Riku looked down at his best friend's lifeless body with a frown. When they had finally made it to the Tower, Dr. Banner already began to work on Kairi (asking for some assistance with Tony) and they were all waiting for the news. Yen Sid, Mickey, and Riku himself were all in the wizard's study with Sora, who was sitting on the ground and leaning his back against the wall. The wizard had already predicted that there was nothing they could really do for Sora however.
"Are you sure we can't do anything?" Mickey asked his former master.
Yen Sid began to run his fingers along his grey beard. "I am afraid it looks that way, Xehanort's lingering will removed Sora's will from his body, there is nothing we can do."
"Is there any way we can get his will back into his body?" Riku asked.
Yen Sid was wearing a pensive face. "As you know, several years ago, Terra's will was able to enter his body after you destroyed his lingering will, but I am afraid that Xehanort has planned far ahead of that plan."
"What do you mean?" Riku continued to ask.
"Xehanort devastated Sora when he believed Kairi was dead, making his will weaker, and as you already know, only those with strong wills can create lingering wills."
"But isn't there still a chance? I mean come on; we won't know if he has a lingering will until we go looking for one!" Riku protested.
"Gosh, I don't know if that is such a good idea…" Mickey trailed off.
"I don't understand how it isn't!" Riku protested again.
"Riku, think about it; Terra's lingering will attacked Aqua, his girlfriend. Who knows what Sora's lingering will could do, especially after that fight you two had." Mickey stated his point.
Yen Sid nodded in agreement. "There is so little that we know about lingering wills: the biggest question being how some, like Xehanort and his lackeys, can control themselves unlike others, like Terra, who couldn't until he found his way into the light again." He sighed, "It is not smart to challenge a lingering will, especially since they are normally twice as strong as their alter ego."
"We can't even go and look for him with help? We might be able to handle Sora's will if all of us go try to find him!"
Yen Sid shook his head. "We can't risk it unfortunately, we don't even know if Sora created a lingering will to begin with."
Riku only sighed at the comment before the door opened and a crowd came running in, Xion leading them. "I brought them just like you asked sir," Xion spoke, crossing her arms. Behind her, who were currently all pouring into the room, was Terra, Aqua, Ven, Roxas, Lea and Namine.
Namine, who looked teary eyed at the moment, surprised Riku by hugging him tightly. "Riku, I am so sorry…"
Reluctantly, Riku hugged the former nobody back, somehow surprised by her gratitude. "How's Kairi?" Ven asked.
"Dr. Banner is currently working on her with the assistance of Mr. Stark, whom I am sure Xion told you all about." Yen Sid replied while everyone nodded. Everyone had already met Dr. Banner when he came to the Disney Castle to help Sora, but Stark was unfamiliar to them.
Most of the group currently had their eyes on the como-state-looking Sora about now. "So Xehanort ripped his own will out of him?" Lea asked.
Riku nodded at this, but before he could explain, Aqua spoke up. "Riku, we are so sorry! If we didn't go check on our home worlds, he could be fine right now!"
Riku moved his eyes as the others all nodded. "Hey, it's not your fault, it's not anyone's fault."
Except maybe me…
Before anyone else could say anything, the door opened again, this time Tony and another person were the ones that entered: Dr. Bruce Banner.
As soon as they saw the doctor, the room went into a frenzy. "How is she?" Riku's question was the loudest.
Bruce sighed before saying, "It was a difficult task, but she'll be fine, we healed most of her injuries and now all she needs right now is rest."
A huge sigh of relief was heard in the room as Tony stuffed his hands in his pockets. "It was pretty bad though," he said, "I don't even want to think about what those lunatics did to her."
"How bad was the damage?" Roxas asked.
Bruce was the one that responded. "She had many cuts and bruises, a severely mangled wrist, a stab wound in her chest, gashes in the head, burns on the souls of her feet, broken bones, and she had a severely high temperature, but we believe that is just a result of getting boiled and burned."
Boiled and burned. Riku was beginning to wonder how Kairi was even still alive.
Bruce continued. "She also had a hard time breathing when we first got her, but we kept it steady. She also has what appears to be a brand on the back of her neck, and I am afraid that will not heal completely ever, it will leave a scar."
Riku couldn't even imagine that kind of torture.
"What should we do Master Yen Sid?" Terra asked.
Yen Sid began to think for several moments before he spoke up. "The situation is worse than we thought," he said, "If Xehanort did that to Kairi, he could very well do so to the other princesses, he could even have them at his castle now."
"So are you saying that he could want to kill them all again and killing Kairi failed?" Xion asked as the wizard nodded.
"I know most of you just got here, but I am afraid the safest thing to do is to send you all out to warn the other princesses, if they are still at their home worlds."
"But what about Xehanort? He is wants Sora's body as his own, he is going to stop at nothing to get it." Mickey asked. "If you send all of us off to the princesses' worlds, he will waste no time trying to get to his body when no one is protecting him."
