Sora looked down from the window of his room. The pastel blue curtains were loose and fluttering out of the window, desperately caught on the wind but unwillingly restrained by their hooks. His face was buried in his arms so that only his cerulean eyes peered out from beneath his heavy lashes; the only part of him visible underneath the wild and unruly chocolate coloured spikes that passed for hair.

He heaved a heavy breath as he watched the two below him on the beach sparring, their wooden sparring swords thudding off each other dully; the brunet could barely bring himself to watch but now that he had, he couldn't look away. The salty sea air that was once refreshing held nothing for the small teen. He longed to run down to the beach but could he honestly bare to confront him? Could he honestly say to himself he wouldn't cry? No… he would cry… he couldn't let go… but if the other could so easily… then so would he…

It seemed so unreal; the golden sun was approaching the horizon as it crept away and cast everything in a honey-colored light. Some things gleamed when the shouldn't have and it the world around him seemed so beautiful; his heart rejected all of it. If he was in such pain and turmoil, why did the world get to be free from it and shine like that?

The thuds had stopped and Sora's thought-lost eyes returned to their previous observation; the figures below had stopped sparring, they were shaking hands. The silver-haired one bowed to the older brunet who smiled slightly and bowed back. The brunette took the wooden sword from the silveret and left the beach, presumably to put away the weapons. Sora watched the other instead, the silveret was the one he'd been watching anyway but now he had no plausible excuse if anyone caught him watching. He hadn't been watching to pick up some new moves… he'd been watching just to see him again. One more time… before he left… those aqua colored eyes...

Sora jumped slightly as he realized the one whom he'd been observing was now staring straight up him, and gesturing for him to come down. The brunet's mouth fell open in horror and shock. He'd been avoiding the other for a week now; he'd skipped school, cancelled plans with his friends and barely left his room in an attempt to escape the inevitable.

And now… now what he had striven so hard to avoid was asking him to come down to the beach. Sora groaned softly. He couldn't viably get away from him now, should he ignore him now it would pretty obvious he was doing so… like it wasn't already…

Sora left the window and grabbed his jacket as he left his room, his feet racing down the stairs as his heart pounded. He didn't want to go, he felt sick to his stomach, but he was also excited, he knew he couldn't stop himself now. His mom called to him as he opened the front door but he didn't hear her, he was solely focused on one thing and one purpose now. He slammed the door and ran, pulling on his jacket as he went.

His blood pounded in his eyes, nothing was heard as he ran. Sora knew that he would most likely have a really stupid lecture about how he was being selfish by wanting to keep the other on the island with him, but he didn't care. Longing overcame his fearful heart and all he wanted… all he needed was on that beach.

It wasn't far to the beach, but it felt like miles. His heart had gone from his chest to his mouth and he was struggling to breathe. People were giving him strange looks as he passed, he didn't even notice as he shoved past them, not bothering to say sorry or even say anything as he sprinted. Sure, he'd been terrified of the confrontation, but now… now all he wanted more than anything was hopefully still waiting for him. His house may have had a good view of the beach, but he wasn't as close as he wished he was now.

Suddenly he saw it; the sign that read 'beach' in crooked, painted letters, the wooden raised area that ran around the outer edge of the white sand. Sora leapt from the edge of the wooden path like it was a sporting event; praying his feet would carry him far enough. He landed on the sand in a crouch, his eyes darting round wildly, in search of that glimmer of dazzling silver that always announced his presence.

Then there he was. Illuminated by the setting sun from the front so all Sora could see was a striking black silhouette against the horizon. The breath was ripped from his throat and he struggled to get to his feet again as he tried to approach. The silhouette turned to face Sora as he rose to stand; long silver hair was tugged and pulled by the ocean breeze, set alight by the sun and so terribly beautiful with the jade eyes that watched the brunet with a burning intensity from beneath the platinum bangs.

"R-Riku…" Sora gasped. His chest felt tight, it had only been one week he'd been away from him and yet it felt too long, like he needed to be near him otherwise he'd die.

