Rhiannon: Man... am I lame... I should have updated this ages ago... Sigh

Chapter 30—Fame & Fortune

Riku was not at all averse to participating in the acclaimed Pain and Panic Cup that Phil had explained to them over dinner that night. But Sora, Sora had a look of utter dread on his face. And that look of dread was worn from the dinner table to the common room and into the small barracks that the group was sharing. Riku was pretty sure that nothing short of a miracle would take that look off of his face.

"You do realize…" Sora's voice was strangely calm and conversational. "That this match is called Pain and Panic for a reason."

"And you do realize… that we are not in the Underworld and that Hades can't harm you here." Riku got up and sat beside him. "Regardless of where we are. Hades has to follow the rules of the Gods. It's preordained and all that mystic shit."

"But—" Riku cut him off with a gently finger pressed against his lips, glad that Leon and Tifa had made themselves scarce.

"Trust." His eyes twinkled as he leaned closer. "Trust that if Hades takes you I will do everything within my power to save you."

"That's just it! What kind of keyblade master am I, if all I do is get kidnapped!" He turned away from his friend?/lover? He wasn't quite sure anymore.

"Sora, Sora… you can't possibly think that? What about Marluxia and Naminè and Axel and Roxas and Xigbar? And what about all the other things we couldn't have done without you?" He asked as he tilted his head up and gazed into those blue eyes. "You are a good keyblade master. Don't let these things get to you."

Sora nodded miserably and Riku flinched inwardly. There wasn't any immediate fix to this. A kiss and a bandage weren't going to bring back the happy-go-lucky Sora that he knew. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Sora and pulled him up flush against him. He tiled his head back and kissed him gently.

"Riku?"

"Natural Progression." Riku whispered between kisses. "I think I've always been in love with you."

"Always?" Sora asked a blush coating his tanned cheeks.

"Since diapers." He told him and rested his head on Sora's shoulder.

"Is that why you use constantly pulled my hair and pushed me down?" The brunette asked as he relaxed back into his boyfriend's arms.

"It gave me all the more reason too. Never figured it out, now did you?" He teased his sides a little before hugging him tight again.

"I think I always loved you too." Sora turned a bit in his embrace. "Not in love with you but… I needed you." Riku nodded and then yawned deeply.

"Tomorrow we'll find the connection between Hades and the Heartless. And then we'll kick his ass from here to Kingdom Hearts."

Sora couldn't resist the urge to laugh at that before he closed his eyes. "Yeah… We'll show him…"

Tifa Lockheart for her thin frame was unnaturally strong and well trained in the martial arts. She had taken up residence in the grounds in front of the Coliseum and had stated to practice. She closed her eyes as she preformed her moving meditation. Punch, kick, block, punch, kick, block with little variation. She came to a resting position with one foot out in a kick when she heard clapping. She lowered her leg as she opened her eyes and looked to see Leon leaning against a wall, his eyes half lidded.

"So what are you? The world's big brother?" She asked as she approached him.

"Just Yuffie's." He replied easily, as he crossed his arms and gave his best 'I don't give a flying rat's corpse' look.

"You treat Sora like a little brother." She pointed out as she wiped sweat off her brow, even at night it was stifling hot out here. She'd kill for an air conditioner.

"…Whatever." He responded and turned and began to walk away.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" She called and he turned and inclined his head.

"Fine, I'll follow you, ye of little words." She mocked with her hands on her hips before she followed his swiftly moving form.

He led her past the barracks and into the courtyard in back of the barracks. There stood a large spigot pumping water into a lazy pool of water that came up to about her waist. She cried out in joy and ran past him to duck her head into the water. She threw her head back sending water logged hair everywhere and closed her eyes in brief happiness. She jumped when she heard laughter.

"You reminded me of Yuffie right then." He told her still laughing and when she thought about, she laughed too.

"I guess we have quite a bit in common." She returned before she hopped up on to the ledge that surround the fountain. "But I had wanted to talk to you about Sora and Cloud."

"What about them?" He asked as he watched her squeeze the access water out of her brown streaked black hair.

"Cloud's in love with you." She replied with a cheeky grin.

"I highly doubt it's anything that strong." He rolled his eyes and moved over to the fountain. "But I hope it will be someday."

"Realist." She teased and then leaned back on her hands. "You relate to Sora. Why?"

"Not necessarily relate." Leon shrugged his shoulder. "When I was a child… all the people around us thought I'd be the next keyblade master. All the older kids thought I'd killed the keyblade master."

"That makes for a lonely childhood." She replied the smile gone from her face.

"I'd say." He shrugged it off. "Maybe I'm just a good guide."

"Like your father?" She teased.

