Bait chapter 12.

A strong green glow issued from Mickey's hand as he placed it over the lump on Sora's head. Sora stirred slightly, but did not wake. The mouse checked his work and smiled, satisfied with what he had done.

"How did you do that? I can't cast curaga without my keyblade, but you just made it form in your hand." Kairi asked, impressed.

"Years of practice." The mouse replied with a glint in his eyes. "You will be able to learn it for yourself too, but for now, just channel your magic through the keyblade. I'm impressed with your progress actually. It took even Sora and Riku several months to master curaga, took me almost two years!" Kairi beamed at the king's praise.

Then it happened, the sound of a drawn-out, agonized scream echoed through the halls and had made its way to both Mickey and Kairi's ears. The mouse lowered his head sadly. Tears sprang to Kairi's eyes.

"Riku!" she cried in grief. "What are they doing to him? He sounds like he's in so much pain right now!"

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Though the room was well-lit as per Yen Sid's instructions, there was a serious design flaw. It's location plus the sheer number of windows in it meant that anyone could hear what was happening within a mile's radius of the area.

Though he wanted to be gentle to the sick boy lying before him, the old man thought it would be best if the blade was removed quickly, before any infection could be introduced- the child was already fighting off some form of exposure. He had seized the blade by the hilt and yanked it straight out, causing Riku to throw his head back and scream in agony.

Sure enough, the wound started to bleed heavily within seconds of the blades removal. Yen Sid slowed the bleeding with a simple cure spell and had Lea get something from another room, while he removed Riku's shirt so he could clean and examine the wound. Riku fought against the wizard's actions, he was still in severe pain despite the blade being out of his body: he had broken out in a cold sweat and was hyperventilating.

"Stay with me, Riku..." Yen Sid whispered in a gentle voice. He grabbed one of the potions he had brought from the gummi ship, the same colorless one he had used to ease Riku's pain hours earlier, and placed another drop directly in the wound. Though it still eased the pain, it was apparent that this time it wasn't enough. Riku winced and cried out repeatedly as the old wizard cleaned away the blood and probed the wound with his fingers, trying to discern the extent of the damage.

"The wound is deep, but he was lucky..." Yen Sid said as he worked, Donald and Goofy were still in the room with him, trying their best to comfort Riku through the ordeal, both looking up to the old wizard for any news. "If the blade had struck him even a little higher, it would have pierced his lung. It also seemed to just miss any major veins or arteries." The other two sighed, relief that he wasn't vitally wounded, but still concerned.

Lea returned, carrying several rolled bandages, which Yen Sid used to pack and bind the wound. He proceeded to undress the boy, examining his whole body and trying to determine exactly what he had been through during his confinement, as Riku was no longer awake to tell this tale himself. There was a half-healed wound on the back of his head and a large dark bruise on his right leg, suggesting he had taken a blow to it at some point during his confinement.

Though they weren't the most life threatening, the last injuries were the most unsettling. Yen Sid winced sympathetically as he uncovered the sores, scars and half-healed lacerations on the boy's nether regions.

What went on in that dungeon that caused those injuries? Yen Sid prayed they weren't the end result of some sadistic torture, or worse, rape.

Riku cried out and fought against the intrusion as Yen Sid applied more of the painkilling medicine to these injuries, and Yen Sid thought he could hear a hint of pleading for mercy in the boy's outcries. He spoke reassuringly to Riku as he worked, though unsure if he could even be reached in his current state. He then turned his attention to the dagger he had just pulled from Riku's body, studying every inch of it from hilt to point. He looked up with a grim expression on his face.

"The blade is broken near the tip, it could just be a flaw in the design, but nothing is certain. There is a strong possibility that a shard of the blade is still buried in Riku's body, deeply, as I couldn't feel it while examining him. That alone wouldn't be a major cause for concern, if it wasn't for the fact that I can feel dark magic radiating from the blade."

Alarm shot across the faces of the other people present.

"I don't know what it could do to him, but it obviously can't be good. I won't force him to endure the pain of another procedure today, but if there is a shard still inside him, we need to get it out as soon as possible."

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Sora finally woke up several hours later to find that there was a grim mood all around. Word had gotten out that there was potentially a fragment of a blade infected with an unknown dark magic still in Riku's body. Sora and Kairi had spent most of their time at Riku's side ever since.

The boy was lying on a small but soft bed, wearing nothing but a pair of dark pajama pants and the tight gauze that bound his wound. He looked awful, so pale he almost blended into the sheets he lay upon, bones clearly visible on the parts of his chest that weren't wrapped in bandages, scars from previous battles standing out in greater relief. Sora winced when he saw the awful jagged burn scar that ran down most of his left side, a memento he got from that fight against Xemnas. His face had the same shrunken appearance that his body had, as though his captors had fed him very little, if at all during his imprisonment. He was also suffering from a short, choking cough and a high fever. Sora remembered how cold the dungeon in the stronghold was- Riku must have been ill from exposure.

He cried out in his sleep, and Sora was sure he heard him say his name.

"He's been calling for you a lot." Kairi said.

Sora felt the now-familiar pang of rage and grief for his friend, rage towards the Organization that did this to him, grief that he couldn't come to his aid sooner. He clamped Riku's hand tightly in his own.

"I'm so sorry, Riku." Sora said gently.

"Sora, you don't think were about to lose him, do you?" Kairi asked. She looked ready to burst into tears.

"Remember what you said Kairi. Riku's strong, and now he has his friends here to help him pull through." He turned to the sleeping form before him and stroked the silver hair. Riku leaned into his hand, comforted by the other boy's touch.

"If I know anyone who can pull through this, it is him."

Sora and Kairi were interrupted by the sound of Donald impatiently rushing into the room screeching something about them being late for dinner. They quickly complied, before the duck's screeching disturbed Riku. Sora was the last to leave, taking extra care to shut the door quietly. He called out a soft request to the sleeping boy before he left.

"Hold on, Riku."

End of Chapter 12.