Couldn't leave you guys hanging for too long. Here's Chapter 21!

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I don't know how long I stayed there. I had lost all track of time. I had lost all track of everything. Inside I felt hollow, and the outside world was just a buzz.

Kairi was gone. Permanently this time. She was dead.

Eventually, I became aware of a hand shaking my shoulder. "Sora, we have to go," said Goofy, his voice making its way through the fog in my mind. "That storm that we saw is getting nearer, and it's looking to be a fierce lightning storm."

I shook my head. "Can't leave."

"Sora, this house is a dangerous place to be during a lightning storm," came Cloud's voice. "It's high up and made of dry wood. It could easily be struck, and go up in flames. And you three all need to get treated for your wounds. The longer you do nothing, the worse they become." When I made no response, he added, "Come on, Sora! You can't just sit there!"

I glared up at him. "What did you do when Aerith died?"

He frowned at me and didn't respond.

Goofy spoke again. "Sora, we'll come back for her. I promise."

I spoke. "If we leave, we're taking her with us."

"Of course."

"Hold on."

I glanced up at Cloud, who had spoken those last two words. "What?"

He glanced at Sephiroth. "I need to stay here and make sure that he's properly taken care of."

"And?"

"Leave Kairi here."

I shook my head. "No."

"You're too weak to carry her out."

"Not happening."

He stamped his foot. "God damn it, Sora, listen to reason! You're going to need Donald and Goofy's help to get out, and they'll barely be able to support you, with wounds of their own!"

"I'm not leaving her."

"You have to."

"I won't."

We glared at each other for a moment. Then, his expression eased. "I'll take care of her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I will ensure that she gets back to you. I will take care of her body, and bring it back when I am done."

I stared at him, unable to decide whether or not to trust him. "How do I know you will?"

"I give you my word that I will." A flash of pain was briefly visible in his eyes. "I know what it is like to lose someone like her. I will see to it that her body will go to you, and you can do with it as you please."

Thunder rumbled, and a flash of lightning was visible through the windows. The storm was close.

"Sora…" said Goofy. "It'll be okay. Cloud will bring her back."

I looked back down at Kairi, her peaceful expression sending another dagger through my heart. Cloud was right; I couldn't carry her, not in my current state. "Fine," I said in a soft voice. "But make sure—"

"I will," said Cloud. "Now, get moving."

Slowly, Donald and Goofy helped me to my feet, and we made our way out of the house. Nobody said a word.

We stayed in silence for the trip to the hospital, too, aside from conversing briefly with our cab driver (though Donald did the talking there). When we got to the hospital (Twilight Hospital; the same one Hayner had been in), Donald and Goofy quickly came up with a story to explain our injuries, and we were all admitted. I didn't pay attention to what it was. I barely even noticed as they strapped me to a table, took several x-rays, and confined me to a hospital bed. All I could think about was Kairi. She had saved me. She had saved all of us. But she had paid the ultimate price.

I felt numb. Then, a nurse injected me with something, and I lost consciousness.

I woke up the next morning, and the events of the previous day came rushing back to me. For the first time since leaving the house, I cried.

I cried for a while, but managed to pull myself together by the time the doctor came in. He was tall and thin, with long blond hair. "Sora Parker," he said in his calm voice. "How are you feeling?"

I sat back on my pillow and closed my eyes. I wasn't in the mood to talk. After a few moments, I heard the door open and close. Opening my eyes again, I could see that the doctor had left.

A few minutes passed, and then the door opened again. "Sora?" said a voice, hesitantly. I raised my head slightly and saw Goofy peeking into my room. "Can we come in?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded. The doctor hadn't known what had happened to me, but they did. They were my best friends, and probably worried about me. I could stand their presence.

He came in, followed closely by Donald. "Hey, Sora," said the latter, lightly.

I nodded feebly in return. "You guys all right?"

Donald nodded. "Yeah. Broken fingers, but they'll heal." He held up his hands, showing the braces that had been put on his fingers to help them recover.

I looked at Goofy. "You?"

"Some internal bruises, but nothing else."

"Good."

He hesitated. "How are you holding up?"

I looked at him. "Not well."

"No. I'm so sorry, Sora."

Donald nodded. "Me, too. But she died helping us, right? And she died human, so…uh, that's what she wanted to be, right?"

Yes. She had wanted to be human. But she had barely gotten to enjoy the experience before…

I teared up again. "Oh, sorry, sorry," said Donald.

I shook my head. "S'okay."

