Chapter 1

The days passed by ever so slowly ever since Xemnas's defeat. Soon Sora, Riku, and Kairi would have to return to the island. They had to meet with the king at his castle. He repeatedly told them thank you for saving the world from evil once again and gave each of them a last goodbye since they would have to return to the Destiny Islands. After countless begging King Mickey agreed to let the three of them stay a couple of days in Hollow Bastion to hang out with Leon and the others.

Hollow Bastion looked as good as new after the many heartless attacks from before. Sora, Riku, and Kairi were walking along the row of houses. It was nice and quiet until they heard the loud and proud Yuffie arguing with Cid for who knows what. The yelling could be heard from a mile away. The three of them entered the house and found Leon, who looked very disturbed with Yuffie and Cid, and beside him was Aerith who couldn't help but laugh. Yuffie stopped mid-sentence once she noticed the three of them standing at the doorway.

"Hey! It's Sora!" Yuffie announced. Everybody turned their attention to their visitors.

"So you came back." Leon said, relieved that the yelling had stopped.

"So how have things been? Sora asked.

"Despite all the ruckus between Yuffie and Cid over here." Leon took a moment to point over in the direction where they stood. "Everything's been fine".

"We weren't expecting any guest today. You'll have to give me some time to prepare a meal. You all must be hungry." Aerith told them. Everyone laughed when Sora's stomach began to growl. Aerith took that as a yes and headed for the kitchen.

"I'll help too!" Yuffie said following Aerith into the kitchen, yelling again. Cid covered his ears.

"Finally, the little twerp is gone."

"I heard that!" Leon looked down annoyed.

"So when are you going back to the Island? He asked.

"Not until a couple of days." Sora answered. "Have you seen Cloud lately?"

"Yeah he's probably just sitting down somewhere around here. He'll be back later on." Sora turned around to his friends anxiously.

"Let's go take a walk and I'll show you around. Maybe we'll run into Cloud on the way."

"Ok" Kairi agreed and Riku nodded as Sora practically pulled them outside. The town was amazingly large compared to their small, peaceful Island. But Hollow Bastion wasn't always this nice. Once, Maleficent and the heartless had invaded this place. Leon and the others just couldn't hold them off. The army of heartless was just too overwhelming. Luckily they were able to escape. But Hollow Bastion soon after became the heart of the heartless. As the three of them walked around they talked about their raft they had made to attempt to cross over into other worlds. It was a silly idea, but a dream that they once shared.

Cloud was sitting on the roof of a house when they found him, quiet as always, and Tifa was also there leaning against the wall. Cloud no longer ran away from Tifa, nor did she chase him. The whole situation was still confusing to Sora when he thought back on it.

"Hey!" Sora called out to them. Cloud glance at him than returned to gazing out at the sky.

"Hi Sora." Tifa greeted them "These your friends?"

"Yep, meet Riku and Kairi."

"Hi." Both of them said.

"It's nice to meet you. Hey Cloud, come down here for a little while and say something." Cloud slowly stood up with an aggravated expression and jumped off of the house behind Tifa. His wild blonde hair blew in the nice cool breeze.

"Hey." He said solemnly.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Tifa asked.

"We decided to stop by here for a couple of days before going back to the island."

"Oh."

"Hey let's all go back to Leon's house. I'm sure Aerith has finished dinner by now." Kairi suggested.

"Sure." Sora agreed. Sora led the way followed by Riku, Kairi, Tifa, and Cloud. Sure enough once they got there in the kitchen was dinner spread out all over the table. It looked delicious and fresh. There was ham, dinner rolls, corn, and even a basket of fresh fruit. Everyone but Cloud sat down at the table. He instead leaned against a wall. He told everyone that he wasn't that hungry, but Tifa made him a plate anyway.

"This is really good Aerith." Kairi complemented.

"I helped too!" Yuffie chimed in. Everybody laughed and continued with their meals. Afterwards Sora and Riku sat down outside. Were it was nice and cool. Kairi help Yuffie and Aerith out with the dishes. Cloud returned to the place where they had found him before and Tifa soon followed him. Cid was downloading stuff onto the computer and Leon was out training. Everything was quite, which was oddly unusual.

"This place is kind of nice." Riku said quietly to Sora. "It's a shame we'll have to leave in a couple of days."

"Yeah."

"Everyone seems pretty nice too." Sora got up on his feet and turned to Riku. "Up for a little sparing with Leon?"

"Sure." Riku got up and followed Sora. Leon was training on top of building that was pretty high up. It had a prefect view of the sun setting. Sora would have to bring Kairi up here before they left. It was absolutely remarkable. Sora walked up to Leon.

"Hey Leon, looking for a challenge?" He asked.

"I could take you both on." Leon urged. Taking that as a sign Riku brought out his keyblade and so did Sora. They watched each other waiting for the opponent to make a move. Leon lifted the Gunblade up and vigorously slashed at Sora and Riku, dodging their attacks at the same time. He was skillful with the Gunblade. As heavy as it was, Leon carried it around as if it were nothing, though it was slow in attacks. Riku and Sora fought from both sides. Predicting what he would do next. Leon's Gunblade and Riku's Keyblade collided and it was nothing but a strength match now. Sora threw Riku his keyblade and Riku had hit Leon in the left arm. Riku in return threw the Keyblade back to Sora.

"Had enough yet?" Sora asked. Leon just stood up and stuck his Keyblade into the ground. He was no match for them. Together they made up a perfect team, and without his left arm he wouldn't be able to use the Gunblade properly. He would need both arms to use the Gunblade and it would greatly affect his speed to only use one. He laughed for a moment.

"Sora, you really have become stronger since are last match. I look forward to our next one."

"I do too." It was getting darker outside by the moment and they could here Kairi calling for them. It was time to call it a night. And besides Riku and Sora were exhausted and needed to rest.