"I'm not in love with Sora." He deadpanned and she laughed.

"I never said that." She smiled. "But he is like a little brother to you…"

"I care about all three of them." He replied stone faced. "Living with them, relying on them everyday kind of does that to you. I even kind of like Demyx."

"Good." She jumped off the fountain and walked around him crossing her arms firmly and she came to stand in front of him. "As you rightly should. We're in this together."

"This… I know." He told her as she held out her hand. He took it and she shook it firmly.

"Then I'll see you in the morning."

Christmas Town, to Kairi, looked nothing like all those books she saw around Christmas Time depicting the North Pole. No this place looked like something out of a cheesy horror movie. The town was covered in white snow and what looked like a billowy old factory stood. The buildings were all red brick and covered in white snowy roofs. There was a merry-go-round in the town square that kind of confused her. But Jack just waved his hand as if this was normal.

"I don't think… that I recall the North Pole supposedly looking like this." Yuffie murmured as they walked pass the town gates.

"Ofcourse the North Pole doesn't look like this!" Jack cried turning to face them. "After all, this is Christmas Town—not the North Pole."

"Gotcha." Yuffie smiled tranquilly and then walked further, the ground leaving patches of snowy foot prints.

They were almost to the merry-go-round when darkness spread around them in the form of shadows and other nasty creatures. Kairi lifted her hand and called the Oblivion to her as the others swiftly pulled their weapons.

"These… are heartless." Kairi growled and threw her weapon at the nearest group of heartless. "This will be an excellent workout." She dove forward and grabbed her weapon as she rolled under a… jack-in-the-box looking monster and stabbed it in the back.

Yuffie faired better, jumping on to a roof top and using her shruiken to fight long range, watching their backs. Hayner dove in, in much the same way as Kairi while Cloud used his large sword to cut his way through the massive swarms.

"Leave none alive!" Kairi called over the clashing of weapons and claws.

"Can do!" Hayner called with a war cry charging in.

"That was an excellent workout." Jack murmured as the last heartless was killed. "But now we must see if Sandy Claws is okay."

"Santa Claus." Kairi muttered shaking her head as they entered the toy factory slash home.

"What brings you here Jack Skeleton?" Asked a very un-jolly looking old man in a red suit. The entire group had expected Santa Claus of all people to be well… taller and happier. He didn't look very much of anything but short and well, fat.

"I fear that you are in danger Sandy Claws." The Pumpkin King spoke in a shy voice. "Monsters called Heartless have been using Halloween Town as a path to get here."

"How unusual." The white haired man murmured. "Maybe it has something to do with the presents that have gone missing." He folded his hands around his large middle. "And the elves that have gone missing as well."

"The elves have gone missing?" Kairi asked, life being more important then a bunch of toys.

"Well, not missing per say. But hiding." The old man corrected. "They fear to come to the factory for fear of being mistaken for a toy and taken as well."

"That would suck." Hayner murmured under his breath.

"With your permission we'd like to take a look around the factory before we go." Kairi spoke as she looked beyond the old man and towards the door behind him. "The sooner we find out who's behind this, the sooner we can stop them."

"But it's obvious that it's Oogie Boogie!" Yuffie pouted but hushed with a look from Kairi.

"First things first. I want to know what he's stealing." The red head replied as she followed Santa Claus into the factory room.

The room didn't look out of the ordinary, covered in red and white and filled with empty factory lines and untouched rolls of wrapping paper. They walked into the room innerved by the absolute quiet that filled the room and then moved onto the next room but it was just as lifeless and empty as the other.

"Well, I'm no forensic scientist… so what do we do now?" Cloud asked.

"I don't know. I left my lab kit in my other pants." Hayner muttered under his breath and leaned against the wall. "Unless you to wait until they show up again, we're pretty much screwed."

"Well, aren't we cheerful!" Jack spoke as he strolled past them to the wrapping machine. "I on the other hand have a plan."

"You… have a plan?" Yuffie asked as she bounced up beside him. "Do tell?"

"We should make false presents. After all, for all we know it could be Lock, Shock and Barrel stealing the toys. And then it wouldn't be nearly as interesting or as amazing as if you're heartless friends were doing it." Jack explained and crossed his long boney arms. "What do you think?"

"Well, I guess that's a good idea." Hayner shrugged noncommittally.

"All of us can't be doing that though… What if… what if Jack's on to something and they aren't behind the missing toys?" Kairi shook her head from side to side. "I wish Leon were here."

"So do I." Yuffie muttered under her breath. "Okay! So we have one plan and five people. Let's split into two groups!"

"Sounds like a plan." Jack cracked his knuckles and it was so loud it was disturbing. "A frightful plan indeed."