01 looked down at his hand slowly, shaking in a mixture of shock and pain. "Ouch..." he moaned as the pain tore through his hand. His skin was blackened and sore.
"Stop complaining" Sora ordered. He got to his feet, rubbing the sand off and touched the hand gently at first. 01 flinched instantly and clenched his teeth to hide the pain that he had just felt. Sora gripped 01’s wrist tightly, not letting go. He took his head closer to the wound and looked at the damage, thinking back to what had happened as he did.
The boy had knocked him to the ground to stop Sora from getting hurt from a heartless. When he had moved to punch the heartless his hand had burst on fire. The heartless had – he supposed – accidently touched the fire, since it hadn’t been very big but still... the boy had managed to destroy a heartless, something that not very many can match as easily. Sora was worried by this event, partially because a heartless had ambushed him so successfully and partially because this seemingly Amnesia-stricken boy had supernatural powers.
01 looked closely at Sora. He looked deep in thought. As he pondered what Sora was thinking about he felt a rush of pain hit his brain abruptly and he collapsed onto the ground, slipping from Sora’s grip as he did. "Infection" Sora muttered to himself, knowingly. He knelt down at 01's side and snapped his fingers in an almost routine manner. A green energy appeared around his hand after the click, engulfing his flesh. He held 01's hand and placed his on top. He forced the green energy into the burn wound and all the way inside his body to extract the infection. As he slowly moved his hand away again the energy and the damage faded as if they were nothing but an illusion. "Come on, let's go" Sora heaved as he lifted 01 into the air and started to walk away from the area, he didn’t fancy getting attacked again. He'd have to take him somewhere safe while he worked out what was going on at the moment. Tifa was nearby, luckily.
He walked towards the location quickly, carrying 01 on his back. The thick sand swirled around him, blinding him as a sandstorm started to brew "Air" Sora muttered, breathing out softly. As his breath touched the sand it parted and after the first bit has moved there was instantly a long, linear gap in the sand all the way towards a cave. "Tifa!" Sora shouted to the wind. The sound of the sand battering against his magic was ferociously loud.
"Sora!?" an old, croaky voice called back, a figure appeared in the mouth of the cave. She wore a black cloak and a shawl which covered her head. She had long dark grey hair and a withered, aged face. "Sora, is that you!?" she called out towards him.
Sora had become closer to a lot of the people who had fought the heartless back then, but there was one that he had lost in his pursuit of the heartless... as he paused because of his memories consuming him he heard a voice break his deep thought "Sora, come quickly, your air shield is breaking!" Tifa bellowed. Sora spun his head, looking behind him. He saw the gap of air collapsing and the sand rushing in like a pack of feral wolves. He nodded and looked forwards; he couldn't make it, not even if he ran.
"Fly" he grumbled as a thin beam of air flew through the shield, striking him in the abdomen. His body lifted up and he shot forwards, he was propelling himself with air. Tifa moved to one side to allow him entrance and just as the gap of air collapsed he burst through, looking at Tifa, his eyes wide.
"It's been awhile, what trouble ails you now?" Tifa asked as she turned and walked over to pot that was brewing over a fire.
Sora looked around the familiar abode. The walls were dark, black and plain. The cave was small and it was nothing but a small chunk of missing rock with no tunnels. There was a small fire in the middle where a pot was brewing with the ladle sticking out. There were two logs either side of the fire and a small bag of things by one of them; the one Tifa was sat on. "Come, sit." Tifa encouraged him, nodding to the empty log as she twirled the ladle in the pot and grabbed a small ceramic bowl near the base of the fire. Sora sat down and grabbed the bowl as it was thrust towards him, along with a spoon. Tifa quickly prepared a second one for herself but she paused as she looked up and saw Sora laying a young boy onto the floor.
"Who's that?" she asked, quickly worried and jumpy she moved to run. Sora turned and saw who she was shakily pointing at with her spoon.
"Oh, that's 01" Sora explained.
"0... 1?" Tifa asked curiously
"He has amnesia so I renamed him something simple" Sora explained with a smile as he drank straight from the bowl "It's good" he mumbled as he swallowed.
"Your mannerisms haven't changed and neither has your ermm... weird choice in companions" Tifa said slowly as she looked at the strange boy. He wasn't a fighter, his unscarred face and hands proved that. His hands were so soft he clearly had no discernable trade. His hair was short, blonde and messy so he wasn’t a soldier. "It's a regular kid" Tifa muttered slowly.
"That's what I thought, I figured I'd get him out of here and-" Sora paused as he swallowed a mouthful. "...and he could just go back to being normal, after all it's not safe here" Sora added as he took another mouthful.
"So what changed?" Tifa asked as she took a careful sip of her own soup.
"He used magic"
"Magic?" Tifa asked, confused.
"Magic." Sora said, definitively.
"I see..." Tifa mumbled slowly, retreating into her head to think. "So what now?" she asked, puzzled.
"I train the boy" Sora said matter-of-factly. He gasped as Tifa spat all the soup out of her mouth in shock, onto him. It dripped from his face as it cooled. "Thanks..." Sora mumbled as he wiped himself with his sleeve.
"Sorry" Tifa apologised. "You train him?"
"Yes"
"You realise how old you are, right? You aren't the same young go-getter you once were. Honestly Sora, I think you are stupid to even consider it. Leave the boy be, he can live a normal life" Tifa protested, fervently.
They sat silent until they finished their soup. The silence was awkward and suffocating. "I have no choice" Sora said finally as he set his bowl down. Tifa finished her own, taking her time before setting it down and wiping her mouth with her sleeve delicately.
"You do"
"I do what?"
"You do have a choice" Tifa said matter-of-factly
"Fate decides everything, Tifa. We both know that. This boy was brought to me so I could finish train him. The years we spent in the time prison after our last battle have made me consider life more. It isn't all about rushing in and finishing the job, I need help now" Sora paused.
"Help!?" Tifa exclaimed. "You need help alright! This boy is not a tool to be used; he is a human being, Sora! You cannot and I will not let you use him to fight heartless" Tifa spoke with strength and fury, as she had always done. This time was different though, she was genuinely threatening Sora.
"Tifa..." Sora muttered, meekly.
"I am going to bed; if you are gone by the time I wake up then let's put it this way. You can add one to your list" Tifa threatened as she walked over to the bag and withdrew a sleeping bag. She lay it out on the ground and lay down on it, rolling over so she wasn't facing Sora.
"Do I have a choice?" Sora whispered to himself as he looked at Tifa, instantly asleep. "What do you want, kid?" Sora asked, as he looked down at the young boy. He slept soundly. She was right; he looked, acted and for all intents and purposes, was an ordinary boy. What right did Sora have to take that away from him?
I hope it's okay
Awesome Sig by Tal
