Chapter 70: Confusion

"Kairi! Kairi, where are you?" Sora ran all over the beach, looking for his friend. He was currently wearing his attire from his last adventure. He searched all over Destiny Islands before finding his close friend on the dock where the both of them watch the sunset together. Sora stopped as he could sense that something was wrong. He looked at Kairi to see that she was in the normal pink skirt before they left the islands for this adventure. The silence grew between them as the sounds of the sea brushing against the shore and the seagulls flying above them. "Kairi…" Sora began to come towards her when he heard the voice again, only that it was using his voice this time.

Why does everyone think that I'm in love with that worthless princess?

"What the-" Sora could see that Kairi had turned to face him in disbelief. Sora didn't seem to notice that the sun had set and the whole Island was eclipsed by night. "Kairi. It's not-" Sora tried to tell her.

I didn't want to go around the worlds again looking for you… You're a distraction.

"How can you say that?!" Kairi began to cry as she rushed past Sora, nearly pushing him into the water.

"Kairi, wait!" Sora tried to catch up with her.

You're just a damsel in distress. Nothing more.

Kairi turned back around and created a barrier that prevented Sora from catching up to her. Sora tried to destroy the barrier with his keyblade but found that he couldn't summon it and resulted to banging his fists on the invisible wall. As Sora tried to break the barrier, a dark red portal appeared behind the distressed Princess of Heart. Sora tried to warn her but Kairi was quickly grabbed from behind and was quickly put to sleep by the mysterious person. Sora looked up at the person and gasped as he saw that it was Brian.

Brian carried the unconscious Kairi in his arms as the dark red portal appeared again in front of him. Brian looked back to see that as he could see that Sora was full of rage as he tried to destroy the barrier. "You're an real idiot." The Aversion Endless said to him before taking the Princess of Heart through the portal with him. Sora began to run towards the portal when a bright light blocked his view.

His plan is working…your heart is fading…my birth is coming.

"KAIRI!!!"

Sora rose up as he shot his eyes open and woke from his nightmare. Sora began to question what had happened in the room as he looked around the room and saw that the cupboards and the furniture in the room had been completely destroyed and that there was blade and claw slashes scarred into the walls. Where am I? Since when did we come into the ship? Sora groaned as he held his head, Last thing I remember was waiting for Zidane's Endless friend to return with Hikari and then Kairi and Brian were--- Sora pushed that thought away, he didn't need to visit that memory just yet. The best thing to do is to find out where he was at the moment and to try and find Kairi, maybe if he asks her about the training and Ven situation then she just might tell him.

Last thing that he wants to do is accuse her of lying.

Sora pushed himself out of the bed and tried not to step on the broken cowboy light that was shattered across the floor. Sora quickly saw himself in the mirror out of the corner of his eye before freezing his actions and looking at the mirror again to see the change. What the- Sora quickly ran through his lock to feel the white paint that was currently in his hair and winched as he felt the shiner on his eye. What happened to me? He looked at his attire to see that they had been ripped on the sleeves and trousers legs. Okay, this is just getting strange now. I better wash this paint out. Sora flinched again as he checked his black eye once more before leaving his room.

The moment he left his room; he didn't notice that he bumped into Kairi, falling on her in the process. Both of them were in an awkward position as Sora was lying on top of Kairi with their faces being inches from each other. This made Sora blush deeply, "Kairi! I'm sorry. I didn't see you th-"

"Get off!" Kairi said harshly as she pushed Sora off of her and quickly got up.

The force that Kairi pushed him off was strong making Sora rolled into the wall. Sora rolled around to see that Kairi was rushing to her room…where ever her room was. He quickly got up and rushed after Kairi, sensing that she was mad at him for something. As soon as Sora caught up with her, he grabbed her wrist so that she wouldn't escape. "Kairi, what's wrong?" Sora asked, confused about her tone towards him.

"You know what's wrong!" Kairi tried to loosen his grip on her without facing him.

What happened while I was out? "C'mon Kairi." Sora tried to see her face, "I want to help."

"You've helped enough now let me go!" Kairi begged him as she snatched her hand out of Sora's and continued to her room.

