Chapter 107: Steve the Chocobo
'How could have all of this happened?' Riku leaned against the wall in the hallway, remaining between the medical room and some of the bedrooms. He sighed as he ran his hand through his silver shoulder length hair, automatically noticing to himself that he will sleep with his eyes open to prevent his hair getting cut again. He shook his head in disappointment, he should had gone back to the gummi the minute that they landed on Neverland, he had a feeling that something might happen since Sora was acting slightly off before they left but he would have never imagine something like this. From the sound of the door aside him opening, Riku turned his head to the side to see Brian quietly making his way out of the medical room. "How are they?" He asked the red head.
"Sora is fine." Brian looked at the silver hair teen. "Kairi needs her rest though; it looked like Sora managed to drain some of her light."
"Drain her—how did he manage to drain Kairi's light?" Riku asked him in confusion.
"Since he was going to drain my light as well, I know that we've underestimated Sora's virus." Brian sighed with worry as he leaned against the wall opposite to Riku. "I'm just glad that Kairi is a Princess of Heart."
"Why? Will Kairi be-" Riku looked concerned at the red haired mage.
"Don't worry." Brian raised his hands as he assured him. "Kairi's pure light makes her immune to the virus due to the unbalance of the worlds. To be safe though, it's best to keep Sora away from Kairi."
Riku shook his head at this, "Sounds like you don't trust Sora." He muttered coldly.
"You would too if you saw him nearly take Kairi's heart!" Brian snapped at the Wielder of Dawn with anger, receiving a cold glare in return. Brian quickly backed away from the silver haired teen as he looked away, nervously coughing. "I mean, Sora is dangerous. We have to make sure we can help both of them, even if it means separating them."
The keyblader wielder looked at Brian questionably, recognizing Brian's defensive look for his friend's once more. He ignored the urge to question the Endless' emotions though, deciding that there were more important things to focus on, like Sora's medication. "What about the remedy?" He asked, "Your brothers said that it should have slowed the process of the virus down."
"Well, when I called them, they were surprised as we were." Brian said before muttering quietly, " Daniel looked like he knew though."
"I'm guess they are doing something about." Riku voiced out, waiting for Brian to confirm his words.
Instead Brian huffed at the idea, "All that they said was that all we can do is continue giving the remedy to Sora."
"But the remedy didn't work." Riku pointed out to the red haired mage.
"You think I don't know that! I argued with them until I had to hang up so I could check if Kairi was alright." He growled.
"You mean Kairi and Sora." Riku corrected.
Brian looked at him with confusion, "Yeah. That's what I said."
Riku began to glare at the boy; he never liked being lied to, especially in the face. "You said Kairi." He told him again.
"Well." Brian turned away from the silver hair teen. "Kairi's condition is more important anyways."
"It doesn't matter who condition is worse off, you aid them both." Riku grabbed him by the shoulder, making him look at him. "Don't let your heart get the better off you."
Brian shook his head slightly, the way Riku had worded his warning made another voice echo through his head, recreating the headache from before. He shook it off though, looking at Riku strangely. "What's that supposed to mean?" his eyebrow arched.
"You tell me." Riku replied, looking at him deadly as if he was protecting something.
"I can't exactly read your mind, can I?" Brian growled at the teen, pushing out of the keybearer's grip. "I have control of my heart anyway."
"Fine. Have it your way." Riku got to the point as he glared down at him. "You're in love with Kairi."
Brian's eyes widened at what he has been accused off. "What gave you that idea?" he questioned, not sure why his voice sounded obvious and nervous or why his heart suddenly sped up.
"I saw the way that you looked at her when Goofy took her away." Riku explained, "It just added to your actions towards her and Sora recently."
Brian shook his head at the silver head. "My actions between Sora and Kairi have another meaning." He said to him.
"Which is?" he questioned.
"It doesn't matter." Brian simply said, turning round to walk to the bridge.
Riku grabbed the boy's shoulder again and pushed him against the wall, preventing him to escape. "It does when my friends are on the line."
"Woah Riku!" Brian raised his hands up in defence. "I'm just trying to protect Kairi from Sora. With Sora's virus getting stronger than we thought, it's best to try and protect those that the person treasures most."
"So you basically throw yourself at Kairi?" Riku growled at the boy.
"You would do the same!" Brian argued.
Riku shook his head at this. "Not like this. Not if it was going to make Sora jealous."
"It's the only way, Riku." Brian told him.
