Legacy of a Star Child

Chapter 45: Shattering the Illusion

Sora! Can ya go get us some fire wood for the campfire? Donald went to go pick mushrooms and stuff for dinner.

Sure Goofy, I can do that.

-Without hesitation, Sora went right out into the near by forest and began scooping up bundles of large branches and smaller pieces of fallen trees. The brunet Keyblade master was starting to really grow concerned. It had been weeks out here in the forest with his friends, and they had not found anyone, or anything. Well, anything aside from trees, rivers, and a few fish and small animals to eat. Sora was actually pretty good at spear fishing, he had learned from some of the older fishermen back on his island, he and Riku used to have competitions on whom could spear the most fish. And of course, afterwards, they and there friends would eat them. That was something he seemed to always have, those little challenges he and Riku would get themselves into. Whether it was foot races, swimming laps, scavenger hunts, rowing, they had done everything together, and Riku always seemed to beat him. To be fair, the silver haired super star was always working out and trying much harder than Sora, and Kairi. Yeah she would try to compete too, and would quickly be left in the dust, so much so that the trio made jokes about it. Specifically that if she wasn't careful enough she got in the way and commonly got hurt. Sora liked teasing her about it, and she would usually take it like a champ, usually doing it back by pointing out that he wasn't exactly winning any medals either, and that perhaps if he didn't nap so much he'd win more. Though, that was the thing, as much as a little friendly competition was nice and all, it was never about that. He just wanted to spend time with them, he loved them, and they were all he had for a long time. Sora wasn't exactly the most popular kid when he had gone to school, he was kind of a nobody. Easily forgotten, mostly quiet and kept to himself. Its not that he wasn't friendly of course, or even too introverted, it was more... people just made him nervous. It wasn't quite shyness, maybe perhaps he was just too used to being written off as that kid whom seemed uninteresting, and dumb. Yeah, that was a word he'd heard a lot, he was stupid, boring, and very naïve. Half the time people would bully him, and he wouldn't notice right away that he was being made fun of, or taken advantage of, till someone pointed it out of course. That changed when Riku came to his elementary school. Truthfully, Sora had been very jealous of Riku, he was smart, handsome, and very very popular. He hadn't even needed to try making friends, he would just say or do something cool, and people would be around shouting praises or asking if he could be there friends... that's why Sora was so confused, when Riku asked him out to play that day, out on the island. He had never been, and someone had told him Sora spent all his time there, and so Riku had sought him out as the perfect guide. Honestly Sora thought he was just going to get him alone to make fun of him for liking small places like that, but, he didn't. And after that day out on the island walking the sand and climbing the trees, no one ever messed with Sora at school again, because well... Riku would threaten them of course. He quickly found out that he and Riku had a lot more in common than he ever would of thought. Back in the day no one else really went to the island except for Sora, the city was more interesting at the heart of the main island, because there was a mall and places to go like the movies. However, Sora never had much growing up, mom worked a lot and struggled with making ends meet for the both of them so they didn't have a lot of money to spare. That was ok though, Sora liked it the way things had been, he didn't need to be going out every weekend, he'd rather spend a night at home with her having a home cooked meal and playing board games. Sometimes he missed her, and he knew for a fact she must have been horribly worried. And then there was Kairi. Kairi came to Sora and Riku's Middle school a year or two after Riku and Sora became friends. It was nice to have someone else to talk to, and both boys had become attached almost immediately. So much so, that sometimes they even claimed they were going to marry her, it was almost comical now. Sometimes they all still laughed about it. Things got more personal about a year ago, Riku started showing up more and more at Sora and Kairi's house, he wouldn't tell anyone why, but Sora was more than happy to have a reason to see Riku. The idea that he could sleep over more made the boy ecstatic, and they would stay up for hours resting out in the back yard in a tent staring up at the stars. Eventually though... the truth came out. Riku had been kicked out of his home. Riku finally broke down one night to Kairi and Sora's mom, and told them everything. It turned out, that Riku was living in an orphanage, he didn't want to tell anyone because he didn't want them to feel bad for him, or even make fun of him. It made the boys heart break just thinking about it, after all, not only a few years before, he felt lonely just like that, and worried. Kairi eventually broke down crying and told Sora about it, she said there were certain things she couldn't tell him, which was fine, he figured Riku would tell him eventually, sometimes Riku got too serious about the whole being strong thing, like other guys at school seemed to sometimes. That was another reason Sora got picked on a lot, he could be rather sensitive at times. The whole idea of it made the keybearer wonder... maybe Riku felt he needed to be that way because he only ever had himself. Kairi never told him why Riku got thrown out of the orphanage, and mom was kind enough to make there house acted as rikus new home. Kairis grandma was also kind enough to help by letting Riku stay at Kairi's half the time too. Sora stopped midway through scooping up some more branches frowning to himself. Thinking about all this really was making him miss everyone, and it also was making him worried even more about Riku. Was he holding up ok? He didn't handle being alone for too long, he could remember sometimes Riku waking up in the middle of the night, shaking, he would usually wake Sora up and ask to sleep in his bed with him. Not like it bothered him, but Riku would never tell him what the dreams were about, ever. He knew Riku told Kairi at least a little bit, because when ever he brought it up to her, she would tell Sora not to worry and to not ask Riku, that it would upset him. He tried to respect that she was the first one he ran to, since of course Sora did it sometimes himself, she was just so good at listening and- Sora grunted as he bumped into something, stumbling back some, whatever it had been, it wasn't a tree. Slowly, confusedly, he looked up, and froze. Standing there was another person! They were dressed in a long silvery cloak, and emblazoned on there shoulder blades on the cloak were blue lined hollow heart like marks. How strange.-