Chapter 12: Better Left Unsaid

{Disney Castle: September 28th 2013, 9:45am}

As it had been for the last two days, the rain fell from a gun-metal-gray sky, and the ocean at the north end of the castle crashed in a series of black waves, while the ground remained slightly flooded, the wind sharp, and the rain chilly despite the summer temperature. The residents of the castle were in a blend of awake and asleep, due to the dreary deluge. Goofy was polishing the shields and armor in the Knight's quarters, Donald was blending potions and stocking up on supplies if ever they needed specific medical elixirs and was taking note of a recipe he'd received from Master Yen Sid recently that he was testing out, while in the main study, King Mickey wrote letters, replied to messages, and filed away reports while conducting his own, while Pluto remained curled up near the fireplace.

Brooms, mops, and feather dusters went about the castle cleaning, often seeking out their favorite prey – Keyblade Wielders. Queen Minnie was tending to an activity of sewing alongside Daisy to preoccupy themselves, and upstairs in the higher half of the castle where the Keyblade Bearers resided, it was quiet. Riku had been up since eight that morning and was reading through a book he had gotten from Merlin the Blue Wizard to attend to the sudden growth of appendages he had gotten – thankfully, he had learned how to close them away – and was spending his time accompanied by a few soot sprites, who decided they wanted to watch the rain as it pelted the glass and normally white stone walls of the castle.

Namine had been up for a bit by then, she had been painting the stormy swirl of the sky and sea from her window and heard only the rain and the silence around her that, while it was peaceful, was also very lonely. It was with Roxas that silence reigned as he slept through the rainfall, enjoying the peace and quiet and his opportunity to sleep in for once in a while. However, the silence was maddening for Sora, who was wide awake after having woken up from a less than pleasant nightmare prior to sunrise. He remained quiet, curled up with his knees pulled almost to his chest with his arms folded atop them and his head resting on them. He was tired but didn't want to sleep; he was weary and worn down by the nightmare, but he honestly didn't wish to talk about it. The castle had remained quiet and peaceful, he noted – not that he was complaining – however, it wasn't peaceful to him.

A sudden movement near his side caught his attention, and he took in a steadying but shaky breath as he remembered that Kairi was there, sleeping beside him, and that she was safe and nothing was happening – it was just a dream. Thunder rolled, lightning flared, and the rain came down harder, causing him to tense, a faint whine of discontent come from him as he stared wide-eyed at the flash of light in the dark sky and sighed as he tried to think of what could calm him down. It was as he started to feel encroaching panic tightening its grasp upon his throat that a hand reached out and touched him gently. Sky-blue eyes, glassy and almost unseeing, looked into aquamarine.

"Sora?" Kairi asked him as he stared at her.

"K-Kairi! Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up..." he was stuttering, and his body shook visibly.

"You're shaking, are you okay?" she questioned the chestnut-haired Keyblade Master as she came closer and pulled him into her arms before threading her fingers through his hair.

"Fine, just got a little startled by the thunder, is all..." his voice didn't fumble; however, his body still shook as if he were cold.

"You're not okay, I know it. You're trembling...what's wrong?" Kairi had to ask, because if she didn't ask, nothing could fix what had been done.

"Kairi, I promise...I'm okay...just tired..." she bit her lip, but decided not to push him.

"Okay, just take a deep breath. If you need to, we can skip the illusion pins today, a little longer without training won't hurt us," Kairi suggested this, but she knew what his answer would be.

"We can't take too many breaks. Kairi, Xehanort is getting stronger every day! If we're not ready to fight...he'll destroy us and everything we..." Kairi moved forward, intertwining her fingers with his own and placing a gentle kiss to his slightly quivering lips. He was scared, she could tell that, but he was also on the brink of something that she wanted so greatly to pull him back from.

"I'm right here, right now, so pay some attention to me until you feel better, okay?" she stated as he slowly, almost timidly, moved closer and kissed her back before wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Kairi..." he muttered her name and she sighed, feeling a bit of sorrow as she considered what was happening to him again.