Riku's eyes narrowed in pain at hearing the other say his name. It had been too long for him too. Hearing the other's soft and oh so familiar voice and speaking his name… it was too much, "S-Sora…"

From both standing still, frozen in a moment, they were racing across the sand, their feet pounding rapidly until Sora had launched himself into Riku's open arms and been swung around in the tight grip the silveret refused to lessen now that he had Sora in his grasp. The brunet grabbed fistfuls of the long flowing locks before him in each hand and breathed in the vanilla scent that was purely Riku.

Their breathing was heavy and only grasped at between muffled sobs as they both tried to lose themselves in the other, ignore everything else and simply fade away until they were alone and untouched by anything or anyone.

"W-why…? Why d-did you l-leave m-me?" Stammered Riku as he swallowed thickly, his vision blurring until all he could make out were those weeping blue eyes.

"I d-dinn't w-wanna…" Sobbed Sora into the elder's shoulder, "I w-was afraid! I dun w-want you t-to g-g-go!" Sora cried, the last part shouted but shouted into the leather covered shoulder of his lover, "I l-love you t-too m-much to s-say g-goodb-bye!" his hold tightened and his sobs increased as admitted the reasons behind his avoidance of his boyfriend.

Riku's eyes widened in realization and then he groaned in frustration, "Sora…" He said softly.

"Don't say it! Don't you dare!" Sora screamed, pulling away from Riku. He wrestled free from the silveret's hold and clamped his hands firmly over his ears in defiance, "I won't listen!"

Riku's brow furrowed in distress as he witnessed the pain he was causing his boyfriend and dearest love, "Sora, please…" He begged, the tears that streaked the smaller teen's cheeks were stabbing at his heart as he realized they were all his fault.

"I'm not going to listen!" Sora sobbed.

Riku gripped Sora's wrists and forcefully yet gently removed them from his ears as he pulled the younger closer to him, "I'm not going to say it, okay?" He sighed, "I won't say goodb-"

"Hey!" Sora cried over Riku's words, "You just said you wouldn't say it!" He huffed a deep breath and allowed Riku to hold him again as he calmed down, his hysterics subsiding to a sniff or hiccup every so often as Riku patiently waited.

The older teen slowly maneuvered them so that he was sat on the soft sand with his lover in his lap, their hands interlaced and facing the almost completely set sun. The breeze was turning cold but neither felt it; neither felt anything but the presence of the other. The tide had gone out and the sun twinkled longingly on the horizon as if bidding them a sad goodbye, one that Sora forbade Riku to ever give him.

"Sora… I leave tomorrow…" Riku said softly, burying his face in the nest of brown spikes that barely reached his chin even now Sora was on his lap.

"I know." Came the emotionless reply.

Riku bit his lip to suppress the part of him that was screaming in defiance inside him, contrary to what the small teen in his lap thought; he didn't want to go, "… Leon… Leon says I won't be back for a while…"

"…I know."

"…maybe not at all. H-He said that I might die." Riku confessed. He'd visited all his friends and family since he'd been discovered to be the new keyblade master, he'd assured them all he would be perfectly fine and he'd return safe. But he couldn't bring himself to lie to the one person who meant everything to him.

"… I know."

Riku broke, "What…?" he choked out, he was going to cry, but he honestly didn't care, "'You know'? Is that it? Is that all you're going to say?!" Riku asked in disbelief, his heart aching at the thought of his boyfriend honestly not caring whether he lived or died.

The brunet whirled round in his position in Riku's lap, his eyes ablaze and full of anger and hurt, "What do you want me to say, Riku?! " Tears were back, it was almost ridiculous, they were crying like little girls… although Sora didn't care, all he cared about was winning even though the winner had been decided and it wasn't him. Riku was leaving, regardless of what he said, "What do you want me to say?! Nothing I say is going to make anything better, it's not going to fix anything! All that will happen if I tell you how absolutely bloody terrified and helpless I feel is that I'll feel like a child and you'll feel all macho and then you'll leave!"

Riku blinked in shock at the angry words… and the sheer amount of angry words. In all his life he had never heard Sora so angry and so consistently angry, Sora honestly looked like he would kill to get what he wanted, "No… that's not what would happen. And I would not feel 'all macho'! I would be glad to know someone feels the same as I do!" Riku ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "I don't want to yell at you Sora, I don't want to leave tomorrow knowing that you hate me."

