Chapter 83: Decision
After an hour of Brian getting yelled out by Daniel for letting something like this happened, the group gathered into the front room of the Devon's house while the Devon brothers and Takura checked out the Endless ship that Brian ended up bringing back to Little Devon, not considering the fact that there might be a tracker on the ship that would lead the Order straight to their hidden world. Brian began explaining to everyone what was wrong with Sora while Jiminy was on one of the tables with Steve the Chocobo, shaking his head at him for what he was telling them.
"HDS?" Kairi raised an eyebrow at the mention of the Heartless disease, "I never heard of that before." It was amazing that she was listening when it took the guys all the strength that they have to get her to come out of Medical room where Sora was being held. Even though they were not in the medical room like Sora, Kairi and Riku was still hurt from the battle as Kairi had a few cuts and bruises from skidding across the floor.
"Apparently, it only affects people that have reverted back from a Heartless." Riku answer darkly, leaning against the wall as he listened to their reasons. The 'ruin' spell had managed to do quite some damage to Riku's side and head as his waist and head was bandaged up.
"But even when Sora turned into a Heartless, he didn't attack Kairi." Goofy pointed out, his mind worried about his friend. Donald nodded in agreement as Donald, Goofy and Kairi were there when Sora had turned into a Shadow Heartless.
"Well technically, he still didn't attack Kairi." Brian posted to the group, making everyone to look at him strangely. "When Sora was fighting Kairi, all he did was magic. He didn't use his keyblade and the magic wasn't even hitting her. At most, if Riku didn't appear then the most damage that she would have endured would be getting stunned. But when it comes to Riku, Sora just basically went berserk and tried to rip him to shreds."
"It could just been something that is affecting his heart." Riku explained, his mind thinking about Anti-form, wondering why Sora didn't turn into it and how he managed to cast 'reflect' while he was in Valor form.
"This is what HDS is." Brian said to him, "It relates to the heart instead of the soul."
"How do you know that for sure?" Riku questioned, glaring at him and he approached the group. "There are only two people that have reverted back to human form. Unless you had Xehanort visit Little Devon for tests then how do you know that it acts the same way as the virus?"
"It just does." Brian rubbed his head from the headache that he was getting, annoyed from Riku's debating. "You were the one that mentioned that it had something to do with his heart." He accused the silver head.
"I sensed Darkness in his heart back at Port Royal and again while I was on my way to the town square. I never mentioned anything about your Heartless disease." Riku commented. "I just think that there is something wrong with his heart and the last thing that we should be doing in to provoke Sora into harsh emotions that might pressure this heart."
"Like what?" Brian shouted, hiding his gloved hand behind his back.
"Like the amount of hurt and sorrow you must have placed on him for even suggesting to pick whether Kairi should stay or not." Riku shouted back as the two was inches away from each other, ready to fight to the end.
"STOP IT!" Both of the boys stopped their bickering to turn to Kairi, her angered expression quieting the two. "You had said it yourself Brian. The results were unclear on both! In this situation, we should see the signs with our hearts, not what others have discovered." She growled at the two, making the two boys hung their heads in shame.
Hikari nodded to this, "Kairi's right." She turned to look at Brian, "What did you discuss at the meeting?" Hikari asked.
"What remaining items we need to gather, what Heart-Struck and Broken Endless are and the possibilities of what Vanitas could have against us." Brian listed, Riku listened to what was being said as he sat beside Hikari, who was sitting next to Max on the red round sofa.
Donald and Goofy eyes widened at this, "Vanitas?"
Max raised an eyebrow, "You know him?"
Donald laughed nervously, "Err...no. Of course not. We don't know any-"
"King Mickey fought Vanitas once with the help of Ventus." Goofy spoke with fear, earning a glare from Donald. "He was supposed to have died with Ventus."
"What?" Kairi gasped, "You knew Ven even when we ran into him in the Cave of Wonders?"
"We were under the King's Orders." Donald sighed sadly, "We can't say anything about the last twelve years."
"But what we can learn from the past might be able to help Sora." Hikari told them. "Don't you guys want to help him?"
