Bait, Chapter 30

They were in Hollow Bastion. Sora recognized the place the instant they stepped out into the light. It must have been mid morning- had they really been in Xigbar's clutches for that short a time? It felt like an eternity. He got a firmer grip on Riku, who was riding piggyback on Sora. The boy was so tall that his feet nearly dragged on the ground. He had not stirred at all since they escaped.

"Come on, I know people here, they'll get you some help..."

Talking to Riku as though he were awake and could actually hear him was the one thing keeping the fine line of Sora's sanity intact. He had just been through severe torture and on top of that, he nearly saw his best friend's heart get torn out. Riku was alive but in shock from blood loss, and if he didn't get care soon, he would not last much longer.

Sora could barely make out small figures on the other side of the gorge they were standing near. He waved his free hand frantically and shouted for help. Whoever it was didn't hear him, but something else did.

They always came out of nowhere, and even after years of fighting them, the suddenness of their arrival would still startle him. Heartless- only Shadows, but several of them. He laid Riku on the ground and summoned his Keyblade, fighting off the waves of them that kept jumping at him. Several others swarmed around Riku, viewing him as easy prey. They were gone within minutes, and Sora felt more drained than ever. Crawling back to Riku, he lifted him again, making his way cautiously down the edge of the gorge.

"We have to keep going. You can do it, just hold on..." Sora continued to encourage the sleeping boy slumped over his shoulders, but he didn't answer. Sora himself was getting weaker by the moment.

"Just a little farther..."

"We're almost there..."

In the end, it was more than Sora could handle. He swayed in exhaustion, falling to his knees, taking care not to let Riku get hurt even in his own weakened state. He let the older boy just fall off his back when he was sure he was at a safe enough height, as he too fell face down in the dirt.

XXXXXXXX

The next few days seemed to fade in and out. He could remember some of his waking moments more vividly than others.

He remembered feeling the sharp sting of somebody cleaning and stitching the wounds on his face and chest.

On another occasion, he had woken to find a woman trying to coax him to drink some broth.

He remembered waking up in a panic, screaming Riku's name after a nightmare.

He could recall with especially horrible clarity seeing a group of people huddled around Riku's bed, trying desperately to revive him. He would later be told that his heart had stopped on three other occasions as they attempted to repair the damage Xigbar inflicted. He had so nearly lost his best friend again.

Next time he came to, he found that he was lying on a soft bed in a stark white room. He looked around desperately, trying to find Riku in these unfamiliar surroundings. He found him lying on another bed near the window of the same room, surrounded by people, some he knew, some he didn't recognize. He could barely make out what they were saying.

"...condition has stabilized, but he's still not responding..."

"...don't think he's still in shock, do you?"

"...whatever went on on with them might have broken his mind..."

Sora bolted upright in his bed.

"What's going on?" The others in the room turned to look at him, and he could spot Leon , Yuffie, and Aerith among those gathered.

"We wanted to ask one of you the same question. Leon and Cloud found you two lying in the gorge about three days ago. You were badly wounded, and nobody could figure out why you were so far from your training."

"Kidnapped... a former Organization 13 member brought me here, and Riku chased after him... Wait... what about Riku? Is he okay?" Concern turned to panic when they all exchanged dark glances.

"He'll make it. In fact, he improves dramatically every day. But every effort to get him to respond gets the same result. It's as though his heart and mind have completely deserted him. We've summoned your master here to see if anything can be done to reverse this, but the fear in the matter is... even if his body completely recovers, Riku may never wake up..."

End of Chapter 30