Chapter 78: Sin
"BRIAN! WE LOVE YOU!"
The gummi ship slowly made its way into Little Devon's gummi port where more than a dozen girls stood screaming their lungs to overload. Some of the girls had to run for their lives as it seemed that whoever was driving the gummi didn't care that they were standing there. The landing gear of the gummi was released and the western gummi landed safety in the port, making the girls scream more with excitement then before. In the gummi ship, Hikari was stepping out of the pilot seat while Brian was looking out the front view window at the group of fan girls with fear and shock. Hikari turned to her friend and approached him to see the crowd. "Damn! I thought I ran them over." She groaned with disappointment before moving away from the window.
"When Scott mentioned the fangirls, he wasn't kidding." Brian pulled himself away from his pending doom that awaited him outside his haven before looking at Hikari, "I still cannot believe that you managed to land the ship without us dying. I thought it was going to be another incident like your last cooking attempt." He commented in disbelief.
"I wasn't going to let you drive after just suddenly fainting." Hikari said to him, "It also adds to the scoreboard." To prove her point, she managed to pull a flashing scoreboard out of nowhere, showing the number of schemes and pranks that the two friends do to each other.
Hikari: 9 Brian: 4
"Oh yeah!" Brian smiled at this, "I forgot about that." He looked at the board in disbelief, "Last time I checked, it was three-two to you."
"Well, you had gotten two points for those cocky remarks about me getting us captured and for actually getting along with Sora." She explained to him.
"What about your points?" He questioned.
"My epicness over you doesn't need to be explained." Hikari tilted her head away, trying to act like a posh heiress, Brian snorted as he held his laughter. Hikari suddenly dropped the act, clicked her fingers to make the scoreboard disappear and looked at Brian with a hard look, "Remember Brian, your brothers are expecting you to report in. The last thing that we want to hear was that you had ditched the meeting to flirt with the fangirls."
"Yeah, you're right." Brian nodded as he began to walk down the stairs, leading to the bridge with Hikari listening closely. "We need some sort of plan to- What are you doing?" The minute Brian and Hikari had made it downstairs, Hikari had rushed over to Brian and grabbed his arm to place two fingers at the end of his wrist.
"Checking your pulse." She replied.
"Why?" Brian pulled his arm back from Hikari's grasp, waiting for her to explain her unusual actions.
"You NEVER turn down girls. NEVER!" Hikari pointed out to him. "What has happened that has..." Realisation struck the tomboy as she looked at Brian with concern. "You haven't been flirting."
"Yeah. And?" Brian didn't get was his friend was hinting, "Weren't you the one that excuse me for Sora and Kairi fighting because I was flirting?"
"No. You don't see to get what I'm saying." Hikari halted him at his confusion, "You don't flirt with me because you know that I would kill you but when you stop flirting all together, you normally have a crush."
"Oh, like you and nicknames then." Brian smirked at this, receiving a deathly glare in return from the girl.
"You have a crush on Kairi. It's obvious that you do." She said bluntly as she crossed her arms.
"What?" Brian jumped with shock and looked at her with a serious expression, "She's just a close friend, like you." He defended himself.
" Proof! You're defending yourself." Hikari pointed out and laughed.
"I heard you mutter Riku's name while you was asleep in the cell, you want to explain that." Brian counter attacked as he smirked at the halt of her laughter and the icy glare that he was receiving.
"This conversation is over." She replied darkly before looking out of the porthole to see the crowd of girls once more. "There has to be something that we can do." She wondered.
At that moment, Zidane smiled brightly as he walked into the bridge, "My leg has finally healed." He cheered, "Now I can get back in touch with the ladies." Brian and Hikari looked at each other and smirked as the same idea popped into their heads.
BOWBOWBOW
"THERE HE IS!" One of the girls pointed to the back of the gummi where a teen with red spiky hair was running for their life. All of the girls screamed in joy as they began to trail the poor soul that was going to get ripped apart.
Moments later, the gummi ship's door opened to reveal Kairi as she jumped off the gummi before waiting for the others, "So tell me again how sending Zidane to his doom a good thing?" Kairi questioned after seeing the disguised Zidane flee for his life.