"We only know so much." Donald glared back at the tomboy, "Before the Unbirth arrived on Disney Castle, the King said that only Sora can solve the reason why Vanitas and Ventus have returned all of a sudden."
"It doesn't help if his mind is not in his place." Brian muttered.
"Did the King know anything about the virus?" Max asked his dad.
"Only that the Unbirth was connected to it." Goofy replied.
"And we know that Vanitas is the centre of the Unbirth and the Order." Brian stepped, "Maybe if we can stop Vanitas, we can stop production of the virus as well as the appearances of the Unbirth but we can't do that if Sora can't control himself. Once we find the rest of the items, which should take just a couple of weeks, we can save the King and cure Sora at the same time."
Riku noticed his slip of words as he pushed himself off the sofa and glared at him once more, "I thought the world's items could only cure the Endless Virus." He questioned.
Brian's eyes widened in panic as he bit his lip nervously, "Err, well..."
"What are you hiding, Brian?" Kairi stepped off the sofa that she was sitting on and glare at Brian angrily, "If you've known that Sora could possibly have a virus all this time then maybe that you're the Heartless Endless here."
"He has HDS!" He tried to convince them, "I told you guys that I would say what was wrong with Sora when I found out and I'm telling you that this had to do with his Anti-form."
"Brian..." Hikari scowled at him, giving him a warning look as well as checking to see if he was lying. "He has an Endless Claw that's grey; he'd have days when he hates all of us. You don't need tests to see what's going on."
"So what? How do you not know if this is really how he acts to begin with? How do you know if it isn't the darkness that has rested in his heart having a comeback? Just because he has a claw doesn't mean anything. I'm an Endless and I don't have outbursts and I just said that in front of you guys." Brian groaned near the end of the sentence as he had remembered that they hadn't told Max, Riku or the others of their discoveries of some of his past.
"You're an Endless?" Max gasped, making Brian groan in his glove. "You were an Endless all this time and you didn't tell me?" Surprising, Donald and Goofy didn't seemed that surprised as their thoughts were somewhere else.
"I only found out a week or so ago." Brian said to him before looking at Riku, who remained in thought, "If you're gonna go into the speech of betrayal; get it over with because Hikari had already done that."
"I'd done the speech of rejection, not the speech of betrayal." Hikari corrected him.
"It's the same thing!"
The others watched Riku's actions as he came out of his thinking pose and walked towards the Aversion Endless, looking down at him slightly, "Have you got a unique ability?"
Brian remained silent for a while before looking up at him in disbelief, "What?"
"Have you got a unique ability?" he repeated, leaving the others gobsmacked, not realising the absents of a member of the group.
"No?" Brian still looked at him strangely.
"Can you fly?"
"No."
"Can you sense other Endless?"
"Not that I know of."
"Do you have an Outburst?"
"No!"
"You're the worst Endless ever!" Riku laughed slightly before looking at him seriously, "What emotions do you sense?"
"Despair and Hate." He answered, pulling off his black glove and shown them his scarlet claw. "It's known as Aversion though; it might explain why I have such great control on fire magic." He looked away from his claw to see Max in an angered expression, "Awww, Come on man! I didn't know."
"How can you not know that there was an infected claw on your hand?" Max shot at him.
Brian shrugged at them, "I thought it was a lambent birthmark." He said guilty.
"Whatever." His friend muttered before looking away, "We should be trying to figure out what is wrong with Sora. I'm sure that Kairi-"Max looked around the room to see that the Princess of Heart was gone. "Where's Kairi?"
The others looked around the room to find the same result, "I'll go get her." Brian said suddenly as he tried to rush upstairs.
Hikari let him run past her before grabbing his neck collar to stop him, "Ohhh no you don't!"
"Come on!" Brian whined, "Sora has HDS! I swear!"
"Brian!" Everyone turned to the voice of the cricket that hopped its way to the centre of the room, with the help of the chocobo. "Perhaps it's time to tell the others the truth if what you fear might happen is currently out of the way." The Endless' conscience spoke with wise words.
