Disclaimer: All of these characters are entirely fictional, and their relation to other identical Squaresoft characters is completely coincidental. Maybe.

..Finding Sora..

The caws of seagulls echoed overhead as I stood on the beach. The waves lapped gently at my feet, the whispers of their song mingling with that of the seagulls. My eyes were locked on the paopu tree, watching with a detached kind of sadness as the fruits began to shrivel and drop consecutively into the sea. Before my eyes, the wooden walkway to Paopu Island began to fall apart, and the trees slipped downward like stricken snakes. The larger trees behind me began to turn black, the other wooden structures sliding from them and collapsing onto the beach. The tide crept closer, eating up more and more of the island, and I stepped back to allow it. Destiny Islands, I thought to myself. So many memories, so many good times that cannot be relived. The others, save one, were gone. I didn't know where they were, and I didn't really expect to find them. I hoped to find one other, though.

Footsteps sounded behind me on the sand. "He's not here, Kairi," I said to her before she could ask. Kairi said nothing, but I could tell that her eyes were drawn to the chain I was clutching in one hand. It was a fairly nondescript, silver chain, with an oddly shaped crown hanging at the bottom.

I sighed, slipping the chain back into my pocket. "Get ready," I told her. "We're leaving."

"Already?" Kairi asked, a tone of surprise in her voice.

"Yes. There's nothing here."

"You know...we might not be able to come back," she told me, sounding shaken.

Ilaughed hollowly. "I've faced that kind of decision before, Kairi." I looked out over the islands desolately. "This world is dying. A dying world is different from a disappearing world, in the sense that it can't be recovered. But that doesn't matter. Tidus is gone. Wakka is gone. Selphie and even our parents are gone. The only things left here are memories, and I have no time for them."

"All right. I'll get our things."

She left, and I stood watching the sea for a while longer. Then I turned and started walking, inexplicably drawn to the Secret Place. After the months that had separated me from this place, I hadn't changed very much. Now I was still wearing my typical yellow top and blue pants, mainly because I had discarded the dark clothing of a Heartless. My eyes had finally faded back to green, and I was keeping my hair the same length. In the end, the only change was that I was more distant.

I pulled aside the moss in front of the familiar cave, and stepped inside. In my absence, it seemed that Kairi had added a few etchings on the rocks near the door. These were of Sora and me returning, among those that were Heartless. I stopped at the door, running my hand along the wood. It stopped at the bronze doorknob—a new feature.

Kairi materialized beside me. "Aren't we leaving, Riku?" she asked me.

"Give me just a moment," I told her. I braced myself and began to turn the handle.

"I wouldn't do that," Kairi warned me. There was a tone of fear in her voice, and I couldn't blame her. She didn't have fond memories connected with this door.

"I don't care," I told her. "I have a feeling..." I wrenched open the door. Kairi let out a shriek as the resulting gust of wind blew her against the rocks. I did my best to hold my ground, digging my feet into the dirt floor. I began walking forward slowly, squinting my eyes to see what was behind this door.

Kairi was keeping one hand on the rock beside her, straining against the blast of wind erupting from the door. "Riku!" she shouted to me. "Stop it!"

I put my hand on the door, starting to close it. Just then something—or someone—was blown forward and latched onto me. I swayed with the momentum of the impact, bracing my feet against the rock behind me. After a moment, I looked down into a mess of brown hair, unable to believe it. "Sora?!" I exclaimed in surprise, quickly wrapping one arm around his waist. I stepped back, and tried to pull him away to get a better look at him. "Sora, is that really—"

"No, don't," Sora told me, keeping his arms firmly clasped around my neck. "Just hold me for a while...please..."

I pulled him close, letting my fingers weave through his hair. We stood still like that, not knowing who was watching us from within the door. It seemed as though we fit together, almost like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. "Sora, it's okay," I said to him over and over like a maxim. "I won't...I'll never let you go..."

There was a sound from the door and I jerked up. Ansem was standing there, bracing himself against the wind. He was disgusting—his flesh hung about his face in discolored lumps, his clothes ripped and tattered. His hair was almost gone, and his eyes held a haunted, hungry look in them. "The boy," he rasped to me, outstretching a hand. "Give me the boy."

I heard Sora whimper, his arms tightening around me. "Don't, please don't..." he begged. "I don't know what he'll do..."

"GIVE HIM TO ME!" Ansem roared at the top of his lungs. One of his arms became detached, flying forward. A scream erupted from Kairi as it brushed by her.

As I watched Ansem, I felt a sudden calm creeping over me. I began to laugh, the same hollow laugh from before. "You'll never have him!" I shouted at him, lifting my feet so that the rock behind me no longer blocked me. This done, I shot like a cannonball out of the stone cave, and Kairi had the good sense to grab onto my arm. Behind us, Ansem's broken wail could be heard dying out slowly under the wind. Destiny Islands heaved with the effort of staying together, of living for just a while longer. But I didn't care what happened now. With Kairi at my side, and Sora tightly in my arms, I wasn't leaving anything behind.

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A/N: Thank you to Slashapalooza for beta-ing! I may or may not continue this one (depending on the reviews, of course...) because it usually turns icky after this point. Review replies in the next short story.