Author's Notes:

Hmm, not my best chapter, but I wrote it in part to help me get out of the 3-month slump I found myself in. Thank you, 180!

Chapter Nineteen: A Lucky Tragedy

-o-o-

But in that split second, Sora recognized that this was a different kind of life-altering tragedy. One that gave him a choice. This time his legs were more than long enough to chase the ferry of his escaping dreams, let alone do what he was about to do.

As the baseball bat came swooping down towards him, he curled his leg and did what any desperate guy would do.

He slammed his foot into Ryan's balls.

He felt the impact beneath his heel just before the bat hit him. The force behind the bat faltered as Ryan let loose a screech of pain and collapsed to the ground like he had fins for legs, but Sora wasn't completely spared from Ryan's attack.

The bat cracked against his shoulder as he fell back to avoid it. There was a distinct grind of bones beneath his skin—then utter agony, searing straight through his shoulder and down the length of his arm.

He didn't recognize the scream that shook the air around him, but he felt the burn of it in his throat and knew it was his. His shoulder continued to smolder with what felt like the intensity of a sun, tears springing to his eyes as he choked on his own breath. But as much as he hurt, he knew he was in for worse if he stayed where he was.

He heard Gray cursing and Neil checking to see if Ryan was okay, and Sora reacted on impulse. He summoned strength he didn't know he had, using his own fear as his guide, and rolled onto his good shoulder in the wet grass and pushed himself back to his feet.

Gray shouted something at him, but Sora wasn't listening. He set his sights on Riku's house and, in that next crucial second, he was driven by instinct.

Run.

Get to safety.

Find help.

He heard the pounding of footsteps in the grass beside him, but he was already flying across his lawn, a jolt of indescribable pain lancing through his arm with each step.

He felt the brush of fingers on his uninjured arm, but they slid right off his rain-slick skin as he darted past the three men.

More shouting. The heavy thunk of a baseball bat hitting the grass. The pitterpatter of the gentle rain hitting Calm Bounty's roof and gutters.

The slap of his feet against the wet cobblestone. His haggard gasps shaking out of him as he forced himself to breathe.

And the only thing he dared to look at was the front door of the house, still open, waiting, just like he had left it in his hurry to find medical supplies.

He reached the porch and stumbled on the steps, not sure if the pounding he heard was footsteps following him or his own heartbeats. But then he saw a shift of black, brown, and white in the doorway and lifted his watery eyes with hope. Squall must have heard the commotion and hurried to find him.

With just one look at Sora's condition and whatever was behind him, a grim scowl crossed Squall's face, and he snatched Sora's arm as the boy fought to keep his balance past the last stair.

Squall to the rescue again. It would have felt like déjà vu—if Squall had grabbed his good arm. Instead, he grabbed the other and yanked him inside.

Another cry left Sora as the pain radiated through his shoulder with twice the intensity as before, and Squall abruptly released him, gray eyes widened. He slammed the door closed and locked and bolted it before he turned his complete attention to Sora's arm.

"What happened?" he demanded, but Sora was shaking too much to offer an explanation.

He dropped to his knees, panting for air, his fingers gently touching his hurt shoulder to see what damage had been done. The skin wasn't broken, but the bone definitely felt wrong, and he couldn't move it...

"Th-Those guys..."

Squall turned his gaze towards the window beside the door and pulled back the curtain. The rain was still light, and through the gray drizzle beyond the glass, Sora could see Gray helping Ryan up as Neil retrieved the baseball bat. Scattered at their feet, getting soaked in the grass, were the supplies Sora had tried to get. Riku probably still needed them...

The three men glanced in Calm Bounty's direction, saw Squall standing at the window, and Ryan flipped him the bird before they stalked off through the rain. Squall's posture seemed to relax a fraction. He fixed the curtain and looked to Sora.

"Can you stand?"

"Not sure," Sora admitted, wincing as he tried to move his arm. "Ngh... I d-dropped all the stuff, too..."

Squall moved towards the door, unlocking it again before pulling it open. "Stay here and don't move," he said, and Sora watched dumbfounded as Squall stepped outside alone. The door closed behind him.

