After it had left, Roxas looked up at the guests on the upper floors to see them cheering and throwing around some sort of confetti. They also were waving fans. Before the young boy could portest, he heard a squeal and Xemnas grabbed him in a hug, lifting Roxas off the ground a small bit. "Thirteen! You did great! You made us a bundle!" his cerulean eyes looked at everyone, noticing that Sora and about everyone else was amazed to see the cold leader of their's hugging him. "That River God's famous." he then turned his head sharply and snarled, "You could all learn from Thirteen!" then he changed back to cheerful. "Sake's on the house tonight." all the attendants and maids started to clap and cheer. "Now! Time to hand over all that gold you picked."
Off away from the crowd, the shadowy kitsune masked figure looked longingly to Roxas before dissapearing.
Later that night, Roxas was in their sleeping quarters on the balcony, laying sideways and watching the sky. He heard the hyper footsteps of Sora and turned to see the chestnut haired boy plop down beside him with rice balls. "Want some? I swiped'em."
"Thanks." Roxas replied, taking one.
"Man, oh, man." Sora started, swinging his legs over the balcony, letting them hang.
"I didn't see Axel.." Roxas murmured from his mouthful.
"Not Axel again!" Sora rolled his eyes while biting into the rice ball. "He just dissapears some times. They say Xemnas makes him do bad stuff. And by they, I mean Riku."
"Really..?" Roxas questioned, gazing out at the sky once more.
"Sora! Lights out!" one of the maids from inside called.
"Right!" Sora replied back before turning to stare at the night skies with Roxas.
Roxas turned upon hearing the siren of a train and gazed down at the water to see as if the train was gliding on top of the water. If one looked closer, you could see the tracks barely below the blue surface. It was making a beeline for a glowing city in the distance. "There's a town. Looks like the ocean.." murmured Roxas.
"What did you expect after all that rain?" Sora replied with his mouth full. "Some day, I swear I'll get to that town. I'm gonna get out of here."
Roxas smiled at the determination in Roxas' voice. He opened his hand to reveal the walnut object the River God had given him earlier, and eyed it carefully. Hesitating for a moment, he bit off a tiny piece and chewed it. Much to his surprise, it tasted horribly awful causing him to spazz trying to spit it out. Sora stared at him strangely as he did so.
Off in the other quarters, one of the attendants was stirring. It happened to be the same, whiny frog that Axel put a spell on when they went across the bridge the first time. He was sneaking around and he knew it, looking around the corners for any signs of life. Eventually, he reached his destination. The baths. He hopped to the big tub and started to scrape at the floor, desperate for any gold in between the cracks.
Suddenly, a piece dropped in front of him to which he snatched up greedily. He looked up to see the shadow kitsune masked fellow that had been following Roxas around. Half of his body was covered in the tub, but the mask pointed down, showing he was looking at the small creature. "Who are you? Your no customer." he pointed an accusing finger at the shadow. "You're not allowed in there!"
In response, the shadow held out its hand and the frog watched as gold dripped out of the blackness. He squealed in delight when the two pieces of gold hit the floor which he grabbed at hungrily. "Hey! It's gold, gold! It's for me!?" The shadow held out his hand, generating more gold and holding it expectantly out for the frog to take. "Oooo gimme gimme gimme!" the frog ran up the side of the tub and jumped on the edge, snatching it out of the shadows hands. But at that same time, the hand split in two and grabbed the frog by his throat and then got thrown into the creatures sudden mouth. He had ate the frog.
"Who goes there?" a foreman had heard the commotion and went to investigate. "It's way past bedtime." he jumped back when gold dropped down in front of him in a good couple of handfuls. The foreman looked up to see the shadow creature which grew MUCH larger in size and now had the legs and arms of a frog, but the mask was still there, smiling mockingly at the man.
"Hey boss I'm hungry. Starving. Get me something to eat." it said in the voice of the frog he had ate earlier.
"That voice.." the foreman shuddered but was eventually on the edge of screaming when another mountain of gold dropped in his hands.
"Look I'll pay you now. I'm a customer, I want a bath! Wake everyone up." the kitsune shadow smiled deviously.
Roxas was dreaming while this all happened. Dreaming of Axel. How lovely his face was and how soft his touch, but to his sheer horror, he watched as Axel was impaled by an unknown force and screamed this most tragic scream the boy had ever heard. In turn, he screamed as well thus waking himself up. And when he did, he looked up to find everyone out of their beds. "Geez, how long did I sleep? And what the hell was that dream.." he put a hand to his head as he rose out of bed.
