A/N: Hello! My name's Jam, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for stopping by! This is technically my first fanfic, as it's my first time attempting to manipulate characters that are not my own (Sora & co.). I hope you all enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts is not mine. Kingdom Hearts is the child of Disney and Square Enix, and any Disney/Square/KH characters found within this story are, unfortunately, not mine. And I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue the poor college student...

White Shadows

by Jam

"At least the waves sound the same…"

The silver-haired youth sounded almost content, and there was a wan smile gracing his lips when Sora glanced down at him. It was strange to see his friend so…subdued. Riku was always so passionate and determined. When they were kids, that had just meant that Riku had always had to run a little faster, swim a little longer, fight a little harder. He was the one who had had all the bright dreams and fantasies and the drive to see them through. He had always been the leader, and Sora had always been content to follow. As Riku had grown older, his thirst to prove himself and the ambition of his dreams had grown as well, until Destiny Island just hadn't been large enough to contain him.

But if Sora thought about it, subdued was definitely the wrong word. Riku was still just as passionate, just as determined. If he hadn't been, then Riku would have been lost the moment Ansem had possessed him in Hollow Bastion and been trapped in the darkness. But he had fought, and he had survived the darkness – embraced it, even, and he had come out alright. Riku was the strongest person that Sora had ever known. It was just that his dreams had changed, and he had stopped craving to prove himself. It was more like…acceptance. Like Riku had finally come to terms with himself.

And maybe he had finally realized that he didn't have to do everything on his own. He didn't have to be the very best, or be perfect, because that's what friends were for. Friends were there to pick you up when you were down, to help you find the way home when you were lost, and to knock some sense into you when you went astray. Sora had been more than a little surprised when Riku had asked him for help getting to the water, but he was more than happy to oblige. It had been so long since he had seen Riku alive and well, not possessed by a Heartless or trapped on the other side of a door that Sora had had to close himself. And Sora had cursed himself countless times for not just grabbing Riku and yanking him onto his side of Kingdom Hearts. But now Riku was finally here and he was okay, and if Sora was maybe holding onto his friend a little too tightly or, when they finally made it to the water, he sat a little too closely, at least Riku didn't say anything.

Sora was almost afraid that it was all some bizarre dream. That he had never woken up from that strange pod in Twilight Town and everything that had happened had been a lie. That Riku wasn't really here sitting beside him on this black-sanded beach and was still trapped in the darkness. Or maybe Sora was still back on Destiny Island, snoozing in the pristine white sand and dreaming fanciful dreams that would never come to pass. Dreams of worlds with hearts and ducks that could talk and keys that were weapons. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that he was back home on the play island with Riku. It wasn't balmy here like it was back home; in fact, Sora wasn't sure if he could feel a temperature at all. It was neither hot nor cold, but neither was it anywhere in the middle. It simply…was. But the waves did sound the same as they rocked gently against the sandy shore, and there was a comforting breeze whispering through the strange air.

They weren't trapped in the darkness, but were sitting on the Paopu Island after a particularly grueling spar. And that's why they were so tired – the duel had been brutal. They must have gotten into an argument about something or another, maybe about who was the strongest, or the quickest, or the smartest, or maybe Sora had just felt like that day was the day – the day he would finally beat Riku at something. They had had the argument the day before, and had agreed to have the spar the next day at sunset just to make it needlessly dramatic. Tidus and Wakka had been there watching from the bridge while Selphie, disgruntled from being yanked from her romantic musings but excited nonetheless, watched from further back. Kairi had been there, too, keeping score like she always did.

Riku had been wearing that smug little smirk he always got whenever he and Sora were about to compete, the one that seemed to say, 'We both know how this is going to end, but I'll humor you anyway.' Sora had long ago made it one of his goals in life to wipe that smirk off of his silver-haired friend's face, and now he was finally going to do it! He hadn't wasted any time after Kairi had signaled the start of the spar; he had simply lunged forward and started attacking with his wooden sword. Riku had blocked each attack effortlessly, but the younger boy hadn't let that discourage him. He had jumped back and skidded through the sand to attack his opponent from another angle, and had grinned from ear to ear when Riku nearly hadn't blocked in time.