"I am not going to send you all," Yen Sid said, "Riku, Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner should be enough here."
"What makes you so sure?" Lea asked. Yen Sid only stared into his eyes before glancing over at Bruce, trying not to catch his attention. "Oh, gotcha."
"So I will be sending the rest of you to go warn the other princesses' of Xehanort's threat…" Yen Sid continued to tell the others where they would go but Riku honestly did not pay attention and only looked at his fallen friend on the floor."
…
Riku stayed in that room even after everyone left.
He had to admit to himself, it was weird not having anyone in this room, especially Yen Sid since he basically lived in this room, but he was absent. It had to have been past midnight by now, so Riku was not surprised. He didn't really pay attention though, he in a chair to look at Sora, still sitting on the ground against the wall with his eyes slightly open.
"Couldn't sleep?" He heard behind him that made him gasp. Riku then turned around, seeing Kairi leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed. Almost on instinct, Riku blotted up, rushing over to her.
"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in bed." Riku tried to help the princess but she held a hand up, reassuring Riku that she was fine.
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you," she said, "I am fine, Dr. Banner and Tony are really nice, they healed me well."
Kairi then glanced over to Sora and her eyes saddened. "So that's what Xehanort did to him." She said as she began to walk towards him, Riku making sure she didn't fall along the way. "I should have gotten there sooner."
"It's not your fault, you were nearly dying, Kairi, you couldn't do anything." Riku replied.
"Nearly? Riku, I was dying, I know that now more than ever." She said.
Riku didn't want to ask, but he found himself asking anyway. "They didn't really— you know—Torture you as bad as Dr. Banner said, did they?"
Kairi laughed. "I wish they didn't," Riku saw tears forming in her eyes, "It was worse than torture, it was worse than neglect, worse than anything you could ever imagine."
"So everything he said was true…"
Kairi nodded. "I suppose the bruises and cuts I shouldn't complain about, but the other methods they used? They boiled me alive until let myself almost drown, cut my hair that I have been growing out for forever, beat me until I begged for mercy, stabbed me, and not even to mention the branding—"
"Wait, they actually branded you?" Riku asked as Kairi replied with a nod, "Out of all the things I wished didn't happen, that was at the top of the list."
Kairi sighed, "That was the worst pain I think I have ever felt," the princess then used her hand to push back her hair (which wasn't much of an issue anymore anyway) to reveal the lingering will symbol on the back of her neck. "But what I hate about it the most is that every time I look at it, I get these flashbacks, I suddenly travel back to the torture room with Arlene bending over me, laughing. And she tortures me over and over and over and no matter how hard I try I can't make it stop." She laughed, "I promised myself I would not let them break me, and for the most part they didn't, but they broke a part of me when they branded me. This scar can never go away, and so now I will be haunted for the rest of my life."
Kairi didn't even realize she was crying until Riku pulled her in close. Bruce was right, as soon as he touched Kairi, he felt hot, which made him realize just how high her temperature was. "It's alright, you're safe now; I promise you, I am not going to let them touch you again."
Kairi wiped the tears away as she rubbed her hand against the back of her neck. "I just wish they didn't touch him, he is really what Xehanort wants."
"Did Xehanort tell you what his plan was?" Riku asked.
Kairi nodded. "When I first woke up, Yen Sid asked me if he revealed any plan, but it is far worse than I thought." She sighed, "He wants to take Sora's body so he can open the Realm to Darkness long enough so he can release this god, Chaos, so they can destroy the worlds together."
Riku gasped. "So he didn't want the rest of the princesses?" He asked.
She shrugged. "I am not sure, I would figure he would do something like that, but he never really said." Kairi looked over to Sora, "And honestly, I don't care what his plan is, we are going to stop him and get Sora's will back."
"It would help if Yen Sid would let us at least see if he has a lingering will," Riku spoke.
Kairi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out." She paused. "I think I am going to go get some rest, are you coming?"
Riku shook his head. "I think I'll stay here a little longer."
"Alright, goodnight." Kairi then left the room.
But as soon as she left, Riku shot up. He had been planning something ever since Yen Sid told him he couldn't go look for Sora's lingering will.
Heading over to the window, Riku opened it and jumped out, summoning his keyblade rider and armor before he hit the ground and sped off in the sky. He had to make it up to Sora, since the reason he lost his will was his fault anyway, and the only way to do that is to find his lingering will (if he had one) and he knew just were to look.
The Keyblade Graveyard.
UG, I could have gotten this out SO much earlier if Fanfiction would have let me in like days ago. Anyone else have a similar problem?
So Square Enix announced their E3 line up! And guess whose not going to make an appearance? You guessed it: Final Fantasy XIII Versus! (FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!)
At least they released a new trailer for KH 1.5 HD Remix!
So the next chapter should be very familiar to most of you(hint hint)Hope you guys like it as much as I do!
So please R&R and look out for the next chapter!