Sora watched and waited, listening with baited breath for a cry for help or anything, but it never came. All he heard was the rummaging in the kitchen and the sound of water from upstairs.

When the front door creaked open, Sora tensed, preparing for the worst. But when Squall appeared, he carried no injuries, only the translucence of a dampened shirt and the solemnity of a dampened spirit. The wet bag of supplies dangled from a hand. He offered it to Sora as he once again locked and bolted the door, and Sora clutched the bag to himself with his undamaged arm.

"They left," Squall said, but the announcement didn't make Sora feel any safer. He knelt beside Sora, his eyes thinning. "Their baseball bat..."

Sora understood the unspoken question. "My shoulder," he mumbled. He wanted to wipe his eyes, but he didn't want to draw attention to his tears despite how much pain he was in. "I can't move my arm."

Hesitating, Squall reached out to trace his fingers delicately over the ridge of Sora's clavicle and shoulder, his frown deepening. "We need to get your shirt off to see how bad it is, but you'd probably be in worse pain if something was broken..." He took Sora by his good arm and carefully helped him to his feet.

Though the movement sent another searing jolt through his shoulder, it was only when his limp arm rubbed against his shoulder. Squall was right—he didn't think something was broken.

Sora held onto him as much as he could. "I think it's just dislocated, but it hurts..."

"It does look dislocated," he agreed as he began to escort Sora to the kitchen.

Seiya was in the middle of wrapping her bags of ice with clean hand towels when she saw Sora, and her hand flew to her mouth with a gasp. "What happened?!" She was at his side in an instant, her chilly fingers gently prodding his arm as her eyes filled with a fear that Sora wasn't used to seeing from her. "Who did this?"

"Ryan, Gray, and Neil were waiting for me outside." Dumping the bag of supplies on the table, Sora sunk into a chair and let his mother wipe his eyes and nose with napkins, for once not putting up a fuss she was babying him. "Ryan had a bat..."

Saying it out loud put it into perspective for him.

If he hadn't attacked first like he had, he might not have gotten out of that alive... What kind of sane person would take a bat to someone like that? Not to mention how Gray and Neil had been egging him on! And all for what? Because Sora had smashed Jumal's ankle in self defense?

His mom actually growled and muttered a few choice words under her breath, right before she slipped her arms around him in a fierce hug, careful not to agitate his arm, and buried her face in his hair.

"I never thought something like this could happen, not here..."

Her frightened whisper clenched at Sora's heart. His eyes stinging, he dug his hand into her apron and held her close.

Beside them, Squall quietly rummaged through the supplies Sora had retrieved and began to sort out the salvageable things. Sora was grateful for his silent presence, and more than grateful to his mom for always being there for him, even when he hadn't wanted her to. She'd accepted him even when he hadn't known there were things about himself that needed to be accepted.

When she finally pulled away, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, she sniffed and wiped an eye before studying him again, a worried wrinkle to her brow. "I'm so sorry, baby... Here, let's take a look at it..."

With her help, Sora managed to get his shirt off without aggravating his arm too much, and the appalled expression that crossed his mother's face was more than reasonable. Sora had been right about his arm. As far as he could tell, the skin and none of his bones were broken, but the joint of his arm had popped right out of its socket. The irregularity of the joint was clearly visible beneath his skin, which was still scarlet where the bat had slammed into him. Sora was far less concerned about the nasty bruise he was going to get than he was about how much it was going to hurt to fix his arm.

"Definitely dislocated," Squall sighed. "The good news is that it's not hard to treat. The bad news is that we don't know if there are broken fragments in there, so it's too risky to fix it ourselves... You're going to have to see a doctor."

"The nearest doctor is a ferry away," Seiya said, worried. "And it's raining."

Squall nodded. His gray eyes narrowed as he studied Sora's arm a moment more before turning towards the hallway. "I don't think he should see a doctor here anyway. We can make a sling to make him more comfortable..."

He disappeared into the hallway, carrying a handful of supplies, and Sora heard him stop someone on the stairs, then the sound of feet sprinting back upstairs. Probably Tidus.

Sora stared after him, dreading the meaning of what Squall had just said. Not see a doctor here? Then what was he supposed to do?

