Redemption Frägment

Chapter Ten: Rabbit Chase

Everyone was starting to get agitated. Even Zack, who normally would be joking around. I can feel the animosity growing and figure Seifer is the cause. After all, once we broke camp all he did was complain. Zack finally told him to shut up.

In words I don’t want to repeat.

Let’s just say the threat that went along with his words was very graphic and in great anatomical detail, though physically impossible.

Emma yowls in my ear and leaps down from my shoulder, streaking towards a bright light. Instinctively, I run after her, all the while cursing my own stupidity. I hear Riku behind me and amazingly I see Zack beside me. A flash of white, a gust of wind, and the black haired man shoots ahead, stopping behind the fuzzy demon. I’m the first to reach them and witness a white-feathered wing vanishing as if it had never been. Zack tilts his head and grins at me.

The grin tells me he knows I saw the wing.

And that I’d better keep my trap shut about it.

The moment I shudder, he grins wider and turns to look out over the green field.

Riku comes up beside me, panting lightly, and then Seifer arrives, thoroughly pissed off and grumbling.

“What the fuck is this?!” the blond shouts, sweeping Hyperion across the breadth of the field. I edge closer to Riku, who’s looking exasperated.

“It’s a field, Seifer. A field.” Zack’s grinning as he speaks, glowing gold-green eyes watching the blond before looking back out over the open space.

“I know it’s a fuckin’ field, Fair. We’re out of that goddamned forest into a fucking field!”

“Oh, shut up, Seifer.” Zack lifts his hand and points. “There’s a village over there.”

“Mom’s right,” Riku lifts his own arm to shield his eyes from the sun. “It’s more of a town, actually.”

“Town, village.” Zack shrugs. “They’re pretty much the same thing.”

I grin. “Nah, a town is bigger. Hey, there’s smoke coming from it.”

We turn to look at Seifer, who’s now crouched down and chewing on a blade of grass. He looks up at us with a look of suspicion. “I didn’t do it. For once, I didn’t do it.”

Emma purrs, twining around my ankles before she bounds off down a very familiar path. We follow, once more in a good humour.


Sora set the gummi ship down in a thick forest near Bedouin. His radical grin was plastered to his face and all he could think about was finding Riku. Leaping out of the cockpit to the grass, he made a sharp motion with his arm and moved to pull a pack out of a hidden compartment. Goofy was the first to jump down, followed by Leon who wore his usual blank mask. However, he did seem amused about something.

Sora opened his mouth to ask. He closed it when the General appeared with a wicked grin spread across his features. When he touched the ground, he merely slapped his hands together, as if dusting them off.

“…Where’s Donald…?” Sora asked. Sephiroth just smiled. And smiled wider when Sora cringed.

“He’s opted to stay behind with the ship.” The silver-haired man moved forward, throwing his arm around the Keyblade Master’s shoulders. Sora sighed and let the General guide him away from the ship. Leon and Goofy followed, the humanoid dog looking back at the ship in almost-worry.

“What did you do?”

“Told him if he came along I’d fry him with Fire 3 and dip him in plum sauce to feed to the starving masses.”

A snort from behind them said that Leon had found that amusing. Sora did too.

No one really liked Donald.

As they walked through the woods, they talked of inane things. Mostly Sora describing Bedouin and his companions asking questions.

When they walked into the city, Sephiroth grew gravely quiet. When the General was silent, you went silent. Otherwise you tended to end up dead. Leon reached out and put a hand on Sora’s shoulder.

“Something isn’t right. Keep your eyes and ears open.”

“Listen to what people don’t say.” Sephiroth whispered, one gloved hand dropping to touch Masamune’s hilt. Sora nodded and began walking forward.

Electric blue eyes surveyed Bedouin, taking in all of the sights. Even if he missed something, Leon’s sharp eyes wouldn’t and Sephiroth’s ears would definitely pick up something.

That is if Sephiroth didn’t feel like killing that something first.

A huge platform in the center of town caught his eye and as he walked toward it, he began to tense. The people of Bedouin looked terribly frightened as well as apologetic – relieved. He knew why they looked relieved. The Keyblade Master was here. They may not know who his companions were, barring Goofy, but whoever traveled with the Keyblade Master must be on the side of light.

Right?

Sora let out a quiet breath, Leon and Sephiroth were here of their own accord and he knew, though they were all tentative friends, the two older men wouldn’t hesitate to leave Sora on his own. He was a big boy, the saver of worlds.

