Author Notes - This chapter was beta-ed by my friend Krash and dedicated to my little sister! She is the one who got me into AkuRoku and I loooove her for it!! It is my first ever Kingdom Hearts fiction so let me know how I am doing!!!

Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters in this work of fiction, it is exactly that. A work of fiction. From my very own brain. Characters are owned by Square Enix.

Blue eyes. Deep, infinite, entrancing blue eyes. They were the last things he saw, they were so alike to the pair he so desperately wanted to gaze into in his last moments, not that Sora wasn't a great kid, with a good heart; he just… wasn't Roxas.

Roxas. The one person who ever made him feel like he had a heart, made him feel as if he was a Somebody.

"Next…life…"

Then there was darkness, never ending, never ceasing darkness. It seemed to flow all together. But he felt free, weightless, as he seemed to float in it. His back was arched delicately, head hanging back and arms loose at his sides. The darkness seemed to caress him, feel him all over while distinct green eyes were hidden from view. Then again, who was there to see them anyway?

There was no pain, no agony in his death. He had given his all to save Roxas' Somebody, to allow him to continue on and end the plight that the world was suffering. To end Xemnas. And even though he wasn't sure that Sora made it, there was a slight glimmer of hope in his non-heart that he would. That he would rid the world of Xemnas and move on to live the normal life a boy should live. That he would give the soul existing within his heart as much of a satisfying life as he could.

He noticed that his Organization jacket was gone, the darkness caressing the bare skin of his torso, lost in the transition from existence to…

Well, he wasn't exactly not existing, his mind still thinking and his body still feeling. Feeling the darkness around him, not cold and not hot, but just feeling. He didn't know how long he stayed there, between the brink, floating endlessly. It seemed as if the darkness was searching for something, like the Heartless searched for a heart. But that, he didn't have to give, he didn't have anything to give.

He was wrong.

Shock forced him to open his eyes, something probing at his mind as he uselessly tried to fend it off. He had his memories. His precious memories that he wanted to keep more than anything. Whatever was feeling him from within his mind now seemed to want them, and he refused to give them up. They were his, dammit.

Don't fight.

~~*~~

Everything was perfect now, he was back on Destiny Islands, he had Riku and Kairi back and the world was saved yet again. He could go back to being a kid again, even though it was one heck of a story he had to explain to his parents. Of course, they didn't believe him, but that was okay. Because out of everything, he had Riku.

He had Riku.

Sora had to keep telling himself that, repeating it like a mantra in his mind. Even with the slightly older boy sitting next to him, even with Riku's arm draped over his shoulder as they leaned against the Papou tree and watched the sunset. The people in Twilight Town may have claimed at there were the most beautiful sunsets at the top of the hill, but nothing could compare to this in Sora's mind. This…complete bliss as he leaned his head against the strong torso of his now boyfriend and sighed.

Sparkling blue eyes watched peacefully as the orange sun slowly dipped below the horizon, disappearing behind the never-ending sea. As he watched his mind wandered, wandered to the moment when he first found Riku again. He hadn't believed it at first, only seeing the face and figure of a man he thought he had killed. But when Kairi made him close his eyes, made him hold Riku's hand he saw it all. He saw Riku. Sora had been so overwhelmed he fell to his knees, crying and almost utterly exhausted all of a sudden with the realization that he was finally reunited with the other boy. But even though Riku was there, he couldn't give up yet. He had to keep fighting; he had to save the world one last time.

"Are you okay?" The deep timbre of Riku's voice broke him from his reverie, blue eyes sliding open to meet slightly greener ones with a smile.

"Perfect." Sora answered, pressing a hand to the other's cheek as the silver haired boy leaned down to press their lips together gently. Suddenly Sora's body flung back against the tree they were leaning on, eyes screwed shut as he felt a tearing sensation from his chest, but it wasn't painful. A sharp gasp, Riku being pushed back and almost falling off the little piece of land and into the water, only able to watch and yell out Sora's name as an almost blinding light came from the brunette's chest.

Sora couldn't open his eyes, it took all he had not to go crazy with the uncomfortable feeling blossoming from his chest, it took all he had not to scratch the itch that seemed to come from deep within, to tear at his skin to satisfy the annoying feeling. He didn't see the light, didn't see the form of a teenage boy that was being created within it.

Just as suddenly as it started it stopped, Sora taking a loud gasp of breath to fill his lung with the much-needed air. His eyes opened and the first thing he saw was Riku, the teens mouth slightly open in shock as his eyes looked to something that was in front of himself. Slowly turning his head Sora jumped when he saw a boy in front of him, looking equally as confused.

"What the?!" Jumping up to stand it took him a moment to realize exactly who it was sitting unceremoniously on the ground before him. "R-roxas?!"