Chapter One

Author's Note: Before I begin, I'd like to talk you through a few things. First, you'll find that many featured characters take a larger role in this fic than they normally do in others! Hopefully, I can keep it from going too out-of-character, and hopefully I won't write painfully short chapters! Oh, and on account of my huge workload, my updates won't be regular. If you like the story enough to want to read the rest, it might be worth setting it to author alerts or favourites or else you'll like, never find it! Hopefully you'll do that anyway though. ;)

This first chapter is kind of a lot of expository info, but please try and stay with me. I'm going to try and please everyone by putting as many characters into the spotlight as I can. It's also worth noting that at this stage in the writing of this fanfic I have not played Chain of Memories or Kingdom Hearts 2, so this fic has no relevance to either… it's just my own version of what happened next. However, I have no intention of removing this story once Chain of Memories is released in the UK.

Now without any further ado, I present to you my first KH fanfic!! crowd of approximately1 cheers

How long she'd been sitting in the dark, Kairi had no idea. It was hard to keep track of time in the secret place. Sunlight couldn't come in through the thick veils of plant life of one variety or other, and down the winding tunnel to this tiny little cave… Sunlight gave up too easily.

She still couldn't really take it in. Just yesterday, her journey across the worlds had come to an end, and after all that she'd talked about what it would like be as she helped build the raft, she hadn't really seen that much on her travels at all… Not until she found herself in Hollow Bastion anyway.

The raft… it seemed like so long ago now. Looking back, it was such a stupid idea, building a raft to find other worlds. Kairi knew now just how difficult it was to reach all those plains… a wooden raft would have sent them nowhere.

Her foster parents had been reluctant to let her out of their sight since she went back to them last night, but they had eventually let her go and get her boat to sail to the island… She regretted it as soon as she reached the shores… It hurt to see Sora and Riku's boats tied up, but know that they would not be there. It hurt to see Wakka haring towards her, and as he danced her round in circles calling for the others, to tell him that she had returned alone.

"I'm sorry…" she said, as he dropped her hands and watched her pass him with tears in her eyes. "I need to be by myself for a while."

And so her wanderings had led her to the Secret Place. That's where she'd found the drawings on the walls that they'd made so many years ago- Sora must have added to one of them some time before. A paopu fruit… She cried all over again when she saw it there, so hopeful and childish. Something compelled her to finish the drawing, as if that would somehow make certain that she'd be bound to Sora forever, wherever he was right now. That picture comforted her; almost making her feel like he was there and she could sense his touch on the cold cave wall.

She felt so alone without them… Selphie and the boys could make an awful lot of noise when they felt like it, but to her the island had suddenly become cold and silent. There was just… no reason to be there anymore.

Eyes still on the little engraved picture, she moved the stone in her hand to carve on the wall once more. It seemed to be the only way she could ever speak to him again. So immature, but she needed all the comfort she could find.

Thinking of you

Wherever you are…

"Hey, girl!"

Kairi jumped and looked round to see Selphie striding cheerily into the cave. She hadn't even heard her come through the tunnel. She looked guiltily at the words she'd scratched out, and moved to the left to divert Selphie's attention from that part of the wall.

"Wakka said you wanted to be alone, so I came to find you!" Selphie continued, as though Kairi was supposed to be happy about this. She went over and sat down next to the other girl, and for a while she just looked around the cave walls as if she hadn't a care in the world, her feet tapping the dusty ground in their little yellow shoes. It was funny how she wasn't saying anything, yet her very presence made the cave seem louder. Finally, she looked back at Kairi.

"You know, Tidus and Wakka want to start a game of two-a-side volleyball. I bet we can totally beat the boys! Ya wanna play?" she asked with her head on one side.

Kairi knew what Selphie was doing. But it was so hard to gather any sort of desire for anything other than to have things back to the way they were, before they were taken away from Destiny Islands. No amount of games and bonding with the others would make things go back to how they used to be.

Selphie seemed to read her mind. She leaned forward and started to draw little pictures in the dust. "I know. I miss them too; it was funny to watch them try to get one over on each other all the time… But hey, moping around in here won't bring them back any more than a good game of volleyball will. You might as well have a bit of fun, right?" She finished the little drawing of a palm tree, before moving to the right and starting a new picture.

It was a fair point... but right now, all Kairi wanted was to be left alone with her memories. "You're right…" she said quietly, "But- I mean, I just… Sora…" Tears finally escaped her, falling into the dust next to Selphie's new picture of a little stickman-style house. "I miss him so much…" Selphie looked up at Kairi as understanding dawned.