Riku gritted his teeth together, seeing that Brian wasn't seeing his point. Instead, he sighed angrily and let Brian go. "How do you feel about Kairi?" He asked him, watching as the teen in front of him slowly turned red as he thought. "Brian, no matter what, Kairi will always pick Sora." He told him.
Brian huffed at the comment, "Like she choice Sora over you?" he simply said before walking away from the teen, heading into the bridge. "Who would love an Endless anyway?" He muttered as he walked away.
Riku shook his head as he looked away from Brian's disappearing form, silently hoping that Brian doesn't continue to try and separate his two friends. Still, he could see that despite all of Brian's claims, he could see that there was another reason why he was keeping the two apart. He wasn't sure how but he was going to get the truth out of Brian whether it was the easy way or hard way. With one final sigh, he turned towards the door to his and Sora's room and pushed the door open.
BOWBOWBOW
"Brian! You idiot!"
The minute that Brian had got into the bridge, he was met with an annoyed Hikari, giving off one of her looks that said that he was an idiotic and stupid. Held within her arms was Steve, its size is as big as a small dog or puppy, its feathers soft to touch as well as the red feather tips showing fully, the chocobo's blue eyes shone brightly as its looked around below it, wondering why it was within Hikari's grasp. The sudden size change of the chocobo made Brian look at the yellow bird with confusion. "Why is Steve the size of a human child?" Brian narrowed his eyebrows at the bird.
Max, who was relaxing at the table, chuckled slightly as he placed a carrot like plant back in its container. "That what happens when you actually feed a chocobo some Gysahl Greens."
Brian turned his confusion over to Max with a mix of shock. "Where did you get them? I've been looking for them everywhere?"
"Me and Donald went on land for a bit while in Atlantica." Max explained, "It looked like that the land uses Chocobo to transport people around in carriers. There was a small shop in the castle that sold some Chocobo treats. I would have got more stuff but we got called back."
"Well, the situation with Sora and Kairi seemed more important that veg hunting." Hikari sighed before glaring back at Brian. "Besides, we're talking about Brian being an idiot!" she said, trying to not crush the poor chocobo within her arms.
Brian sighed at this, "Why am I an idiot this time?" he asked her with no seriousness.
"You're ruined Steve's life!" she proclaimed to him, making Max chuckled slightly from the side. "This isn't funny, Max!"
"Can't you just change the chocobo's name?" Max asked.
Brian continued to blink with confusion. "Why would I want to change his name?" He asked them, only for Max to collapse on the table laughing. "What the hell is up with you?"
"Once again Brian—You're an idiot!" Hikari calmly claimed for the third time.
"That's it, Hikari. Why am I an idiot and why have I ruined Steve's life?" Brian demanded, getting annoyed of having no idea why Max was practically wheezing from laughing so hard or why continued to glare at him.
"Because-" Hikari handed Steve over to Brian, placing the chocobo in his arms. Brian quickly regained his balance, not expecting the Chocobo to be that heavy. "Steve is a girl!"
Brian just scoffed at her information. "Hikari. I think I know what gender my own chocobo is."
"Do I need to prove it to you?" Hikari looked at him in disbelief. She groaned as she took the chocobo off Brian, placing the chocobo in her arms once more and placed the bird on the table where Max had finally calmed down from his outburst of laughter. "See here!" Hikari pointed to the feathers on Steve's wing and head. "They would be wider and longer if she was male."
"And…" Brian merely shrugged.
"Here!" Brian turned around, only to gag from the force that came from catching a book.
Hikari took sight of the silver haired keybearer, smiling shyly at him as he chuckled softy at what they were doing. She quickly snapped herself out of her little daydream, focusing back on Steve's sexuality crisis. She looked at the book that was successful in causing pain to her best friend, seeing a symbol of a chocobo on it. With confusion, she looked back up at the silver head, "Where did you get this, Silver?"
"I got it while travelling the worlds, following the Organization. Stakeouts can get boring sometimes." He simple said, opening the book up for Brian, landing on a certain page. "Read this."
"Okay. Okay." Brian sighed with annoyance as he began to read the chocobo book with a bored expression. Riku and Max chuckled in humour as they watched Brian's expression change over time while Hikari shook her head, petting the chocobo that was looking at this situation with pure confusion. As soon as he had finished the page, his expression had changed to annoyed one once more. "Awwww god damn it." Brian cursed.