Brian shrugged as he jumped down next to Kairi, "He said that he wanted to get back in touch with the ladies." He answered innocently, "Its going to be the best day ever in his eyes." Hikari jumped off next and then Sora jumped off, closing the door behind him.
"If you say so." The Princess of Heart turned away from the group, looking at the town that they had first met Brian, Hikari and Max. "It feels like so long since we started this adventure together." She said.
"Yeah..." Sora said in a distant tone, "It does."
The four began to head out of the port that would hopefully lead to the town square, hoping to at least bump into one of their comrades there before Brian left for his meeting. On their way, the group were all in deep thought, feeling the uncomfortable vibe coming between Sora and Kairi. Brian looked behind him to see that Sora was trailing behind them all, having his hood over his head, while Kairi still looked as upset as the day that Sora went into stage three into the virus. As Kairi looked his way, he couldn't help but try to cheer her up or at least make her smile, so he slowed down to walk next to her and began to tell her some jokes, trying to cheer her up.
"Guys!" The four of them halted to see that Riku was running towards them, making Brian and Kairi chuckle at Hikari obvious signs of checking her appearance, as shocking as it was to see while Sora looked up at Brian and Kairi, wishing to be like that with Kairi again. As soon as Riku managed to get to them, it didn't take him long to notice something was wrong. "Is everything alright?" He asked with concern.
"Let's just say that African Depths was interesting." Brian grinned before yawning. "I'm yawning. Seems like the right time to head to that meeting." Brian quickly patted Kairi on her shoulder as a form of comfort before heading down the alleyway, leading him to the Devon house.
"So Silver, what happened on your end?" Hikari asked, receiving an annoyed look from Riku.
"Well, I ended up fighting Link from the Order and ended up in a coma for a week, rescued some prisoners, went to Radiant Garden, dealt with Brian's chocobo on my hair, ran into Nikolai, managed to bump into one of the old Keyblade wielders, found out who the leader of the Order is and chilled in Little Devon for the last couple of days." Riku answered casually.
"WHAT?" Hikari, Sora and Kairi gasped.
"Which wielder?" Sora and Kairi asked him. The two looked at each other to see that they had said the same thing. While Sora looked sadly at her, Kairi huffed as she turned back to face Riku once more.
The older teen seemed to notice the strange behaviour between his two best friends and not the lovey dovey kind of behaviour that they would normally do. "Are you two fighting?" Riku questioned, only to receive a 'yes' from Kairi and a 'no' from Sora. "Okay, why are you fighting?"
"I think it's best to leave all of the important information for when we all get together." Hikari suggested before looking at Riku once more, "So what happened with Nikolai?" She asked.
"Nothing really." The older teen thought about his encounter with the Sorrow Endless, "He acted as if he knew more but he told me something that he treated as a sin. I don't know why though."
"What did he say?" Sora asked, his voice seemed duller than his usual self.
"He showed me that the Order have a new member, partiality this Endless can control the winds and have the ability to shock the living daylight out of people." Riku replied. Hikari froze as her face started to go pale. Riku carried as he didn't notice her state, "While he was a Neutral, he managed to trick some travellers as he lead them to the base so that Major Snake could catch them. Even Major Snake didn't see it coming."
"Riku stop!" Kairi told him, giving him a stern look.
"Huh? Why?" Riku questioned Kairi before noticing Hikari's state, "Hikari?"
"What was the Endless' name?" She asked quietly.
"Storm."
"T-There's someplace I need to go." She said emotionlessly as she walked away from the group, her memories and thoughts shrouding her.
The silver head watched her disappear from his and his friends' view, wondering why she had taken the news of the new member hard. Before he could question Hikari's leave, he flinched from the slap that Kairi gave him around his arm, "Riku! How could you say that?" she glared angrily at him.
"What did I do?" Riku asked her, having no clue what why she had acted the way she did.
"The 'travellers' that Storm had tricked was us." Sora informed him, "Storm also happens to be Hikari's brother."
Riku's eyes widened at this, "What?" he gasped. Okay, so that was what Nikolai meant by how it would affect others more than me. He looked up to see that Kairi was walking away from the two, "Kairi?"