"Kairi! Kairi wait!" Sora continued to chase her again and managed to place his foot in the doorway just as Kairi was about to close it. Sora could now see that Kairi's eyes were red and swollen as her eyes looked complete dry as well as having dry tear stains down her cheek. "Kairi, what's happened? Tell me." Sora asked softly.

"Why should I? This just proves even more that you don't care because you can't be bothered to remember it." Kairi shot at him.

What? "Kairi, you're one of my best friends. Of course I care about you." Sora said.

"Like you would care for a 'worthless damsel in distress'." Kairi hiccupped with anger.

"Worthless?" Sora had a confused expression on his face, "What are you talking about? Who said that you were worthless?" He didn't understand why she yelled with frustration, all he knew is that it was hurting him that Kairi didn't trust him to help her for some reason. Kairi pushed Sora back, removing his foot from the door. "Kair-!" Sora rushed back at the door only to have Kairi slam the door right in his face. Sora groaned as he held his nose with pain before turning back to the door and began to knock on it. "Kairi. Kairi! Open the door. Please!"

"There's no use trying." Sora turned around to see Zidane in the doorway, leading against the frame of the medical room door. "You really hurt her feelings the other day." Zidane informed the Keyblade Master while holding his crutch to balance himself.

"The other day? How long have we been on this ship?" Sora asked.

"Four. Maybe five days. I expected that you wouldn't know how long we've been here." Zidane said to him before walking closer to him, using his crutch as an aid. "For a Keyblade Wielder, you act like a Heartless." Sora looked at Zidane with a shocked expression as he watched the monkey warrior return to the medical room. Sora was more confused and hurt than ever, Kairi was mad at him and Zidane thinks that he's a Heartless. Roxas, can you hear me? Sora asked desperately. Please! I need your help. Sora sighed as he managed to get nothing again.

"OW! THAT HURT!!"

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY STILL!"

"HOW CAN I STAY STILL WHEN IT HURTS!"

"WELL, IT WOULDN'T HURT IF YOU STAYED STILL!!"

The sound of Brian's voice made Sora think about the nightmare that he had before waking up from his sleep. The thought of Brian taking Kairi away made him angry with him. Sora then started to think of the comments that were said in the dream; one of them was 'worthless princess'. Sora started to think that the voice has been on to something, that Brian was quoting comments to Kairi that he had never said so that Kairi would hate him and go to Brian thus letting her guard down to get captured. That means that Sora would break her promise and the dream with the Colonel will become true. Brian! Sora turned away from Kairi's door, summoned Kingdom Key and started to head towards the bridge.

BOWBOWBOW

Brian had been left in the bridge unconscious for mere hours before Hikari had come out to question Kairi's state. Brian had soon woken up; cursing that Sora shouldn't be so heartless to Kairi and claiming that Sora looked like someone that he knew. He had explained to Hikari why Kairi was so upset, as much as he could remember at least; Hikari was not impressed one bit. Brian flinched and held his eyes shut tightly as Hikari dabbed an ice cold cloth on the scar that Sora had given him. Hikari was currently trying to clean the cut which she could blankly see that it would be permanent but was starting to get frustrating with Brian moving around all of the time. Brian soon opened his eyes as his cut on his chin stopped stringing. "There. All done." Hikari smiled at him before quickly placing the first aid kit in the ranch-like kitchen before coming back to him, "I was surprised to hear that you didn't even try to fight him." Hikari sat on the leather sofa while Brian continued to sit on the wooden table.

"I wanted to see him on the floor after what he said about Kairi. He didn't even say sorry to her." Brian answered honestly.

"Why didn't you then, he kind of deserves it." Hikari wanted to know.

"Because…he…he reminded me of my father at that moment of time." Brian answered. Before Hikari could question it, Brian's eyes turned narrow as he summoned his staff and jumped off the table. Brian's claw slightly glowed as he could tell that whoever was coming down the hallway was full of anger or hate. Brian's glare remained on the doorway where Sora appeared with his Keyblade in hand. "Get out of here, Heartless Hero. I don't want to talk to you." Brian said harshly to him.

"Brian, don't start something." Hikari whispered to him. "Keep your temper to a minimum." Brian growled at this as he continued to glare at Sora.

"What did you say to Kairi?" Sora demanded.

Brian and Hikari blinked at the question in hand, "Excuse me?!" Brian gritted his teeth together as his anger grew.

