SoD part 1 chapt 2

Chapter 2: The calm before the storm

"You live long enough to hear the sound of guns, long enough to find yourself screaming every night,long enough to see your friends betray you…" (Nightwish, The pacific)
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"So, are you going to come with me to the city this weekend or not?"

Kairi made a slight frown as she thought over her options while Sarah focused on getting the right books out of her locker and into her bag before they could head home, her blonde shoulder length hair almost disappearing completely into the locker as she tried to reach for a notebook that had somehow got stuck against something sticky on the back wall.

"I don't know, Sarah, I honestly don't feel like spending an entire weekend on window shopping and café-hopping," Kairi finally answered as her classmate smacked her locker door shut and turned to look at her.

"Whoever said window shopping? I'm talking about the big sales weekend here – I'm going for complete shopping frenzy!" Sarah replied and flung out her hands in a wild gesture of how much she was going to carry out of the stores.

"Yeah, well, I'm sort of saving up my money for a trip this summer, so I'm not buying anything not desperately needed," Kairi said slowly as she walked beside her friend through the doors of the main building at Destiny Islands High.

"Seriously, Kairi, you're no fun lately. All you do is hang around at the island all day or study. Don't you ever go out to have fun?"

Kairi was about to answer her, when she spotted a light brown mass of spiky hair that she recognized, sticking out of the crowd by being placed upon the head belonging to someone about one head taller than the rest of the students. The collar of his white school uniform shirt was un-folded and stood straight up at the back of his neck, revealing the presence of a loosely knotted sky- and navy blue checkered tie around his neck.  He never did care much for the uniform standards.

"Sora!" she called out with a smile and waved at him as he turned around to look at her. Sora raised a hand as well in a slow wave and his blue eyes rested on her as he let her know with a nod towards the bike stands that he'd wait for her over there.

Kairi nodded her understanding, careful not to let her smile falter as she noticed just how tired he seemed to be. She was worried for him. If his nightmares didn't leave him alone soon, he would have to get some help to sleep.   

"Aherm, the world of the living calls out to Kairi, do you reply?"

Kairi turned her attention back to Sarah.

"What?" she asked as she tried to gather her mind around what they had been talking about before the interruption.

"Seriously, Kairi! I can't understand what it is that you see in that guy! He's so not worthy of your attention. And what's with that sick look he's got? Is he seriously ill or something?"

Kairi felt like slapping her in the face at the remark, but an angry expression had to suffice. She had already lost too many of her friends due to her defending Sora and the way he was.

"He's not sick, just tired. And by the way, yes, I spend a lot of time with him, just like you spend a great deal of your time with Seto, but you don't hear me calling him names because of it."

"Ouch, sorry if I stepped on a sore foot, Kairi, but I'm only thinking of what's best for you", Sarah bit back and looked at her with reprimanding green eyes. "That guy's been totally weird ever since he got back from that trip, or whatever it was. I'm telling you that you should be careful, 'cause you never know what he might be up to. I've heard really strange stories about him, like, there's this huge scar on his chest…"

"Enough!" Kairi almost yelled at her, the note of the scar setting something on fire inside of her.

Screw tact, and screw trying to keep a friend that had no sense of tact herself.

"You don't know him at all and seriously, you shouldn't believe anything that those other guys in his class are making up about him! He's been through a great deal of difficult things that none of you even know the half of and if you can't accept that it has changed him somewhat, then… then screw you!" and with that she turned on her heel and stomped off towards where she knew she'd find Sora waiting for her, leaving a very much surprised and shocked former friend behind her.

When he saw Kairi come towards him looking more or less like a red-haired personification of a thunder storm, Sora knew something had happened and he had a distinct feeling that it had to do with him. Again.

He greeted her with open arms, giving her anger stiffened body a friendly hug before they started walking.

"So, you wanna' talk about it?" he said after a while and dared a smile in her direction.
She looked up at him with a sad smile in response and Sora felt like hitting himself for being right.

"It's nothing, really," Kairi said with a forced cheerfulness in her voice. "It's just Sarah being more stupid than usual."

Sora sighed and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as they walked.

"So, what was it this time? I'm a drug junkie, a suicidal wreck, a social disaster and a total air-headed freak? Close?"

Kairi stared at him in shock but didn't pull away. Instead she leaned in closer, taking hold of his waist to balance herself.

"Hm, I think she insinuated something like it…" was all she said and Sora clenched his teeth in order not to say something stupid.

This was the fourth time someone had tried to get Kairi away from him, not counting the number of times that her adoptive parents had tried the same thing when they thought he didn't hear them.

"Kairi, I'm…"

"Oh, no you don't!" Kairi interrupted him and firmed her hold on his waist. "You should not say you're sorry, 'cause it's not your fault, it's theirs and theirs alone! You shouldn't apologize for things you have no guilt in."

"But they're treating you the way they do because of me! How can I not feel guilty about that, huh?" Sora objected, his eyes glowing with the kept in rage.

Kairi stopped him and looked up into his sad and angry blue eyes, feeling in her heart that she loved him and always would do so, no matter what others might say. Those sapphire depths, showing the inner most feelings of his heart, told her that the feeling was mutual and she smiled, a true and warm smile from her heart.