"This is why people just call their chocobos 'Chocobo'." Hikari informed him before picking up the chocobo once more. "C'mon Steve, since it's too late to change your name, I'll show you what FEMALE chocobos get to experience." She said as she left the bridge with Steve in her arms.
Riku shook his head at this, "Well, that took out the tension on this ship." He simply said.
Brian groaned as he slammed the book down on the table. "Why does Kyle's words always come back to haunt me?" He moaned as he sat down and placed his face on the book.
"I'm guessing that Kyle told you to check the gender before creating names?" Max guessed, laughing as he held Brian groan more into the book. Max chuckled as he turned to look at Riku, "Should we tell him?"
Brian took his face away from the hard covered book, the two teens trying to ignore the imprint of a chocobo on Brian's cheek. "Tell me what?" he asked the two teens in front of him.
Max smiled as he received a nod from the silver head as he looked back to friend. "Well, when Steve was hacked, Rinoa took care of the chocobo for a while, she told us that Steve was a girl." He chuckled.
"And you didn't tell me when I named the chocobo because-" Brian waited for the answer.
"It was funny." Max simply said before running out of his chair, hearing Brian run after the teen as the two ran into the cockpit.
Riku laughed at the others actions, heading his way over to the medical room, feeling the need to check on his friend before getting ready for the next world. He was glad that the mood on the ship has lighten up slightly, despite what had happened while they were gone. The sooner they get the last two items, the sooner Sora will be back to normal and the sooner they can take down the Order once and for all. He walked into the hallway only to halt to watch a familiar person slowly sneaking his way to the medical room door. "Sora!" he called for him, halting the boy's actions.
As Riku approached him, he took noticed of the changes that he had noticed when he had saw Sora come out of his Anti-form. His brunette hair was tainted by pure white locks, placing his hair close to Riku's itself, his skin looked paler, his hair looked spikier and his clothes were ripped apart once more due to the glowing blade like claws on his forearm. What never changed from his change of appearance were his cobalt blue eyes, always striking sadness nowadays. "Riku…" he said weakly.
"What are you doing out here?" He questioned as he approached his infected friend. "You're supposed to be resting."
"Resting…" Sora trailed before looking up at his friend. "Riku, what happened?"
Riku raised an eyebrow at this. "You don't remember?"
Sora shook his head, "I remember up to where we were attacked in the gummi." He said as he looked at his claw. "I hurt Kairi didn't I?"
"This isn't your fault, Sora." Riku told him before remember what he was doing before. "How did you know Kairi was in here anyway?" He asked.
"I remember bits and pieces, like Hikari asking Goofy to take Kairi to the medical room." He sighed before looking at his best friend again. "I-i-it is alright for me to see her?" Sora desperately asked his friend.
Riku was taken back by this, not expecting his friend to ask him just to see their friend. Then again, he was properly fearing that he have no control with what was going on with him and would what someone in there with him so that he doesn't harm her just in case. He smiled at this, no matter what Sora does, he will always been protective over his friends, even if it means protecting them from himself. "Okay. We can't stay long though."
"Why not?" Sora asked.
"Brian is convinced that you'll be just a danger to Kairi." He explained. "It doesn't matter if he catches you in here or not, I would just rather avoid it."
Sora nodded, remaining silent once more, as he opened the medical room door, letting him and his best friend in.
As soon as they walked in, they both saw Kairi lay calmly asleep on the medical bed, bandaged around her throat and parts of her arm. Sora caught the sob within his throat as he looked at his best friend with teary eyes, forcing his lips into a tight thin light as he found himself kneeling at Kairi's bedside, holding onto her hand with his bandaged hand, as if afraid to touch her with his claw. "K-Kairi…" he sobbed slightly. "I'm sorry. I-I wasn't strong enough."
Riku stood at the side, watching as his best friend, one who always had courage in his heart, happiness in his eyes and always allowed with what was right, crash to the floor at the female's bedside, falling apart from what he had managed to do to her from not being about to keep control. He didn't say a word, just remained by Sora's side as if he was some sort of warden that was given the broken keybearer some time to realise his crimes before being dragged back to their dark cell. He knew for a fact though, things will only get worse if they didn't hurry with the cure.