"Tell me what you said to Kairi!" Sora raged.

"What I said?!" Brian held on to his staff tighter, "You're the one that said that she could crawl under a rock."

"What are you talking about?" Sora glared at him.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Brian shouted as he started to approach Sora, "Don't act naïve Sora because I AM not in the mood to mess with your idiotic mind."

"All I want to know is why Kairi is upset wit-" Sora gagged as the unexpected attack from Brian caught him off guard.

Brian quickly kneed Sora in the gut before battling him away with his staff and kicking him around the face. Sora collapsed on the floor, dropping his Keyblade in process. Sora quickly summoned it back to his hand and blocked Brian's attack from his staff. Sora pushed Brian backwards a bit and swiped at his feet, making Brian fall on the floor. Sora took this time to retreat back towards the bedrooms before seeing another room. Sora took his chances and ran into the room.

Sora turned to the door and sealed it with his Keyblade, so that Brian couldn't get in. He didn't know what was going on. That's the maddest that Sora had seen the flirting Endless, maybe he did care about Kairi. What doesn't make sense is why everyone was blaming him; he was unconscious ever since African Depths and that one time he came back before falling unconscious again. Sora turned from the door to see that he was an empty black room with a few blue orbs and lines over the walls.

"You're really something, Sora." Sora turned around to see Brian in a glass container that was fixed into the wall. Seeing this, Sora released that he had just locked himself into a battle simulator. "You hurt me, you hurt Hikari and now you hurt Kairi. I thought you were our friend but I was wrong."

"I would never hurt my friends, even if you are a pain in the backside." Sora tried to get Brian to believe him.

"Why should I believe that when I have this scar..." Brian pointed to the cut of his chin, "as prove that you're wrong."

I did that? When did I do that? "How can I have done that? I was unconscious for the entire time." Sora shouted to him.

"How do you know that something else isn't taking control?" Brian pointed out. Sora's eyes widened at this as he remembered about the voice that he heard and the bright light before losing consciousness. "Me, Hikari and Kairi want to help find out what's wrong but at this every moment..." Brian began typing a code in that changed the surroundings that Sora was standing in. "I wish you were ten feet under where all keybladers should remain." Brian left the room, leaving Sora on the Great Maw with 10'000 Heartless surrounding him.

BOWBOWBOW

Brian yelled with frustration as he began to head back into the bridge. At this point, he couldn't care less if Sora was needed to defeat the Order so long as he was out of his hair. His anger grew when he noticed that his heart seemed to disagree on his opinion, causing his chest to hurt. When he reached the bridge, he threw his staff in a random direction and began to destroy the bridge with just his glowing red claw. Hikari, who had been sitting comfortably during these events, quickly dodged the staff that was aimed at her direction and saw that it remained in the wall. Hikari dropped the cowboy magazine that she had found lying around and rushed over to Brian. "Flame! What are you doing? Stop destroying the place." Brian turned to look at her and Hikari was surprised to see that his eyes had turned violet-blue, "Brian—"

"I'm sick of him, Hikari. He's no hero in my eyes." Brian growled and he held his fists tightly, his knuckles on his left hand turning white. "He should die for all I care."

"Do you hear yourself? You're no better then him." Hikari scowled at him.

Brian turned around to glare at Hikari deadly, "I wasn't the one who wanted to go on a suicidal run by going against an Endless while in their Outburst mode." Brian growled. "I also wasn't the one who left your brother to die."

"If this is your way of making you sound like a saint then you are doing a bad job of it." Hikari glared back at him, "This never would have happened if you did not flirt with Kairi."

"What?!" Brian gasped. "You're blaming me for what he said to me and Kairi? Some friend you are." Brian growled at her as he turned his back towards her.

"Well, at least I remember what it was like to be with you before you were in the Recon accident." Hikari shouted back before storming off to her room. Brian's anger froze to a stop as the comment that was said had pulled his heartstrings.

BOWBOWBOW

Sora feel to his knees after defeating the last heartless in his sights, breathing heavily from the battle that he had to endure. He was still on his knees when the room returned to its original form, sweating from the overdose of battle. He panted as he looked back at the view window to see Zidane once more, glaring at him. "You really have no clue, do you?" He asked him through the mic.