BOWBOWBOW
The sound of content beeping full his head as it remained as an echo in the darkness. Only the sound of the heart monitor would alert the Keyblade Master would remind him that he wasn't dead but felt nothing as he fell into the darkness, not knowing if he was closer to the end of his eternal fall. Where am I? His thoughts echoed throughout the darkness as he continued to fall. The darkness seemed to fill the same way as he would be drowning under water, only that he didn't feel the wetness of the tides pulling him further under the sea. He didn't feel anything, this made him worry. His worry seemed to affect the outside world as the rhythm of the heart monitor would quicken from his panicking state, making him trying to move to escape the darkness.
Where am I? Another echoed sounded in the darkness.
Roxas? The Keyblade Master called out with his thoughts, could he have possibly been set to the same place as where the soul had set his Nobody.
I seem to keep being called that. The echoed voice laughed within the darkness, before a bright light appeared from below before the Keyblade Master could even response in the darkness as he was engulfed by the light.
Infected I am be but a soul I will remain
Connect the pieces together and your will find the cause of this torment.
Reconnect
A groaned escaped his lips as his eyelids slowly opened to the blurred vision that welcomed him, only to see the mayor colours of grey, white and light blue. Shaking his head and rubbing his eyes tiredly to improve his vision, he soon saw that he was placed in another bed that remained in the medical room. He yawned tiredly; not caring where he was at the moment as he tried to sit up. He groaned in pain as his claw was secured in place, preventing him to move. The Keyblade Master slowly turned to his side, trying to see if he could free his storm coloured claw, only to grasp with shock and awe as the glimpse of red filled his eyes, "A rose?" his voice sounded dry. On the side table that was placed next to his secured claw was a single rose placed in a glass vase, allowing him to see the stem of the rose with the thrones attracted to it with the clear water within it that will keep this beauty symbol alive. Next to the rose was a white card, 'Sora' was written on the front of the card as it leaned against the rose.
Since his claw was bounded to the bed, it made it harder to receive the card when his arm was too far to reach and he couldn't lean on himself without hurting himself. Damn it! It's too far. He huffed as he relaxed back in the bed, thinking of a way to get to the card. As soon as he realised that he couldn't reach it until someone actually handed it over to him, he decided to think about how he managed to find himself in a medical room. The last thing I remember was-----me and Kairi was in a draw- Kairi! He lifted his head to look around the room, only to find that he was the only one in here. He sighed in relief as he relaxed on the bed again. I wonder what happened. He thought about the possible outcomes of the battle but soon stopped as flashes from the vision that he had formed in front of his eyes. His mind played the vision of Kairi leaving the group, his heart listening to the reasons once more. He shook his head to clear the vision but wondered about one of the sentences that the vision princess had said to him.
'You get jealous and you keep hurting Riku and Brian. All because of me...'
"Could that be the reason the duel carried on?" He whispered sorely before looking into the mirror on the opposite side of the room, "Because I didn't admit I was jealous?" He thought about their journey in African Depths and what he had watched on the video recording when they were heading to Mousedom. Even though he couldn't remember much, he could remember the rage he felt when Brian was with Kairi while the two was in the lake. Maybe Riku was right... Sora sighed with realisation. Who am I kidding? Riku's always right. What am I going to- I still can't have the white paint in my hair after all this time, can I? Sora looked deeply into the mirror in disbelief as some parts of his front roots were turning white. His eyes widened with horror as he felt the roots of his hair, it wasn't paint.
BOWBOWBOW
What do I even say?
Kairi was outside of the medical room, thinking about what to say to Sora once he woke up. The moment she had seen his arm began to twitch and from the information that Roxas was nowhere to be sensed within the troubled Keyblade Master, the Princess of Heart couldn't help but blame herself for what had happened to him. If she didn't push him to fight her then maybe he wouldn't have ended up this way. She placed everyone in danger, including Sora and herself, all because she was too busy being buried in her own emotions, misleading her, making the wrong choices. Maybe what she thought was the right thing a couple a days ago was actually the wrong thing to do. I got to make it up to him. Help him fight it. She placed her hand on the door handle and slowly turned it to open the door once more.