She kissed him and he returned it, hands gently grasping her shoulders before moving, toppling them and causing her to land on her back upon the bed as he leaned over her and placed a chaste kiss to her lips before moving down to her jaw and then her throat, where once again a series of small bites were left. Kairi reached up, brushing her fingers through his hair before sky-blue eyes looked up to her. His eyes were glassy, misty, and had a far-off look to them, and Kairi knew that meant one thing...

Sora was going into a relapse.

And this one was going to be worse than the ones before it.

But she couldn't pull him out of it this time like she had every other time. Therefore, she wrapped her arms around him, pulled him closer, and kissed him back, knowing that this time, she may not be able to call him back alone – they would all have to bring him back. Sora was teetering on the edge of collapse, and they were the only thing holding him to the ground, and she knew then and there that once she had Sora settled down just enough to where he wasn't as unresponsive – seeing him acting like a soulless doll did nothing but chill her blood and freeze her bones – she would need to speak to Riku.

"Sora? Can you hold me for a bit?" Kairi asked as he moved closer and wrapped his arms around her before nuzzling her throat in a gentle manner as she reached up and tangled her fingers into his hair.

Kairi wanted badly to pull him from whatever type of state of mind he had fallen into, but she knew that when this happened, she couldn't stop it – only be there when he caved. Sora slid his lips up her jaw and gave her a faint kiss to her lips before snuggling close to her as he leaned down and rested his head over her heart before closing his eyes and looked slightly towards her.

"I know you're worried about me, Kairi...it's okay..." she bit her lip, keeping her fingers tangled in the soft chestnut strands of Sora's hair.

"You're not okay," she stated as she looked to him.

"Kairi...really...it's just one of those days, I guess..." his eyes were glassy and dark circles were evident under them against pale skin.

"He's exhausted...I wish I could help him overcome this..."

"Sora...please, just take a break for today," she said as he leaned forward, her fingers coming loose from his hair to rest against his cheek.

"We have to be ready, Kairi, Xehanort isn't going to wait forever...I don't want to lose anyone..." she smiled and leaned up as Sora sat back as she moved until she was in his lap, and he looked down to her as Kairi rested her head against his chest and knotted her fingers in his shirt.

"You need to recover first...Sora...I need you to stay together for me, okay?" he rested his head atop hers as his arms wrapped around her.

"I'll be okay...give me time..." she sighed.

"Okay, just...if you start feeling off, come back here, and I'll be right behind you," Kairi told him.

"I will...if I can..."

{Training Hall: 11:03am}

Roxas and Namine had noticed something incredibly wrong with Sora today in training when the boy split them up into groups and watched from the side lines. Kairi and Namine had been paired up to do a few sparring sessions, and Sora was giving them cues for magic spells or when to use shield or guard themselves, while Riku was stuck with Roxas, sparring and giving him a thorough work-over for him to get a better handle on Two Across. It seemed like a relatively normal day for most of them; however, none of them could shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Namine had sensed it that morning during breakfast when Kairi and Sora weren't present, and Riku had been oddly tense most of the time until they'd seen the two of them walking towards the training hall.

For the time being, they were rather calm about the entire situation; however, Riku had the deepest sensation in the pit of his stomach that something was horribly wrong. Knowing that, though, how could he pinpoint what was happening? How could he even potentially brace Roxas and Namine for what they could very possibly see? Taking in a deep breath, Riku steeled himself and focused on the task in front of him – which meant keeping his attention on Roxas, who was wielding a Keyblade he didn't know the full power of yet and hope that the boy didn't accidentally bring down the training hall. It was as their training progressed and Sora pointed out a few techniques to the girls that Riku felt a spike of panic in his body when he met eyes with Sora.

He looked unnerved and highly agitated for an unknown reason. Sky-colored eyes turned away from him and back to the girls, who nodded before taking to their lesson again, while Roxas went about his sparring session with the silver-haired Keyblade Master.

Sora remained silent, but Kairi kept an eye on him until he resumed acting for the most part normal, and she dropped her guard, and resorted to firing a few ice-spells alongside the Aquri water spells to throw Namine off-balance. The blonde-haired girl rebutted her attacks with ice and heated water spells, while Sora directed them when to use guards to block or send the spells back with the Keyblade. Over on another part of the training hall, Roxas was striking at Riku with a series of coordinated and clumsy hits and attack patterns that concerned the silver-haired teen a bit. The boy seemed tense and unused to working with him; which, he did understand.

Normally Roxas paired with Sora, and the boy had excelled with his Master in movement, and was slowly getting a grasp upon spells; however, around Riku, he was anxious and unsure of where their styles differed, but was putting forth a great deal of effort. Cyan eyes looked the boy over as he dodged an attack, and then blocked it and parried while trying to organize his thoughts and focus on what Sora had taught him. Riku took pity on Roxas only because he knew it took quite a bit of trial and error before one could pinpoint differences in technique and battle styles; plus, they hadn't gotten to that portion of their training, nor the use of Flowmotion, summons during combat, and most importantly: Limit Breaks.

A Limit Break, in many ways, was a Keyblade Wielder's most basic requirement, in the sense that it allowed the wielder to utilize their powers to their biggest potential, and in addition, the abilities of their partner when using a joined Limit Break. Riku looked to Sora out of the corner of his eyes, and momentarily questioned when they would teach them each how to unlock their own Limit Breaks and adapt it to combat alongside Flowmotion, summons, magic, and teach them how to transition from one combatant to another. Riku was also beginning to wonder when Sora would choose to show Roxas and Namine their own Limit Breaks.

Riku took a moment to think back to when Sora and himself were learning their Limits, and how they applied them to their jointed Limit Break known as Eternal Sessions. It had been grueling and exhaustive to the point that they typically had just enough energy to crawl their way up the staircase and into their beds; however, the first time they'd practiced each portion of the ability, Sora had drawn an amazing attack on the illusion pins and developed a piece of the Limit that wasn't originally part of the connective Limits: Thirteen Blades. The white and golden clock-hand-looking blades were swift, and appeared almost like a ray of light in the form of a flower before they spread out like petals and rotated around the boy in a matter that left most if not all attacks decimated. It was impressive, but it wasn't all that had come from those trials before the events of the Dream Drop.

Sora had developed and perfected his Limit, they'd for the most part mastered their summons, and had learned Flowmotion – that had been a painful series of crashing into walls and being flung through the air – before the day came where almost all of their training, right down to Sora learning how to dual wield, and Riku himself mastering summons and magic, finally came, and was put to the test. He remembered that moment because he had been thanking their stubbornness and willingness to continue trying despite the pain, bruises, and scrapes, and that it had all ultimately paid off with them walking away with their lives.

"Seems so long ago that we were three kids trying to leave our world with a hand-made raft, supplies, and nothing but our trust in one another and our ingenuity to guide us...now look at where we are...Keyblade Masters, teaching others, and saving lives while protecting the light in the worlds...who would have thought we'd amount to this so fast?" Riku thought as he turned his attention back to the Keyblade Wielder in training.

"Come on! Your tiring yourself out! Start using your magic, Roxas!" he said as the blonde nodded and shot a blizzard spell out at him.

"Freeze!" Riku blocked it with reflect and frowned.

"Try something harder! Sora hasn't wasted his time on you with personal training with Two Across to have this pathetic attempt to attack and defend come up!" he stated. Roxas narrowed his eyes.

"IGNIS!"

A sharp burst of flames came from the boy's Keyblade, and Riku was quick to block the vast dispursement of fire with a strong blizzard spell. The second the two spells hit, steam erupted, and the others turned to look at the scene of the vast amount of steam before Riku stumbled back as Roxas used the steam as a screen for him to strike. The Keyblade Master was momentarily taken by surprise as he fell backwards, and the sudden sound of glass breaking caught their attention as Riku felt the glass shatter and a sharp pain emit from his arms and forehead. Everyone seemed to freeze before running forward while Roxas momentarily blanked as he vanished his Keyblade, and ran forward as Sora, Kairi, and Namine came to them.

"What happened? Are you okay?" asked Kairi as she looked to Riku, who hissed a bit as broken glass bit into his hands. Riku glanced up faintly, taking in the faintly spooked look of Sora's eyes as he glanced between the shattered window and Roxas, who smelled a bit heavily of smoke from the fire spell he'd used. However, he chose not to panic about it for the time being and focused on trying to remain calm and diffuse the situation.

"Yea, he just took me by surprise." Roxas stared at him with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..." Sora shook his head as he crouched towards Riku.