"I'm going to see if she is alright." She replied and continued to walk when Riku rushed over to her and halted her.
"This is my fault. I didn't think of what I was saying." Riku told her before looking at the direction in where Hikari went. "I should be the one to fix this." The Wielder of Dawn looked back at his friends, giving them the look that he will come back to what has been troubling the two of them before heading to find Hikari.
BOWBOWBOW
Nikolai, Abroc and Devil remained in their seats as Major Snake went over the orders that the Dark Master had given out. Ever since that meeting with the Dark Master, Devil had decided to let fate play its cards before stepping in at the right time. But until then, the Colonel had told his fellow members that were involved with his scheme to take over to just follow the Dark Master's orders. "Now that we have that out of the way." Snake said to them, "I'm sticking our new member with you, Colonel."
"I swear Snake, one day you will on the floor dead with your stupid cowboy hat in the flames of darkness." The Colonel glared at him.
"Where are Skullo and Link?" Nikolai asked, noticing the lack of headaches and death threats in the room.
"They've been placed in round-up duty." Snake answered. Since the other members had known him for so long, they knew he meant that Skullo and Link were getting new members. "I better be off now. The Dark Master asked for my assistance." The Persistence Endless smirked at the others before changing into his armour and portal himself out, leaving behind another member that told behind him.
Abroc looked at the new member strangely, "You look familiar." He continued to look at the boy strangely.
Nikolai only glared at the newcomer, he knew what he had done to get in the Order and he only found it sickening, the main reason why he had told Riku about him in the first place. He knew that Hikari and the others had the right to know, even if it hurt them. Since Mako was the last Surprise Endless that they had, he decided to refer Storm as the Shock Endless since he managed to shock Snake as well with his scheme. Now, he feared for his old friend as the Order could have possible found information about Sora's virus.
Storm seemed to notice his glare and walked over to him as Devil and Abroc turned to a new portal, "You're Nikolai, right?" he asked.
"Yeah." He continued to glare that Storm, trying to give him the message to get away from him. "And you're Storm."
"Can I ask you something?" He asked suddenly.
"No." Nikolai replied darkly.
"Why not?"
Nikolai stood up and stared him in the face, "I don't talk to those who betray their own flesh and blood just to gain in life." He said with pure hatred, "Especially their sister!"
"Now now Nicky, you don't want to temp the winds."
Nikolai and Storm turned to face Lizza as she approached Storm and brought him close to her. Storm flinched from the hug and pulled out of it as far as he could, glaring at Lizza. "Awww, don't tell me the winds are shy." She smiled seductively.
"Get away from me, you witch." Storm pulled her way, surprising Nikolai in his actions.
Lizza seemed to take his insult to heart as she summoned her daggers, "Did you just call me the W word?" She glared at him. Devil and Abroc noticed her actions and quickly grabbed her arms to prevent any attacks. Abroc slowly dragged her away, letting the Colonel talk to her in private.
Nikolai looked at Storm with shock, never seeing anyone insult Lizza or call her a witch. "What did you want to ask me?" He asked him
"I wanted to know if there was any way to help Hikari." Storm said to him honestly, "But since you think that I don't care about my sister then I don't want to bother wasting your time." He walked away from the Sorrow Endless to see what the others were talking.
Nikolai knew one thing; he was an expert of expressing his chosen emotion.
BOWBOWBOW
The sky slowly began to cover as grey clouds covered the sun, leaving Little Devon in a dull and depressing atmosphere. Rain drops began to fall and spatter on the tombstones and trees off the outskirts of the town. A girl slowly watched in the trails of the stone trail, passing a number of Little Devon marked tombstones; she walked right to the end of the trail and turned to her left to face another identical tombstone to the others. All of the tombstones were like in the style of tombstones from the World Wars; all of the stones were the same apart from the description that was written on them. The girl kneeled down at the weed covered tombstone, she hasn't been here for a while, and she knew the heart couldn't take the pulls of her strings. She inhaled deeply before beginning to rip off the vines and dirt on the tomb. There was one thing about not coming for a while; she was able to find the right tombstone right away since everyone else cleaned their fallen friend or families' stone. As she cleared the stone, she looked at the description.