However, if he got into a really exciting fight, they’d stay and kick ass.

“Ah, Keyblade Master! Forgive us!”

Sora turned, settling his eyes on one of the priests, a feline humanoid who wrung his hands in pure fear. Sora couldn’t remember his name.

“What for?” Leon calmly asked, hanging back behind Sora a bit. The cat-man bowed before he fell to his knees, hands clasped together.

“After you had left our city, we had a minute Heartless infestation. We managed to destroy the nest and a few days later, a yellow-eyed boy came to Bedouin in the company of another, white-haired boy and a cat wearing a jeweled collar. They both looked alike, twins, but the yellow-eyed one was surely a Heartless.”

Sephiroth’s hissed, “Continue.”, had the cat-man shaking.

“We tried to sacrifice the human Heartless but his companion rescued him. They ran to the docks, to one of the ships. We can only assume they landed at Therein, across the inland sea.”

If Sephiroth’s hands hadn’t been on Sora’s shoulders, the young man would have bludgeoned the feline humanoid to death with the Ultima Keyblade. Handing the seething boy to Leon, the General moved forward and knelt before the trembling priest.

“If you ever come across these two again, you will not harm them. For if you do, I will make you regret it. Do you understand?”

The priest nodded and scuttled away as the silver-haired man rose. He turned to the fuming brunette and watched Leon shrug.

“Sora.”

Electric blue eyes snapped onto glowing green.

“They’re safe. We’ll go to the docks and find a ship to take us to Therein. From there, we follow whatever path they’ve left for us.”

“And if they didn’t?”

“You can’t give up now, Sora. We know they’re alive.” Leon rested his hand on the boy’s unruly mop of hair.

“But for how long?” Sora lamented.

“Sora.” Blue eyes met glowing green once again. “Riku won’t allow himself to die until he finds you. We know he rescued another boy that looked like him. You know who this boy is. Now, we’re going to Therein, we’re going to follow their trail.”

The boy nodded, fists clenching. When he relaxed, his companions did well.

The boy could hold a grudge, worse than anyone else they knew. An angry Sora was a dangerous Sora. And a dangerous Sora was one thing they didn’t need.

Once they were all out to sea, Sephiroth kept a close eye on the boy. Sora wanted to be left alone and so he would abide by those wishes. The General sighed. Definitely like Him, Sora was.


Zack’s forced me to cover my eyes with a black cloth, despite my protesting. He smacks my hands away from the blind each time I try to take it off. I wait for my body to vanish and wake up in a black hole being tortured.

Nothing happens.

I can see through the cloth and I look at everyone in our group. Somehow, Seifer’s begun wearing a hooded black coat, the same as Riku and Zack. I swear, sometimes I think Riku’s mom just wants to show off.

How did he get these clothes anyway?

“Special Gongagan secret.” He grins. He pats his gloved hands against his black pants, tugging the gossamer scarf around my neck into place. His sword, I notice, has vanished. He just smirks.

“Let’s just get into town.” Seifer gripes, adjusting his hood. Riku just snickers and throws an arm around my shoulders. Emma’s disappeared somewhere and I realize I don’t really give a damn where she’s gone.

“Right, let’s go.” Zack begins to walk, leading the way. The town we enter is decorated in demon masks and dark lights, giving off the air of a festival as well as a spooky, dark feeling of death.

Zack seems to feel right at home.

Amazingly, so do I.

People are flocking in the streets, playing games, watching plays. We stay together, looking around.

“Where are we?” Riku asks, looking at the spiky-haired man.

“A town.” Zack replies, the eye roll in his voice, and he turns back to grin at his son. “From what I hear, this place is called Del Morte. And apparently, it’s their celebration of all things Goth.”

“Dad would love it,” Riku mutters softly.

Zack laughs and herds us further on. We all move closer to each other and break from the crowded streets into an alley.

I stiffen and turn just slightly, looking into the shadows behind us. I feel like I’m being watched and I don’t like it one bit. Riku touches my shoulder and our group begins to walk again. Somehow, Seifer’s amazing people skills enrolls us in a scavenger hunt. Why or how, I really don’t want to know.

We’re led to a cave, given instructions and let loose amongst the other competitors. Apparently, anyone can register for this and at any time. Which means no one’s found the treasure.

We enter the cave, sticking together.

I’m being watched.

And I don’t like it.