"Oooh! You liiiiike him?" she squeed, getting up and jumping up and down thus destroying her second picture, though this action went unnoticed.

"I think we both know it's more than that…" Kairi pointed out.

Selphie waved her friend's correction aside with an impatient sigh. "That's not the point. But like, wow! I always thought it'd be you and Riku, but Sora seemed… I dunno… It seemed more like…"

Oh, yes… Kairi thought as she stopped listening to the girl in the yellow dress. Riku. She wondered why she didn't feel worse about him being gone as well. She felt terrible for thinking it, but she knew that if she could choose to bring just one of the boys back to Destiny Islands, Riku wouldn't stand a chance. That's just the way it was. She couldn't help liking Sora more, no matter how awful that made her feel.

"…Like, I dunno, you were just always going to be friends," Selphie finished, satisfied that she had found the right words even though they were far from profound. "He's way too immature for my liking." By this stage, she had traced out a whole ring of little pictures, showing a whole range of completely random things including flowers and a horse. Kairi smiled- It looked kind of like some sort of zodiac picture. Selphie liked to try and read the stars- or, as Kairi now knew, worlds.

Selphie frowned. "I didn't say anything funny."

"No, it's not that," Kairi replied hastily, pointing to the ground. "The pictures. They're cute."

"You like them? I'm trying to make my own method of fortune telling! It'll be so cool! They'll call me… Sagacious Selphie… Maybe."

Kairi knew it'd never work, but decided not to correct her. "I know he acts kind of like a kid sometimes… He doesn't scare me, like Riku did sometimes. He grew up so quickly, it was like… I dunno- suddenly, he was out of reach from all of us- you know what I'm trying to say right?"

Her friend nodded. She had never really been scared of Riku, but she did remember how he had always seemed very mature to her… and at the same time, that childish, competitive streak was still there, especially towards Sora- who pretty much encouraged him… They're both as bad as each other, really, she thought with a smile.

She watched Kairi in silence for a second or two, before drawing her into a hug. "Hey, don't worry, Kairi. We'll see them again. There's no proof that they're gone forever, ya know?"

"I guess…" Kairi hesitated before continuing. "Sora… before we got separated, I mean… he promised he'd come back to me. D'you think he will?"

Selphie snorted. "Yeah, right! Like you're going to hang around like some princess in a tower waiting for a cheesy prince charming on a fat white pony! You're going to go to him, right?"

…

"Right?!"

"Selphie-" She paused. "Selphie… think about it. When we used to hang out here at night, and we talked about how far away the stars looked? Well, every one of those stars is another world. And Sora could be on any of those worlds or none at all. How can I possibly get to him, especially when all the worlds are separate again? There's just no way…"

There was a long silence. Finally Selphie sighed. "I can't believe how romantic this is!" she mused, her eyes shining. "Sora braves the dangers of Kingdom Hearts to rescue you, and now you're worlds apart, and you'll totally never ever forget one another, and every night you'll see the stars and wonder where he is, and every night he'll be doing the same-"

"Stop that."

"Okay, girl, I get it. You wanna be alone? Well, if you change your mind, we'll be out at the cove!" With that, Selphie skipped out of the cave, leaving Kairi alone in the dark cavern of her memories.

To one who is unaccustomed to darkness, Kingdom Hearts would appear to stretch both far and wide for eons. But as long as one cannot see, one can still hope for the end at each and every step. To he who has spent eternity suffering at the hands of its unmarking punishments, it appeared the world had beginning, for he was unfortunate enough to enter, but would be never-ending. There is no end in his sight, nor hope in his next steps, for he can see through the darkness to the endless path ahead.

So now, what was left? Utter Silence. That was not how it had begun. The doors slowly edged to a close, and he had spoken a lot more, escaped the heartless with more urgency. There had been company in the King he'd found there. It was this King who had conversed with him, and they had shared their stories and ideas for getting back home, but now… Well, Kingdom Hearts went on forever, it seemed. It was so easy to get lost. So far had they gone into this abyss, that the door had left their sight. Who knew which direction would lead them back?

Mistakenly, the two split up to look for any sign of something which might show them a way out, and that was the last they saw of one another. That seemed like such a long time ago now…

Now all that was left was a broken spirit. A light-haired boy sat curled with his head rested on his arms, his arms on his knees. He remained alone amid thousands, his power over those thousands slowly ebbing away as they approached him with primitive curiosity. He showed little care for their presence, and no response to their inquisitive interest in him. For all the signs of life he gave, he may as well have been dead.

The boy was absorbed in his own thoughts, the horrors of his own actions and the things he'd done… and the worse things that he had tried to do. He no longer needed a voice; his eyes told the tale as they fixed on the ground, unmoving yet full of animation, intense yet distant.