Sakuzy Hoshino
Beloved Brother
1990-2007
"Get away from that grave!" The girl eyes widened as she saw a tomboy heading her way, weapon in hand. The girl decided to ran for it before she got killed on the spot. When she ran, Hikari glared at the fleeing girl, "Damn woman! I never liked her."
She looked away from the girl and down at the stone as the rain began to fall harder. She didn't know what to think anymore, she didn't know whether to be happy for her brother's survival or to feel pure hatred towards him for using them for his own gain. She kneeled down at his tombstone and leaned her head on the stone, digging her Eternal Blade in front of the tombstone. "Why?" she asked as if she was talking to her brother, "Why join them?" Tears began to fall once more as it joined the raindrops.
"Hikari?"
Hikari shot her head behind her to see that Riku stood behind her, looking at her in an apologising expression. She puffed up her cheeks in embarrassment before facing away from him to wipe her tears away. "What are you doing here?" She snapped, not feeling in the mood to talk to anyone.
"I came to say sorry." Riku started to approach her as she looked back at the tombstone, "If I would have known then-"
"This isn't your fault, Silver." Hikari replied, "And I'm glad that you had said it, at least a part of me is glad that he's alive."
"A part of you?" Riku kneeled down next to her and read the tombstone, "Sakuzy huh? Sounds like a good person."
"If he was the person I thought he was, why would he trick us and join the Order?" Hikari questioned him, desperate for an answer.
"I don't know." Riku answered honestly, making Hikari sigh. "I do know this." Riku faced Hikari and brought his hand to her chin to make her look at him. He may be signing for his deathbed by doing this but he needed to see what her eyes were saying. "He may be an Endless but he's still your brother and he will show you that he's still himself and fight this off."
"Yeah right." Hikari huffed as she moved Riku's hand away from her and raise up to face him, "This isn't like the darkness, Silver. Being an Endless means being stuck in the void of the misbalance, only existing when one realm is stronger than the other." Hikari looked back down at the tombstone, "I don't think I can handle losing him for the third time."
"We still have a chance to save him." Riku said to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her. "If we get all of the world's items and then we can save your brother, we can save Nikolai, we can even help Sora, and we can help everyone that has suffered." He told her, "All you have to do is believe."
"In what?" Hikari turned around to face him, not realising how close he actually was, allowing her to knock him to the ground. She stared down at him, trying to control her breathing as Riku got back up. "What is there to believe in?" She said sadly.
Riku pushed himself up before walking towards Hikari once more, "Believe in yourself. Believe that you can save your brother. Just listen to what your heart has to say."
Hikari looked away from him, considering what he had said to her but one thought concurred in her mind, "What if I fail?" she closed her eyes, waiting for an answer.
"Then I'll be behind you, mending the pieces." He answered.
"Riku?" She faced him with a surprised expression, not expecting to hear that.
"If you fail, I'll be there for you. Mending the pieces." He repeated with a soft smile. "You don't have to go through this ordeal alone. You may not be asking for help but I know, deep inside, that your heart needs healing and your friends will be there to support you."
Hikari smiled warmly at him, looking into his aqua blue eyes. "For someone who was in the darkness, you know how to brighten my view on things." She giggled.
"You think?" He raised an eyebrow with surprise; he was always the one that spoke wisdom in the trio but it was always advice about the darkness though.
"Course I do." She replied, patting him playfully on the arm, "So long your heart is in the right place, the darkness can't invade. Right?"
"Yeah." Riku looked back at the tombstone where 'Eternal Blade' was stuck in, "Was your weapon your brother's?"
She nodded her response as she walked over to her weapon and pulled it out of the ground and disposed of it, "It's his weapon, not mine. I'm gonna make it my aim to return it to him, no matter what." She walked past Riku and began to walk down the stone path. The Weilder of Dawn slowly following her, watching her turn back towards him. Before he could question her thinking state while biting her bottom lip, she dash up to him and pulled him into an embrace. "Thank you, Riku."
Since his silver hair was cut, he couldn't easily hide his blush and was glad that she couldn't see it. He chuckled at the use of his name before wrapping his arms round her, hugging her as tightly. "Hikari, you are something." Something special in my eyes.
Kingdommad