My name is Sora Scott; I was sixteen years old when I was almost taken from the world. Almost.

A bang and then an echo…

Falling

Falling…

Into darkness…

The darkness was all I could see. I remember I was standing a mere few seconds ago; why was I on the ground? My vision was blurred, only seeing the dark blue ground and feeling the gritty rocks on my fingertips. My eyes closed as my mind started to drift to my friends; where were they? Before I could think any further, I opened my eyes slightly again when a small pressure was felt on my chest. There, my best friend Riku was pressing his hands to my chest with a look of fear and shock on his face…but why? My other friend Kairi got to the ground and started cradling my head on her lap as she stroked my hair. I was so confused. What happened to me? Riku started talking to me, but it was as is my ears turned off. Everything was fuzzy as my world started to spin. I could feel myself start to sweat as a loud pounding noise made it's way to my ears; my heartbeat. I looked to my right as best I could to see my other friends, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, Tifa, Cloud, Merlin, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey running. Were…were they crying? I looked up to Kairi to see her crying too. All I knew was that if Riku was crying too, it was bad. He never cried. Only once when my dad died did I ever see him cry. In all honesty, I didn't want to look; afraid of what I'd see. I felt so breathless and scared. I wanted to scream but my voice betrayed me; nothing came out.

Aerith quickly rushed to my side and took over where Riku previously was. She was a healer so she knew a lot more about medicine then anyone else. As Riku's hands were removed from my chest, they were stained red. Blood. My blood. At that moment, my ears started to kick in again. Sound flooded my clouded head, making noise cut in and out every few seconds.

"Sora, can -ou hear -e?" Aerith yelled at me.

I couldn't respond. As I tried, my body protested and I started to flinch as I had a pain strike me. My voice got caught in my throat as I grasped my hands to the cold stone floor.

"Wh-what h-h-appened to me?" I managed to ask shakily.

"Sora, you've been shot. You're okay. You're gonna be just fine," Aerith said firmly but still with slight fear in her voice.

I'd been shot. Shot. Like with a gun? When? How? Who shot me? Why would someone shoot me? Fear, anguish and pain struck me all at once as I let out a loud cry. In retrospect, I knew that because I was a Keyblade wielder, there would be people that didn't like me; I never thought I'd be shot. My cheeks started to feel wet from the tears that had spilled over my eyes. Kairi started wiping them away as I couldn't do it myself. My voice was lost again; I really wanted to find it.

Donald and Goofy were sitting right beside Kairi so they were in my view, holding my hand and talking to me. They too were crying. I wasn't really listening; I couldn't focus on anything. I tried to listen; their voices were calming, but I just couldn't. Nothing would focus no matter how hard I tried. I kept trying to look back to Riku, but every time I tried, Kairi would gently push my head back to my left and continue to run her hands through my brown hair. My eyes eventually locked and focused on my friend Leon; he was 21 years old with brown hair and a scar crossing the bridge of his nose. His eyes were misty and filled with shock. Whenever I looked at him, he looked away; his gaze rarely meeting mine. After another few minutes, my whole body sent out shooting pain as I clutched the ground and screamed. Kairi was doing her best to hold me still and close, but it wasn't enough,

" Leon! Cid! Grab his legs and hold him down! Don't let him move! Yuffie, call 911 again and tell them to get an ambulance down here now!" Aerith demanded before turning to face me, "Sora, honey, it's okay. You're going to be okay. You just have to try and stay still for me, okay?"

I tried my best, but it wasn't enough. Leon and Cid held me by the ankles to ensure little movement; not that I could really feel my legs anymore. As the pain in my body died down again, I started speaking without even realising it,

"I'm dying, right? I'm gonn die I'm gonna d-"

"Stop it! You're gonna be just fine. You are not dying, Sora! Okay?" Riku cut me off.

I just stared right into his green eyes as he stared into my blue eyes. Fear was what I saw; then tears. Right then I knew, things were really bad. No one would let me look; Kairi keeping my head down gently but firmly. I had to ask,

"R-Riku? I know it's bad. It's bad isn't it?" I asked breathlessly.

"Wh-Wha-?" he asked as if caught off guard, "Why…why would you say that?" I looked at him with no emotion before answering,

"You're crying," I simply said.