The fight had gone on for what felt like ages. The sky had looked as if it were on fire as the sun began to sink below the horizon, and the ocean had been a sea of molten lava. Despite the fact that Sora had felt overheated and had been struggling not to succumb to fatigue, Riku had looked as cool and collected as ever. He had simply stood there and waited for him to attack with that stupid smirk on his face. 'Don't tell me you're giving up already,' he had taunted, and that had been the final straw for Sora.

A blur of red and yellow had surged forward, the wood of his sword had whistled through the air, and Sora had hit Riku harder than he'd intended to. That was why, after Sora was done jumping up and down and cheering and whooping and hollering over his victory, he had had to help Riku get to the Paopu tree. He had helped his friend sit leant up against the trunk of the tree, and then the younger boy had sat down next to him in the sand instead of climbing up onto the tree like he usually did. And now the two were simply sitting there, enjoying the cool breeze and the sound of the ocean beating against the steep slope of the island and the sand of the beach behind them. And if everyone else in the fantasy had mysteriously vanished, and it ended up being just the two of them, well…

"What I said back there…about thinking I was better at stuff than you," Sora snapped out of his daydream as Riku began to speak and hmm'ed to let his friend know he was listening. Even here, in the Realm of Darkness, Sora couldn't seem to keep his head out of the clouds. "To tell the truth, Sora…I was jealous of you…"

Riku, jealous of Sora? "What for?" the chestnut-haired youth asked curiously.

"I wished I could live life the way you do," Riku answered, not looking up from the stygian water. The words sounded thick in his mouth, like they were difficult to get out. "Just following my heart."

But Riku already lived that way. It was his heart that had guided him through the darkness. He had been following his heart when he had been secretly helping Sora, Donald, and Goofy and giving them all of those clues. And really, he had always just been following his heart. He had wished with all his heart that he could leave Destiny Island and explore other worlds, and he had followed his heart that day when the Heartless came. Maybe his methods hadn't been that great back then, and he had lost his way for a bit…but it had all worked out…eventually…sort of…if you ignored the fact that they were now trapped in the Realm of Darkness. If anything, Sora had always been a little jealous of Riku.

"Yeah, well, I've got my share of problems, too," Sora replied somewhat bashfully as he turned his gaze back to the strange, pale moon that hovered just above the horizon.

"Like what?"

"Like…wanting to be like you," the younger boy smiled softly at the admission.

"Hm…Well, there is one advantage to being me," and now Rikus voice took on that smug tone that Sora was more familiar with – the one he got right before they ended up sparring or racing, and the one he would use after he won that always got Sora to pout. "Something you could never imitate."

"Really? What's that?" He couldn't help but be curious.

"Having you for a friend." Riku still wouldn't look at him, but that was okay. Heart to hearts weren't really his thing. They weren't even really Sora's thing either, to be honest, though he felt like he had had a fair number of them over the past year. He and Riku had never really needed words; there hadn't been anything they couldn't communicate with a look or a smack with a wooden sword. But hearing the words was certainly nice. Extremely nice, and Sora couldn't help a warm smile from spreading across his face as he leant back onto the sand.

"Then I guess I'm okay the way I am," he said, and his smile leaked into his voice. "I've got something you could never imitate, too."

They faded back into silence, but Sora couldn't keep the smile off of his face. In fact, it seemed to grow as time went on, until his face actually started to hurt, but he didn't care. If he had to be trapped in the darkness with anyone, he was glad he was with Riku. He had been wary when Riku had said that they'd be the darkness and, if he was honest with himself, a little afraid. He had been fighting the darkness for so long, had always thought that it was something evil that needed to be gotten rid of…but King Mickey was right. Light and dark were connected; you couldn't have one without the other. And if darkness was half of everything, did it really make sense to be so terrified of it? Riku was the perfect example that darkness wasn't all bad, as long as you didn't forsake the light. And if the Realm of Light was safe, then…well…they'd be the Darkness.