His thoughts, primarily, were with Kairi. After all that had happened, it seemed like such a long time ago since he'd last seen her.

Is she alright? Did she get home okay? Oh, God, I've been such an idiot… All those things I did… I could've…

…I could've killed Sora…

…I could've killed my best friend… and for what?

Riku looked up suddenly as he heard a different noise to the shrill cries of the shadow heartless closing in on him.

At first he thought it was the King. Perhaps he had found something after all… But how would he have managed to find him in this wall-to -wall darkness?

The little spiritual scavengers parted ways as a figure dressed in black approached the boy, converging on him again almost immediately after adjusting to the new presence. The figure ignored them, and they did not touch him.

"So it is you… The one who was to wield the Keyblade…"

The voice belonged to a man… a more gentle voice than Ansem's, but still it held some strange authority. He knelt down and tilted Riku's head up, to look the boy in the eyes.

"Such a waste…"

He let go, and Riku looked away. The man wore a black hood, and Riku hated not being able to see a face- all there was to see was a short, dark tunnel, ending with strangers' eyes and a face he did not yearn for.

"…Such power, destined for nothing. You ignorant child. Quick judgment has been the downfall of so many before you, and you have followed suit."

In one swift and sudden sweep, the man grabbed Riku's wrists roughly and pulled him closer, holding both together tight. "And you will not learn… You must realise, child, that I can help you. I can release you from Kingdom Hearts and its bonds. I…" The man slowly drew his capture's hands apart, but still kept a hold of him. "…can set you free."

Riku's gaze followed his hands lower, till they hovered above the ground, still held by this other person's harsh constraint.

"I know what you're thinking…" he continued imperiously, with an air of someone with great knowledge and who was prepared to use it to his devastating advantage over this boy. "You're thinking about your mistakes. You are thinking that by accepting my assistance, you will cause history to repeat itself. Perhaps you are right." He gave a short laugh. "But take time to think, my boy. Are you going to risk refusing such a perfect opportunity? Maybe I am lying. But isn't it just as likely that I'm telling the truth? Will you risk a lifetime in Kingdom Hearts just because your past mistakes have made you afraid? We know you better than you know yourself. You will choose our path… You have not yet found what you gave everything for and this the only way out for you. So why are you fighting us…?"

By this stage, his voice had dropped to a whisper, taking on a strange hypnotic tone as he gently coaxed the enthralled boy to his feet, still keeping hold of both his hands. He nodded behind his hood as though he knew exactly what this child was thinking, though he had given the stranger no indication.

"Good boy. I knew you would come to your senses… But nothing comes for free… Before you leave, there are some things you must do…"

A pearly mist surrounded their hands, and the smaller of the two figures gave a cry and fell to his knees, supported only by the other.

"…But of course, you already knew that… Didn't you?"

"That dumb dog!!" Donald squawked irritably, as he and his two friends got too tired to chase the excitable canine any further through the apparently rural walk-route. He sat down and sighed. "You'd think he didn't want us to catch him!!!"

"Well, maybe he doesn't," Sora suggested, joining his hot-headed friend in a sitting position on the grass and Goofy stopped next to them. "Maybe he doesn't even have a letter!"

Goofy shook his head. "Why'd he make us follow him if he don't have a letter from the king?" he asked in confusion as he saw Pluto, just in front of the glowing sunset, stop and wait for them just far enough away so that he could start running again should they get up and chase him again.

Donald also noticed this, and had he not been a Disney character (and a duck), he probably would have sent a very rude hand signal Pluto's way. "Because he likes watching us look like idiots chasing him around in circles? That dog's got it comin'!"

He continued grumbling incoherently as Sora continued. "I mean, what if he doesn't have a letter, and he just wants us to follow?"

"Then he'd let us ketch 'im," Goofy replied simply, also over the top of the ducky monologue.

"Unless he thought that if we caught him, and the letter was a fake, we'd stop following. There's always a chance he just knows something, I guess."

Goofy nodded good-naturedly. "Okay, Sora. Maybe yore right…"

"We may as well follow him and find out. We've got no other clues to help us find the King and Riku. It's not like we really have a choice."

This caused Donald to cease his mutterings and look up. "So what're we waiting for? Stop that dog!!!"

He and Sora got to their feet and started to give chase again, Goofy in happy tow. Pluto blinked and took off at a great speed, not really making all that much effort to stay well ahead of them. This kind of made Sora get why Donald was so annoyed, but he sure as heck wasn't going to end his search for his friends just because he couldn't catch a big orange dog.