"We need to get you cleaned up," his mom sighed, picking at his sticky, sandy hair, and when Sora glanced at her, she had tears pooling on her lashes. Seeing her like this hurt a hell of a lot more than the pain he was already going through.

He swallowed past the sudden knot in his throat and reached out to grab her hand. "Mom... "

She let him, but not without a sniffle and a deep look of guilty realization. "This is my fault. If I hadn't pushed the two of you together..."

"People are jerks," Sora cut in, shaking his head. "It's not your fault. Maybe you had a lot to do with me 'n Riku getting closer, but I was the one who accepted it. It's not Riku's fault, either. It's the jerks who can't handle us for being a little different, Mom."

"But for them to gang up on you at the beach and then follow you home..." Her fingers tightened around his, and her other hand covered her face. "I don't understand how some people can be so cruel."

He couldn't remember the last time she had ever said anything like that. Despite her isolation here, she had always been sort of optimistic about people. But then, there was a big difference between how people treated her versus what was happening to Sora.

For a moment, Sora debated on whether or not to tell her the truth about what had really happened, but after the day he'd had, he didn't see a point in hiding the details. "The thing at the beach was different," he said. "Sort of."

And when she glanced up, blue eyes wide and full of worry for him, Sora rubbed the back of her hand and explained that Bickson and his gang had been looking for an excuse to jump him, and that he had hurt Jumal's ankle when they had cornered him in an alley a few days ago. Gray, Ryan, and Neil were just bullies and had always been bullies since he and Riku had been little, but they started up their macho antics again because of Riku's return. Ryan had come at Sora with a baseball bat probably because Ryan and Jumal were really close friends, and Jumal's hurt ankle was hampering not only his blitzball playing, but the whole team's.

She listened to him in silence, her expression gradually darkening with anger. "Men are such babies," she murmured when he finished.

It felt weird to be so calm about this, but he wasn't so sure he'd had the time for it to all sink in. "Kairi went to talk to her father," Sora added, "so hopefully he'll get them to cool things down."

Squall chose at that moment to return to the kitchen, a folded sheet and some clothes tucked under an arm. Sora and his mother watched him expectantly, and Squall didn't need prompting. "We'll make Sora a sling after his shower," he said. "I talked to Tidus, and he agreed to help you out..."

Sora's stomach flip-flopped. Wait—Tidus—helping him out in the shower? Is that what Squall meant? But then again, Sora would need it...

Squall handed him the pile of folded clothes but set the sheet on the table, probably to make Sora's sling later. "Don't take too long or put too much stress on that arm," he warned, then gestured to the doorway.

Tidus stood there waiting for Sora.

His expression was guarded. Sora wondered if that was because Tidus was being shy or if he was just trying not to show how worried or angry he was about what had happened. Sora understood that he and Riku hadn't been the only ones affected by this. No doubt Tidus and Wakka had made a lot of enemies today...

Sora released his mother's hand and joined Tidus by the door. "I won't be long," he reassured Squall, clothes gathered under his good arm. Well, he would try not to take long... He hadn't been naked in front of Tidus since the locker rooms at school a few months ago—and that was way before he'd known Tidus had a crush on him. On the other hand, they both had more important things to worry about today.

He left Squall with his mother and paused in the hall to give Tidus what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Tidus returned it, though it had only half of the life in it that Tidus's smiles usually did. Sora retreated towards the stairs, climbing them in silence with Tidus close behind him.

The sound of running water had stopped.

He broke the silence when they reached the landing. "How's Riku?" he asked.

"Huh?" Tidus seemed distracted. "Oh. Not sure... Cloud was still checking him out when I left."

But Sora wasn't surprised Tidus was a little out of it. It had been a hectic past hour. He just smiled at his friend again, finding irony in the smile that Tidus was once again quick to return. Shouldn't Sora have been the one seeking reassurance? Maybe that was part of what friendship was, though—remaining strong for him, even when it seemed like the whole world was against him.

"You alright?" he asked Tidus.

That did the trick. Tidus's smile pulled into a sheepish grin. "I should be asking you that. You're the one with the gimp arm. Here..." He took the clothes from Sora and led him to the bathroom used for guests. "You know... Out of everything that's happened today, you know what's surprised me the most?"