Sora watched as Riku fell back onto the sand with him still sat on his lap, he rolled off and lay beside the elder and added his sigh to Riku's, "I could never hate you, Ri. I could severely dislike you and lose my temper with you… but I could never hate you."

Riku turned his head and placed a soft kiss on Sora's cheek, "I'm glad." He turned back to stare at the now black sky as the stars began to emerge, "I don't think I could live if you hated me."

Sora blushed and wriggled closer to Riku who wrapped his arms around his little boyfriend, "Ri?"

"Yeah?"

"T-take me with you."

Riku jumped, "E-excuse me?!" He gulped then continued, "If I think it's to dangerous for me, what gives you the idea I'd take you with me?!"

Sora 'hmphed', "Well, if I'm there, I can keep you safe and then you'd have more incentive to keep yourself safe." Sora stuck his tongue out playfully at Riku, "Cos if you died I'd shave you're head as punishment."

Riku couldn't help but laugh at the alarming and disturbing threat, "You'd never dare, you love my lovely silver hair far too much for you to even chop one hair off! Anyway… I'd be far too worried you'd be killed so I'd probably end up getting distracted by you running off and get stabbed in the back!"

Sora growled, "Don't say that! I can take care of myself and besides… I could always pay Axel to chop your hair off. He's set it on fire before."

Riku shuddered, "Freaky pyromaniac."

"I'm sure he heard that, the second he wakes up, you better check your body parts aren't cooking." Sora giggled at the thought, "Or we'll get Demy to put them out…" He wistfully remembered the time Riku and Axel had thought they'd try and scare the sitar player. He'd surprised them all by shooting water at them from his hands and completely drenching them.

Later they had been informed that Demyx had just come into his powers, Children of Darkness were like that and occasionally Sora was jealous, occasionally he wasn't… like when Axel had accidentally set himself on fire and Demyx had had his own version of a wet dream.

"I love it here; I never ever want to leave…" Sora said contently, "But I would if you asked me too…"

"I never will." Riku promised, "You can spend your entire life here and I promise I won't ever get the urge to move." He nuzzled Sora's cheek affectionately, "I might want a change of scenery though and we'll have to take a holiday."

Sora grinned, "That's fine by me…" The brunet yawned, "All this drama has made me sleepy…"

They were suddenly so happy, so comfortable and the fears of tomorrow seemed so unreal and so far away, it didn't seem believable that Sora was going to wake up the following day and Riku was going to getting on a strange ship with people they hardly knew to go and fight someone else's war, although the odd four foot mouse that had arrived and confirmed Riku's power said it was everyone's war.

Riku sighed and breathed in Sora's comforting scent again, it seemed unthinkable he'd not be able to smell it again for a long, long time… maybe indefinitely...

"Sky…?"

No response.

"Sora?"

Riku pushed himself up by his hands and looked down at Sora. His boyfriend was curled up slightly, his mouth barely open and his eyes closed. The softest of snores and breaths passed the innocent teen's lips and Riku smiled dreamily at the person that was perfect for him. Like two pieces of a jigsaw…

Clambering to his feet he lifted the small body into his arms effortlessly and carried the feather-light load back to Sora's house.

The streets were already bustling, Sora didn't even know this many people lived on the island, they were as one body and refused to let Sora past, giving him glares as he tried and occasionally pushing him back away from them.

Didn't they understand that was his boyfriend they were all watching being fired into space with a whole load of suicidal warriors who demanded Riku came along?!

Sora jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Axel, Roxas and Kairi smiling supportively at him, Axel's hand rested on his shoulder and didn't move as he spoke, "You want to see Riku, right?" Sora nodded and Axel's smile twisted into a devilish grin which was mirrored by Demyx and Kairi.

Sora's eyes widened fearfully as Kairi spoke, "We have a plan." She whispered evilly.

"Ready, Sora?" Kairi asked in his ear.

Sora swallowed fearfully, "Do I have a choice?"