He first walked to the balcony and gazed out at the neverending blue below. "Wow..it really did turn into an ocean!" he then looked over to see the farmhouse in the distance. "I can see where Mom and Dad are from here." next, he gazed up to stare at the skinny chimney that smoked as if it had been lit for a while. Roxas was getting more suspicious by the moment. "Xigbar's already lit the fires? Did I sleep that long?" he ran back inside to grab his stuff before heading out.
Out in the bathhouse, everyone was moving at a rapid rate not paying attention who they ran into. The cooks were busy throwing this and that into a meal and getting it prepared. And it really did seem like an overly large amount of meals. "The customer's waiting! Hurry it up!"
Roxas ran out to the stairs and stopped to take in the disasterous bustle below. Everyone was either holding a plate of food or going to get a new one. "Feed him everything we got! Even leftovers!" the foreman shouted, directing everyone with fans. Roxas looked over to see Sora waving to him. He walked to the base of the stairs and met the chestnut haired boy there.
"I was just going to wake you up. Look!" he held out his hand and showed Roxas a nugget of gold. "Real gold. He gave it to me! This guest's a real high roller." Sora chuckled, but only earned a wide eyed expression from Roxas.
Down below, the kitsune masked shadow had grown at an alarming rate. He was as big as the River God when it was a pile of sludge. "I'm starving bring me everything you got." it replied between mouthfuls of food. He grabbed plate after plate as a crowd had gathered below the big tub holding up plates of food shouting for more gold. "Sure." and he did as soon as he threw out his arms, gold scattered into the crowd.
"Come on Roxas. Xemnas is still asleep." Sora went to turn around but to both of their surprises, Riku stood there on the stairway in front of Sora. "Oh Riku please don't wake up your father!" Sora whined, looking like a girl. Roxas scratched his head and sighed, knowing Riku was no big deal.
"Of course not. I wouldn't ever want to make you sad." Riku brushed some hair out of Sora's face making the younger boy giggle. When he saw Roxas behind him, he merely gave the boy he almost violated before a nod and walked down the stairs with his arm around Sora. He guessed everyone was too busy paying attention to the gold to notice the unlikely pair.
"I'm going to see Xigbar." Roxas shouted, still standing at the top.
Riku and Sora both turned. "I wouldn't go right now." Sora shouted. "He's in a foul mood 'cause they woke him up." and then he dissapeared past the stairs as he and Riku got down to the floor.
Roxas made his way back to their sleeping quarters and went back to the balcony, staring at the farmhouse. "I wonder if I'll ever make it back to my parents." he murmured lazily. Suddenly, he saw a streak of black and red and looked down to see the dragon from the bridge. "It's the dragon I saw!" Roxas shouted, watching as it curled around in the air in pain as little white bird shaped creatures were apparently attacking it. The dragon was long and black with a red spiky mane running from its head to its tail. Horns as well. And then realization hit him. "Fight back Axel!" he shouted, noticing the red mane starting from its head was the biggest part of the mane. He watched as Axel breathed out fire and torched some of the birds, but still was surrounded. "In here Axel!" Roxas shouted, pulling open the doors.
Green eyes found him and instantly zoomed through the air and crashed into the interior of the room. Roxas quickly went to close the doors as the birds flew at him, but some managed to slip and cling to his head. He started to shout but realized after a while they were made of paper. "Paper?" he questioned, and then watched as all the birds picked themselves up and flew away into the distance.
"Axel?" Roxas turned to the writhing dragon in the room who knocked down a good number of decorations and wallpaper. The dragon stopped and stared at Roxas for a moment with the greenest of eyes. He also had whiskers which flowed behind him, which caused Roxas to look at his mouth and see he was bleeding a shit ton. "Axel! Your bleeding!" Roxas moved to help him but Axel hissed.
"Don't come near me." the dragons mouth didn't move, but he still heard Axel's gasping voice.
"Why?" Roxas asked.
"I'm done for. Sorry Roxas." those eyes looked down in sadness before rising and suddenly shooting out of the room and into the air again. He had slung blood across the room, staining the windows and his clothes, but Roxas didn't mind. He ran out and looked up to where Axel went seeing the dragon crash into the wall before going up and up and.. "He's going to see Xemnas. I have to do something or he'll die!" the boy began to run but didn't notice a straggling paper bird cling to his back.
