbled, his gaze shifting to the ground.
The boy tugged at his sleeve.
"Sora, mum says that I'm not allowed at the forest, especially at night." the boy said, trying to be serious. The little girl placed both hands on Sora's knee, leaning on his leg.
"Please save her, okay? She lookeded scared..." she whispered, worried about Laura. Sora nodded.
"Thanks, guys," he replied, "now you two run on home, because there's a storm coming!" the two kids nodded, and hurried off.
"Bye, Sora!" the two kids called back to him as they ran for home. He smiled back to them and waved. He was always good with kids, no matter what world he visited.
He had never noticed it previously, but if it wasn't for this ability of his, he wouldn't have been in the place he was now: back home. He smiled, more confident than before, and turned to the direction of the overgrown tropical forest. Running at top speed, he quickly left the Market Square, and the city.
Making his way through the grass circling the city, he warmed his arms and legs up, twisting his neck around, readying his body for easy manuvering.
The forest covering the base of the mountains was dense, and hard to travel through. He recalled a narrow path climbing the steep vegetative terrain from a hiking trip he and Kairi had gone on. Sora had planned to climb to the top of the mountain, trying to impress Kairi.
He then remembered how much of a mistake that was, as he had to carry a tired, sore and inexperienced girlfriend all the way back home. Snapping out of distraction and embarrassment, he stopped in front of the forest.
He quickly studied it for the closest entrance, and exhaled calmly. "It's not like this time is any different. I've been in there plenty of times." His gaze wandered up into
A fast-approaching silhouette came closer and closer to Sora from the path in the grass. Upon closer inspection, Sora's eyes widened.
"Riku!" Sora called out to him, but a high gust of wind drowned him out. Riku noticed him, nonetheless, and came rushing towards him.
"Have you found her?" he asked Sora, rather desperately. Sora gave him a look.
"Since when do you care?" he pouted, crossing his arms and turning his back to him. Riku cleared his throat.
"We need to, you know, bring her to the king like he suggested in the letter. So, uh, we gotta find her." he explained, rather awkwardly.
Sora grew a sly grin, keeping his back to his friend in denial. "So, you actually care, now?" Sora joked around. Riku scoffed, crossing his arms and looking to his side. "Whatever," he mumbled, but Riku knew his friend all too well to know that he was grinning.
"Of course it isn't just because the king wants to see her. Admit it! The stone-cold avenger has feelings." Sora gave Riku a quick mischievous smile.
But before Riku could smack him upside the head, he ran off down the street towards the forest.
"Now come on! We've gotta find her before all heck breaks loose." Sora shouted towards the forest, waving his right arm about to get Riku to follow him.
Riku sighed, annoyed, but smirked to himself before running off after him.
He knew Sora was right about all of it. Something struck him differently about that girl... But it didn't mean it was for the better.
"Okay, maybe it was a bad idea to run off like that..." Laura mumbled to herself, walking aimlessly through the steep mountain forest. She rethought what she had just said, thinking of how Riku made her run off.
What a jerk. Why would you say something like that to someone you had just met?! Boys.
Her head jerked in the direction of small stones crumbling away from the narrow, steep path she helplessly followed. "Close call..." she mumbled, and sighed.
Things weren't right. At all. Even after all that was said and currently being done, something different wasn't sticking right. She felt emptier, as if a large chunk of her had crumbled away, like the path she tread carefully across.
"Maybe he's right... What if Manhattan is gone?" There had been many times during her escape that she had come close to slipping down the hills, so she crept along the paths with even greater caution. Unsure of her whereabouts, she took a left turn into a small cave.
It was much darker than the forest, which brought her through a curve and to the outside forest once again.
"What if my home is really...gone?" The wind began to pick up almost exponentially, which brought more fear and anxiety to Laura than before. "I can't believe it if it's real..." She frowned, upset.
"What he said... That's impossible, right?" she asked herself, desperate for an answer. She didn't know the answer to that. She also didn't know the answer as to how and why she got to this foreign, dangerous place.
The forest she ventured through grew very dark, very quickly, snuffing out almost any remaining skylight from shining in. Passing a crooked tree, she stopped. Growing a grimace, she grazed her hand across it.