"'Atta boy!" She grinned; she turned to Axel and gave him an energetic thumb's up.

Axel gave a whoop and startled the woman passing him on the street who then gave him a terrified once-over and ran. The red-head raised an eye as she passed but thought nothing of it; instead he turned to Demyx who stood a little way off, his mohawk bouncing wildly as he shifted from foot to foot, itching to get on with it.

"Ready, Dem?" The redhead asked with a smirk.

"Yes, yes, yes!" The dark blond cried impatiently.

"Come on then!"

Sora and Kairi linked arms and stood ready, a little way away from the now manically laughing duo whose arms were raised and poised to do damage.

"I don't suppose I can't back out now, can I?" Sora begged.

"And spoil the fun?" Kairi laughed, "Ready!"

Demyx shrieked happily as a fountain of water erupted from his fingertips, catching everyone in his chosen path in the back with icy water, Axel began firing small yet hot spurts of fire from his fingers at the ground making people leap back from them, warning everyone back away from them and they began to advance through the crowd, Kairi and Sora following hurriedly.

"Hahahaha! They're parting like cattle!" Axel roared evilly.

"Axel! That was someone's hat, not the floor!" Sora cried.

"And that was someone's precious poodle that's been washed into the gutter, Demyx… your aim is bad…" Kairi tutted.

Sora's eyes widened in horror, neither Child of Darkness was paying them the least bit of notice, too happy to hit as many people as possible, "Oh dear… Riku's going to kill me… this is not what he wanted to happen when he left… he specifically said no scenes…"

"He meant you by that, you can be very dramatic when you want to be- We're almost there!" Kairi cried above Sora's indignant 'hey', the screams and squeals of various people around them and, of course, the laughter coming from Axel and Demyx, "I can see that mouse! And I can see Riku's hair!!"

Sora jumped, mid-step, and caught a flash of Riku's infamous silver hair but nothing else, 'What's going on, Kai?! I can't see!"

Kairi rolled her eyes, "I'm not much taller than you, I can't see much either. We need to go faster, Axel! Demy! More speed please!"

As requested, the two older teens increased their speed, the screams increased and the amount of poodles washed into gutters and hats set alight doubled, Sora suddenly wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

Then he didn't. They were finally at the front. There was a large rope marking out the area where no one could cross, behind the rope was a small platform upon which stood the strange mouse, Riku's sparring partner over the past week, a few others Sora didn't recognize and Riku himself. Behind the platform was the violently painted ship that was going to carry them all away to join an army and fight a war. It all made Sora sick to the stomach.

The mouse was speaking, so Sora politely listened, "-so it is with great honor I present to you, people of Destiny Islands, Riku: Keyblade Master!" The mouse gestured to Riku who smiled sheepishly at the large crowd and made his way over to the mouse.

The crowd erupted into cheers and loud claps as their new hero whom most had barely even acknowledged existed until now stood before them in shining blue and silver armor minus a helmet, his hair tied back by a gray ribbon. Now they saw him and now they would proudly say, 'I remember him when he was just a boy…'

"Thank you, King Mickey-" so that was his name…King?! "- I am very honored to be here-" No one notices that Riku is being sarcastic. Only Sora notices because he knows him that well, "- I am very proud to be representing Destiny Islands in this war, I will do my best to help and I will come back." The defiant promise should have been heard by all, but no one heard Riku's words the only saw him giving Destiny Islands more notoriety.

Sora chewed on his lip slightly as the last sentence reached his ears, he looked around at the people cheering wildly and calling his boyfriend's name. It was scary; none of crowd of people were even listening to the words coming from their 'hero's' mouth, they only see a new sort of celebrity. And they are sending him to his death… Sora's eyes widened as the reality of it crashed down around him, harder than it had over the past few days.

"Sora..?" Axel asked worriedly as he spied his friends change in attitude.

"This is wrong…" The burnet declared softly.

"Sora-"

"This is wrong!" Sora cried louder.

The crowd around them just swallowed the extra noise and no one noticed his distress other then the three of his friends around him. Suddenly Sora felt two hands cover his eyes, he jumped and pulled at them with alarm. When the soft hands came away he was facing Roxas, Namine and Selphie smiling at him.