Back in the bathhouse main lobby, everyone was seated in perfect rows and had the middle one open as the foreman danced down the aisle. "The very richest man in the whole wide world. That man himself is now approaching!" he was waving fans and dancing like a fool. As the kitsune masked shadow walked up the stairs and made his appearance, he was even larger than before. "Welcome." all the maids and people in the room chimed in unison. "Time to beg for tips. Start begging!"
"Please, sir! Over here!" maids and attendants all held up their seperate bowls as the kitsune masked figure walked past.
Roxas eventually showed up and hurried to push past the crowd, but they were a little in the way. He eventually broke through and reached the elevator, but was grabbed by the attendant in the elevator. He had grabbed Roxas' hand. "Please let me go upstairs!" he shouted to the frog who shook his head.
"You brat how dare--" he paused to see Roxas' hand. "Ah! ITS BLOOD!" he let go and Roxas went running down the aisle only to stand right in front of the foreman leading the shadow kitsune masked figure.
"Move girl. Can't you see our--" the foreman started to shout but was tossed as the shadow pushed him into the crowd roughly.
Roxas looked up at the now tall shadow and bowed. "Thank you for helping me earlier!"
He, in turn, held out his hand and Roxas watched as a mound of gold suddenly appeared out of the black hand. He pushed it to Roxas like before with the tags, but Roxas shook his head. "I don't want any. Don't need any." the shadow seemed to be heartbroken and started to shake, causing the gold to spill onto the floor. "Excuse me, I'm busy." Roxas said and then took off as the shadow dropped the gold on the floor and the crowd surged forward. The shadow followed him with his eyes(?) as he departed into a skinny shortcut.
When the crowd broke apart, the foreman walked up to the shadow. "Please excuse her behavior, shes a human and only new here." he smiled up at the shadow, but it was quick to be gone when the shadow leaned down and shoved its mask in the foremans face.
"Wipe that smile off your face. I saw that look." he began to open his mouth.
"Why I would never--" he started to say but was stopped as the shadow lifted him and a random maid up and threw them in his mouth, devouring them.
"Ahhhhh! He ate them!" the crowd shouted in unison and began to run away as the shadow grew.
Elsewhere, Roxas had just jumped out a window and landed on the side of a roof. He scrambled to get his footing and grabbed the wall with his hands. Cerulean eyes traced the pipe that led to a ladder, and he just now questioned why he was doing this for the man he barely knew. Well, to speak the truth, Roxas might love him. No one else made him feel the same when they spoke, touched, or kissed. Yeah, that's it. And so he took off running across the pipe. It broke as he went, but he made it to the ladder at least.
Roxas felt something tap the back of his head and looked behind him to see Xemnas' crow form flying towards the building. He hadn't seemed to notice Roxas yet. "Xemnas." he murmured, and then tried his best to climb faster. And he did, eventually reaching a window at the top before Xemnas landed and went inside with his crow and hopping shadow creatures at his side. Roxas tried to beat open the window, but it wouldn't budge. Unknown to him, the paper bird on his back slipped off and unhooked the lock on the window letting him fall in the next time he went to hit it.
He tumbled in to discover he fell into a bathroom. The paper bird floated back to his back as he got up and sprinted down the hallway. Eventually he ended up in a dark room where strange decorations littered the room and crystals lined the walls. Pretty gothic looking. And then it hit him. This was Riku's room. He looked around to see if the boy was here, but didn't see him.
"Axel's no use to me now. Get him out of here. Damn it, he ruined the carpet.." Roxas peeked through the door to see Xemnas walking his way.
Roxas pulled back and looked for a place to hide but then felt a hand push his chest and before he knew it, he was against the wall. He looked over to see Riku staring at him with unseen eyes. Xemnas poked his head in and he saw Riku snap, and then he was invisible. Xemnas looked the room over before saying, "Did you say something?"
"No." Riku replied bluntly.
"Ah. Well, I'm sure you would be happy to hear Axel is almost dead from that mission I sent him on. So.."
"Yeah. Bye now." Riku waved a hand in the motion of 'shoo'. Xemnas growled before doing as he was told.
"Why are you here Roxas?" Riku asked, breaking the spell. Roxas immediately ran up to the boy.
"Please Riku help! Axel is dieing!" he tugged at the older boys kimono.
He put on a deadpanned expression. "Why?"
