"Riku, I'm fine! I can-"
"You're not going with me, Sora." Riku snaps, "End of discussion."
Riku turns to leave with Yuffie – who is standing by the door, looking very uncomfortable – but Sora grabs Riku's arm.
"Not the end of this discussion. You can't just decide something like that."
"When it comes to your safety, I can. Kairi's with me on this! If you drop in the middle of a fight that isn't a training session, what happens? One of us is left to defend you and get you back. That's putting two people in danger with one of them being you."
"Don't drag me into this." Kairi places her hands in the air and shrugs, as if trying to pull out of the argument. "He is right, though, Sora."
Sora wants to scream.
"Fine." He crosses his arms, "Have fun."
Riku gives him a look but nods and leaves with Yuffie.
Kairi and Riku had decided that him doing anything but training would be disastrous. Cloud and the others had agreed, too.
Sora understands the decision, but that doesn't stop him from being hurt. He just wants to help and he hates feeling useless.
But he'd had trouble with easy heartless and Xehanort had given him a world of trouble in the short fight they'd had. He'd have been dead twice over had Riku not shown up.
"Sora, don't get too upset, we're just worried about you." Kairi pipes up behind him.
"I know." He mumbles.
"We can always go train, like we said. We could all use some real practice."
Sora looks up at Kairi and smiles.
"Sounds good."
Sora follows her out of the castle towards the open foyer that Cloud and Leon are likely in. He lets his thoughts drift off. He's so out of it he's shocked when Kairi waves her hand right in front of Sora's face. The brunet almost throws himself off balance backing away.
"Did you hear a word I just said?" Kairi glares at him.
"No, sorry. What were you saying?"
Her expression softens, "I want to apologize."
"For what?"
"For…for saying all of those hurtful things. I guess I never thought you'd be hurt or offended. I promise to never, ever say anything like that again. I'll pick my words more carefully."
She looks like a kicked puppy and Sora gives her a light smile, "I know, Kairi."
"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Kairi asks as they continue to make their way to the open foyer.
Sora shrugs, "Never really seemed like something to start anything over. People have been telling me I'm not all that bright for as long as I can remember."
"Sora, you're not stupid. You're one of the smartest guys I know. I mean, sure, you can be a bit dense at times but other than that -"
"What do you mean dense?"
"Well, back before all of this started, I had a rather large crush on you." She laughs as they enter the Foyer to see Ven and Axel taking on Cloud and Leon.
"I knew you had a crush on me. Well, like around the time I entered Castle Oblivion so after my first journey but I knew."
"You knew? Why didn't you say anything?"
Sora shrugs again, "I don't know, I guess…by the time I figured out that you had a crush on me, my crush on you had kind of…"
"Disappeared?"
"Pretty much." Sora sheepishly scratches at the back of his head.
"Is that the same time you figured out that you like Riku?"
Sora's not even surprised that Kairi knows about his crush on Riku. Sora's honestly surprised that Riku doesn't know about his crush on him.
"No, that was a bit after. Around the middle of my second journey. Third journey?" Sora ponders. Before he'd been reunited with Roxas he'd had no memories of Castle Oblivion and had referred to his adventure taking down the Organization as his second journey. Sometimes he mistakenly calls his third journey his second.
Kairi chuckles, "Sounds like you realized just in time to get him back."
Sora chuckles along and watches the two on two match in front of him. Leon and Cloud are coordinated like Sora's never seen. He'd always been great when fighting alongside Riku, but he doesn't think they have this level of coordination.
Axel and Ventus, on the other hand, look as if they can't coordinate to save their lives. Sora can see the upset look on Axel's – Lea's – face when Ven does something or doesn't do something. In his head, Sora is comparing Vens' quick and slightly wild reverse blade fighting style to Roxas' quick and precise dual wielding style. Sora is guessing Lea is doing the same.
But they're not the same, despite the similarities. And it's wrong to assume they are.
Leon and Cloud have picked up on this as well and are using it to their advantage. Without speaking a word to each other, they've quickly pitted Axel – Lea, man that's hard to get used to – and Ven against each other. Soon, Ven and Axel are bumping into each other and interrupting each other's attacks. At one point, Axel nearly burns Ven with his magic.
And then things get weird. The clashing of their swords stops. They continue fighting and swinging at each other, but Sora can't hear their blade's clashing. He should, but he doesn't.
What the hell is wrong with him? He shakes his head, but that just makes him dizzy. Panicking, Sora wonders if he's going to pass out again. He turns to Kairi, who looks back at him and says something.