"No—what?" Sora asked.

As he placed the bundle of clothes on the counter, Tidus hesitated before turning back towards Sora, his expression earnest.

"How strong you are," he admitted. Then, looking embarrassed, he went to the shower stall and began to run the water to warm it up. "I mean... it wasn't just Riku who got a beating out there," he said, his explanation tumbling out of him without Sora's encouragement. "I saw what they did to you on the beach—and now those assholes attack you at your own house? But here you are... asking me if I'm alright. Everyone should be asking you that."

And as Tidus glanced at him over his shoulder, his fingers checking the water's temperature, Sora felt something inside of him loosen, like a shoelace knot that had finally begun to give way. Only, this knot was made of emotions, and Sora hadn't realized he had been picking at it this entire time. Something about what Tidus had said had meant a lot to him, but he couldn't quite put a name to it...

"Thanks," he mustered, but he meant it.

Relief warmed the troubled edges of Tidus's smile.

"Any time."

-o-o-

There were about a dozen different clichés about two boys in a shower that Sora kept imagining during his moment of dependency with Tidus. None of them happened. By the time they were finished doing Sora's hair, Sora couldn't have been more grateful that Tidus was his friend.

-o-o-

Once out of the shower, Sora found himself once again borrowing the oversized pair of Riku's boxers that Squall had fished out of a pile of clean laundry, along with a muscle shirt that sorta fit him. Squall had sought him out and led him and Tidus to the room he shared with Cloud, which hadn't changed since that morning.

And as Tidus towel-dried Sora's hair for him, Sora sat in Squall's office chair and watched as Squall set up his laptop in front of them, a serious frown wrinkling his scar as he began to fold a pastel blue sheet into a large triangle. On the laptop's screen were DIY instructions, pulled off the internet, on how to make a sling out of a sheet.

Sora couldn't help finding all of this kind of amusing.

That is, until Squall was ready to put Sora's arm into the homemade sling. The pain wasn't as unbearable as before, but moving his arm reignited it enough for him to wish he had done more than kick Ryan in the balls for attacking him. As Squall helped Sora slip his arm into the sling they tied from his neck, Sora tried and failed to stifle a groan.

Even after his arm settled into the sturdy sheet-sling, the pain continued to radiate from his shoulder. That was where Tidus put one of the ice packs Sora's mom had made, and Sora murmured his gratitude.

It was then that Squall offered him two tiny pills and a perspiring glass of water. "Here. Cid said he uses these for his joint pains."

Sora took them without question and washed them down with the entire glass of water, and even though he knew it was just his imagination, his shoulder was already beginning to feel better. "Thanks," he sighed, and Squall merely mussed his damp hair now that Tidus was done trying to dry it.

"How's it feel?" Tidus asked.

"Still hurts," Sora admitted, "but at least now it's not just hanging there..." He gently pressed the ice pack harder against the awkward joint and grimaced, deciding then not to press it any harder than he needed to. He wasn't a baby—he could take his cuts and bruises without batting an eye—but this was a different level of pain than he'd ever felt before.

"And you?" Squall added after quietly observing him.

Sora had the feeling he wasn't talking about the arm but rather what had happened. After how distant Squall had been acting that morning, he was glad to have the older man's concern, as well-disguised as it was. Squall didn't seem like the type who was often bothered by other people's problems, if ever.

And Sora, who had spent most of his life being the overlooked boy next door, wasn't used to having this much attention—unwanted situation or not. He set the ice pack down and, using the edge of Squall's small desk, hefted himself to his feet. "Hanging there is all I can do right now..." He glanced at him. "How's Riku?"

"Bruised," Squall said, not making a move to stop him from leaving. "And pissed off."

Somehow, Sora didn't doubt it.

"It's getting late," Tidus noted with a glance at the laptop's time. Beyond the bedroom window, the sky was black even though the sun had about two hours before setting. Rain was falling in torrents, slapping against the window panes from fierce gusts of wind, but Sora couldn't hear any thunder.

"My mom's not going to let you out in that rain," Sora said with a small smile. "I'm sure it'd be okay if you stayed a bit longer, or overnight..."