Roxas growled before running out of the room and into Xemnas' office. There he spotted Axel being pushed towards a hole in the floor. He was still a dragon, but was knocked unconscious. The jumping heartless were what was pushing him. Roxas quickly ran over and shooed them away. "Get away from him!" he screamed, grabbing Axel's face in his arms. The crow came out of nowhere and scratched at Roxas' face trying to keep him distracted while the creatures went to the other side and pushed Axel. They all stopped, however, when Riku made his appearance and was tapping his foot.
"Roxas, let him go. He is a nothing now." and then a devious grin set on his face. "How come you won't settle for me?"
Before he could retort, a voice came from the paper bird on Roxas' back. "Geez such a fucking racket." it flew off his back to land in between Riku and Roxas. It then flew around Riku's head as if inspecting him. "You. Spoiled brat I don't see how Xemnas cares for you." the paper bird went to the middle of the floor again and before they could blink, it was replaced by the image of a transparent man.
His hair was a dark blue, but still had a shine to it. He also had a giant 'X' shaped scar across his face and the eyes of the moon, meaning they were yellow. Something about him seemed..feral. Oh, it could always be the dog-like ears. He wore what looked like complete human clothes. Suit, tie, undershirt, and normal slacks. What was with this guy? He first looked to Riku and growled, "Lets make you something a little more..cuddly." he waved his finger at the boy, and to Roxas' surprise he turned into a silverish blue furred wolf. His eyes were still hidden by his hair, however.
"And you.." he looked to the crow which altogether freaked out and tried to get away, but he waved his finger at that one too causing it to fall onto Riku and simply be an oversized flea in his fur. Riku barked in protest and began to try and scrape it off. The man laughed loud and long before looking to Roxas, who was still clutching Axel. "This will be our little secret. Tell anyone and I'll rip off your mouth."
"Who are you?" Roxas said louder than intended.
"I used to be betrothed to Xemnas. Now, I hate the man." he paused. "Mind giving me that dragon?"
"NO!" Roxas clutched Axel tighter. "He's hurt! What do you want with him?"
"That dragon's a thief, my former loves lackey. Stole a precious seal from my house."
"Axel would never! He's so kind." Roxas kept his face hardened.
"All dragons are kind." he poked Roxas on the forehead. "Kind and stupid. Eager to learn Xemnas' magic ways. This boy here will do anything that greedy woman wants. Move aside. It's too late for him anyways. The seal was protected by a charm. Anyone who steals it must die."
"No you can't!" Roxas hugged Axel as the man's finger got closer.
Both were interuppted by the sound of smashing. They looked over to see the shadow creatures had took the form of Riku as a human and was threatening to step on the real Riku and flea crow. "What's gotten into them?" the man growled. "Hey there, cut it out! Go back to your room." he moved to go tend to the fake Riku as the real one nudged Roxas's back and whined. To both of their amazements, they heard a growl and looked to see Axel wake up, bleeding from his mouth still, and slap his tail on the paper bird. The man turned back to them, his form suddenly splitting in half. "Oh my.." he said as he faded.
"Axel!" Roxas shouted before they were plunged down the hole. Riku clung to Roxas' back as they fell along with the flea. Axel was knocked out for all he could tell but held onto his horns anyways. "AXEL!" as if a flashback were triggered, Roxas remembered being in the water, holding onto the same set of black horns and having that red mane in his face. It ended, however, when they were about to land in the pit of shadows. Axel woke up at that moment and suddenly flew them through a hole in the side of the building. Riku still held on and so did the flea but all seperated when Axel ran into a fan which threw them into Xigbar's boiler room.
"What's going on here!" he turned around in time to catch Roxas.
"Axel!" Roxas ignored Xigbar and climbed off of him over to the struggling dragon.
"ROXAS! IT HURTS!" he heard Axel's hazy voice scream in his head.
"Calm down!" he ran over to Axel and stroked his mane as he resorted to heavy breathing instead of thrashing. Roxas got an idea and pulled out the walnut object that tasted so bad. "Here, eat this." but Axel was already knocked out. Roxas tried to pry his jaws open but was not doing very well. He finally bit the thing in half and shouted, "See? Its safe just eat it!" Xigbar was moving to stand behind Roxas.
"Thats a powerful spell on him. I can't undo it." he turned his attetion to what was in Roxas' hand. "Are those herbal cakes?"
"I don't know." Roxas finally got his mouth open and stuck the walnut thing in the back of his throat and closed his mouth. Axel responded by thrashing and trying to spit it out but Roxas held his mouth firmly shut. Xigbar watched from afar since he moved back to avoid getting hurt. Eventually, Axel's throat bloated and he spat out a black thing that looked like tar..and melted in the soot pit.