He can barely hear her. Like he's under water.
He opens his mouth to tell her that something's wrong but nothing's coming out. Like there's a frog stuck in his throat. Next thing he knows, his vision is swimming and black is creeping in around the edges. He reaches for his friend but he feels the floor drop out from underneath him.
"Sora?" Kairi asks, worried when her friend doesn't respond to her question.
Sora had always been spacey, but that's with his thoughts elsewhere. Here, Sora is staring right at her with a scared expression but he won't talk. He opens his mouth but a groaning sound is all that escapes. His pupils are dilated and his face looks pale.
"Sora?!" the fighting stops in the field as Leon rushes over.
Sora reaches out for her and then drops like a sack of bricks.
Kairi catches him and eases him down to the floor as Leon reaches them. Cloud races back to the castle as Ven and Lea rush over to Sora, their fight forgotten.
Kairi starts freaking out as Leon rolls Sora over and Sora looks dead.
"Damnit, why does this keep happening?" Leon curses and picks Sora up.
Kairi wonders the same thing as Leon turns and makes for the castle as well.
Before she can get far, Leon calls out, "Someone grab my sword," over his shoulder. Lea and Ven turn for it, but Kairi, who was already next to it, grabs it and races after Leon without a second thought.
They get to the castle and Leon places Sora on the couch just as Cloud is walking in with Aerith. The brunet quickly shuffles over and kneels by Sora.
Kairi tightens her grip on Leon's sword in worry as Aerith looks Sora over.
"Just like the other times." Aerith stands, "But I'm worried. These fainting spells are inconsistent. And there seems to be no set cause."
"Actually," Leon interrupts, "I might have an idea on that."
Kairi looks to the older brunet with curiosity, "What is it?"
Leon turns to her to reply but stops short and stares for a bit. When he doesn't say anything for a minute Kairi shuffles, feeling a bit awkward.
"What?"
Leon snaps out of it and reaches over, taking his sword out of Kairi's hands.
"It's just a theory for now." He turns and sets his sword down on the table.
Kairi's a bit shocked at the loud thump it makes when it meets the table. It hadn't felt that heavy.
"Well…share with the class." Lea intones as he walks up to Leon.
"I'd like to test it first. No point in putting ideas that aren't true in your heads."
"You could try and work out your idea's with the wiz kid in the computer room." Cloud suggests and Kairi thinks he must be talking about one of the Organization members turned human.
"Perhaps," Leon walks off, ending the discussion.
Riku sighs as they finally reach the area where the Heartless were swarming. He hadn't been able summon his glider and race over because he'd have had to leave Yuffie behind. Oh what a thought. Yuffie never stops talking and Riku just wants to invest in some sound proof ear muffs or something.
Maybe he should learn the spell Silence.
That'd be nice.
"So like, then Sora told me about this one world where he and Donald and Goofy were transformed into fish people. Sora had the lower half of a Dolphin! Not even a proper mermaid!"
A Heartless pops up and Riku thanks the heavens as he summons his Keyblade in a swirl of light and darkness. He feels a twinge of jealousy as he thinks of Sora and Kairi and how they summon their Keyblades in a flash of light.
Am I the only one who doesn't summon a Keyblade like that? He thinks to himself.
Yuffie springs into action beside him and Riku has to admit she's a very competent fighter. Though nothing like Sora is. Yuffie's style almost reminds Riku of Axel's, but with less hand to hand capabilities and less fire.
But the fight in front of them does nothing to deter Yuffie from talking.
"And then this thing hops up and grabs Aerith! I mean like it was dead! I would have bet my priceless Materia collection – well, maybe not the whole things – okay not even a tiny set – but it was totally dead! I checked!"
Riku really wishes he had something to drown her out. Or maybe a different partner.
But he lives through her prattle throughout the fight and he suffers through it on the way back after their sweep. When they reach the castle, Riku is so thankful that Yuffie latches onto someone Riku doesn't know and drags them away.
They didn't look too scared, so Riku doesn't bother worrying for him.
He doesn't see anyone in the Foyer – where Leon and Cloud had been whooping Lea and Ven before he'd left – and wonders if he's been gone a long time. It had felt like a few hours. But the sun is still high in the sky and Hallow Bastion has twenty four hour days like Destiny Island does, so he can't have been gone that long.
Had they just finished training?
Riku gets a sinking feeling in his gut and quickly makes his way back to the castle, hoping to find Sora. Alive.