Fan Fiction ❯ Sapphire Chains ❯ And The Cavalry Arrives ( Chapter 2 )

AN: Erm...I guess you can figure that I ran into some unforeseen consequences minna. I know I shouldn't make excuses but my computer decided to crash and take all my files with it. I just recently got them back and most were at least partially corrupted, then to top it all off I caught a nasty bug that refuses to leave me alone. On that topic gomen minna, hope you enjoy the latest chapter.

DISCLAIMER: If I had a dollar for every person who thought I owned Kingdom Hearts then...I'd be poorer then I already am, take a hint and don't sue please.

WARNINGS: None really for this chapter. However in future chapters there will be RikuXSora pairings, Yaoi, Shonen ai, Violence, and Sexual Situations between minors.

Sora dreamed.

A place of pure darkness and he was lost, searching for a guide.

Music poured from the unseen

A piano piece, which spoke of hurried mourning and fear.

He searched for where it came from, the walls, the ceiling, the floor but all were lost in the blackness.

Glass shattered and a light appeared down a tunnel of darkness.

He ran toward it seeing it get further and further until he could no longer see it.

He turned to fall in to brilliantly cold light.

He was drowning in dazzling brilliance.

Stepped forward, stumbled, fell.

His hands landed in liquid warmth, brilliant vermilion, vivid scarlet...

Blood...

'Return...'

Warm...

'Return to me...'

Fresh...

'They will come...'

Leon, Cloud, Yuffie, gone...

'They will fight...'

Tsuki, Riku...

'They will die...'

Sora...

'Save us...'

Sora...

'The Keyblade master...'

Sora...

'Fight for us...'

Sora...

'Our hero...'

"'Sora'"

Sora bolted upright, breathing heavily, wrist already twisting to bring the Keyblade to him. A hand gripped his wrist, stopping it mid-motion. On instinct he brought his wrist in towards his body in preparation for ramming his elbow into his attackers stomach even as he looked up to face them.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks. Riku was leaning slightly forwards toward his friend; too long silver hair falling in his eyes and around his face like a curtain. Beyond them Tsuki's eyes snapped open as she stiffened in the chair where she had slept. For a moment they all seemed frozen in time before Sora pushed into Riku's arms.

The two boys sat holding each other on the bed while Tsuki scanned the room in an attempt to head off any possible trouble before letting her eyes return to the bed. Sora was quivering faintly in Riku's arms though he had apparently calmed some since his sudden awakening. Slowly Tsuki rose from her bed and moved to sit slightly behind the frightened boy. By the time Sora had calmed fully and pulled far enough away from Riku to see the rest of the room the clock tower had just finished its 6th stroke.

Riku kept an arm wrapped lightly around his best friends shoulders while Tsuki fastened her arms around his slender waist and leaned on his other shoulder. For a few moments they just sat there until Tsuki finally spoke.

"Want to talk about it?" Sora shook his head lightly, turning to bury his face in Riku's shoulder.

"Want to go down to the café then?" Her voice was purposely soft, trying to comfort the Keyblade master who had so obviously been shaken by what he had dreamed. After a moments hesitation Sora nodded gently, head still buried in Riku's neck.

Fifteen minutes later found the three teens in the small first district café, a selection of breakfast foods spread before them on the table...not that any of them seemed particularly hungry. Sora had his head lying on the table while Riku and Tsuki sat and watched him and the courtyard beyond.

A few moments later Tsuki sat up looking vaguely like a dog perking its ears. Seconds later she settled back in to her chair and rolled her eyes.

"And the cavalry arrives." A faint smirk touched the corners of her lips. At the top of the stairs Leon appeared, backed by Cloud and Yuffie. He was currently glaring blue murder at the three, particularly the only female. Of course it was rather hard to tell considering that Leon's normal state of being was perfecting the art of the glare.

He promptly stormed over to the small café table and immediately took to hovering menacingly over them. The effort however was completely wasted on the fact that Tsuki was currently being preoccupied by the fact that Cloud looked decidedly mussed and as though he would begin blushing like a school girl at any moment, Riku had spent far too long locked in Kingdom Hearts to let a mere mortal intimidate him, and Sora was still involved in an intimate forehead to table meeting.

He waited for a few moments in order to give them time to cower properly and looked decidedly pissed when he discovered that there would indeed be no cowering. Instead he was forced to lash out, knocking the center chair over and causing the young Keybarer to fall to the floor with a thud. He grunted vaguely at them then.

"We found another faction. Come on." Unceremoniously he seized Cloud by the back of his tattered mantle and began to drag him towards the world gates, which would take them out to the gummy ship and, subsequently, the space between the worlds. Almost as an afterthought Leon reached back and grabbed Yuffie's arm, using it to drag her along as well. Yuffie didn't take lightly to this and immediately began to struggle, unlike Cloud who seemed strangely used to the rough treatment and remained eerily calm as he was towed along in Leon's wake.

Meanwhile, Tsuki and Riku were mildly preoccupied from their amusement at the scene by getting Sora up and moving towards the exit before they could give the already perturbed gunblade wielder any additional material to rant about. Approximately halfway to their destination Sora began to grumble loudly.

"Awww...and I didn't even get to eat breakfast." He pouted in that adorable little boy way of his, arms coming up to cross his chest. Riku and Tsuki smirked at each other over Sora's hair quickly as they produced, from seemingly nowhere, a muffin and mini carton of milk respectively. Sora beamed as he snatched his impromptu breakfast from them.

Once on the gummy ship Cid and Sora engaged in a brief argument over who would be the pilot, which left Sora pouting, and Cid looking like the cat who ate the cream. Settled firmly between Riku and Tsuki, Sora took great enjoyment in grumbling about how odd it was to be expected to save the worlds and yet not be allowed to attempt such a simple task as flying a gummy ship, the unfairness of it all. At hearing this ranting Tsuki turned to smirk out the window and Riku tipped his face forward so his expression was hidden behind his long hair.

Half an hour later Tsuki's smirk had died into mild boredom, Sora had fallen silent after exhausting his supply of adjectives including some of the four-letter variety he'd picked up from hanging around the pilot too long, and Riku was looking around in mild interest since he'd never been on a ship like this before. Their individual musings were interrupted by a sudden jolt. Several more jolts followed in quick succession and Cid swore virulently. Leon rushed to the front of the ship as more turbulence shook them and Yuffie called from the back, asking what the problem was. Sora's eyes had been fixed forward since the shaking started but now he turned in the direction of Tsuki's muttered exclamation.

"What?" He asked peering over her shoulder to the window that seemed to have captured her attention. Behind him Riku leaned in to his space in an attempt to do the same. Tsuki only moved slightly to allow them a chance to see while pointing out into the multicolored swirls of space.

Before the ship laid rank upon rank of Heartless' ships all blocking their path to a small planet covered in writhing darkness.

AN: Well that's it for this chapter. Before the end I wanted to ask for your help on something. I am trying to make sure that Tsuki stays an original character and doesn't become a Mary Sue but as such I'm having problems deciding what to do with her later in the story. My question to you is should I kill her off? And if not what should I do with her? Should I pair her up? If so with who? Drop me a line, I promise to consider all suggestions. Thank you.

THANK YOU'S:

{EDITED 4-14-2005: Review Responses and Thank-you's will now be kept on the Sapphire Chains live journal site. They can now be found at www.livejournal.com/~himedonos_SC