"The seal!" and sure enough it was. The tar dissolved until a little worm looking creature was in place. As soon as its eyes locked with Roxas, it scurried away. Xigbar was freaking out in his seat and pointed to it.
"Thirteen! Thirteen! Get it! Those are bad luck!" Roxas grabbed the seal in the process and tried to step on the squirmy thing while still being shouted at by Xigbar. He eventually got it, and gagged as the tar got all on his foot and in between his toes. "Thirteen! Get over here you have to be cleansed of bad luck!" Roxas hopped over on one foot and put his fingers together until Xigbar split them in half while saying, "Evil..begone."
"Axel took this from Xemnas' ex-..lover." he held up the seal which was small and looked like a dragons head.
"From Saix? A wizard's seal! Precious loot I'd say."
As he was speaking, Roxas looked over to see Axel transform back into..normal. He was still bloody and unconscious. "Oh..I knew it was Axel!" he looked to Xigbar. "Look Xigbar it's Axel!" he picked up Axel in his arms. "Axel! AXEL!" Riku, still a wolf, came and sat by them. Axel grunted in protest of his body moving but that was it. "Xigbar! He's not breathing."
"Yes he is, but he's still gravely ill from the spell." Xigbar had mixed a drink of herbs and helped Roxas give it to him. Axel drank it, and then was laid down by Roxas on a mat. "That should calm him some." he paused. "Axel turned up one day here, just like you. Said he wanted to learn magic. I didn't approve, becoming a sorcerer's apprentice. I warned him." over where Riku sat, he noticed the soot balls studying Roxas' footprint from where he stepped on the tar worm. "But he wouldn't listen. Said he had nowhere left to go. Signed up to be Xemnas' apprentice. As time went by, he turned increasingly pale." Riku slammed his paw down on where the footprint was, startling the soot creatures. "And his eyes took on a sharp gleam."
"Xigbar, I'm going to give this back to Saix. Give it back, apologize, and ask him to help Axel. Tell me where he lives." Roxas looked determined.
"Go to Saix's?" he said, scratching his head. "He's one scary sorcerer."
"Please." pleaded Roxas. "Axel helped me. Now I want to help him."
"You can get there alright..but getting back.." he paused. "Wait here."
As Xigbar digged through his cabnets, Sora arrived through the little door. "Roxas! I've been looking for you everywhere!" he stopped and looked at the bloody drawers and overall surrounding, and then to Axel. "What happened here? And whats wrong with Axel?"
"What do you need, Sora?" Roxas changed the subject.
"Oh, Xemnas is tearing the place apart looking for you. The big tipper turned out to be a monster named No Face. He says you led it here." he then saw Riku, still a wolf. "Awe, a puppy!"
Riku narrowed his eyes, but rubbed against Sora's legs anyways. Poor Sora, didn't know that it was his love. "Maybe I did." Roxas spoke up, making Sora go wide eyed. "I just thought he was a customer."
Sora balled up his fists and yelled, "He's already swallowed two Frogs and a Snail!"
"Found it!" Xigbar called, running over to the two.
"Were kinda busy, gramps." Sora growled.
"Shutup, kid. Here ya go little dude." he held out tickets.
"Train tickets?" Sora murmured. "Where did you get those?"
"I've had it for fourty years. Now listen, its the 6th stop, called Swamp Bottom."
"Swamp Bottom?" Roxas said out loud.
"That's right, it's the 6th stop. Make sure you get it right. There used to be a return train, but these days its a one-way ride. Still interested?"
"Yup. I'll walk back, along the tracks." he walked over to Axel's side.
"But what about Xemnas?" Sora questioned from where he was originally standing.
"I'll go to him now." he rubbed his hand on Axel's face. "I promise I'll be back, Axel. You can't die."
"What's going on here?" Sora asked, but by the blush it was assumed he already knew.
"Don't you see?" Xigbar replied with a laugh. "Love..it's love.."
After a while, Roxas was running down the hallways towards Xemnas. He finally arrived and saw a line of people waiting to be backup with food in their hands like earlier. Instead of being all enthusiastic, however, they were scared for their lives. When Roxas appeared, the foreman ran up to him and was actually the only happy one to see him. "Oh thank goodness Thirteen. Xemnas can't contain him much longer!"
Through the doors he could hear Xemnas. "There's no need to get upset. I'm sure Thirteen will turn up." after that, the smashing of plates was heard.