She looked into the white and grey room securely, seeing if there had been any change. Looking over to the spiky brunette, the only thing that she noticed was that Sora had managed to kick the blanket off of him. A part of her was worried as he didn't response to the opening door, remaining in the state that he was in. "Sora?" She called him quietly, seeing if he would response as she slowly walked over to him. Maybe he's still asleep. She looked over at his grey shadowed claw as Sora tried to move it in his sleep, seeing the discomfort in his face as well as the parts of his hair that were turning white. Sora...please be ok. She walked over to him and unlocked the brace that was holding his claw down before she began to walk out of the room.
"I'm sorry..." A soar voice muttered.
Kairi halted herself from leaving before looking back at the occupied bed, "Sora?" she began to walk back towards him, grabbing a wooden chair from the side of the room.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything." He repeated, looking up at the ceiling at he talked, Kairi placed the wooden chair next to Sora's right side and sat in the chair as she listened to him, "I could have hurt you because of it." He sighed.
"No Sora. If anyone has to be sorry, I should be me." Kairi said sadly to him. "I knew that you haven't been yourself lately but I guess I just took everything to heart and let my anger towards you grow. It wasn't only because you hurt me but you seemed to strike your anger towards Brian and Riku but I still should have called off the dual. I shouldn't have ever-"
"Jealousy." Sora cut her off.
"What?" Kairi said in disbelief and confusion, she watched as Sora sat up on the bed, grabbing his claw for the first time since the brace was realised.
He looked to the side and grabbed the card that was on the side table, "I was jealous, not angry." He said as he looked inside the card, "Dear Sora, I'm sorry. I don't want you to go. Kairi. You have nothing to say sorry about. My heart is just messed up."
"What were you jealous of?" She asked him, waiting patiently for an answer.
He placed the card back on the side with a smile before answering, "The way that you smile at Brian, the way that he's there for you while I'm just getting weaker and weaker. I don't know....maybe I'm just worried that- Brian will replace me in your heart and we won't be the way that we are." He answered as he looked at her, even when I want to be more.
"Sora. You are always here for me and don't forget it. No one can replace the friend who sacrificed his heart to restore mine." She told him as she grabbed his claw with her hand. "No one in all the worlds could replace you." She watched him as he smiled and held her hand within his claw, the spikes and brightness of the claw faded slightly.
Sora looked at her with a serious look as he let go of her hand, his claw returning to normal, "What about the kiss?" He asked.
"The kiss?" She looked at Sora strangely, wondering what was on about. Her mind flashed back to when her and Brian was in the lake, washing up. "Oh!" She blushed with embarrassment, "I not sure why he did that. I just think of him as a good friend." She explained before remembering one of the reasons why the fight began. "Sora, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Ven. I wanted to tell you but-"
"Donald and Goofy told you to keep it a secret." Sora answered for her. "I'll ask King Mickey what connection I have with Ventus but until then...I'll just have to keep searching for Ventus and the King." She smiled slightly as he had a mission set out in front of him, if they find Ventus then questions could be answered. "What about you? What are you going to do?" he asked her.
"What do you mean?" she raised an eyebrow with confusion.
"I said that I'll support you for whatever decision you make. I was just wondering what your decision was, are you staying or leaving?" He replied, looking up at her sadly.
"I thought about it and-"She turned away from him before speaking, "What kind of friend would I be if I left you when you need us." She smiled at her response.
"Really?" He smiled; the dryness of his throat was beginning to wear off. "You're not going to leave because I got jealous?"
She giggled as she spoke, "I stay on one condition."
Sora played along as he was glad that the two of them were back to the way they were. "Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Did you send Brian into the waterfall back at the lake because you was jealous that he kissed me?" Kairi giggled as well as blushing slightly. The way that his face brightened up and the way he mumbled as he tried to denied the truth just made her laugh softly, "Awww, you want to-" Her eyes widened as he quickly leaned in and pecked her on the cheek before looking away with a blushing face.