"Don't apologize for using an advantage. That's something that'll save you during a battle," he told him as he turned his attention back towards his friend.

"Sora's right, that was very clever of you, Roxas – it means you're learning." Riku looked to Sora and the boy offered his hand before the silver-haired Keyblade Master smiled as he looked him over.

"Come on, you clumsy giant, let me help you up," Sora stated.

"I told you, I'm okay. See...I..." he held up his hand, dripping with blood, and sky-blue eyes looked him over as if he hadn't been aware of the cuts across his friends arms and the small scrape across his cheek and forehead. While Riku had expected a snarky comeback or possibly even a light-hearted joke, he received something different. Sora's eyes grew wide, his skin blanched, and his pupils dilated as he started to move backwards, and panic flared within him.

"Fuck! This can't be happening!" Riku thought as he watched Sora look to him in a manner that spoke volumes of what was happening and how horrible it was about to get. Sora was starting to relapse, and Riku had just made a critical mistake.

"Sora?" the boy's eyes darted around, taking in the glass, the sound clearly repeating in his ears as he looked at the blood on the floor, and then turned his gaze back to Riku.

"Hey? Are you alright? Sora? Come on, answer me," said Riku as he watched the boy.

"What's wrong with him?" cyan eyes looked the boy over, and he moved forward, the sound of shattered glass making an almost metallic clink across the floor as he did so. The boy tensed, body shaking slightly as he moved backwards a bit for every motion Riku took forward.

"Sora, come on. You're fine," Riku stated as he reached out, and then grabbed the boy by the wrist. Sora jolted, and a faint snap was heard as the boy jumped away and blood slid down the corner of his mouth faintly where he'd bitten into his lip from the scare he'd given himself.

"You're bleeding..." Kairi went to help him, but the boy moved away, jerking his arm to try, and get free of Riku's grasp.

"Sora...it's okay! Don't worry," Riku said as he stood, and the boy struggled, standing with him as Roxas and Namine stared onward in great confusion as panic appeared on the boy's face, and his eyes grew wide as Kairi stepped back while Riku tried to keep him still.

"What's happening?" asked Namine.

"Just stay away...let me deal with this..." Riku looked to Sora and grabbed him by his shoulders, blood smearing his upper arm as the boy continued struggling.

"Sora!" the boy jolted, eyes glancing towards Kairi and then back towards Riku.

"L-Let...go..."

His voice sounded faintly frantic, but Riku refused – he couldn't let him run off and go where he couldn't help him, and he knew that Sora would do that. However, when he tried to take a step forward, Sora jolted and tried to move back swiftly, and Riku stepped on a large shard of glass, causing him to trip and land atop Sora, who continued to try and wriggle free from his grasp. Seeing no other resolution, Riku grabbed the boy's other arm and pinned them above his head, hoping to prevent the boy from struggling further and talking some sense into him before the relapse got worse. That ended when the boy screamed and began to struggle – kicking and writhing to get free from Riku's grasp as Kairi, Namine, and Roxas tried to help keep the boy still as Riku did his best to bring the boy back to his senses.

"Sora! You have to wake up! Sora?!"

That was the end of their attempt to get the boy to calm down.

An intense heat began to radiate through the boy's body, and it forced them to remove their hands from him as he moved forward, head-butted Riku, and swiftly got to his feet, Valor Form taking over and fire radiating from his very being like a wave from an open hearth. The red clothing of the Drive wasn't present, but all the energy was there around him in a manner that looked threatening and striking as Sora looked to Riku, the flames dying down, as he back-stepped and ran as swiftly as he could from the room, leaving the four of them behind with a mixture of worry, fear, confusion, and guilt.

"What...just happened?" asked Namine, a blend of concern and anxiety in her tone.

"I think we need to explain something to the two of you, but first..." Kairi nodded her head.

"We need to find Sora," she said as she started for the door.

"R-Right...we..." Roxas felt a knot form in his throat.

"I know where he is..." Riku walked out beside Kairi, and the other two followed and contemplated what they'd just seen.