"Where's Thirteen! I want Thirteen!" the frog voiced shadow said.
"Come." the foreman led Roxas to the door and whispered through the door. "Xemnas..its Thirteen."
"ABOUT TIME!" he busted through the door, and then put on a friendly face when he looked back. "Thirteen has come, dear guest. We'll be right with you."
Riku padded up to them at about that time and happily wagged his tail at Xemnas who recoiled. "UGH! What is that mutt doing in here?!"
Riku deflated at that, but quickly rose to growl. Roxas said, "You don't recognize him?"
"Of course not, how disgusting!" Roxas grabbed ahold of Riku's scruff so he didn't bite Xemnas. "Now, in you go." Xemnas pushed Roxas and Riku in roughly and looked to the shadow before he left. "Call if you need us."
"Is he alright in there by himself?" the foreman asked outside.
"Want to take her place?" Xemnas growled.
On the inside, the shadow kitsune masked creature smiled at him, grabbing a plate of food. "Try this, it's yummy." he set it down when he got no reply. "Want some gold? I'm not giving it to anybody else." he stared at the shadow defiantly as Riku backed up against him. "What is it you want? You can tell me."
"Where did you come from? There's someplace I have to go to right away." Roxas suddenly said. The creature frowned immediately. "You should go back to where you came from. You can't help me with what I want." the creature's form starting to convulse. "Where's your home? Don't you have a mom and dad?"
"I don't wanna.." he muttered, his mask sinking into his flesh. "I'm lonely, lonely.."
"Can't you go back home?" Roxas moved to be against the wall with Riku next to him.
"I want Thirteen..I WANT THIRTEEN!" the creature suddenly shoved its hand in Roxas' face as it filled with gold. "Take it."
"Are you going to eat me?" Roxas asked, a little afraid.
"TAKE IT!" it yelled, but suddenly Riku bit into its hand. "Huh?" the shadow pulled its hand back and threatened to punch the wolf, but Riku dropped off and stood next to Roxas once more.
"If you're going to eat me, have these first." he threw the rest of the walnut from the River God into the kitsune creatures open mouth.
As soon as he ate it, he spun around and started gagging up black liquid. Riku and Roxas both screamed when it threw up a fountain of black goo and rounded on them. "Thirteen..Thirteen what did you feed me?" and then it came at them. Both of the creatures ran out of the door, Roxas small enough to fit on Riku's back. For a wolf, he was about for feet. He ran at an alarmingly fast rate, but Roxas could still see the shadow kitsune masked thing behind them, its mouth gaping open. When they ran around a corner, Xemnas got in the way of the creature.
"Enough is enough." he growled, swirling his hands together to create a ball of energy in his hand. He shot it out at the beast, but it seemed to have no effect as the shadow just threw up on him as well as he passed, leaving Xemnas a mass of throwup. When it hit the railing, it looked around and down below, Roxas called out to it.
"Over here!" he waved from Riku's back.
It came running, leaving behind some of the mass of its body. Eventually Riku ran down some stairs and repeated the action with several other staircases. When they reached the bottom, Riku paused until the monster was close, and jumped out at the right time so it slammed into the wall. When it did, it stopped for a moment and spat out on of the foreman and and a maid. He continued to follow Roxas at a slower rate. "You'll pay for this.."
Eventually Roxas ended up outside and got to the bottom where the water was. Sora waited there in a boat that looked like an overly sized bucket. He waved to Roxas and waited for him to get in. Once he and Riku were, he turned to Sora and said, "You know this is Riku, right?"
Sora whipped around. "What?!"
"The wolf. It's Riku. I'm taking him to get the spell broken as well."
Riku rubbed against Sora's legs, to which Sora brushed the hair out of his eyes to reveal that amazing shade of blue green. Even Roxas was sort of shocked at the color. "Thanks, Roxas." Sora said his real name. "I'll be waiting for you to return. I'll go make sure Axel is ok."
"Thanks, Sora." Roxas smiled, and then noticed the shadow creature walking on the ledge of a pipe, looking at him. "HEY! OVER HERE!" he waved.
"Are you nuts? It'll see us!" Sora rowed faster since it jumped from the ledge and into the water. It eventually swam to the tracks and followed them that way. Sora dropped him off a little further down the tracks and bid him farewell. As he rowed away, he glared at No Face. "Hey No Face! Touch him and your dead got that?!" No response as he kept walking down the tracks.
Please Review! Final chapter up next. Thank you all for the lovely reviews so far! c: