Radiant Garden [COMPLETED]

[queen_qing]

Tifa looked over at Saix, her irritation melting away at his words. Leon's outburst was very surprising, and perhaps that did some good as well. At least everyone was quiet now.

"Sure," Tifa said quietly, nodding.

~~

Sora simply looked over at Leon, listening to his words. They made an entire world of sense, really. If they were to defeat the Heartless, they were going to have to stay together. It was going to be really tough, but...

Well.

Stay together, huh. It seemed to difficult even now.

Settling down on a seat, Sora paid no attention to the group as he looked out the window, lost in his own thoughts. They were going to sort themselves out, anyway, and at this point in time, the boy didn't really mind who he went with.  

[actoratheart]

Riku coughed, holding a hand against his chest painfully, just over the burn from Xemnas' saber without really touching his skin. The burn of that blade brought back horrifying memories... the remembered burn of a blade slicing into his side, nearly destroying his ability to walk. The remembered feeling of having to be half-carried outside onto the sands.

Three inches to the left and he would have reopened the old wound.

"S-Sora..." he coughed, dragging himself to his hand and knees, right hand clenched against his chest. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

He was surprised when Xemnas turned back to ...well, "normal," and even moreso when Leon started shouting.

Five groups of four... would Sora and Kairi want to take him along? Since Saix admitted to telling Kairi about his and Sora's "tryst" so called, he had a feeling things with Kairi would be... strained. He glanced around, but he didn't see anything promising should his best friends fall through. "Sora..." he tried to catch a belt on Sora's shirt and ended up with a small handful of sleeve. "W-what are you going to do about the traveling?"  

[MiwaFujiwara]

Groups of four or less, huh? Well, maybe I should start with who I DON'T want to be with.... She scanned the room, mentally checking off people off her list of possible teammates. Leon...hell no....Tifa and Saix....don't want to be reminded of what I don't have....same with Cloud and Aerith She looked over at Riku, whom she understood had just...."broken up"....with Sora. Getting up from her seat, she deftly manuevered throught the room to the teen, grabbing his wrist in her hand. "Come on...." she whispered in his ear, "...I'm going throught the same problem you're having...we can comiserate together...."

Still holding on to the boy's arm, she kept looking for a third and fourth member. Her eyes stopped on a weird-haired boy that had come in with Riku, whose name she heard was Demyx. Despite his unusual hair-style, he was strikingly attractive....more so than almost any other guy Yuffie had ever seen. Her breath got caught in her throat as she gave him a once-over. Damn he's cute....and I heard he's having problems of his own..... Dragging the silver-maned young man behind her, she walked up and grabbed his forearm with her other hand. "My name is Yuffie....you can be in my group, if you want..."

"Now, all we need is that fourth person....and a destination..."  

[queen_qing]

Turning back slightly to look over at Riku, Sora managed a smile - it was a little strained, but the other boy didn't need to see that, did he?

"You told us not to get separated, remember?" He responded easily - a little too easily - even as he forced himself to laugh, trying to pretend that seeing Riku back in his blindfold didn't hurt in the least. "So we'll stay together!"  

[actoratheart]

"I-- wait, Yuffie-- OWCH!" he wrestled his hand out of Yuffie's grip, giving her an apologetic smile that he hoped look right without the use of his eyes. The moment he turned aside he grimaced openly, clutching one hand to his chest, the other to his stomach. Man Saix clocked me good...

He turned back to Sora, kneeling down partially to be on the same level and partially to spare his once-again aching body.

"Not get separated... right..." Riku wasn't stupid. He saw pain, fresh, practically openly BLEEDING pain in Sora's eyes, and he felt like an idiot.

An idiot who has no options on what to do. He wasn't quite sure what it was, this time, but his best guess was the fiasco that was their "affair." If he was willing to get his hopes up, it was that Sora had been afraid he'd be hurt, fighting with Saix (In the long run, not such a good idea.) but he had a feeling that was too much to ask.  

[MiwaFujiwara]

"Groups?? What the ********?" I don't know anyone in this ******** place; and where the hell are those places Scarface mentioned?? Seifer leaned back in his chair and scowled. True, he did know some people, namely Sora, the group he traveled with, and Roxas, but after his many missteps and misunderstandings, he wasn't sure if he could live a second longer in their presence without a massive screw up. From what he could see, the mopey girl in shorts was busy gathering up all the sad and emo people. Like hell I'm going to hang out with the crying losers....those freaks need a life.... A random thought passed through his mind about asking the scarred man if he could join his group, but was quickly vetoed. I don't need to die today....or anytime soon for that matter.

The only other person who had even noticed him was the buxom woman, who was now standing with the blue-haired man. Is that her boyfriend?...She's got odd taste in men....but maybe she'll let me join... Slowly rising from his seat, he sauntered over and tried his best to look confident.

"Ummm, Tifa, right? I'm Seifer, remember?....Hey, I don't know many people around here.....so can I chill with you and your boyfriend?"  

[MiwaFujiwara]

"Uh, okay Riku.....No problem." She turned over to Demyx and tried her best to smile at him. "Guess he's already in a group......Let's look for two more people...."

Preparing to walk around, former Nobody in tow, she realized he hadn't given her an answer about joining the party. Dammit, I'm screwing things up again. With the way my luck's going, he probably isn't interested in hanging out with me...and I'll be stuck at square one again.....maybe going with Cloud and Aerith wasn't such a bad idea... She withdrew her hand from his arm and crossed her arms over her chest again, embarrassed. Her eyes darted to the floor, partly because her self-esteem had fallen to the point where looking others in the eye was impossible....and partly because she knew his attractive visage might make her feel somewhat giddy.

"I mean....you're coming with me....right?"  

[BasslineRaver]

Xigbar looked over and held his face.

Joy. Xemnas was being... Evil. And then back to normal. At least the man was back to normal. Xigbar held the journal at his side as he looked over at Xaldin.

"Sure, dude." He looked the man over, sizing him up. Yup, just like he remembered... But better. Same strong build, same brilliant blue eyes, same wild black hair with shaggy sideburns... Same Xaldin on the outside... Just not on the inside.

"Yeah, so Xaldin... Long time no see." Xigbar held out his hand, looking at the man hopefully.

-----------------

Xemnas curled up as he was pushed off of Saix, his body shivering as he felt uncomfortable and confused once more. What just happened? Everybody looked horrified of him, and now nobody wanted to even be by him. His slender white eyebrows drew up into a worried look as he leaned up against the chair, blood staining through his hair and down his face, making it very hard to see.

He squinted through his eyes, wiping the blood away but making it almost harder to see. He couldn't even figure out why they were being yelled at by the man with the scar on his face ( though it wasn't Xigbar! ).

His hands trembled as he tried to crawl under the table but got halfway under and was stuck. He gave up as he laid still on the floor and felt very weak. "Hurty..." He whispered.
 

[queen_qing]

Tifa blinked as she saw Seifer coming up to her, and she had to restrain a soft smile at watching the boy falling just a tad bit short of the confidence mark.

However, not being one to harp on another's weakness and/or insecurity, and probably having a soft spot for children, Tifa nodded kindly. "Sure, you could join us."

~

Watching Riku's face fall a little, Sora had to wonder at that he was thinking, a little confused. Did he say something wrong? Damn it if only the blindfold was gone...

It seemed like the Riku he once knew was gone now, and they were back to when he didn't want to be found. Sora remembered that period of time all too clearly, and perhaps once again, Riku just didn't want to be found.

And this time, Sora had no right to look for him.

Not after what he had messed up so terribly. I'm sorry, Riku...So, so sorry...  

[actoratheart]

He watched Sora's face, angling his head away slightly so that to others in the room, it would seem that Riku was finding the carpet especially fascinating.

There was so much... hurt. Sadness. Pain.

Oh god and it's my fault... It's because of me...

When the smart run out of options, what do they do? They do something stupid.

"Sora... are you okay? Umm... d'you want to talk for a minute? Kairi won't leave without us or anything."  

[queen_qing]

Talk? Talk about what, seriously?

Shaking his head and wearing the goofy grin that began to come more and more naturally to him the more he used it, Sora shook his head. "No, I'm okay! I'm just...a little tired."

Well, at least that wasn't a complete lie... Looking over at the others quizzically, having not paid attention to what had been going on previously, Sora asked, "Do we have five?"  

[actoratheart]

Riku shook his head. "Sora, first of all, we need four. Leon said five groups of four or less. So we need one more with the three of us, you me and Kairi, if we want to take a fourth."

He paused, rubbing his hand subconsciously over the new burn mark.

"Sora," he whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. "I'm not stupid. Don't treat me like a child who isn't ready for the truth. I'll be by that door-" he gestured at the room they'd been in in before, "if you change your mind. If you don't, just come get me when we're ready to go. Okay?" He got up, doubled over slightly and limping, walking slowly toward the open doorway across the room, where he could lean against the wall and not look quite as pathetic.

Maybe.  

[queen_qing]

Oh, right! Five groups of four! Well, that all kinda made sense now.

His gaze drawn to the burn mark on Riku's arm, he bit his lip. Indirectly, it was all his fault, and he almost flinched when Riku whispered to him.

Frozen in place, Sora could only watch as he started moving. Before he could stop himself, he moved forward and caught his arm. It hurt to see his best friend like this, but it was all for the best, right?

Swallowing, Sora managed a smile, "Come on, the three of us have to stick together, right?" Turning to Kairi, he flashed her a soft smile as well, nodding outside. "Now, all we need is to find a fourth person..."  

[actoratheart]

He winced when he was stopped short, turning his head away so Sora wouldn't see it.

"Come on, the three of us have to stick together, right?"

He gave a weak smile, extending it to Kairi further away, and nodded slightly. "Okay, but... don't let me slow you down," he muttered, and took a shaky step forward. He grinned at Sora, finally a genuine smile, leaned over and half-whispered into his ear, "That Saix packs a mean punch. Whoa-!" He lost his balance over something, and found himself falling forward to the floor, palms outstretched hoping to catch himself. He expected, however, what could only be more pain.

Oh god dammit.  

[queen_qing]

And Sora was there before he fell, moving quickly as he supported his friend, just like what he had done when he was injured by Xemnas in their last fight.

Just like what he'd done before.

"Riku!" He exclaimed, eyes widening in alarm as he rooted for a potion in his pocket. Finally locating one, Sora uncapped the vial, pushing the open bottle into the boy's hand, as he valiantly tried to hold up under his weight. Hey, he did it once, he could probably do it again.

"Man," he grunted, half trying to lighten the situation and half because he really FELT that way. "You really are heavy..."