He moved forward and put my hand in his. "Sora…well, this is tough. But you'll be able to get through it. And we'll be right here beside you!"

Goofy nodded, and took my other hand. "Don't forget, all for one and one for all."

I took a breath, and nodded. They were right. This would be a very hard time for me, but, eventually, I could pull through. And I had good friends like them to help me every step of the way.

Of course, that didn't stop the pain entirely. I broke down crying a couple more times in the next day, including one instance where Donald asked if I wanted him to bring me a book, and I realized that Kairi and I had never finished the Harry Potter series; she would never know what happens at the end.

Speaking of pain, I was to be in the hospital for a few more days. My shin was broken, and both my ankles were fractured, so I needed some time for them to heal. Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy took over the investigative business, tackling the large pile of cases we had put on hold in order to deal with Sephiroth. I don't think I had ever admired the pair of them more than I did then; they pushed themselves to solve all sorts of cases, and when they weren't working on them, they were visiting me and seeing to my needs. Both of them, even the more self-centered Donald, forced their needs to the side and directed their focus towards helping others. And I found myself appreciating what outstanding partners I had.

But they weren't the only visitors I had. Three days after I had been admitted, my doctor (whose name, as I had found out, was Even Isaacson) came into my room and told me I had a visitor. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Someone from the police department," said the doctor. "He says he knows you. Name's Lea Fiers."

Lea. I immediately felt a stab of guilt that I hadn't contacted him beforehand. "Okay, I'll see him."

Even retreated, and, a few seconds later, in walked Lea. "Sora!" he said. "What the hell happened?"

"I took a nasty fall on the rocks by the Sound," I said, having heard the fabricated story from Donald and Goofy.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I…I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

He frowned. "What are you referring to?"

I hesitated. Lea was one of my best friends. Should I continue to keep him in the dark like this? But ignorance, in this case, could mean security… "It's complicated," I said.

His frown deepened. "Not gonna tell me?"

His tone sounded accusatory, as if he were mad at me for something else. "Is something the matter?" I asked.

"You mean aside from one of my best friends being hospitalized and not telling me? Actually, there is." He glanced back at the door to make sure it was closed, then turned back to me and pulled up a chair next to my bed. "You remember the Xemnas case, right?" he asked, sitting down.

"Of course."

"And how I was to investigate his murder?"

"Yeah…" My heartbeat increased. Had he found anything?

"And how we thought we wouldn't get anywhere with it?"

"Yeah."

He fixed me with an odd look. "Well, guess what? We did."

I blinked. "You…you did?"

He nodded. "Yup. Just yesterday, a guy named Marluxia Defleur came to me with a video he had taken. He lives in one of the apartments that overlooks the alley where Xemnas's body was found. And he just so happened to have his camera with him the night that Xemnas disappeared." He pulled out a laptop. "He had a very interesting video. Want to see it?"

My throat was stuck. No way our luck could have been this bad…

"Here it is," said Lea, after a moment on his computer. "Take a look."

He turned the computer around as a video began playing. The sound was poor, and only picked up the noise of the traffic, and voices whose words were unidentifiable, but the picture was visible. I watched as Kairi led Xemnas into the alley, spoke to him, and handed him the knife. I saw as Xemnas stabbed himself, and how Kairi began to drink his blood. Then, I saw her turn around, as Donald, Goofy and I entered the picture. I yelled at Kairi until I saw Xemnas, and then the four of us conversed. After that, Goofy and I dumped Xemnas's body in the dumpster, and we all left the alley.

"So," said Lea, after the video had ended, "I'm no expert on identification, but I know you three well enough. And I couldn't help but notice that the woman with you, the one who made Xemnas kill himself—however that worked out—matches the description of the woman who got away from you after almost killing that college student." He fixed me with one of his rare hard, serious looks. "So, tell me. What the hell happened?"

I stared at him for a moment. Then, I let out a sigh of defeat. "Okay, Lea," I said. "I…I haven't been entirely honest with you."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

"No, I mean…about me. There are some things about me, about what I do, that I haven't told you." He had caught me, and I could see no other way out.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What do you mean?"

So, I told him, finding a sort of release in doing so; there was something comforting in telling a big secret to a good friend. (Provided that he was still my good friend.) I told him everything—how I had come to start pursuing supernatural creatures, how I had encountered dozens—both in New York and elsewhere, how I had found and recruited Donald and Goofy, and how we often got cases from Riku, who knew what we did. As I did, his expression changed from angry and accusing to confused to concerned and curious, as if he wasn't sure if I was crazy or not. But, surprisingly, he let me continue, and didn't interrupt me with questions of any sort.