Sora pushed himself up, legs wobbling from the strain of battle, still panting and trying to keep balance. "I just…want to know…why K-Kairi…is mad." Sora's breathe drifted off as he collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. Zidane sighed at the site, he shouldn't need to tell Sora what had happened, he should know about it. He opened the window screen, knowing that he wouldn't be able to enter through the door since Sora locked it.

Zidane slowly approached Sora, hearing his heavy breathing. "It's best if you just rest instead of getting everyone mad." He said calmly as he picked Sora up and held him up while placing his arm around Sora's back while placing Sora's arm around Zidane's neck. Zidane's leg had recovered a bit since he knew that there would be more tension on the ship and quickly drank some potions to keep his energy up. "The best time to ask questions is not now." Zidane helped Sora raise Kingdom Key so that Sora could unlock the door. After a beam of light and a click, the door opened and Zidane began to lead Sora out of the room. Sora muttered something under his breath, loud enough for Zidane to here. "Hmm, I'm sure going to the next world will help you find the answers." Zidane answered. Sora muttered some more questions as they reached Sora's room. "There's just lots of tension that is going around since yesterday. Let her cool off."

"YEE-HA!!! Now arriving at destination. Welcome to Mousedom." The gummi's computer announced.

"You better go wash up before you depart for this world." Zidane opened his bedroom door for him before letting him go. "You'll find your answers down there." Sora nodded weakly as he wobbled into his room to get some rest. Zidane leaned again the wall for support, feeling some of the potion's effects wearing off, when he heard an angry yell come from the bridge.

BOWBOWBOW

"There has to be something on this ship." Brian was searching through Major Snake's storages, looking for something that could aid them. It was the only thing that would set his mind off what Hikari had said to him, his anger towards Sora and his worries for Kairi. Jiminy had come out of his place a while ago, trying to reason with Brian. The Aversion Endless ignored his conscience as he continued to search through the Order member's processions. After throwing a number of cowboy theme items out of cupboard that he was currently searching in, he stopped as his blue eyes noticed something familiar. He picked up a dusted book that was in the deep end of the cupboard and brushed off the dust that was on the book to see the title, Stories of Balance, engraved on the front cover. "What the..? A story book?" Wait! Abroc mentioned me reading stories back in the Order and that flashback kind of confirms it. What secrets lie in this book? He began to open the book…

"YEE-HA!!! Now arriving at destination. Welcome to Mousedom." The gummi's computer announced. Brian jumped from the sudden announcement, making him drop the book through one of the vents that were installed in the floor.

"AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" Brian's anger soon returned as he felt as if the book was important. He summon his staff once more and began to destroy the cowboy theme items that he had thrown out of the cupboard from before...if his first strike wasn't parried by the monkey theft.

"Will you calm down?!" Zidane disposed of his daggers and held to the wall for support, carrying Sora back to his room had done worse strain to his leg then he thought. Brian grunted with rage as he disposed of his staff and punched the wall with his glowing claw. "The ladies wouldn't like it if you carried on spilling your rage."

"Would they rather have me bottle myself up so that it would grow and I end up killing our only hope of saving the worlds?" Brian growled.

"While you're in Mousedom, yeah." Zidane informed him.

"What do you mean...?" The logic quickly went through Brian's mind. "No! No way! I rather go on my own." Brian responded hastily.

"You know that you need the Keyblade Master to come with you. You said it yourself; the world is in a level three corruption." Zidane crossed his arms and looked at him seriously. "You need a keyblader."

"Yeah. One that isn't a heartless jerk." Brian pause for a bit, noticing that phase seemed familiar to him as well. He quickly shook his head before looking back at Zidane. "Why can't you come?"

"I have a broken leg." Zidane reminded him.

"You've managed to block my attack." Brian pointed out.

"That's because I had to drink an elixir to get into this room. I won't be any help if I'm drinking all of our potions." Zidane explained. "You already know that the girls won't go with Kairi being angry at Sora and Hikari being-"

"Just don't remind me." Brian stopped him. "No matter what you say, I will not go with the Heartless bigfoot." Brian turned his back towards Zidane and began to head towards the cockpit where he had left his brown bag.

"Brian!" Zidane tried to get his attention.

"I'm not going with him and that's final!!" Brian shouted back before finishing the convertation completely by slamming the door shut.

Kingdommad