Lol, Oathy. That makes three fics I'm working on. =D
Chapter Eighty-Seven
Outside, the slam echoed through the candlelit hallway. King Mickey wasted no time in throwing his anxious glare to Sora, not to mention the disorientated Riku. Panic rushed through him, wondering just what in the world could have happened. Sora was alive. So was Loki. Riku was badly injured. All in all, it was a bewildering scene.
“What happened there?!” he exclaimed after a baffled pause, confused beyond all belief. His cheeks were flushed, and his palms were sweaty. “Sora, why did you leave?! Why didn’t you defeat him?” Words blurring into an incomprehensible ramble, he stopped with a sigh, composing himself to focus on the main matter at hand. “And is Riku okay?”
Lying Riku down on the ground, Sora gave no response at first. Riku tried to mumble a few words - to no avail, as he was promptly told to be quiet by a seemingly preoccupied Sora - and King Mickey was left in the dark until the Keyblade wielder would reply. He busied himself, taking a careful look at Riku’s battered face.
“Just when those other injuries were all healed up,” he sighed forlornly - seeing Riku’s face without injury was a sight he’d long forgotten - casting a healing spell, in the hope that it might halt the bruising. A green aura spread from his hands to Riku’s face, before gently being absorbed into his pale skin. “Starting a fight with him, Riku, what the hell were you thinking?”
The King listened with eyes like saucers, and his mouth parted.
“What?!” he exclaimed, though his shout was ignored - Riku promptly snapping back at Sora.
“I - ” Riku started, then had to stop himself. Teeth gritted together, he was obviously frustrated at his aching body. After a few deep breaths, his speech began to flow in an understandable - albeit painful - manner. “H-he hit me first.”
“Not the first time,” Sora frowned. It was not that he disagreed with Riku - after all, his actions were justifiable - but he’d been somewhat of a loose cannon. “You went and punched him in the jaw, Riku. I… I thought…” He paused. “I thought he was gonna kill you. There’s no doubt in my mind he’d have snapped your neck in two.” He looked down on his friend, sighing a leaden breath. “And I can’t believe you provoked him like that - even after what he did to you!”
“Y-you’re saying I should have just dropped it?” Riku questioned, eyes narrow as he looked up at Sora and the King. “After everything he and Sable put my family through?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Sora said, shaking his head gently, “what I meant is, you accusing him like that. Everything was alright! Sable and Orexein convinced him to quit, but you had to pursue the argument!”
“What do you mean?” the King burst forth, being driven mad at the way he was being kept in the dark.
“Riku challenged Loki and Sable,” Sora turned to him, to explain, “about why they tried to steal Taiko, and why he messed with their heads, using Meiji.” The King nodded, folding his arms.
“He had every right to,” he stated firmly in Riku‘s defence. The silver-haired man was slowly easing himself into a sitting position. Sora offered him help, but Riku refused.
“Exactly!” Sora agreed, nodding. “But even though Loki apologised for it, and admitted he’d done wrong, Riku refused to believe him.”
“Well, he’s not the most trustworthy person, Sora,” King Mickey insisted, rather bemused at Sora‘s logic at that point. “Riku did have a point.”
“But not when he challenged Loki’s feelings for his friends,” Sora frowned. “Riku accused Loki of lying about it, just like he was supposedly lying about his feelings for Sable.” He looked to Riku. “It wasn’t a good plan to accuse him of that. He went crazy.”
“Feelings for Sable?” King Mickey repeated, intrigued. “I thought she just ran around, doing his errands.” Sora shook his head, knowing better.
“She loves him,” he murmured, reminiscing. The King seemed surprised; it was hard to imagine those two having tender feelings for one another. “Obviously a lot.” He rubbed his neck nervously; evidently, he still felt guilty for this particular incident. “I - I accidentally hurt her.” After receiving a questioning look from the King, he explained. “Loki was badly hurt. I went to finish him off, but Sable jumped in front of him.”
