It was a lot harder to wake up when it was still dark out, Sora had learned. Growing up in a sunny climate had spoiled him.
Despite the bright neon lights of his surroundings and the inevitable gnaw of hunger, he had to force himself awake after what felt like no time at all.
"Ungh…" he smacked his dry lips and immediately downed a bottle of water. Marshmallows were a terrible breakfast, but better than nothing at all, and the package only crinkled a little bit, so he didn't disturb the pathetic heap opposite.
Her wings flickering like they were low on battery, she'd obviously huddled for warmth around the sulking remains of the campfire. And he was going to have to wake her up soon, wasn't he?
Packing away the camping stuff as quietly as he could - a little more sleeping time couldn't hurt - he stretched and downed another bottle of water, before stretching again and looking around. There weren't even any monsters to fight.
It was inevitable at this point. If nothing else, he had to pack the Boko pillow away.
"…h-hey, sleepyhead." He gently nudged her with a finger on the shoulder. Where was it even appropriate to touch a fairy anyway? They were so small and delicate, and-
"Mrgrgr…" she kicked out at nothing. "Don't call me that."
"Well what am I supposed to call you?" He chuckled.
"My name?" Yriax pivoted into position. "Or that dumb nickname you made up for me literally a few hours ago? Just stay away from the babying stuff, got it?"
"Yes ma'am!" Sora threw a salute. "A-anyway, I tried to let you sleep as much as possible, because you needed your rest. But you also wanna get these Crystals activated, huh?"
"So you have been listening." She smirked up at him. With a test flap or two of her wings, and an almighty crack from her lower back, she slowly levitated from the ground, restoring some light to her wings. The surroundings pulsed with life around her, like a rainbow just attacked them.
"Oh wow," Sora had to shield his eyes. "If this is what you're like after a nap, you must be amazing at full power!"
"You know it!" She twirled. "And every step towards those Crystals is a step closer to full power. So if there's nothing else…?"
"Just… gotta put Boko away!" Sora quickly stuffed the little cushion into his rucksack, and Mini-fied it again. The rucksack was stowed away, and he pumped two fists. "Ready!"
"Hm. How organised." Yriax nodded in approval. "Oh, and… thanks, Sora. That pillow really was comfortable, even if it was an awful colour."
"No problem! I won't tell Boko." Sora grinned, and their journey to the Fire Crystal had resumed.
Fending off various monsters to help the time pass - under Yriax's watchful eye, of course - the mood definitely seemed to have improved since yesterday, where she was offering friendly advice and even occasional conversation. All without being prompted.
"So yeah, it turns out that anyone can make a massive boat fly if you've got some Orichalcum to power the engine!" She mused. "Sure, you're screwed once that precious resource runs dry and the weapon economy crashes, but why would the Heroes of Light worry about consequences?"
"You really don't like these guys, huh?" Sora said. It didn't offer much to the conversation, but he showed he was listening. That was enough, right?
"That's putting it lightly." Yriax sighed. "Anyway, before you get too curious, we're here! The Fire Crystal, in all her glory!"
Sora scratched two dirty feet across the floor and craned his neck skyward.
The thing must've been a few hundred feet tall. What looked like a deep burgundy sort of colour was tarnished by sporadic splotches that gave off a shadowy aura, dulling the natural lustre.
"…she could stand to be glorious…er." He muttered.
"And that's what we're here for, remember?" Yriax smiled thinly, using that annoyed tone of voice again.
"…ahah, oh yeah." Sora shook his head fondly. "So uh, what do I do here? Just hands together, head down, think holy thoughts?"
"Pretty much?" Yriax shrugged. "Officially there is a Vestal Garb you're supposed to wear, but it's very dressy…"
Sora grimaced.
"Also I don't have it. So don't worry Sora, you don't have to wear a dress." She patted him on the head. "One thing we might have to do is scare off that Orthros. Ready for another battle?"
"As I'll ever be…?" Sora summoned his Keyblade, just as the Orthros jumped out from the shadows. A massive, muscular dog that was practically invisible against the blackness of the world surrounding it, it was caught out by its two heads, which glowed blue and orange respectively.
"Okay, remember the rules, Sora." Yriax muttered from his left. "Default when you can, Brave when you must. Also bad guys don't follow the rules. Now go get him!"
"I got this!" He grinned, and took a defensive stance, Keyblade drawn across his body.
As if on cue, the orange head released a blast of searing hot flames from its mouth. The urge to handspring away was powerful, and the heat was overwhelming, but Sora split the flames by digging his Keyblade into the ground, blocking most of the damage.
"Goofy would be so useful here…" he grunted, sweat cascading from his brow against the sheer heat of the flames.
"Well you don't have Goofy, you have me." Yriax lit him up with a Regen spell. "You just focus on Orthros."
"I take it I aim for the heads?" Sora flashed red with Brave, and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the head to his left. Its flames flickered for a moment, like a candle when you slam the door, but didn't seem that harmed by his attacks. He looked back at Yriax, who just shrugged in response. As cagey as ever, he groaned internally.
Unless she genuinely didn't know. That was a possibility, he supposed. In any case, the heads looked more vulnerable than the body, and attacking the body meant getting past the heads, so it just made sense.