He wondered what it'd be like to return home. He had no idea how much time had elapsed since he'd left, though it can't have been that long. He was pretty sure, in his childish mind, that nothing would change after he got home and he, Kairi and Riku could be back on the island together. But really, at the same time, he wanted things to change. He wanted Kairi to be his. He wanted Riku to realise that that was how it was supposed to be. But he wanted to stay with the new friends he'd made as well. He wanted, to be short, an ideal world. He should have learnt a long time ago that there wasn't one.

He stopped running again whenever Donald did so. "This is getting impossible," the annoyed duck said. "Can't we just persuade him to lead us there at a normal pace?"

Pluto had stopped again, his innocent, blank stare unnerving Sora slightly as he nodded. "Okay," he said. We're done trying to catch him; we've tried just following; now we should try your idea…"

Sora crept a little closer. Pluto's ears pricked up. Sora stood still. Pluto lay flat in the grass, peering over the spiky tips. Sora crouched down likewise. Both stared each other out for at least a minute in silence. Donald and Goofy looked at one another and shrugged.

"You can understand me, right?" Sora finally said in his normal voice, still not moving and looking slightly strange in his odd crouching position in the dewy grass. "Will you give us the letter?"

Pluto continued to stare directly at him in silence. Okay… Sora thought nervously. This is getting kind of weird.

"Then, uh, will you stop running so we can keep up with ya?"

Still the dog did not move. Finally, Sora sighed and Pluto's ears flopped as though Sora had disturbed the air enough to cause a small breeze.

"So will you just lead us to wherever it is you're trying to take us without breaking the sound barrier?"

Still no change. Tentatively, Sora stood up. Pluto's gaze shifted to follow him. Sora stepped forward. Pluto did not move. Sora edged further forward. Pluto did not move. Donald and Goofy held their breath. Sora got right next to Pluto. Pluto did not move. Sora reached slowly out to pat Pluto on the nose. Pluto did not move. Sora was just millimetres away-

Pluto took off like a shot over the hill.

"THAT DUMB DOG!!!!!" Donald yelled in frustration, as the three hared off after him, the sun vanishing behind the horizon for another evening as they ran.

"Hey-hey, Kairi! So you're joining us?"

Kairi nodded at Selphie as she left the secret place and approached the beach with a slight smile. "I was just thinking," she said pensively. "Sora would hate it if he came back home and saw me moping around and crying… Right?"

"Right, girl! Sora hates killjoys, and killjoy you are not! Have some fun, and know he's not going to eat your face for crying over him when he gets back! But for now… We still have two boys on this island…" she gestured to where Wakka and Tidus were standing with Wakka's blitzball a little behind them, protesting that they were men, not boys. "And they're seriously asking for a little butt-kicking from the superior gender! Waddaya say?"

Kairi nodded with a small but sincere laugh. "'Kay. Let's show them who's in charge on this island!"

"Oh yeah!!!" Selphie jumped up and down excitedly and ran down to the beach, the others in pursuit. The walking sugar-rush (who had somehow during the proceedings managed to wrestle the ball from Wakka) began to announce the game and how it would be played today (the rules changed frequently).

"Okay guys, the game is volleyball, girls on boys! You know the rules: No time-out unless the ball is in your end; no yo mamma jokes; no threats, and no dirt-clod throwing, TIDUS!!!!"

"It was only the once…" Tidus grumbled, kicking the sand up under his shoe.

"Aw, you know I love you Tidus," Selphie replied with a grin. "Now, let the best man – or should I say girls – WIN!"

She gave the boys first serve, and the game began.

The game was one Kairi knew well, even if it only was two-on-one. It was incredible how one could play a game which required six team members with just two. They were a resourceful bunch on the island. If their school-teachers could see the stories they'd created, the thoughts on life they had produced, the fire their hearts and passions brought to this island each and every day, they would be more baffled there and then than at anything they could ever find on a lined page covered in childish scrawl, at any age in life.

Kairi couldn't help thinking as she played how these three had grown up these past few years, and she'd spent so much time with Sora and Riku that she hardly noticed. Wakka had always assumed the "Big Brother" role among them, with Tidus as the Clown and Selphie being the Baby Sister that everyone took care of.

But although nothing had changed, at the same time, she had missed watching these three personalities develop in her absence.

Wakka had hardly changed at all. He was still the laid-back yet protective senior of the three. But he had no competition in Riku any longer, and seemed more secure in himself, as the oldest person on the island, to look after the others as a mentor and protector.

Tidus did things a different way. He cheerily got on with things, but made sure that everyone knew just what he thought before doing so. Far from being unaffected by the disappearance of his friends, he just pinned his hopes on the fact that there was always the possibility they'd come back one day.