And no matter what happened, Sora knew that everything was going to be alright. As long as he had Riku with him, nothing could go wrong. Well…no, something would probably go wrong, but Riku would be there watching his back, and Sora would be doing the same. They would get through this, somehow, together.

-x-

Kairi stumbled as the Corridor of Darkness dragged her from The World That Never Was and threw her onto the sand, and would have fallen if Goofy hadn't been there to catch her. She should have been happy to be home again, to see the white sands of Destiny Island and hear the seagulls calling out above the waves, but something was terribly wrong.

"Watch yer step there, Kairi," Goofy chuckled good-naturedly, not noticing at first her distraught expression as she turned back to look at the Corridor.

Thankfully, the others were more observant. "Wait!" Donald yelled, or shrieked, or something – it was hard to tell. "The portal's closing! Where's Sora?"

"And Riku!" King Mickey added, coming up to stand beside his Royal Magician and Captain of the Royal Knights. "Weren't they right behind us?"

"The door started to close as soon as I entered it!" Kairi explained as the last wisps of darkness faded into the cerulean sky. And she had a feeling that she couldn't just ask Naminé to open another portal for her. The two of them had merged back together again completely, and, if Riku hadn't been able to open a Corridor of Darkness, Kairi certainly wasn't going to be able to. She turned to the mouse, the King, and didn't like the somber expression that had settled on his face. His was made for smiling. "There's got to be a way to get back to them, right? We can't just leave them there!"

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do," King Mickey said, staring hard at the place where the Corridor had stood. "That portal was our only way out of there, and without a ship we can't get back. Riku and Sora are going to have to find another way."

"Gawrsh…I hope they're okay," Goofy muttered, scratching at the back of his head. "It don't feel right, leavin' 'em behind an' all."

"There's gotta be something we can do, right, Your Majesty?" Donald asked, holding out his feathered appendages imploringly. Goofy was right; after all they'd been through together, they couldn't just leave Sora behind and hope for the best.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry too much about those two," Mickey smiled, his expression softening. Riku and Sora sure were lucky to have friends like these. Friends who were willing to go to hell and back (or The World That Never Was and back) to see them home safely. "They can both take care of themselves, and they'll both be fine as long as they stick together! I'm sure they'll find a way back home."

"Yeah! That's right!" Goofy grinned and threw a lanky arm around both Kairi's and Donald's shoulders. It was a bit hard to do, with the disgruntled duck being so much shorter than him, and he almost ended up strangling him. "We just gotta have faith in 'em, that's all!"

"Let go of me, ya big palooka!" Donald squawked irately, flailing and squirming until the oversized dog had to let him go.

Kairi couldn't help but giggle at their antics, despite the situation. She hadn't known Donald or Goofy long, and she had only just met their King, but she would be sad to see them go. But even with their optimistic words, she couldn't help but worry about her friends. It had sounded like the castle had been starting to collapse when they had left, and she could only hope that Riku and Sora had managed to get out of the castle in time. And if they were trapped there, there was still the swarm of Heartless to worry about. She doubted that Pete and Maleficent had been able to take care of all of them by themselves. She knew in her heart that Sora and Riku would be fine, but she wouldn't be able to put her fears to rest until she saw them both safe and sound in front of her. Until then, she would just have to have faith in them both and wait for them to come home.

But as minutes moved to hours, and hours to days, and days to weeks, Kairi's resolve slowly began to crumble. Where were Sora and Riku, and what had happened to them? What was keeping them from coming home? It was like a year ago all over again, when she had had to watch Sora fade into the distance as she had slowly been carried off back to Destiny Island, except this time was worse because she still had all of her memories intact, and she was trapped on the island knowing that there was nothing that she could do to help them. All she could do was wait, and hope, and be thankful that at least they weren't alone.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I'm not sure if I want to leave this as a one-shot or continue it as a story. :) It was just bugging me so much that I'd never seen this plotline before! Your opinions would be greatly appreciated! -Jam