"You could always start by believing me when I say that you're innocent in the matter," she said and reached up, standing on her toes and slinging her arms around his neck as she softly placed her lips on his in a tender kiss.

Sora's face slowly brightened and his lips curved upwards in a smile rarely seen.

"And what happens if I don't?"

"I'll have to convince you, I guess," Kairi purred against his throat and hugged him tight. "I love you, Sora. Nothing will ever change that."

Sora held her as close to him as he could, savoring the feeling of her warmth in his arms and wishing to never let her go. She was his light in a world of too much shadow, an anchoring to keep him on the right track in life and one of the few friends he had left in this world.

"I love you too. Always have," he replied in a soft whisper, leaning in to let his face lie against the dark red hair, inhaling the smell of sea water that he had always connected with her.

"I know," she said, pressing her ear to his chest and closing her eyes to hear the beating of his heart. "I can hear it from here."

They stood like that, in a tight embrace, savoring the calm and safe feeling of the moment as people passed them on the street, some smiling knowingly, others muttering for them to get out of the way.

They didn't care to listen to anything else but the beating of their hearts, knowing they would have to part before the night and not wanting it to happen sooner than needed.

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"Do we have an understanding?"

It was dark around them. Colossal stone pillars reached up towards a ceiling unseen in the dim lighting of burning torches. The flickering flames painted the gloom scenery with moving shadows, reminding of the creatures lingering in nightmares, reaching out their distorted limbs towards anyone who dared step out onto the stone paved floor. But none of the two seemed to notice the state of their surroundings.

"You say you want my help, to 'collect' these parts…" the other mused in a dark and hollow voice, a sound fitting for the creatures gathering in the shadows around them.

"Yes," the first one replied with ice cold calm."In return, you get the power to control an endless army of creatures that cannot die by the hand of any ordinary soldier and a way to conquer and dominate a range of worlds, all to your own pleasure."

The other made a sound that reminded of a chuckle, but twisted and wrought out of shape by the darkness that filled his person.

"You are bold to speak in such a way to me, a being of dark magic with power beyond your imagination," he said, a smile of liking heard in his voice despite the threatening words. "Still, your offer is tempting. But one question remains."

"And that is?"

"You have the power over those armies you speak of, so why then seek help from others? Why can't you do this search on your own?"

Silence entered the great stone hall for a moment, letting no sound be heard above the soft hissing of the flames and the pattering of rain against the frame stones of the tall, slim and glassless windows in the flannings of the outer wall.

A flash struck the ground close to the building and sent its bright light in through the windows, giving the gloom a sudden change of characteristics as soft edges turned sharp for the brief time that it lasted. As the wall shaking thunder died out, the visitor spoke.

"I can't do it myself for the same reasons that you haven't been able to yet fully conquer this world that you're in; limitations," he said with a hint of frustration apparent in his voice. "I need to collect the parts from different worlds with great gaps between them and this means I'll have to travel through the portals of the dark void. I can do this, but each travel weakens me severely, since my body is not what it should be. Broken and weak as this flesh of mine is, I would drain myself before I even had half of the pieces I'm seeking. And the heartless needs a strong mind to guide them, a leader to follow them to each site, or they would not be able to stay focused on the search."

"So, what you ask of me, is to lead them and keep them under control? An army of such easily distracted creatures cannot possibly be as powerful as you say," the other one replied, ready to decline the offer.

"Oh, but they are," his visitor insisted grimly. "It's just that their nature makes them less capable of grasping a more complex thought. What they do have, though, is just what it takes to follow a direct command in the moment of action. They are, however, very efficient even if you should set them loose to follow their own whims."

As he said this, he snapped his leather clad fingers and the shadows of the room suddenly started to change, getting a more distinct shape and slowly rising up from the floor. Man sized, slim figures of pure darkness with claw tipped fingers, yellow glowing orbs for eyes and long back bent antennas on their heads now stood behind the visitor, silent and watching. Smaller versions crawled down from the ceiling and across the floor, flat as ordinary shadows, until they reached their master and took a more multi-dimensional form.

The other hummed with interest as his minions in turn entered the room on a given signal. The two groups of demonical beasts clashed and within a minute the latter of the groups were screaming with fear as they left the room, hunted by their former comrades, now turned into shadow beasts themselves.

As the master of the winners once more snapped his fingers, the shadows stopped their advance and all but two crept back into the floor. The ones remaining gathered to stand behind their master, eagerly waiting for his next command.

"I'm impressed," the other said and let out a short laughter. "You are an intriguing young man, I must say. Fearless and bold. I like it."

"I assume that this means you'll accept my offer?"

A silent nod sealed the contract, greed glowing in the eyes hidden underneath the wide hood of the cape that the new ally wore to conceal his true nature to those who followed him.   

"Excellent," the visitor said with a pleased grin. "Then I suggest we set this plan in motion."

"I've already started," the other replied with his hungry red eyes resting on the shadows standing by the visitor. "Where do we find the first part?"