Tidus nodded, but his expression told Sora he wasn't going to take up that offer. "I could, but I want to find out if Kairi had any luck. Besides, by now my mom would have heard about what happened..."

"And she'd be worried," Sora finished for him, understanding. Like Sora, Tidus lived alone with his mom—but only because his dad was on the mainland playing professional Blitzball. Sora had never met his father, but he'd met Tidus's mom more than a few times and she'd always been really sweet to him. "Think you'll be alright alone?"

Tidus raked a hand through his messy blonde hair and gave Sora a knowing smile. "Yeah, don't worry. Go easy on the arm," he said as he too got to his feet, Sora's towel in hand. "I'm gonna say bye to your mom. Smells like she's cooking up a storm down there..."

Now that he mentioned it, Sora did smell something really savory. She always went on a cooking spree when she was worried. He could only imagine what she was doing in the kitchen—a feast fit for a king, probably.

Sora said his goodbyes and, with a grateful smile, walked Tidus to the stairs and watched him descend. There was a shift of air behind him, and Sora glanced over his good shoulder to give Squall a questioning look. He hadn't expected Squall to follow them.

"He's a good kid," the older man commented quietly. The statement seemed unusual for someone like Squall, so Sora nodded, not wanting to let him get all stoic on him so soon. Squall focused on Sora then, expression still giving nothing away. "You should go see him."

Sora knew immediately that Squall wasn't talking about Tidus. He was a little nervous about seeing Riku—how badly had he gotten hurt?—but he knew Riku would have already come to see him if he'd been able.

The way Riku had leapt into the fight like that, just to protect him...

But he also thought about how he hadn't even hesitated when the blitzball had slammed into Riku's face. Sora's fist had done all the thinking for him. He wondered how much damage he and Riku had done to those assholes...

Sora found himself standing in front of Riku's door a few seconds later, feeling Squall's attention on him, and he turned the knob without knocking.

Riku's room was even darker than the rest of the house, the lights off and the curtains drawn, and through the crack between the curtains Sora could see the charcoal colored sky and rain. On this side of the house, the wind was pushing the water away from the window, leaving Riku's room silent except for the heavy pattering of rain against the roof. Through the sliver of faint light coming from outside, Sora could see a Riku-sized lump on the bed beneath the blankets and Cloud cleaning up what looked like some of the supplies Sora had brought. The room smelled like Riku's shampoo, though.

Cloud glanced in his direction when he creaked the door open, and Sora shut the door behind him as quietly as he could.

"How is he?" he tried to whisper.

"Bruised," Cloud replied in his normal voice. "And still awake, just sedated." He paused to turn on the lamp beside Riku's bed, illuminating that corner of the room, before he stuffed the used supplies into a bag and approached Sora. His brows furrowed as he took in the sight of Sora's sling. "Leonhart told us what happened..."

Sora heard the concern in his tone, but also the anger. He wondered if Cloud had ever encountered situations like this himself, then remembered Cloud had had a girlfriend until very recently... He wasn't openly gay.

"It's just dislocated," Sora said, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. The fact that he had gotten hurt was less disturbing to him than the fact he had gotten attacked in the first place—that was a big deal to him.

Cloud's expression grew grave. "Sora, don't take this lying down. A dislocated shoulder could have easily been a cracked skull or worse. I'm not saying you were lucky, but..." He trailed off, shaking his head and looking livid for a moment before it faded back into concern. "Just take it easy for now, and... be careful."

Sora clenched his jaw and nodded, understanding where Cloud's severity was coming from. This definitely wouldn't be his last tangle with the blitzball players or Gray's gang, especially if he and Riku wanted to take it public. Well, it already was getting public... but getting justice for what had been done to them was a whole other matter.

Cloud left the room, closing the door behind him as Sora had done, leaving that subtle warning lingering in front of him. Be careful? Sora wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to be careful about... If those guys had had the gall to attack him on his own lawn, he wasn't sure what was safe anymore.

When Sora turned towards Riku's bed, Riku had pulled down his covers and was watching him. His hair was a nest of silver, the messiest Sora had ever seen it, but something about it made Sora's heart warm. If Riku hadn't had the energy to tidy his hair after his quick shower, or at least the energy to ask Cloud or Squall to do it for him, he must have been pretty out of it.

