KH: Ficlet: Part 8

[size=1][center][justify]Sora sighed as he stood from the bench. It seemed like a silly idea, but he kept thinking Riku would return there. He wasted enough time waiting at the bench for that night. With his arms folded behind his head, he headed back toward his dormitory.

A shock of silver flashed at the edge of his vision. His heart jumped in hope. Sora immediately turned course and chased after what he hoped to be his friend. He rounded the corner after the person and reached for him. But this wasn’t Riku. This man was taller, and his silver hair was far longer than Riku’s hair. His movements slowed before he could grab hold of the man’s shirt. Then in the blink of an eye, the man had him slammed up against the wall of the building. He glared with irritation in his eyes as he pressed Sora into the wall. A chill ran through Sora at the look in his eyes.

“Hey!” The shout came from a few feet away. Sora was almost too scared to break eye contact with this strange man with hair that matched his friend in color. The man broke eye contact first, but he still held Sora pinned to the wall. Sora followed his gaze and saw another man, one with blond spiky hair. He had the same intense glare as the silver haired man.

“Starting your own fan club now?” The silver haired man sneered with an almost cruel smirk. He said nothing more as he released Sora. He stormed off, giving neither Sora nor Cloud a second look.

Sora watched him leave, recalling the last time that he saw Riku. Why didn’t he go after his friend that day? Were they friends? From the way Riku left, Sora was beginning to think he was the only one that thought they were friends. He nervously turned his attention back to the other man. He stared at Sora, and his gaze slowly drifted up to look at Sora’s hair. “Ah, no, this isn’t-” Sora said, waving his hands before him. While their hairstyles were similar, Sora never saw this man before now. How could he have copied his hairstyle?

The blond man shook his head. “He gets like that when the girls try to corner him.” He followed in the footsteps of the silver haired man.

Sora started to turn, his dormitory being in the opposite direction. But movement in the blond man’s shadow made him pause. His breath caught in his throat as he watched the dark shape rise from the shadows. It was taller than the ones that attacked Sora so many nights ago. It had longer, jagged antennae. And it was stalking the blond man. Sora didn’t hesitate to act. The Keyblade appeared in his hands without him having to even think about it. He didn’t know anything about the creatures, and he didn’t even know the man’s name. But he couldn’t just turn a blind eye while some weird shadow thing attacked someone, even a stranger. Sora pushed the man out of the way as he used the Keyblade to block the creature’s attack. He thrust back, knocking the shadow being to the ground. More of the creatures were crawling from the shadows.

“What are those things?” the blond questioned, oddly nowhere near as panicked as Sora the first time he encountered them. But maybe he was just better at hiding his fears.

“I’d tell you, but I have no idea,” Sora replied. He fended off another of the creatures. He slashed through the creature. It burst into a dark cloud, and a spark of light rose then faded into the night sky. The cloud dissipated in seconds. Sora threw a quick glance at the man. “They seem to be targeting you though. Hurry and get someplace safe.” But even after saying that, he realized that the creatures had turned their attentions onto him. They lost complete interest in the blond man.

“I’ll fight.” The man was at Sora’s side in a heartbeat.

“No, get out of here,” Sora argued, shoving his way to stand between the creatures and the man. “You have no weapon to fight with.” But the man didn’t look like he would simply run away from this fight. Talking would probably do little good in convincing the man to leave. Sora growled as he swung the Keyblade down on another of the creatures. It vanished similarly to the first one. But a second one landed a hit, scratching its sharp claws down his left side. Sora winced. He had to get these creatures away from the man before he got hurt too. After ramming the Keyblade through the creature that wounded him, Sora ran.

The creatures hesitated, staring intently at the blond man, who stood ready to fight back despite his confusion. But they ignored him and followed after Sora. When he found a clear area of the campus, Sora spun back toward the creatures chasing him. He fought the mob off to the best of his ability. But he couldn’t hold off against their numbers unscathed. Every time he defeated one, another managed to cut him from behind or from the sides. He cut down their numbers, but he was losing energy quickly. Sora dropped to one knee, using the Keyblade to help keep him upright. His clothes were ripped up, and blood flowed from his wounds.

One of the creatures leaped at him. Sora struggled back to his feet to counter it. But he was too slow, and the creature was upon him. Then the creature burst like the others. Sora stood frozen in shock as the dark cloud before him faded away. What happened? Sora hadn’t even touched the creature. He turned slowly and stood face-to-face with a man in a black cloak. The hood was up, hiding the stranger’s face. But like Sora, he held a Keyblade in his hand. Sora’s mind spun. What was going on? Was this man here to fight him like the masked man? He fell into a defensive stance, even though his vision swam from exhaustion and blood loss. He wouldn’t survive in a drawn out battle.

But the man didn’t attack him. Instead, he silently slashed down the remaining creatures. Sora took down what few he could in his current state. Together, they took out the final creature. Then they stood face-to-face again. Sora tightly gripped the hilt of his Keyblade, waiting to see if the man would attack. He still didn’t. His Keyblade vanished, and Sora hesitated before letting his own Keyblade disappear as well. Then the adrenaline pumping through him during the fight seemed to rush out of him all at once. His body pitched forward, succumbing to exhaustion. The man caught him as he fell.[/justify][/center][/size]