It had taken them ten minutes to get to their wing in the castle, and an additional hour to convince Sora to let Riku into the room with him – it ultimately resulted in Riku opening the door with his Keyblade – and now another hour and a half of shouts and hellish sounding screams with Roxas, Namine, and Kairi waiting out in the hallway for any progress to be made with Sora. Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey had come up, and King Mickey was currently in the room with Riku and Sora; however, the two blondes had the distinct feeling that everyone but them knew what had happened to their Master. Sora had snapped, he'd gone from being relatively calm to near full-blown hysteria in a matter of minutes, but it wasn't over, and judging by the screams that they were still hearing, it wouldn't be for quite some time.

Roxas was still trying to piece together what had happened and why Sora had gone into the state he had, but he knew it was serious, and clearly something that everyone was aware of. Did he have something wrong with him? Was he just exhausted? Or was it something much more complex than just a simple state of something setting him off? Why did it feel so frightening? Cold? Why did it feel as if he was looking at someone else entirely when Sora had gone off the deep end and went nearly wild, despite Riku's best efforts to calm him.

Namine was thinking something along the same lines when the door to Sora's room opened, and King Mickey and Riku walked out before looking to the others who were awaiting their word. They hadn't noticed it before, but everything had gone quiet, and that set both the blondes on edge as they stepped back, not wanting to intrude while Kairi came forward, fear and concern evident as she looked to Riku, who took in a deep breath and looked down – showing a series of rather nasty looking scratches along his arms and left cheek that was joined by a busted lip. Sighing, once again, cyan eyes focused on Kairi and then to King Mickey, who gave them both a pitied look before he nodded.

"He's asking for you, Kairi; go on..." the girl nodded and walked past Riku as he stepped aside, and Roxas and Namine got the faint sight of Sora curled up at the headboard of the bed and Kairi coming towards him, while the boy kept dead, soulless eyes on the floor with an expression of clear terror and trauma in them.

"All of you, please follow me down to my study; I think we need to have a conversation about what's just transpired," King Mickey stated as he looked to everyone, who very slowly nodded.

"What about Kairi?" Riku said nothing, but the King spoke up.

"Right now, Roxas, Sora needs her more," he explained while the blonde boy nodded a bit numbly while the King began walking.

"Please, follow me..."

As they walked, none of them said a word, and silence began to weigh as much as the world while Roxas and Namine read the cues that everyone gave off: don't speak until everyone was in the study, and don't ask to much once they began to explain. They listened and said nothing.

{The King's Study: 4:15pm}

King Mickey waited for everyone to be settled comfortably by the fireplace in chairs or on the sofa as he paced the area between the two chairs, and Riku stood off to the side near the window. Roxas and Namine felt as if they were intruding upon a moment that shouldn't have been explained; however, they knew it was time for some of their answers to be had. Looking to Riku, the silver-haired Keyblade Master turned his gaze from them and towards the window, while the King continued pacing and Donald and Goofy hung back near them, while Roxas, and Namine took the sofa for themselves. They felt the desire to remain close to one another, because learning what they were about to, they knew, would change the dynamics of their relationship with not only the others, but Sora, forever.

Finally, King Mickey stopped pacing and looked to Riku, who sighed and shifted his position slightly while Donald frowned and moved forward before pointing towards the chair to the left of them, to which Riku looked down in defeat and came to sit down in the chair while Donald set to cleaning up the wounds on his arms and hands before tending to the scrapes across his cheek and arms – and what suspiciously looked like teeth marks on his shoulder – before the King shook his head and Roxas swallowed around the lump in his throat.

"Your...Majesty...what happened?" asked Namine as she steeled herself.

"Listen, I don't want you asking Sora about it..." they nodded slowly.

"Okay...but please...tell us what..." the girl was cut off.

"Sora had a relapse..." ocean and pale sapphire-blue eyes looked to Riku.

"A relapse?" asked Roxas.

"Yes..." Riku looked down and then flinched when Donald finished getting the glass out of his palm.

"Why would he have a relapse?" inquired Namine.

"You see...Sora has post-traumatic stress disorder, and what you just saw...that was a relapse because of it..." the two blondes seemed to almost shrink into themselves.

"How?" King Mickey looked to them.

"You both were told about something before you arrived here...it was an event that none of us speak of much, and Sora personally doesn't speak about nearly ever..." the two blondes thought for a moment, and then Roxas felt his body tense.