Sora crossed the floor towards the bed, the smile that he had been about to give Riku dying on his lips before he could form it. There was already a heavy bruise around Riku's eye where one of the knobs of the blitzball had hit him. His lip was split, too, and there was a cut on his forehead covered by two bandaids. Without waiting for permission, Sora tugged Riku's blanket down to see the damage, spotting more bandaids along his bare chest, and there—settled over his ribs was a large bandage, and Riku's hand pressed against it with a wrapped ice pack.

"Nothing's broken," Riku muttered, his eyes shying away before focusing on Sora's sling. "Bastards 're gonna pay..."

That was somewhat endearing except for the slur in Riku's words. Cloud hadn't been kidding when he'd said that Riku was sedated. Seemed like Riku had gotten away with just a bruised rib or two... He had been kicked pretty hard, though.

Sora was beginning to think had been pretty lucky. Could a tragedy be lucky? His mind was starting to spin; he wasn't sure how to feel anymore.

"Kairi will take care of it," Sora reassured, though he wasn't too sure about that. Riku's bed was beginning to look like a good place to take a nap... Wait—had Cid's medicine kicked in? Maybe that was why he couldn't think straight right now. Running on auto-pilot, Sora climbed onto the bed beside Riku, shifting carefully onto his side so that his bad arm was on top.

A moment later, he felt Riku press the ice pack gently against his shoulder. Sora lifted his gaze to Riku's, whose expression looked as serious as one of Squall's, only drifty. Once again, Sora recognized the concern hidden there. He settled close to Riku, but not too close, wary of aggravating Riku's ribs, and after a while Riku left the ice pack on Sora's shoulder so he could slip his arm over Sora's waist and hold him.

"Scared?" he murmured against Sora's hair.

Sora took a moment to imagine the kind of conversation Ryan must have had with Gray and Neil in order to convince them to wait outside Sora's house. He thought about the bat and their words and their anger. Then he couldn't help wondering what they'd do now that war had broken out and their anger would only have more reason to simmer into a boil. That was when he remembered Cloud's "be careful," and he realized... No, he would no longer feel safe alone, not even at home.

"Yeah," he whispered back.

Riku's warm breath filtered through his hair, helping him relax, but he said nothing. He almost thought Riku had fallen asleep when he heard it: the faintest of replies, an afterthought as if Riku hadn't meant to utter it aloud.

"Me, too..."

-o-o-

When Sora woke, it was with a grogginess that felt like he had been asleep for days. Prying his eyes open was a chore, and when his vision cleared, he found himself staring at a knot in Riku's hair. The lamp was still on. Beyond the window, he could hear the steady beating of the rain against the roof still, but the crack in the curtains was pitch black now from what Sora could see.

Riku's hand was a deep warmth where it rested between his shoulder blades. His eyes were open, watching him with a calmness that made Sora suspect Riku had been staring at him for a very long time.

"Hey," Riku greeted softly.

Sora murmured a Hey back, his throat feeling like it was layered with cobwebs.

"Your mom left us some food downstairs," Riku said, undeterred by Sora's bleariness. "And Kairi called."

Sora began to sober immediately. "She did?" From his tone, the news already didn't sound good, and Sora felt his stomach tighten with dread. Maybe he should have stayed asleep...

"Her father says he can't do anything, which is bullshit," Riku said, eyes thinning. "Even Kairi called him on his bullshit and said it was prejudice. She's pretty worried—about Tidus and Wakka, too. She doesn't want Bickson and the other assholes to get away with it. Your mom told her about what happened to you, too, and she thinks things are getting too violent too fast. She's right... It's ridiculous. We're not going to be able to contain it."

"So then what do we do?" Sora asked as he tried to keep up with everything Riku was saying.

"Kairi had a few good suggestions, and both Seiya and Squall agree..." Riku hesitated for a second, sighing. "We need to leave town for a few days to let things calm down."

Sora tensed, wondering if he had heard that right. "Wait—what? Leave town?"