BOWBOWBOW
Nikolai sighed as he relaxed on his bed, finishing up his work for the day, as exhaustion had hit the Sorrow Endless hard. After returning from aiding Ventus, he had to teach Storm how to control his virus before he completely lost himself to his corrupted soul while helping Jenova in mastering her ability to sense the connections between people that have a good bond between hearts, as well as her ability to see the heart's true content. During the training, it didn't take Jenova long to voice out Nikolai's reasons for trying to avoid friendship with her, only receive a comment on how we are living in the present so that's the time that we should focus on. The black haired teen chuckled, he remembered his teacher saying that to him a few years back, allowing other memories surface his mind as he began to drift to sleep.
Jenova and Storm burst into the room, the haste girl tumbling on Nikolai from the speed she had entered the room, making the boy on the bed stumble up in surprise. Storm caught his breathe as he reported, "There's some trouble going on." He said with urgently.
Nikolai groaned slightly from the sudden impact that he had received from the Haste Endless' crash landing, glaring at the teen in the doorway. "This 'trouble' better be worth it, I was just about to go to sleep."
"Link just arrived; he's talking to the Colonel about some connections that supposed to be related to Sora." Storm reported.
"Yep! Yep!" Jenova rushed him out of bed, "Me and Sakuzy overheard parts of their arguments and they were mentioning Haru, Sora and the others." She said as she pushed the tired Endless out of his room. "C'mon! We have got to move!"
"Okay! Okay! I'm going!" Nikolai told the girl as the three began to had through the blue tainted castle, leading them to the computer room. Naturally, Jenova was the first one at the door, slowly opening the door as Storm and Nikolai looked around them, making sure that none of the Unbirth or Endless soldiers were patrolling to notice their eavesdropping. As soon as all three of them were at the door, Jenova slowly opened the door a little more to see Link and Colonel Devil speaking more calmly.
"I've seen the Stories of Balance for myself, Colonel. The path that you and those other members came from will not become. Why is it that only Major Snake realises this?" Link calmly spoke to him with no signs of emotion.
"That's because Snake likes to point out every bad point of a plan if he's not in charge of it." Devil growled as he looked away from the Remorse Endless. "Why side with an endless battle? Even if Vanitas wins, he won't be able to control the worlds, control the war, control the Chaos of Light. Fate had been decided and we must keep it that way." He told him.
"But fate as its way of changing." Link pointed out, "Especially when it is your son that intertwines with fate's design itself."
Devil growled at this, bringing the room to silent. "How many connections have been gathered?" he asked him.
"All but one." He answered. "And I very much guess that the Master already knows that you and that pathetic excuse of an Endless are part of his escape so expect to hear from him once he returns from his travels."
Devil scoffed at this as he faced the silver haired male. "Like I care what he can do. He couldn't be as strong as he was without me and Abroc."
"He wouldn't have been able to wield the Keyblade or even exist if it wasn't for Master Xehanort but yet he still planned on going against his master's plan once he had his hands on the key." He simply said. "I can see where your son gets his idiotic ideas from."
Devil quickly slammed the Remorse Endless into the desk out of rage. "If you speak of Brian once mor-"
"Who said I was talking about the Aversion Endless?" Link smirked, making Devil step back slightly. "Surely, your past would catch up with you sooner or later."
Nikolai pulled away from the scene with a serious expression on his face, knowing for a fact what Link was referring to, as he looked as his two companies. "C'mon. We need to check where the others are." He told them.
Storm moaned at Nikolai's urgently to leave. "But it's just getting good." He said.
Jenova looked away from the scene to look at the boys. "Nick is right, Sazuky." She told the Shock Endless. "We should really check up on what Haru and the others are doing." With that said, Jenova sped off to the other side of the castle to find another useable computer room.
"Storm." Nikolai pulled him away from the door, pushing him around the corner so that he didn't hear anymore of Link and Devil's conversation. "I have a feeling that I will have to stick around while waiting for the Dark Master to come back. I need you to do something."
"What is it?" He asked.
"Find out what Snake is doing. Follow him if you have to." He told him. "He might be your best lead to see your sister again."
A/N: And thus Steve was a female the entire time! A joke that me and Shadow made for this story ages ago. I'm glad that we got that in. Just to let you guys know. There is two more Disney worlds before going back and forth between 5 worlds that would lead to the end. Hopefully I will be able to update more as I have completed my uni work ^^ So I will try to post more chapters starting next week. I am determined to finish this story before I start my new year of uni…..I do have to revise for one exam though ¬¬
There is a group picture of the Order done by Shadow.S. I will place the link to it on my profile page soon. Now time to work on the next world ^^ many final fantasy characters to come.
Until next time
Kingdommad