So I went on to more current events. First, I told him how Clayton had been a wendigo, which surprised him. "Didn't know even I was dealing with them," he muttered.

"A lot of people do, actually, without knowing it," I said.

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

I then went into the whole Kairi story, telling him everything about what had happened, from Pence hiring me to finding her and getting hypnotized, to busting her operation and setting her on the run, and to her attack in the alley. He made a perplexed face when I told him how I ended up sparing her, but seemed to accept my explanation of feeling that killing her wasn't right.

Then, I went into the drama at my apartment. How I had restrained her, and she had done her best to aggravate me. How tensions had risen until we reached a breaking point, and how I had taken Goofy's advice and tried to mend our relationship. Then, how it had succeeded, and how we had grown closer, and eventually become friends. This was where I explained what had happened to Xemnas—how Kairi had gone after him with me in mind, how I had snapped at her, and how it drove us apart. Then…how we discovered our feelings for each other. How we had started a romantic relationship, and how happy it had made me. (I had a hard time keeping myself together at that point.)

Then, I told him about Cloud and Sephiroth, how the former had gotten us involved in a hunt for the latter, but how Sephiroth had been keeping track of us since the Xemnas incident. I told him how Sephiroth had tricked me into meeting him, and bringing Kairi along. How she had agreed to go along with him if he left me and Roxas alone. How Donald, Goofy and I had vowed to go after her, and convinced Cloud to help. And, finally, our showdown at the old house on the hill…and what had happened there.

I fell silent, and looked at Lea, who was staring at me, his expression hard to read. "That's the truth, Lea, I swear it is," I said.

He nodded slowly. "Uh-huh…" he said, in a tone that suggested he didn't fully believe me.

"And I'm sorry for tricking you about Xemnas, but I didn't want to get Kairi in trouble, or involved with a lot of questions. Am I supposed to tell everyone that vampires exist? And…I'm sorry I kept all this from you. You are my friend, but I thought that knowing about this might put you at risk somehow, and the less you knew about it, the better."

His gaze was still fixed on me. Then, slowly, he stood up. "I'll be back," he said. "Just, uh, give me a bit of time to process this."

I frowned. "Are you going to do anything?"

"After you tell me all that? I don't think I'll be able to." He paused. "But I'm not going to the police with this video, if that's what you're wondering."

"What are you going to do with it?"

He paused again. "Well…I'll get back to you on that one."

And he left.

The next day, Donald and Goofy stopped by for another visit, and I asked them how the cases were going. "Well," said Donald, "there are a lot." He drew himself up. "But we're getting through them."

I looked from one to the other. "And you guys are okay? You're getting enough sleep and everything?"

Donald raised an eyebrow. "What are you, Sora, our mother? Besides, I've already got Daisy fretting over me."

"Daisy?" I had forgotten about Donald's girlfriend. "How is she holding up?"

Donald shrugged. "She's fine. Aside from all the worrying about me she's done." He grinned lightly.

"What about you, Sora?" asked Goofy.

I sighed. "Well, my leg's coming along…"

Goofy frowned. "Is something bothering you?"

"Is it Lea?" asked Donald.

I blinked. "How did you know?"

"He visited us yesterday," answered Donald. "Told us all about the conversation you guys had."

I grimaced in a sort of apologetic way. "Yeah. Sorry for spilling the beans, but—"

Donald cut me off. "No need to apologize."

Goofy nodded. "Yeah. The more friends we can have for this cause, the better. Besides, it does sound as though you didn't have much choice."

I grinned. "Thanks. So, what else did he say?"

"Well, he asked us about the whole situation," said Donald. "I think he was trying to confirm that you weren't crazy."

I nodded. "Can't blame him."

"Well, we showed him all sorts of evidence. I think it ended up convincing him, but he looked a little dazed. He thanked us and left. We haven't heard from him since."

I glanced at the door, a little apprehensive that he would burst in, flanked by Isa and Leon, to arrest us for the Xemnas murder. "He told you about the video, too?"

Anxiety crossed Donald's face, and Goofy nodded. "Yeah. Talk about bad luck, though."

"No kidding," I agreed.

Donald shifted. "How did that happen…?"

"Well," I said, "with any luck, he'll…"

I trailed off. Would Lea really ignore the evidence? He was a staunch police officer, after all. And all of the information that I had held from him might count against us.