Stunned by this apparent event, the King cleared his throat.
“I see,” he breathed. “So she saved his life.” Sora nodded. He was about to continue, but King Mickey held up a hand. Things seemed too complicated to discuss further at that moment; making sense of it could take a while. “Perhaps none of this is important right now. This can wait until we have reached the others, I’m sure.”
“Okay,” Sora murmured, seeming rather pensive, as he had done for a short time now. Of course, this was not through worrying about Riku - he knew that Riku would calm down soon enough, and all of this would be forgotten. A thought popped into his mind. “Oh, we need to go to the ballroom. Loki’s casting a portal for us - back to Pyra.” The King was perplexed.
“What?” he said, with a baffled smile upon his face. The smile was clearly the embodiment of his confusion. Their enemy was helping them? “Never mind, explain later.”
Sora nodded, complying with the King’s wishes - and, going against Riku’s, was helping him back up to his feet. With that, they continued walking, back down to the ballroom, where the others - and the portal - were waiting. Riku managed to walk by himself, without help from the King, or Sora. Sora’s pace seemed to speed up as they went, footsteps resonant in the weak light flickering around them. He walked ahead of the others.
“Slow down!” Riku frowned, hobbling along at the King’s side. The King shook his head at Riku, shushing his comments.
“He’s worried about Kairi,” the King reminded Riku. A look of realisation formed upon Riku’s face. “Now, I don’t know what happened in there with Loki, but I know that Sora’s probably only being so snippy with you because he’s desperate to see her.”
Riku sighed, shrugging.
“You’re right,” he breathed, “but I guess I was a bit of an ass in there.” His gaze found the stone floor as he walked. “I got pretty carried away shouting at him on a few occasions. I even punched the guy.” Closing his eyes, he wished he could go back and correct himself. “Worse was that I implied Sable and Loki felt no guilt for what they tried with Taiko, but… Sable gained herself a heart. There’s no way she could have done that and been happy with what she tried. Looking back, I know their apology was sincere…”
The King nodded, but did not speak another word. Understanding, he knew that the two would be back to normal as soon as they’d reached the ship; most likely, as soon as they reached the ballroom.
Sora, too, remained silent, consumed with thought. Closing his eyes, he saw her lying there, still, and silent before his aching heart. Clearly, as the King had stated, he wanted to know one thing, and one thing only - was Kairi okay? Opening his eyes again, he saw the double doors; at the other side was his answer.
He took a deep breath, praying that she’d be there; safe and sound.
Stepping through the double doors, and into the white ballroom, Sora seemed to receive a burst of energy.
Everything was going too fast for him to comprehend. His footsteps broke into a staggered run as he saw her sunny smile. The delighted energy within him was enough to force him on, but as he moved, his exhausted body began to betray him. Tumbling to the ground, he landed with a noisy thud. Perhaps it was too soon to exert himself like that, but he couldn’t help his ecstatic reaction.
“Sora!” she shouted in alarm, watching anxiously as he attempted to pull himself back up to move once more. Rising up from the ground, Sora began to run, closer and closer until they were no longer apart.
Finally reaching her, he threw his arms around her, tightly embracing her as if he’d been torn from her for a lifetime. The caress of her hair, the warmth of her touch; even her smell seemed precious at that moment. She seemed so frightened at his injured body, but his smile was enough to reassure her that everything was fine. He buried his face into her shoulder, heart pounding as the relieved joy burst through him - she was alive.
“Kairi,” he smiled, unable to control the grin upon his beaming face - nor the streams of tears from his eyes, “y-you’re okay, Koma didn’t - ”
Smiling, she shushed him, playfully holding her finger to his lips.
“Sora, I’m the last thing you need to worry about,” she giggled, before gently cupping his chin in her dainty hands.