Selphie as well had changed. As the only girl left hanging out with Tidus and Wakka most of the time - just two boys to keep her company - she had definitely started to stick up for herself a lot more. She seemed to give Wakka a bit of grief now, gently poking fun at him and flattening his hair with water, since he was definitely the one in charge and therefore the one she should be challenging. She'd taken her place among the boys as something other than "Eww, GIRL DISEASE!!!"

"Hey, Kairi??"

Kairi glanced up at Selphie, who was looking at her indignantly.

"It's your serve!" She tossed her the ball. "Show 'em who's boss, Kairi! WOO! Girls Rule!!!"

Kairi shook herself out of her dream world. She'd been living in there far too much lately. There was a chance Sora and Riku would never come back, when she thought about things sensibly. She could not hang on to their return as her only source of life… Could she? Maybe it was far too early to be thinking about moving on, but at the same time, she felt like she wanted to protect herself from disappointment.

She sighed and stood back slightly from the centre of the court that had been earlier marked out with shells. She knew her serve was a little on the long side, so she aimed higher instead. She took the serve and play began once more. Wakka and Selphie were both pretty good at this game, but Tidus was by far the master of two-a-side volleyball. He jumped around the court like a weird little monkey, always somehow getting to the ball in perfect time. Really, his speed was formidable. And pretty funny to watch-

"Oof!"

"Hey, y'okay?" Selphie asked as Kairi tripped and landed face-first in the sand.

She sat up; her face covered in annoying little grains, and dusted it off, even spitting some out of her mouth in disgust. "I broke my shoelace," she said finally, standing up and dusting sand out of her hair. She didn't really feel like going all the way back to the main island to get different shoes. "I'll be back in a sec; I'll just go get some weed or something to tie it till we're done."

She went off to look for some sort of plant strong enough to hold her shoelace in place, and eventually saw the strange creepers that hung outside the secret place. They'd be strong enough, definitely. She went over and pulled a bit off, and also took a little pink flower from another nearby plant, just because it would look cute if she tied it in her hair…

But something, somewhere in the back of her mind, was telling her to go into the Secret Place. At first she thought it was just because she was still upset about the boys, but this was more than just sadness, or a desire to go through her memories. This was some urgent need to go into that cave, without any further delay.

Curious of her own mentality, she pulled aside the creepers and ducked under the hanging plants to the long tunnel. Hundreds of strange things flickered through her head as she cautiously made her way through the dark, many of them things she had never heard before…

I'll come back to you!

Come on, Sora! Together, we can do it!

Giving up already?

There's a light that never goes out!

I'll return this. I promise.

You won't use me for this…

What's happening to me…?

It all ends here.

Kairi froze. A jumble of voices shot through her head, the tunnel seemed to be getting blacker and blacker the further she went… Not just to the dim cave vision, but real, pressing blackness. Was this tunnel going on forever? She looked back, but could not see the cave's entrance. She hated to think about going backwards through this path of memories. She continued forwards… or was it now backwards after all? She wasn't sure anymore.

Who is she?

We'll be together again soon.

This place… It just looks so familiar.

I'm not afraid…!

What're you talking about?

Kairi's coming with us!

She knew their voices better than her own. They were voices she longed to hear, voices she'd dreamt about last night, that she would dream of for a long time to come. She was so glad to hear them, but at the same time, scared… and sad.

Suddenly, she reached the end of the tunnel, and the blackness lifted startlingly. Even the dim cave took a while for her eyes to adjust to. The cave was different, although nothing had been moved since her last visit. The childhood illustrations on the walls seemed to be emitting their own source of soft light, as were the ones that Selphie had made earlier. There were no footprints, no sign that anyone else had come in here today, other than herself and Selphie… But what she saw there shocked her beyond anything she could have expected. The flower fell to the dusty floor, landing forgotten on top of one of Selphie's illustrations and disturbing the peaceful dust that had settled there.

"…Riku?"

AN (Again): Well, hopefully that was painless enough! It turned out much longer than I'd anticipated, but hey, all the more to read. My biggest concern here was the constantly changing style I had to use in order to accommodate three completely different situations… To help me I listened to suitable music.

Once again, I'd like to express my appreciation for any feedback you'd like to give me, and also that you bookmark or favourite or whatever if you like this that much, because my updates are not incredibly regular (I'm doing AS and I chose English AND Spanish Groan)

Many thanks to my older sister and beta-reader, Krissy, and also a request that she highlight her corrections in red so I don't have to dredge up all the correction and check them over myself! ;)

Love yas!