Sora slowly grabbed the rose from the vase and handed it over to Kairi, who was blushing just as much as he was, "The beauty of the rose is nothing compared to you but if you were to fall, my heart will surely break." He spoke as he placed his hand on her cheek, watching her smell the rose. "But if my heart falls first, promise me that you will stop me hurting anyone."
She stopped smelling the rose and looked at him in disbelief, "Sora-"
"Promise me Kai. Please!" Sora begged as he pulled her into a tight embrace, making her let the rose fall to the floor. "I don't want to lose you, especially at my hand. Promise me."
The Princess of Heart was startled at first but soon held Sora in the same affection, "I would never leave you, Sora. I promise you." She said into his shoulder as she hugged him.
I wish I could believe that.... Sora thought as the images of his nightmare flashed through his mind again.
BOWBOWBOW
Many hours later after Kairi had checked up on Sora and after Brian had been brutally and mentally beaten by Hikari until he told the truth about Sora's condition, everyone had made their way to the gummi port after Sora had his medical check-up from Kyle. Sora, Donald and Goofy was currently searching through Brian's new customized gummi, since the larger gummi that they travelled on remained on St Dragonknight when it blew up. Takura, Kyle and Scott was checking if all of the systems were working on the gummi as it had been installed with more power and speed gummis for possible incounter with Unbirth and Heartless ship through the gummi routes. Hikari and Max were rooming everyone since Brian's gummi only had four bedrooms with Hikari mentioning that they should pair with the same gender.
Riku, Kairi, Brian and Daniel stood a bit away from the gummi ship as they discussed about Sora's virus. "Are you sure, Kairi?" Riku asked her, making sure that Brian couldn't lie about the diagnosis.
She nodded to her statement before, "Something is definitely wrong. If it isn't the virus, I don't know what is."
"We should tell him, he should know what's wrong." Riku posted, Kairi nodded in agreement.
However, Brian seemed to step in front of them to prevent them to find Sora. "You can't do that!"
"Why not? He needs to know the truth, no thanks to you." Riku said darkly to him as he pushed him passed.
"Look! There was a reason why I didn't tell you." Brian shouted at the retreating form of the silver head.
"Why's that?" Kairi questioned him as she stood next to him.
"Because any virus victim who finds out that others know of the virus are more likely to get killed. The soul has control; it can do anything to the heart. We didn't want the virus to change to a deadly course like many others." Daniel explained, Brian seemed to grunt angrily to himself as Riku slowly returned to the group and Kairi listened to the Little Devon's Leader with interest. "You just have to keep it a secret for now, just like Brian tried to."
Brian glared at his brother before sighing, "But lying behind his back will only provoke his anger." He said. "Last time was just about Ven but if everyone was to know about the virus and refuses to tell him; his anger could become more deadly for the next Outburst that comes."
"What should we do then?" Kairi asked as she looked at Riku with worry, "Either way, we'll be hurting him."
"What makes you thing that he doesn't know?" Riku pointed out, "If he could hear a conversation from a cliff then Sora could be listening as we speak."
"Be patience, Riku. Just aid him the best that you can." Daniel told him, "Kyle has placed doses of Remedy that will slow the process of the virus down, it's not much but it will keep Sora as his usual self and halt and abilities that he might be gaining because of the virus but the deflect with his keyblade will continue. The time when you will approach him with cautious will be when the virus outgrows the remedy but that shouldn't happen until you guys come back with the rest of the world's items. By time he'll be ready for Fourth Sign, we'll have the cure ready for him."
Riku didn't seemed convinced from what Daniel but decided to let it slide for now, "Fine! But if something happens then I'm gonna tell him. The last thing we need is to be sunken by lies that will lead us into the darkness." He glared before looking at his worried friend, "C'mon Kairi, let's get ready to ship off." Kairi nodded and followed Riku to where the rest were.
"Brian!" Daniel called him just as he was following Riku and Kairi's actions, "You know what to do, right?"
"Not sure that I do." Brian said with sarcasm and anger, "I must have forgotten. Be kind and remind me, dear brother."
Daniel growled at Brian's attitude as it began to get on his nerves, "Look! I know that you're upset that we hid this from you but it's important that Sora and Kairi keep their distance but making sure that their friendship remains. If the Order captures Kairi then all of our efforts will be for nothing."