"The Dream Drop..." the King looked down.

"Yes, Sora died during that. I'm certain you were told about that...and unfortunately and fortunately, he doesn't remember a great deal of what happened..." the two blondes looked down.

"So how...does he have post-traumatic stress disorder if he doesn't remember?" asked Namine.

"Because...his body remembers all of it...and triggers are quite a dangerous thing to someone with amnesia due to a traumatic event..." Roxas felt ill at the notion.

"The Fire spell, and the glass breaking...he was nervous when he was coming towards Riku to make sure he was okay," he stated.

"And he panicked when I reached out to him and had blood on my hands..." Riku winced again as Donald gave him a frown and looked to the sight of the scratches and the one mark on his shoulder.

"What happened here, anyways? You look like an angry cat got a hold of you," stated Donald.

"No, it wasn't an angry cat. I tried to calm Sora down, and he attacked me when I grabbed him. I guess it was just instinct, but he scratched me up pretty good..." Namine winced.

"Sora's nails are blunt, aren't they?" she inquired.

"Yep, so guess how hard of a grip he had on me...not to mention..." Roxas looked down.

"Did he bite you?" Riku looked to his upper arm near his shoulder.

"Yea...I wasn't expecting that one, honestly..." cyan eyes looked down.

"So...what can we do? To help him?" Riku sighed.

"Not be as oblivious to these triggers. I made several mistakes this time – I showed him my bloodied hands, I held him down, I caused him to bite his lip and get the taste of blood in his mouth, and with all that including his sound sensory from the glass breaking and the smell of fire...he couldn't get loose, and I told him he had to wake up," he explained.

"How did saying that to him trigger something?" the Keyblade Master gave them a clearly disappointed look; however, it wasn't disappointment in them, but in himself.

"Those words were the things I said to him when he attacked us because he couldn't remember who we were and was going on instinct to survive...it triggered a memory," Riku stated as he glanced towards them.

"But why would him being held down bring up a memory as a trigger?" Donald tensed at Riku's side, and Goofy glanced down in concern.

"Donald? Goofy? Is something wrong?" asked King Mickey.

"It's just...I get the feeling that the memory that action triggered wasn't from the Dream Drop..." the others tensed as well.

"When was it from, then?" inquired Riku.

"It's from Castle Oblivion...when one of the Organization members – I think Marluxia is his name – tried to do something to Sora...I don't think he outright remembers it, though, so please...don't mention it...not to Sora..." Riku nodded slowly.

"I won't, besides...right now, Sora needs to recover from the relapse...and we need to be wary for a bit and not bring up any more things that could cause him pain," he stated.

"Why not go into town for the day? We've never been..." Riku looked to King Mickey, who smiled at Roxas and Namine.

"That would be a good idea. I'm sure once he's feeling better, it'll be a nice reprieve from training, and that reminds me..." the two blondes looked to the King.

"What?" King Mickey smiled.

"I believe you have an appointment with Master Yen Sid in four days. He's postponed it in favor of your training, but I believe a visit to him and the Good Fairies would be best," he said.

"Right...we haven't done that yet..." Riku looked to them as Donald finished up with treating his wounds and used a cure spell to deal with most of the deeper ones.

"Then I will let him know you are intending on coming, then..." With that, King Mickey allowed them to leave, and the three Keyblade Wielders walked out of the study and down the hallway, but in silence, only because they had learned something important today...

Never judge someone just by their outer appearance. Because one day, you would see exactly how damaged they were on the inside...

"What was that saying? Those who smile the brightest are the saddest, those who are the kindest are the loneliest, and those who are the wisest are the most damaged? I guess it's true...even heroes have wounds that don't heal...not completely..."

{….}

Be the One who took your place. When the rain falls...

{…...}

Author's Note: This is quite a heavy chapter. There are so many things that Roxas and Namine learned, and much more that they still have to learn. I hope everyone likes this update. We are 3 chapters away from the completion of this story. Now, please, let me know what you guys think!

Preview:

"Thinking about Sora?"

"Alright, we're done for today...well...almost..."

"I see...so...we're almost out of time..."

Chapter 13: Master