It was Cerberus all over again, except that one of the heads apparently breathed ice. Readying his Keyblade just in time, he shielded himself from the incoming blizzard, but could feel the numbness clawing at his tender fingers for every agonising second.
The icy breath finally petered out, and Sora shook some life back into his hand as Yriax bathed him in a bright pink Shell barrier.
"That should help." She smiled. "It looks like it mostly attacks with magic."
"You don't know?" Sora glanced back at her.
"I've told you Sora, I can't know everything." Yriax chided. "If you've got a handy journal that lists the attacks and weaknesses of every monster in this world, I'd love that! But we don't, so we just have to learn on the job! Don't you love acting on instinct?"
"But I can't, because I gotta Default, and Brave, and Default!" Sora cried, piercing the ground with his Keyblade again as the fire head readied another attack. A consistent blast of fire sure helped to soothe his frosty digits for a few moments… until it was unbearable heat again.
Yriax's supporting Shell and Regen were really helping to minimise actual damage, though. Her methods were slow and painful, but she at least got results with them.
A second round of Defaulting gave him precious extra seconds to assault the flaming head with Brave, but as the icy head started to glow brighter, it raised the important question; was attacking one head at a time the way to go?
Regret grew with every movement, but as Sora unleashed another flurry of attacks against the orange head, it was too late for him to undo his mistake.
Digging his Keyblade into the ground just in time, all he could really do was stomach the pain as both heads attacked at once. Despite hot meeting cold, the two plumes of breath did nothing to cancel each other out, and either side of Sora's body was raked with scorching and freezing breath. Blistering on one side, (SOMETHING) on the other, he was blown back by powerful explosions in the middle, and had to hold onto his Keyblade for dear life.
The maelstrom eventually petered out, and Sora fell to the ground with a thud. A healing splash of Regen felt like a drop in the bucket, but it was better than nothing as Yriax just floated there obliviously.
"Okay..." He gasped, dragging himself to his feet. "Note to self. Don't do that again."
"I'll remind you!" Yriax said brightly, illuminating him with another Curaga spell, and he found some of the strength returning to his limbs once again.
But with every round of Sora defending himself against the hits, retaliating with a series of Brave attacks, and Yriax healing him up, only to repeat the process, it became increasingly obvious. He was the puppet in this whole charade.
He was the one defeating the monsters, but she was the one pulling the strings. The moment he stopped doing things her way? All that healing support was going to dry up, wasn't it?
And all this pain, all this labour, both physical and emotional, just to get out of this place?
He'd dug himself some pretty deep holes in the past, but this one was ready to cave in above him. What choice was there but to soldier on, take the pain, and just pray nothing went wrong.
They might've been helping each other, but Yriax had made it clear that they weren't friends.
Orthros' flaming head lunged with alarming speed, and Sora only just reacted in time, repelling those cruel fangs with the hilt of his keyblade.
"Careful, Sora!" Yriax called, as if he hadn't almost gotten his throat ripped out. It brought momentum, though; the fire head was recoiling in pain.
Sure, Sora shrugged, he would too if he just bit into metal, but now wasn't the time for that. The ice head was glowing brightly again, so it was time to put a stop to that.
Bravery could come later. Pivoting to his right, he struck the Orthros' frozen head one, two, three times with his Keyblade, followed by another smack from above for good measure.
It fell back, and the glow died down, and Sora took a glance back, but Yriax she just launched another Curaga spell at him, looking only mildly annoyed.
"...what?" She frowned.
"I was uh, expecting you to yell at me there. For br-ending the rules and stuff." Sora chewed his lip, before bringing his attention back towards Orthros, who just attacked with another flurry of ice breath.
"Oh no, don't worry about that, Sora." There was that annoyed tone again. "It's not like I know the rules of this world or anything. You just keep on ignoring my advice!"
"Aw c'mon...!" He sighed, flashing red with Brave energy and smacking Orthros' flaming head six times in a split second. "I just didn't wanna get attacked by the fire and ice breath!"
Flames dwindled to an ashy wisp, and a head fell limp, before dissolving into dust. Sora took a moment to catch his breath, as Yriax lit him up with a fresh coat of Shell.
"See? I do kinda know what I'm doing?" He shrugged back at her, only for her to glower in response.
"Let's not brag, hm?" She muttered, fluttering out of the way as another blizzard of ice breath shattered past, catching Sora right in the middle. With one head out of commission, it was doubling up on its efforts, he supposed.
But it was child's play now. With no threat of the double breath attack, all he had to do was block and counter. Default, Brave, Counter. Default, Brave, Counter. Default, Brave, Counter. It was boring, but it was getting results. Orthros was a lot more aggressive without its other head, but also a lot more predictable, as it only had two attacks, both of which Sora could block.
That was until a blast of Firaja hit it in the side, and the beast was launched into the stratosphere from the explosion. Sora was bowled back from the sheer heat of the attack, scratching his Keyblade into the ground for traction, but the damage was done, and Orthros was wiped from existence.
"...wha?" He frowned in bewilderment at nothing. A chill abseiled down his spine as he caught sight of Yriax, who had her hands tucked behind her back.