"She can handle herself." Brian said as he turned to watch her mingle with the others with a smile on her face. The others should give her more credit.
"No she can't." Brian shot back to argue when his brother began to explain, "What happened with Sora earlier today was just half the strength of one of the Order members. You guys have had trouble dealing with him, what make you think that you can deal with any of the members, especially the Colonel and Vanitas." He questioned his youngest brother.
"Why are you so worried? We have most of the items that we need." Brian said to him. "Maybe I could understand what you are going on about if you told me why we do this."
"It's the right thing to do, Brian." Daniel glared at him.
"The right thing to do is to tell me who I am. Then maybe I can see why the status between Sora and Kairi is important." Brian glared back.
"The only thing I remember at the time was that you were being secretive about your time out of Little Devon. The only time when you would mention your past would be when you talked about your father and the arguments that me and you had when you wanted to reveal your Endless nature to Hikari." Daniel revealed. "And I wished that it stayed that way. Just make sure that no one else finds out."
"Why? The Order already know; they basically told me my hidden life." Brian pointed out.
"There are others enemies beside the Order." Daniel snapped at him before the two glared at each other in silence. After a few calls from his comrades, Brian broke the staring contest and began to walk away. "Brian!" He called him again.
"You have got to stop doing that. What is it?" Brian turned back to his brother, annoyed of his habit to call him when he is walking away.
"Make sure that the Keyblade Master and the Princess of Heart do not get together until after the deadline." Daniel instructed him, "If they do, it could cost you."
"Cost me what?" Brian shouted at him, grabbing the attention of the other brothers and the mechanic.
"Your existence." Daniel simply responded calmly before he began to walk over to Kyle, Scott and Takura.
"My Existence?" Brian fell into a deeper hole of confusion of his life, who actually is he is his life depends on Sora and Kairi's relationship status. His chocobo emerged from his jacket pocket, bringing him back from his thoughts and began to point towards the group as they seemed ready to gather the last gathering of items. He smiled at his chocobo as he quickly pet Steve before heading over to the others, "Is everyone ready?" He asked.
"Yeah!" Most of them answered.
"Wait! What about Zidane?" Hikari reminded them, "I want to at least say goodbye to him."
"Who's Zidane?" Max asked.
"Look!" Kairi pointed to the figure approaching them.
As the figure got closer, Sora, Kairi, Hikari and Brian noticed that Zidane's disguise had been completely ripped off and that he seemed to have a smirk written on his face, "BEST DAY EVER!" He shouted before falling to the ground unconscious.
A/N: And thus....Little Devon is finished once more. Next time we come back here, it be near the end of the story. ^^ One: The unit that I had to stop writing chapters for was lost by my stupid teacher. Grrrrrrr. Two: EXPO IN A WEEK! I GET TO BE LEA! YEAHHHHHHH! Three: Cookies are bad for you but we all love them anyway ^^.
Van Pat: The soul is evil....or is it? (::)(::)
Kidota- The Freak Gamer: Sora shouldn't be crazy for a while, the question is though; how long will this sane trip last? (::)(::)
Dreamer726: I needed something to put in Little Devon so I just randomly put it in. (::)(::)(::)
Grey vs Ale: I might listen to the song later. See what it is like. (::)(::)
Transitions End: It wasn't as bad as the other cliff-hangers and hopefully this chapter doesn't fall into a cliff-hanger status. Thanks for pointing out the valor magic thing; I will now magically make it work with the story instead of changing it. ^^ (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
Future Keybearer: Hehehehe it did take some time to write the dual. Normally, it would take a week to do a chapter, which took more than a week. =P (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
Celticskyedancer: Yes. We all love it when Brian randomly gets hurt. ^^ (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
Remixofdestiny: YAY! I'm awesome ^^ (::)(::)(::)
Next chapter are one of the chapters that me and shadow has planned together and I will be introducing another one of Shadow's characters. Even though we made this character up more like a year ago. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
See ya next time
Kingdommad