"Just for a few days," Riku assured. He sounded like he didn't really want to leave. "Kairi said she was going to try to talk to her father again." Then, regrettably: "It's not going to work, but... she's right that we should disappear and let things calm down without us."

It was a while before Sora could even think to say anything. He wasn't supposed to be leaving so soon—not for another month! And even if this was just for a few days, it was so sudden. "Where are we going to go?" he asked, floundering to straighten his mind out. He should have been able to guess the answer.

"Atropos, of course," Riku said. "I'll make the arrangements in the morning. I don't want a lot of people to know I'll be in the city..."

The city already? Sora's eyes widened. "How soon?"

"Probably tomorrow afternoon. I'm supposed to be on bed rest, but..." Riku's eyes focused on the knot of Sora's sling, his expression somber again. "You need to see a doctor. Your arm can't stay like that for too long, and Squall was adamant that we can't pop it back into place ourselves since there might be bone fragments or whatever."

That didn't make Sora feel any better. Not only was he going to the city before he was ready, he was going to see a doctor? He hadn't needed to see a doctor at all since he was like ten!

Riku continued on, oblivious to or ignoring Sora's silent panic. "Before we do, we need to take pictures of the damage they did to us, as evidence... I get the feeling Sephiroth is going to want to get involved."

Sora could only imagine how, but the question caught in his throat. He was afraid to ask what Sephiroth's power and money could do to his once peaceful island community. Or maybe Sephiroth just wanted to protect one of his precious models...

Either way, Sora knew that there was no going back to his quiet life as a boy-next-door. Maybe this sudden trip to Atropos was what he needed to open his eyes.

Riku must have seen the anxiety in him because he cracked a smile at Sora. "Relax. We'll figure things out." He slipped a hand through Sora's hair. "We'll pull through this together, alright?"

Sora gave a small nod, then winced as a muscle along his shoulder stung in protest. Riku noticed and gently stroked the space between his shoulder blades to help him relax. It worked.

They lay there together, unaware of the passing time as they discussed the trip to Atropos and what they could get accomplished while there. Riku was good a pointing out the benefits of going early—scoping out apartments together, letting Sora tour the city to see if he liked it, helping Sora get used to the bus system they'd have to rely on once they got there, getting Sora a cell phone, maybe picking up some job applications. (Admittedly that last one was Sora's idea; he didn't want Riku to pay for everything!)

Around the time they were discussing how big of a kitchen they might need in their future apartment, Sora stomach grumbled loudly at the idea of food, and he remembered Riku had mentioned his mom had left them dinner.

Riku laughed and kissed him. "Go get some food, you goof."

For once, Sora would rather let his stomach suffer; he was super comfortable and was having fun imagining the new life he and Riku were discussing. But he realized Riku hadn't eaten either. Even though Riku hadn't said to get him food, too, Sora decided he ought to do it anyway, especially if Riku was confined to his bed.

Flashing Riku a small grin, he leaned in and returned the kiss before he carefully got to his feet. He only aggravated his arm a little and felt proud of himself for getting used to dealing with his sling.

The hallway was dark as he entered it, but a light was on in the kitchen downstairs, allowing him a faint light to see by. He still wasn't used to navigating Riku's large house in the dark, not like his own.

As he descended the stairs, he heard a rattling snore and spotted Cid lounging on one of the sofas, a thick engineering magazine open in his lap. Someone had turned the light off and left him there probably. He wondered if Cid was supposed to be the night watch... Usually Cid would return to his hotel room a few islands over, but maybe he had stayed to make sure everyone was alright. Or maybe the rain was just too much for him to travel through tonight... Well, whatever Cid's excuse was, he was a lousy night watch, and Sora smiled to himself as he crept into the kitchen.

It was empty. But with a glance at the dining room, he saw his mom was asleep at the table. Either she had been waiting up for him or she had been too worried to go home...

Sora stood beside her and brushed her hair out of her eyes. He'd never noticed before, but she had wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and there in the back of her ponytail was a single gray hair. He hadn't ever known her to have any before—or at least didn't let them exist long enough for him to notice them.

Something nostalgic stirred inside of him as he studied her face. He knew she was proud of him, but he wondered if she was happy here. When he moved, what would be left for her here?