"Heya, sorry we're late; SOMEBODY forgot what today was…" Selphie glared at Roxas who 'eeped' and shifted behind Axel.

Namine ignored them and spoke to Sora, "How are you?"

Sora visibly crumbled; all he wanted, all he had so close to his heart was Riku. And now it was being taken from him. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed his hands up to hide his face incase any tears escaped his hold, "I…I don't think I c-can… I w-want… I w-want… R-Riku…"

"'Ask and ye shall receive,'" Axel suddenly said somberly. Everyone turned to stare at him like he'd grown five heads, even people they didn't know. Axel looked back and raised an eyebrow questioningly, "What? You asked… or rather demanded, and there he is." The pyro-maniac pointed over Sora's shoulder, looking at something behind the sniffing brunet.

Sora turned almost fearfully, he came face to face…face to chest with a shiny breastplate that reflected his watery blue eyes. Riku had slipped under the rope that they had all managed to get up to and Sora looked up into aquamarine eyes and breathed sharply, "R-Riku…!"

Riku smiled softly, "Couldn't leave without my good luck charm, could I?" He smirked mischievously as he gripped the smaller teen's shoulders and kissed him passionately.

Their tongues clashed, both fighting for dominance as Sora wanted to show Riku that he wasn't as helpless as everyone seemed to think. Teeth were added in the heat of the moment, all eyes were on them but it honestly didn't bother either of them. Riku wanted the memory and Sora needed the comfort; neither was going to fuss over irritating details like political correctness, thankfully the silence that seemed to fall like lead was broken by Axel cheering loudly. At a loss for anything else to do the surrounding people joined in. All too soon the silveret pulled back, his face turned from Sora's so he couldn't see the hurt and confusion, the tears that suddenly charged back into place. The armored male moved swiftly past the platform whilst everyone looked on, cheers dying in eager throats, he reached the foot of the Gummi Ship's landing door.

Leon seemed to snap out of his trance first as he joined Riku, briefly patting Riku's shoulder. He saw straight through the transparent mask Riku had tried to wear, he was hurting just as much as his lover was. Leon entered the Gummi Ship, various other warriors followed; Riku never moved an inch as he found Sora's eyes; memorizing every detail about his lover.

King Mickey was the last to leave the platform and approach the Gummi Ship. He dared looking up into Riku's eyes and immediately regretted it. Even if they weren't on him, the turquoise depths held so much pain he didn't even want to comprehend why he was taking this boy from his lover to a place he would most likely die. But they needed his keyblade; so long as they succeeded, everyone on every other world would be safe… why did that seem like such an empty comfort?

The mouse patted Riku's limp hand and tugged him by his wrist onto the ship lightly, all strength suddenly gone from him by just looking at the suffering Riku was going through. Mickey didn't even risk looking to the other boy, if Riku was the strong one in the relationship… what the brunet was experiencing could only be found in forbidden horror stories that even the Devil had refused to give a home. Once they were safely on the ship, it began to start. The engines rumbled loudly, like a lion's roar and Sora realized this was it: this was goodbye.

His mouth fell open as the ship began to move forward, turning so it faced the beach and it trundled forwards slowly, gathering speed. The rockets on the back billowed flame and smoke, the crowd shielded themselves from the extreme winds it produced, Sora cried out Riku's name over the roaring noises, but it was hopeless.

Riku couldn't hear him. Riku couldn't even see him. The ship approached the shoreline when it suddenly lifted, the wheels retracting, barely skirting the surf as the ship took off. Sora ducked under the rope placed round the crowd and bolted for the beach. Kairi, Axel, Roxas, Demyx and Namine followed as Sora ignored the end of the sand and beginning of the sea as he splashed into the shallows, calling Riku's name desperately; still not comprehending that the ship had carried Riku far away and when he went home… he wouldn't see Riku in the kitchen, dancing to a random song whilst he made pancakes.

Sora trembled and fell to his knees in the water, soaking his clothes and clutching his head in his hands… this had to be a nightmare…