Donald and Goofy, seemingly thinking the same thing, took on expressions of apprehension akin to mine. "Should we call him?" asked Donald.

I frowned. "I'm not sure. He did seem like I needed time to think…"

"I did, indeed."

All three of us turned in surprise, as Lea walked through the door. "Regular party, here," he said, glancing around.

"Lea!" I said. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Well…" He had on an odd expression. "I came to conclude things."

I straightened up. "And?"

He paced the room. "Well, I'm still a little miffed that you didn't tell me about all this—though I suppose I can see why you would have wanted to conceal it. But now…" He turned to me, and a grin spread across his face. "Dude, this is pretty awesome." He pounded his chest. "You ever need help with this sort of thing, you can count me in."

I blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. I thought I'd be able to get into some exciting situations as a cop, but this is a whole new level."

"But it's dangerous. Even more so than what you normally do."

"Sora, please," he said. "I've been dealing with danger my entire life. And if you guys can survive it, I'm sure I'll be able to, too."

Donald raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lea chuckled. "Nothing." He walked up to me. "But, hey, we're still friends. And friends help each other out." He held out a hand. "Whaddaya say?"

I stared at him for a moment. Then, I broke into a smile, and grasped his hand. "Sounds great. I'll be glad to have your help, Lea."

He returned the smile. "Whenever you need it."

A moment passed, then Donald cleared his throat. "So, uh, what about that video of Xemnas?"

He released my hand. "Well, it's the damndest thing," he said. "Defleur gave me the original copy of the video so I could examine it, and I had a copy on my computer. But someone—I don't know who, or how—managed to delete both videos." He shrugged. "Must have been someone who didn't want Xemnas's killer to be brought to justice."

I blinked. "You have no idea who it is?"

"How could I?" said Lea. "Could have been anyone."

He winked, and I realized what he was getting at. A huge wave of relief swept through me. "Thank you, Lea."

Lea frowned, keeping up his act. "Thank me for what? I just told you that Xemnas's killer, whoever it was, probably won't be found. I didn't recognize anyone on the video, and I don't think Defleur did, either." He let out a theatrical sigh. "Well, there are some things even the police can't do."

I nodded, forcing back a grin. "Right."

He checked his watch. "Well, I need to get back to work." He nodded at us, a smile on his face. "See you all around!"

More time passed. Eventually, my leg had mended enough so that I could leave the hospital, though I would have to walk on crutches for a while. I liked to think that my heart was on the mend, too, but whenever I thought of Kairi, the wound was reopened, and I had to work to hold back tears. "Where's Cloud?" I asked Donald and Goofy, as the three of us sat in our office (I had gotten back to work, though the other two insisted I take it easy, and only do a minimal amount). "Has he contacted either of you yet?"

Donald frowned and shook his head. "No. Haven't heard a thing."

My brow furrowed. "Shouldn't he have results by now?" I began to get anxious. Had anything happened to Cloud? Where was Kairi? What if…what if Cloud had failed to get rid of Sephiroth once and for all, and he was still out there? My fists clenched. Sephiroth had murdered Kairi. He could not be allowed to get away.

"Don't worry, guys," said Goofy. "Cloud knows what he's doing. I'm sure he's fine."

"But it's been over a week," I said. "How long does it take for him to do whatever he needed to do?"

Goofy shrugged. "What did he need to do? He never told us, exactly. Maybe it's something that takes a long time."

"But…" He promised he'd bring Kairi back. When was Cloud planning on fulfilling that promise?

That day, as I went home from work (Donald and Goofy had gotten me a taxi, so I wouldn't have to walk back), I thought of a way to contact Cloud. Yuffie had called my phone to warn me about Sephiroth one time. Wouldn't her phone number be recorded in my phone, then? All I would have to do was check my recent calls, and I could get her number. Then, I could call her, and find out how Cloud was doing. Surely she knew what was going on with him…

But I would not have to.

After taking the elevator to my floor, I got out, limping towards my room, around the corner. But then, I heard voices. "He's taking a while," said one voice.

I froze. I recognized that voice…but that was impossible…

"He might have worked late," said another voice. "Besides, he is injured. He might be taking it slowly."

The first voice sighed. "I hope he gets back soon…"

No…no way…this was impossible…but who else could those be?

Putting all my effort into limping as fast as I could, I rounded the corner. Two people stood by my door, and, upon hearing me, turned to face me.

I stared in shock. One of those people was Cloud. The other was Kairi.

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Yeah, I could have given this story a tragic ending, but...nah.

What do you all think? Please let me know!