Sorrow's Promise

Chapter 38

After leaving Hollow Bastion, Sora decided he wanted to head back to the Land of Dragons to check on Mulan, the girl we had helped get into the army. We landed the Gummi Ship in the mountains, close to a burned-out village, and began to trudge through the snow. I rubbed my arms against the chill, wishing again that I had my coat back. These fairy clothes might guard against the darkness, but they did nothing for the cold.

We hadn't gone very far when Donald stopped and pointed ahead. "Look!"

I wasn't even surprised this time to see the black-coated figure with his back to us. What did surprise me was when he saw us and took off running in the opposite direction. So far it seemed like every Organization member we had met wanted to either fight us or taunt us, not get away from us. So why run?

"Wait!" Sora shouted. He started to chase the guy, but was interrupted when Mulan came jogging up behind us. "Mulan, hey. No time to talk. We gotta catch that guy!"

Mulan bent over, catching her breath, then straightened and nodded. "I'm following him, too!"

"Then let's go!" Donald exclaimed.

Climbing uphill in the snow was slow-going, but we eventually made it up to the pass where we had triggered the avalanche on our previous visit. Mulan tapped Sora on the shoulder and pointed as the mysterious figure ran past and disappeared around the corner. We broke into a run, trying to catch up, but he seemed to have vanished.

"Looks like he got away," Mulan remarked.

"Maybe he finally actually used a dark corridor," I suggested. "Weird that he was running to start with."

"How come you're after somebody from Organization XIII?" Goofy asked.

"What is that?" Mulan questioned.

"The guy in black," Sora explained.

"One of the bad guys!" Donald added.

"I knew it," Mulan replied. "There's a rumor in the Imperial City about a spy in black, lurking in the mountains. I've been up here tracking him, but when you arrived, I lost him."

"Sorry," Goofy said glumly.

Mulan smiled. "Don't apologize! But I do wonder where he went."

We all glanced around for any trace of the spy, but all I saw was rocks and snow. Then a slight movement caught my eye at the top of the hill in front of us, and I jerked my head up to see Heartless beginning to emerge, just like they had the last time we were here.

Donald groaned. "Again?"

A swarm of the yellow, robotic creatures came flying towards us, and we all pulled out our weapons. "Okay, first things first!" Sora proclaimed.

Dashing forward, I began slashing back and forth, leaping up into the air to take the Heartless down. These guys were annoying, with their jerky, sudden movements, but the good news was, they weren't too difficult to get rid of. As I fought, I realized that Sora wasn't nearby and stopped to look back towards the bottom of the hill. To my surprise, he was in the midst of his own battle with the man in black. I began to run, or more accurately, slip and slide, down the snowy hill in their direction, determined to help, but came to a sudden halt as I drew closer. The sword that the man held...I would recognize it anywhere. That sword had caused me more bumps and bruises than I could count.

The presence of Soul Eater meant that this had to be Riku, but if so, why was he fighting Sora? I knew he had changed, but I didn't think he'd ever turn his back on his best friends. I watched the fight closely, and it soon became apparent that Riku was mainly just defending himself. He was hardly making any offensive moves at all. What, then, was his point in even staying here? Why didn't he just take his leave, unless...unless he was looking for me.

Frowning, I swung my Keyblade at a couple of the Heartless that had decided to try to interfere, then continued watching Sora and Riku. It had been almost three weeks since we had last spoken, which had given me time to cool down and think about our conversation. I was still angry and hurt, but I realized that maybe I should at least give him the chance to say what was on his mind. It would probably just end up being lame explanations and excuses, but still, I supposed he deserved to be heard out.

Still keeping an eye on those two, I turned and helped the others finish off the last of the Heartless. By the time we were done, Sora and Riku had stopped fighting, as well. They stared at each other silently for a moment, then Riku lifted his hand in a shrug and ran off again. Sora chased after him for a few steps before slowing to a stop.

"That guy..." he mused. "No...why...would he?" Sora stumbled forward slightly. "Riku?" He broke into a run again and I followed, but he didn't make it very far before giving up again.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Donald asked as he and Goofy came up beside me.

"Did ya get 'im?" Goofy queried.

"Hmm..." Sora hummed, clearly lost in thought. "Oh...he's gone."

"What?" Donald screeched. "You lost him?"

Sora scratched the side of his head, looking a little sheepish. "Anyway...what now?"

"I think that we better get rid of all the Heartless first," Goofy commented.

Before anyone else could pipe in, there was a thunderous boom that shook the whole mountain. I faltered, nearly falling over into the snow, but with a hand from Goofy regained my balance.

"What was that?" Mulan exclaimed. "Come on, we better get off the mountain."

Sora agreed, but I could see him out of the corner of my eye still looking back over his shoulder, watching for Riku to reappear. As the others started walking away, there was a second quake, and from up higher on the mountain something huge exploded out from underneath the snow. Gasping, I gaped in astonishment as what looked like a dragon hovered high above our heads, then gave a ferocious flap of its wings and took off flying in the same direction we had just been walking.

"It's heading for the city!" Mulan cried. "We've got to warn Shang!"

I glanced back over my shoulder, too, at the path where Riku had vanished. "You guys go on. I'll...catch up."

Sora cocked his head to the side and gave me a look of confusion, but then nodded. "Okay, let's go!"