"I think I've passed this already..." she contemplated, giving into what her mind screamed. Laura, you are SO lost.
Lost.
That word described so many things in her current situation. Lost girl. Lost her way. Lost her home. Lost her friends. Lost the only bit of family left. Losing her mind. Losing grip of her will to go on... She groaned. Her legs were in a considerable amount of pain from all of her narrow trail maneuvering.
Continuing up the dark forest trail, she gained sight of a clearing. Running up the steep path, she caught sight of the sky, and froze at what she saw.
Just beyond the tall mountain she caught sight of one of the largest shelf clouds she had ever seen. Stepping back, intimidated and shocked, she forgot about the fact she was walking up a steep trail.
Letting out a small yelp as he lost her balance, she fell backwards down the hill. No...no... "No! Not this way!" she screamed as she fell from the high cliff.
In desperation of possibly saving her life, she spun around, her stomach facing the impending ground. She quickly spotted and grabbed onto the branch of a tree, temporarily stopping her fall.
Her arms felt the sharp pain of restraint, as her fall from such a high cliff gained quite the force of descent. She cried out in agony, her arms protesting so, but managed to hold her own onto the branch. Thanking the heavens for the extra fitness class she took last semester, she slowly lifted herself onto the branch.
She could barely feel her body at this point. Can things get any worse for me?
Just as she pondered this, the damp wind that slightly refreshed her before grew quickly into a heavier downpour, drenching Laura from head to toe through the dense treetops.
"Great, just what I need... to get sick!" she yelped angrily, but her shaky voice demonstrated how tired she really was. This is not good... she thought, exasperated. I am never hiking ever again. Never.
Today was a long day. Why wasn't she safe in her own bed, dreaming of showing up to her final exams in underwear like every other normal kid?
She wanted to see Adam again.
She wanted to eat some of the chili he had made.
She actually wanted to go to school the next day.
She wanted to see Leo again.
Oh, how she missed him. Her best friend. Her only true friend. How she wished he was here to help her.
Her thoughts of home and safety had distracted her. she ignored the fact that the torrential downpour had lubricated the tree branch she held so dearly onto, and began to slowly tilt to one side.
Laura yelped as her grip on the branch began to loosen. "No...n-no-no!" she stammered, shivering, desperately trying to regain her grip on the branch. She inevitably slipped down, jolting her into a dangerously risky hanging position.
The rain fell down even harder as each second passed, the wind picking up incredible speed from every moment. The fates were not with Laura at this particular moment. Her heart raced as she weighed the odds of her death.
They were pretty high.
"Why... why does it always friggin'...rain with me?" she screamed out desperately over the harsh rain and winds. With all of her strength, her knuckles turned bright white as she brought herself up onto the top of the branch once again.
Holding on to it with all of her strength as it swayed about, she didn't dare look down.
"..aura...ra..!Are...ere? Lau..ra...Laura!"Laura raised her cold, stiff head towards the direction where she heard a sound. "Someone's...voice?" she choked.
The rain pattered and pattered against her weakening body, which was losing all feeling by the second due to the cold. "Is someone...there? Help...feels like I'm sedated...or...something," she choked out, shivering, "Come get me...please..."
"Hey! I think I heard a voice! Sora! C'mon!" a familiar voice cried out in the opposite direction of where she was facing.
"Hello...Hello! Help me..." Laura managed to cry out to the voice. She felt her eyesight slowly fading, and her grip loosened on the branch.
She clinged onto the branch for dear life with the last of her strength, but it wasn't enough. She was slipping in and out of consciousness.
"Oh, jeez! Sora! I found her!" the once rude voice she remembered from earlier that day now held a great deal of worry.
"No! No! She's going to slip off!" another familiar voice cried, earning a faded yelp of shock from the worried boy."Shit, no!"
"Sorry...I can't...hold on anymore, Sora, Riku..." Laura slurred, her eyes closing and her muscles loosening.
Her fingers, legs and arms began to cease their feeling completely.
"Save me."
Laura felt herself slip sideways off the branch, falling with the rain that fell with incredible might, but did not hit the ground to impending death.
A/N: So...yeah, review, my followers! Bahaha!