Sora landed in ankle-deep water. The sun was beginning to set, drawing the spring Sora found himself in into a much more natural twilight. He looked at his hand, noting his skin had a slightly bruised tint to it and his blood vessels still stood out, except in this lighting they looked black.
"Oh, surprise surprise you aren't normal again!" Sora looked around for Midna, but found nothing, "Don't ask me why, but I will say if you want to find out, head back into the twilight. Just keep in mind you gotta be let in by me!"
"Show yourself!" Sora yelled. He sighed afterwards when he realized Midna had fled. He held up his hand, "I wond-" The Kingdom Key only appeared for a moment before he yelled and quickly decided his Keyblade was still unaccessible.
He walked out of the spring with a sigh of defeat, and looked around, "Well, there's a gate, so there's people nearby. Maybe someone can lend me a weapon."
Looking one way revealed a rickety bridge that would be dangerous to cross in the dimming light with some kind of eerie glow, the other way a much more secure route deeper into the woods, although there was something definitely not human patrolling around. Sora took the latter, "Potential fist fight it is."
The moment he said that the thing turned to him with beady red eyes. It yowled and brandished a club, prompting Sora to quickly assume a fragile speedster type of fighting. He dodged around the creature (it was decidedly not human; more like a goblin, Sora realized) until he managed to get around to its back to choke it from behind. It whined and shrieked and put up a typical fight, but Sora managed to choke it to the point where it fell limp and Sora could grab its club and hightail it before it could wake.
He observed his new weapon. A club wasn't his typical way of fighting, but it couldn't have been very different from his Keyblade, if just more blunt and short reached. Sora looked up to see that his previous opponent had buddies, and he quickly maneuvered to avoid them while making a counter with his newly acquired club.
He had to stop, right in the middle of combat, retching up his insides in a red mess. He blocked a club blow, then looked up and glared at his opponent. He shoved the goblin off, but not before getting knocked to the ground. He quickly rolled over, and blocked another set of strikes against him. Sora stood and clubbed both of them, sighing in relief when they toppled over and disappeared in black clouds of smoke.
Sora shakily grabbed his arm holding the club, still coughing and vomiting. It slipped away after awhile, leaving him dizzy and ill. But that was nothing new. He wondered if he should head back to the spring and wash up, but then he recalled a not-quite-dead monster up the way and decided against it. It was pretty obvious there was a town just beyond the gate and the house he suddenly noted had to have been made by someone, so honestly maybe he could have someone help him wash up.
He headed for the town. He drew up his hood to hide the whole "tainted vein" deal and possibly his sickly skin tone. Soon after the town came into view, and Sora was relieved to see a river to clean himself in. He made the shortest route to the river-
"MONSTER!"
Sora stiffened at the yell, then turned to the source. A man was perched on some rock above him, and was frantically pulling up a weed of some sort. Sora held up his hands, "H-Hey I'm not-!"
A piercing whistle later summoned a hawk, and the man directed it to Sora, "Back! Back!"
Sora covered his face as the hawk scratched at him, yelling furiously, "I'M NOT A MONSTER!" After a good minute of flesh being torn, the hawk left, but Sora entered another episode of coughing and collapsed, "I-I'M SICK!" He panted, unable to yell anymore, "And injured..." He heard the man yelling again, and maybe a few other voices, but he started slipping out of consciousness the moment someone picked him up.
"Don't worry, son, you're in good hands..." was one of the last things he heard before utter black.
...
Sora felt a cold cloth on his forehead. Soft whispers of a lullaby seemed to raise him from the darkness. He opened his eyes sluggishly, wondering what fleeting dreams ran away from him. He saw blond hair and blue eyes set to a feminine face and his mind leapt to conclusions.
"Namine...?" His words tumbled out slurred.
The woman set aside the cloth and rubbed his cheek, "Easy, easy, I don't know who I remind you of, but my name is Uli."
Sora blinked, quickly realizing his mistake. This woman was several years older than Namine, and a quick look over revealed she was quite a ways along towards having a baby. Definitely not Namine. He tried to ignore the heat rising to his cheeks, "S-sorry miss."
Uli smiled, "No worries, you've been ill."
A man bent over, "How ya feeling? I hope Hench's hawk didn't scratch you up too badly."
Sora sat up, "Uh, I feel good enough to sit up-" he paused to cough. He was about to wipe up the blood with his hand until Uli handed him a scrap of cloth. "Thanks." He added softly. Sora looked at himself properly- there was bandages wrapped around his chest that hugged his shoulder, and his arms were lost in white with an occasional speck of red and brown. He sighed and flopped his hands into his lap, flinching at the burst of pain but smiling nonetheless, "Remind me not to mess with hawks."
It felt good to laugh. It's been a little too long for Sora. He could tell from Uli and her companion's similar reaction it had been awhile since they had laughed too. The man's laughter dwindled to a chuckle, and he wrapped his arm around Uli, "I see my wife has already introduced herself, and folks around here call me Rusl."
Sora nodded, "Okay then, Rusl, Uli, I'm Sora. Thank you for helping me out." He rubbed his shoulder, feeling the gash through the gauze, "I-I'm sorry about looking like a monster-"
"No, no it's alright." Rusl explained, "Hench is a little high strung." The humor in his eyes faded, "We all are with what's been going on." He then went over to a table and picked up a sword, still sitting firmly in its scabbard, "Speaking of which, I should go out-"
"Rusl." Uli barely raised her voice but it's pleading whine with her hand on his shoulder and her stomach made it speak so much more. Rusl only unsheathed the sword a little and flecked off with was either dirt or dried blood. Sora noticed bandages around Rusl's chest like his, except they were much more soiled.
Sora leaned his legs over the edge of the couch he was laying on to stand up, "Any way I can help?" After a moment he added, "You could at least tell me what's wrong."
Rusl sheathed the sword and began heading for the door, "Monsters took our children, and they're still plaguing this town as if that wasn't enough!" Sora blinked at how quickly the kind and fatherly air of Rusl's tone left. He took another hard look at Rusl's state of being; he seemed to have slight trouble holding the sword right, not to mention if his bandages were dirtier he'd either had them longer or his wounds were far more grievous.
Sora stood, "I can get the kids back." Rusl looked back at him, his glare questioning. Sora held out his hand, "You give me the sword, I can save the kids or at least find out where they are."
Rusl looked at the sword, weighing it and what to do. He then said, "The eldest of them was seventeen and fiercely protective of the younger ones. Had a wooden sword he liked to use. I taught him most of what I know." Sora felt a slight drop in confidence, "He still got captured." Sora felt another drop when Rusl pointed the sword's pommel at him accusingly, "By the way, I just met you. You look like a reasonable kid, but I am not trusting on of the only swords I've forged in this village to you."
"Well then if there's others let me show you I can be trusted!" Sora sighed, "I promise I'm a lot more than I seem."
Rusl took a deep breath, obviously wanting to yell, but instead he said, "Fine. Uli can show you the short sword I was making for Jaggle." He opened the door, "Presuming we don't have another ambush, meet me outside for a spar."
(no idea what to comment just be glad I'm updating this)