Stolen

Chapter Six:

A wave of worry overwhelmed Squall and his adrenalin soon took over. A million and a half possibilities of what could be happening to Sora flooded his mind and he took off in a swift run towards the sounds of the alarmed teenager.

If anything happens to him, Squall’s thoughts trailed off. But he pushed horrible idea out of his head in favour of concentrating on what he needed to do. Squall’s heart pounded against his ribcage as he darted through the alley, hair pushed out of his face from his speed and an angry frown wrinkled the scar across his nose. His feet pounded against the pavement and he gripped the revolver tighter in his hand, ready for action.

With the last few strides, Squall made it around the corner. Panting, he stopped dead in his tracks and had the gun trained on a mysterious hooded figure pulling on Sora’s right arm. The teen was struggling and desperately crying out for help, but his actions were somewhat useless as he was still restrained and blindfolded.

Even with the bright neon lights of Traverse Town, only the stranger’s nose and mouth were visible from under the hood. Squall took a step towards the battling duo, his revolver aimed expertly at the strangers head. “Let him go,” he said in a low but deadly growl.

Both bodies froze at the sound of his voice; Sora let out a relieved breath while the other cursed loudly. The stranger seemed to release Sora when he spotted the gun; hands were raised in the air, but he moved quickly so his body was shielding Sora’s from Squall’s view, almost as if he was trying to protect Sora from the gun.

“It’s not what you think,” the man said in a soft but panicked voice. He sounded like he couldn’t be much older than Sora.

“Step away from him,” Squall commanded, ignoring whatever the stranger had to say. He gestured wildly with his gun in the direction he wanted the man to go. “Now.”

The stranger held his ground; he wasn’t nearly as tall as Squall and he was fairly thin. Squall guessed that he could easily take the stranger in a fight if he had to; judging by the man’s size, Squall was definitely stronger but the stranger could have an advantage of his own. “I can’t do that,” was the hooded man’s reply.

“Move,” Squall demanded harshly. Without thinking, he took another step closer to the man standing in front of Sora.

He only realized it was a bad idea when it was too late; the stranger shot himself forward, grabbing hold of Squall’s arm and making sure the revolver was pointed a safe distance away from himself and Sora. His other arm sent a fist flying which connected with the side of Squall’s mouth. The stranger took advantage of Squall’s pain and he used both hands to grab onto the gun and twisting it while he drove his foot into the brunet’s gut.

The strength of the kick sent Squall stumbling backwards making his grip loosen on the gun and it was ripped from his fingers. He was only winded for a second and he came in for a counter attack before his opponent could figure out to do with the revolver. He thrust his arm up, hitting the stranger in the jaw making the other’s teeth crash together painfully. Squall was lucky that his attack threw the hooded figure off and he was able to knock the gun out of the other’s hands to where it landed safely in a pile of forgotten garbage bags lying on the side of the street.

“What’s going on?” Squall heard Sora’s worried voice and his eyes quickly darted from his opponent to the confused teen. Sora had found the side of the building and was leaning his right shoulder against the bricks. Squall didn’t need to see Sora’s face to know how frightened and helpless the kid felt in that moment. “Squall?”

“Don’t worry Sora,” Squall replied. The stranger tried to take advantage of Squall being distracted, but the brunet quickly dodged the oncoming attack. He grabbed the man by the arm, swinging him away from Sora. Still holding on, Squall sent a well-aimed kick to his opponent’s side, successfully ripping the bone from its socket.

The stranger let out an ear-piercing scream as he was thrown face first onto the dirty pavement. Squall watched with satisfaction as the stranger struggled to get to his feet; he only managed to sit up while holding onto his dislocated shoulder. He sighed in defeat and looked up at Squall. “Please,” he asked. “Will you just listen to what I have to say?”

“Not a chance,” Squall replied, glaring down at the stranger. He jogged over to where Sora was huddled against the wall and placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder. Squall felt Sora’s entire body tense at the soft touch. “It’s me,” he explained and Sora let out a breath of relief and visibly relaxed against the hand.

“What happened?” Sora asked as Squall started to steer him away from the stranger still sitting defeated on the damn pavement. The man tried getting up again and was successful in getting to his feet. He stood in place for a moment before taking a shaky step towards Squall and Sora.

“I’ll explain later,” Squall replied. He paused for a moment to fish the combat knife out of its sheath from its place strapped around his ankle. Squall brought the blade to Sora’s wrists and quickly sliced apart the material of the bonds that held them together. Squall reached up and pulled the blindfold down from Sora’s eyes and let it rest loosely around the teenager’s neck. “We need to go,” Squall said taking Sora’s right hand in his left and pulling the small brunet forward.

“Wait,” Squall heard the stranger call after them. “Please, you don’t understand!”

Squall ignored the stranger and took off in a run pulling Sora along behind him. He looked back before turning down the street and was thankful they were not being followed.