Riku was never one to loose it. Never. But right in that moment, he lost everything. He started to cry along with everyone else as he grabbed my right hand. This made me cry even harder then before.

"Yeah buddy, it's bad," Riku told me, "But you're gonna make it. You're not gonna die-"

"Don't you dare lie to me," I said, cutting him off.

"If you were dying, I would tell you. You're not dying buddy, I promise," he said firmly and fairly confidently.

I tried to smile, but I felt cold. So cliché, I know. You hear it in the movies, but there is no other way to describe it other than cold. I couldn't feel anything from the waist down, making me panic a little. I read somewhere once that feeling the pain was a good thing; if you were dying the pain wouldn't be there. Did that mean that I really was dying? No, Riku promised…he's my best friend…he wouldn't lie to me, would he?

The next thing I remember Kairi was shaking me to get my eyes open; when did they close? How long where they shut? My gaze met hers as yet another tear fell from her eye. I was able to move my arm as I wiped the tear with my thumb. I smiled at her and she returned one; it had a look of fear with it. All I could think of was how I still hadn't told her the one thing I had been trying to say for so long. Now or never I thought,

"K-Kai?" I asked so soft that it was barely audible.

"I'm here, Sora," she said so gently and loving.

"I need t…to tell you something."

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"I know I should have told you sooner, but…I just couldn't," I began, "You have to know that I love you. I loved you since the day I met you. I'm in love with you and I always will be."

As I tried to finish, a wave of fatigue crushed me,

"Al-always, and forever…" I managed to say before I surrendered to the darkness.

I vaguely remember my friends screaming my name, but I was too tired to do anything at all. I could feel a dull pain in my chest, and my friends clutching their hands into mine. Then nothing. I felt nothing.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

A faint beeping in my ears was all I could hear. It was consistent and was beeping in steady motion. The thought of moving was bad. My muscles were in protest of moving at all, but I managed to open my eyes. The light was so bright that I had to close them into small slits; my vision blurry. I looked to the source of the beeping; a heart monitor. Was I in a hospital? And a heartbeat…was I alive? The walls were white and the curtains were blue. The silence in the room was deafening until I head a small moan. Then, I saw her; to my left with her head down on my bed. She looked like she was sleeping as her face was down on the bed. She was sitting on a small wooden chair; her hand intertwined with mine. A small smile found it's way to my lips.

My throat was incredibly dry. I tried to say something to her but I coughed instead. She stirred a bit as I tried to speak again,

"Kairi…?" my voice was pathetic.

At that moment her head shot up as she looked into my eyes. Tears formed and spilled over in a matter of seconds as she released her grip on my hand. Her own hands covered her mouth as she continued to stare in silenced shock. All I could do was smile,

"Hey, Kai," I whispered.

She moved her hands from her face back to my left hand as I continued to smile lightly,

"H-hi…" she managed to get out before sobbing.

Kairi moved closer to me before taking me into a gentle embrace; not wanting to cause me pain. Honestly, at that moment, I probably wouldn't have cared. I loved her and I was alive. I held her as close as I could before she moved to face me. Her eyes were misty, but still as purple as ever. She then did something I would have never expected,

"I love you too," she said, staring deeply into my eyes.

"Hu-huh? Yo-" she cut me off as her lips crashed onto mine.

I was in shock; was she kissing me? Does she actually like me back? I could have stayed that way forever except for the fact that I needed this little thing called air. We smiled at each other before the door to my room opened,

"Oh my god, Sora!" Riku exclaimed as he came up to me.

All my other friends were close behind as they all hugged me. Most of them were all crying out of relief. I thanks Aerith for everything before thanking everyone else. I owed them everything.

It was only a few weeks later that I was out of the hospital. Of course, I was on close watch after that. I wanted everything to go back to the way it had been before I was shot. Sometimes, it's tills surreal to me. Someone actually shot me. I would like to think that I was Xehanort, but I guess I may never know. Sometimes I want to know, so I can kick their ass, but other times I'm glad I don't know. Maybe it's for the best. I can tell that Riku and Kairi are always watching over me to see if I'm okay.

Anyways, now you know the story of how I was almost taken from the world, my world, my light; Kairi.

In the darkness, in the light; Lost and Found.