He hoped she didn't stay here, not after everything that was happening because of his relationship with Riku. The last thing he wanted was for his mom to suffer because of stupid prejudiced jerks.

Sighing, he pulled his hand away from her face. That was when he noticed the pile of beach stuff they had abandoned on the beach after the attack. Everything was there, from the blanket to the parasol to the lunch cooler, and even Axel's camera. Selphie must have been successful in convincing the other girls to help her. Sora felt himself smile at the gesture of kindness. It was a good reminder that not everyone on the island would support the hate crimes even if they had started off supporting the intolerance.

He picked up Axel's camera and rubbed it against the bottom of his shirt to brush the sand off of it, hoping none had gotten inside or scratched the lenses or anything. Sora wasn't an expert on electronics, but he had a suspicion that sand and technology didn't mix well at all.

He switched it on and breathed out with relief when he heard the camera's happy chime. Nearby, his mother stirred at the sound, but she didn't wake up. Curious, Sora used his thumb to scroll through the pictures that had been taken recently, wishing he could use his other hand to help hold it steady.

There were the pictures he had taken of Riku's dazed expression as he had stared out into the sea, even an accidental shot of Riku's fingers clamped over the camera when he had tried to take it from Sora.

But before all of those, he was surprised to see some images he hadn't taken—of himself and Riku standing together in the surf, framed by the blue sky and the faint outline of storm clouds on the horizon, as they shared a kiss.

He remembered then that Kairi and Selphie had been messing with the camera. Is that what they had been doing? Oh, man...

He couldn't help grinning when he saw the pictures before those, though, of the informal blitzball game they had played. There were a lot of himself and Riku, especially Riku munching it in the water a few times and Tidus and Wakka howling with laughter, but there were also a ton of Tidus pictures and Wakka, and even three or four of Kairi and Selphie getting snapshots of each other.

Sora didn't realize he was laughing until he heard his mom murmur something in her sleep about Sora playing his games too loud. Quieting down, Sora finished looking through the new photos and shut the camera off. Somehow, his heart felt much lighter now.

He couldn't shake the image from his mind, the one of himself and Riku at the shoreline. Maybe he wasn't used to seeing himself in photos, let alone with another person, but something about it struck him in a way that none of the others had. He had looked happy. So had Riku.

But that was why Sora had wanted to drag Riku to the beach in the first place—to create new memories together. Now this particular memory would forever be tainted by Bickson and Ryan and the pain.

Sora set the camera down, letting his hand linger on its cool surface, and he closed his eyes.

He could still see the baseball bat raised to strike him. He could still hear their furious yells as he had raced past them. He could still feel one of their hands as it had tried to grab onto his slippery skin. And when he thought about it, he could still feel the force of fists and feet and knees slamming into him.

Releasing a steady breath, Sora reached up to touch his dislocated shoulder.

...could have easily been a cracked skull or worse.

Cloud's words came back to him along with a chill. Sora shivered it away and hoped Atropos would be better. Then he turned and went to warm up his and Riku's dinners, determined to make Riku eat something no matter what.

On his way to the stairs several minutes later, carefully balancing a tray with his one good arm, he paused in the living room, getting an idea. He set the food down and pulled off a throw draped over the back of one of the couches. He returned to the dining room and, after some effort, managed to drape it over his mom's shoulders.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head like she often used to do to him. "G'night, Mom..."

She let out a soft snore, and he smiled.

He retrieved the tray of food from the coffee table where he'd left it and retreated upstairs, letting the dim lamp light from Riku's room guide him.

-o-o-

That night after they ate their dinner and talked more about what Atropos would be like, Sora slept well only for three reasons:

Riku let him leave the lamp on, dim as it was, to help chase away the shadows of his long day.

Riku's breathing carried a hypnotizing rhythm, as did his heartbeat as Sora nestled close enough to hear it.

And because, curled up next to Riku with the warm weight of his arm around him, he felt like things might turn out okay.

-o-o-

These next two chapters might be veeery long compared to the shorter length of the more recent chapters... or I might split it up, I'm really not sure anymore. These shorter chapters are confusing me!

Thanks for all of the continuing support.