Chapter One

Clear, blue water lapped upon the warm sand. The sky seemed to be filled with streaks of colors, like a water-based painting that went slightly askew. The sky would look like that for now, until the moon would slide over, darkening the atmosphere as if someone had flicked off a light switch. Tiny, glowing lights would soon follow, shimmering like frozen, white fireflies. This whole entire system would go on forever and ever.

Too bad no one ever really thought about it. Especially Sora.

The spiky, brown haired boy was casually walking along the beach, the sunsets after glow reflecting off of his pointed hair.

It had been about a year since he'd returned from his daring adventure that took place in many, unfamiliar worlds. A year since he and Riku had fought their way through darkness and lies just to get home to see one familiar face again; Kairi's. It had been exactly a year ago, when he and Riku had landed back in the ocean that was to the left now, and shoved forward to look up into Kairi's familiar blue eyes and hear her say, "You're home, Sora!"

A sigh managed to escape his lips as all of the memories seemed to sprint past his own blue eyes. At times, he wished he could relive it all again, to fight next to Donald and Goofy once more, to save Riku from a daunting future that never came, to once again look up into Kairi's eyes and hear her voice…

"Sora!"

Sora's head turned at the sound of a familiar voice, her voice.

She was standing on the island that they had built years ago. Sora couldn't help but grind his teeth at the memories of all the things that had happened at that one spot.

Kairi just grinned a playful smile and called, "You're late! Now you're going to have to fight Riku once more!"

Sora just smiled back, before increasing his speed to a run as he made his was to the island. Even though Riku was brought back to the light, he still had some powers that he obtained from the darkness.

The shed door opened as Sora ran across the wooden bridge that they had also built to traverse to the island with ease.

Kairi stood there, her smile still placed delicately across her face. Behind her, a silver-spiked haired boy turned around, his strong green eyes had a more serious manner to them. Riku soon smiled, his bangs gently swaying in the wind.

"Well, it's about time!" He said in his mysterious voice as soon as Sora's feet touched the white sand on the island.

Sora laughed before saying, "Yeah, well you were late on showing yourself back in the World that Never Was." He grinned and walked towards the tree, nimbly avoiding Riku's hand as he swung it around to slap the back of his head.

"Hey, you two! Cut it out, ok?" Kairi said jokingly, her auburn hair seeming to glow in the sunlight.

Sora laughed once more as he swung to a sitting point on top of the tree. "We're still boys, you know!" He said, twisting his head towards the tropical horizon.

"So what?" Kairi said, climbing onto the tree herself. She soon stared out into the ocean, mimicking Sora's own gaze.

Riku just leaned back against the tree's trunk, flattening his hair against the bark. He was silent for a moment, before saying, "Wonder what's happening back at Disney Castle, and all of the other worlds…"

Sora's mind was soon swept up into a tumult of memories; Donald and Goofy running around, slashing their weapons this way and that, vanquishing the darkness that had decided to reside in the one place that the king lived.

Kairi sighed in response, her eyes glancing down to the earth below. Her smile starting to vanish. "Well, at least they're all safe." She said quietly.

The two boys nodded, still staring off into space, just like the old days.

Sora just thought about everything, until it led him to here. He closed his eyes for a moment, just listening to the sound of home, the sound of his friends' breathing. The feeling that there was no more hurt that he had to endure. His eyes slowly opened and he resumed staring off into space, just thinking about the past, and what was going on at the island.

He still remembered the fateful night, when the heartless first showed up and Sora was bestowed with the keyblade. It was the night that Riku was overcome by the darkness, and Kairi had disappeared. He flipped through all of the other memories, stopping on the one where Riku had left them for the darkness…

"Um, Sora?"

Sora looked up to see both Riku and Kairi staring at him. "Huh?" He managed to mumble.

"You looked like something was on your mind." Kairi said, her blue eyes harmless.

Riku smirked and turned his head away. "Judging by Sora, he's always got something on his mind."

Sora narrowed his eyes and leaned back to where he was laying on top of the tree. His eyes gazed straight up into the darkening sky. He couldn't help but get the feeling that something was wrong. He shook his head. No, nothing was wrong at all, in fact, the stars were shining every night!

Kairi looked over at him. "Sora, are you sure that you're ok?" Another smirk escaped Riku.

Sora just said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

But in truth, the instincts that he had a year ago seemed to be pulsing through him once more, awakening every adventurous bone and tendon in his body. Something wasn't right, he just knew it…

But what?