Delighted at the simple sound of her voice, he rested his forehead on hers, eyes meeting in a warm blue embrace as her fingers coaxed their way into his messy brown hair. Pressing her lips to his, she kissed him, as if she had been denied him for an eternity.
“I was so worried about you,” he whispered as their lips parted, noses brushing as she moved away from him. He felt unable to let her leave his arms, tenderly holding her to his heaving chest in his protective grasp. “When I was fighting Loki, I knew I had to get back here in one piece… I knew I had to make sure you were alright.”
Kairi smiled gently; she meant the world to him, and he was not shy about telling her.
“That doesn’t matter anymore,” she smiled at him, letting her arms fall to his sides before twining her hands with his. “We’re together.” She peered around him to see Riku, lost in Imari’s arms, and the King, chattering with Donald and Goofy. “You’re all back, safe and sound.”
Leaving a kiss on Imari’s forehead, Riku’s arms left her for a moment, only to let one curl around her as he turned to Kairi. He nodded.
“Thanks to Sora,” he said. Sora looked back at him with a simple smile.
After a few moments of silence, Imari spoke up; while Riku scooped the baby into his arms.
“What happened, Sora?” she asked tremulously. “We heard the fighting down here.”
Surprised, Sora looked to Kairi, who reinforced this.
“Yep,” she commented. “We could hear some shouting, too. There was one sound loud enough to make the ceiling shake.”
“Was that when you defeated him, Sora?” Goofy asked from across the room. “Was he a Heartless?”
Sora rubbed at his neck, a nervous smile spreading over his blushing face.
“Uh,” he smiled, prompting a great deal of curiosity from Kairi, Imari, Donald and Goofy. All of them looked at him eagerly, uneasy expressions upon their faces. “It’s a long story… it can wait until we’re on the ship.”
Donald frowned, glaring at Sora dejectedly.
“That’s days away,” he squawked impatiently. Riku stepped forward, shaking his head.
“Loki’s casting a portal for us,” he announced. He looked at Sora, trying to remember the man’s words. “Back to Pyra?”
Sora nodded, but before he could open his mouth to reply to the baffled look upon his friends‘ faces, a droning sound filled the vast room. Looking around, they could not establish where this sound emanated from. The atmosphere crackled with uncertainty.
Looking to the front of the hall, slowly, but surely, a black wisp began to take form at the top of the white staircase. Eventually, it spiralled into a deep, dark void, swirling and smoking before their eyes. The drone was subsiding, but was still consistent.
“That must be it,” Sora breathed, announcing the arrival of the portal. “We should get going.”
Kairi looked at him blankly, dumbfounded. She could not understand what was going on - and, from the looks on their faces, the others did not understand, either. Imari seemed distrusting, as did Donald, and Goofy. They were clearly uneasy about what they were about to do. Their enemy helping them did not make sense.
“Sora, this isn’t right,” Kairi whispered, squeezing his hand a little. “Loki… is he still alive?”
Sora nodded, but gave her a reassuring look.
“I know that sounds crazy,” he said, “but - ”
“You didn’t defeat him?!” Donald squawked, blazing forward. Riku frowned.
“We told you,” he agreed with Sora, “we’ll explain once we’ve reached the Gummi Ship! It’s sorta complicated…”
Sora began to pace forward, hoping that if he led the way, then the others might follow.
“We don’t have time to argue about this,” he sighed, looking back as he realised his plan had not worked; other than leading Kairi, the King, and Riku. While the King, and Riku knew that this portal was a safe way for them to get back, they assumed that Kairi was trusting of Sora - enough to use a portal sent by the enemy. “Just… just trust me, okay?”
With that, he moved forward with Kairi at his side, pacing towards the portal in a confident stride. Stepping up the stairs, he looked over his shoulder at the others before passing through it, into the void.
There won’t be a new chapter until at least Friday. I have lots of homework to do. Homework I should have done in the last 6 weeks… very sorry about these hideously inconsistent updates n_n;
Thanks for all the patience.
<3