~*~

Sora didn’t understand what was going on at all, but he ran along behind Squall nonetheless. His fingers felt strangely at home grasping Squall’s hand. Every once in a while when Sora’s hand started to slip, the older man’s grip would tighten on his fingers; he found it difficult trying to keep up with Squall’s pace

As they made their way running down the street, passing colourfully lit neon advertisements, Sora began to slow; not used to running or any other strenuous physical activity, he was panting heavily. Now seemed like a good a time as any to question Squall about what happened just outside the alley when he was blindfolded. He gradually slowed to a stop, pulling Squall with him.

Squall turned to face Sora, their hands still together and he seemed like he was going to ask why they had stopped, but one look at Sora and he understood. Sora felt exhausted and he pulled Squall with him to lean back against the side of an old clock repair shop to catch his breath.

After a few moments of taking deep breaths, Sora was finally able to choke out “What happened back there?”

Squall moved to stand close beside Sora as if trying to shield him from anyone else’s view. “Someone else was trying to kidnap you,” came his quiet reply. Sora could feel Squall’s hot breath on his head; the older man had moved so he was now standing awkwardly hunched over him. Squall’s other hand found its way to rest on the bricks on the other side of Sora’s face.

“Kidnap me?” Sora repeated sounding confused. “Why would anyone want to do that?”

“I kidnapped you,” Squall’s voice reminded him. He felt the older man shift slightly closer to him.

“Right,” Sora agreed and he frowned. There were still so many questions buzzing around in his mind about the night’s events, but for the first time he was actually thinking about the situation he was in. Squall had taken him right out of his bedroom from the second story of his house. It couldn’t have been an easy task, considering the building’s security and not to mention the fact that it was the night where Sora had made an attempt at suicide.

“We need to get out of here,” Squall said, bringing Sora out of his thoughts. He moved to continue their short journey back to Squall’s apartment, but his effort was hindered when Sora refused to budge. He was small, but if he made a fuss, he knew that it would draw unwanted attention to them.

“Why did you kidnap me?” he asked, pulling Squall back so they could talk face to face.

Sora thought he saw Squall panic for a split second before his expression turned unreadable. “Sora,” the older man said, using his free hand to pull the hood of Sora’s sweater back over the teen’s unruly chocolate spikes. “This isn’t the time for that.”

Sora stuck his bottom lip out in a pout, staring up into Squall’s storm coloured eyes. “But I want to know,” he whined softly.

Squall sighed. He pulled Sora close to him, his hand coming to rest on the boy’s cheek and he rested his forehead against Sora’s and their noses lightly touched. “We are almost home,” he whispered, stroking the delicate skin beneath his fingers. “Your uncle spread missing posters of you all over town. If someone recognizes you then they’ll take you away from me.”

“But I,” Sora began to protest but Squall made a very good point. The older brunet took all those precautions to ensure that they could still be together. Squall probably took a big risk in allowing Sora to roam his house freely, let alone taking the boy outside to see a bunch of fireflies.

“Sora,” Squall warned.

Sora sighed at the hint of urgency in Squall voice. “Okay,” he agreed as he adjusted the hood over his head so he could see easier. “Let’s go.”

He allowed Squall to lead him once more, the older man gently nudging him in the right direction. Though they were no longer holding hands, Squall put a protective arm around Sora’s shoulder and they stayed like that as they walked quickly back to Squall’s apartment.

~*~

Squall didn’t think it was necessary for him to have his arm around Sora, but it was something that he felt he needed to do and Sora hadn’t complained. Stepping out of the elevator Squall dug around in is pocket for his keys to unlock the door. After it was unlocked, he pushed the door open and let Sora walk in before he closed the door behind them.

With a frustrated sigh, Squall leaned back against the door and locked it as well as putting the chain up just in case. He closed his eyes and thought back to when Sora was almost taken, bringing his hand up to absent-mindedly run his fingers along the scar marring the bridge of his nose.

Before Squall had much time to analyze what happened and how he reacted he felt a weight on his body and he opened his eyes to see Sora half pressed up against him, with the boy’s arms coming to rest around his waist. Sora was looking up at him with an innocent smile on his face.

“Trying to keep me in?” the teen gently teased.

Squall responded by putting an arm around Sora’s shoulder and the other went to the boy’s chin, tilting the teen’s head up slightly. Their faces were only inches apart and Squall suddenly wanted to close the distance between them, but he did his best to suppress the urge.

“Trying to keep everyone else out,” Squall replied. He settled with tugging off the Sora’s hood and running his fingers through the wild chocolate spikes. Squall watched with fascination as Sora closed his eyes leaning into the touch as he repeated the motion.

“I’m okay with that,” Sora whispered. Then Squall heard him ask another question, “Why did you kidnap me?”

Squall thought about telling the truth but he decided against it; Sora didn’t need to know. He came to the conclusion that he’d have to tell Sora something that was true, but not the proper answer. “Because I want you,” he said before he even realized he was speaking.

Sora appeared to be pleased with that answer. The corners of his mouth twitched into a bigger smile and his cheeks reddened. “I’m glad you did,” Sora replied just before he stood up on his toes and his lips met with Squall’s.

~*~

AN: I really have nothing to say about this chapter.

Anorexic Muffinz: XD

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!