A/N: Just to have things cleared up, I know nothing about the third game, except for that mini movie in the end of the second game. I'm simply using the idea, although I'm not claiming it as my own. I am simply starting off from where the game left off, which (if you don't know) is when the three friends are reading the letter that King Mickey, had sent. And please, try to be subtle while reviewing…

A New Journey

The three friends finished reading the letter from the King. Sora's face was as blank as paper while Kairi chewed on her bottom lip with worry. Riku let out a wry bemused chuckle while he thought about the contents of the letter.

He stared out into the oceans surrounding his home. The home that he hadn't seen for a little over a year, and yet, he was about to leave it yet again…

Still staring at the paper's contents, Sora stuttered, "W-we're not d-done?"

"But, you just got home…" whispered Kairi as she laid a hand on Sora's shoulder. They were all silent until Riku sharply turned to Sora.

"Tell me, while you were out there," he gestured at the stars that were beginning to appear, "did you open all of the gateways to the worlds?"

Sora stared silently at his best friend as he slowly nodded his head, "Yeah, I think I did. But, Riku? I don't get what that has to do wi-." Riku let out a sigh of relief and Kairi nodded excitedly with understanding.

Kairi turned to Sora with a smile that made his heart flutter. "It means, whenever we leave home, there's always going to be a 100 chance of coming back!" she gushed. "Oh!" Sora gasped. Kairi giggled at his naïveté.

Sora thought of never having to leave his friends anymore. They would always be together from now on.

Riku turned his attention on Kairi. "We?" he asked intently.

Hands on her hips, Kairi scowled playfully at her best friend. "For almost two years we've been separated. Do you expect for me to stay home while you two are out there having more than a lifetime filled with adventure?"

The wind made Kairi's beautiful red hair whip about her face in an exotic way. Riku smirked at the thought.

Sora was really lucky to have her.

"Besides," continued Kairi, "before any of this even happened, all of us, together, were going to have an adventure of our own, remember?" She giggled as she remembered the times before Sora became what he is now.

"But," started Riku. "No buts!" Kairi cut off. "I want in on this adventure. I don't want to wait behind any longer."

Sora looked at his best friend and his- wait, have they started dating yet?

A light flush escaped over Sora's cheeks, despite the present dilemma.

Although no one noticed it, Kairi still clasped her hand within Sora's free one and stated with a final tone, "Besides, Sora and I promised Roxas and Naminé. We'll be together everyday."

She laced her fingers with his and made him grin toothily while making him blush deeper.

Riku couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy, yet still let out an amused laugh as he stared at his friend. He crossed his muscular arms across his broad chest while shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Sora decided to switch back to the main subject at hand. "So… What do we have to do?" he asked. The letter was a shocking yet confusing piece of information.

"We wait. And when those two arrive, we'll have our answer for them." Said Riku.

Sora nodded in approval and headed for the docks, leaving his friend by himself near the Paopu tree and with the letter from the King in his hand.

He figured it was finally time to see the city.

As he approached a boat, he realized that he still hadn't reunited with his mother yet. Mmm, he could just imagine the smell of her freshly baked brownies… And the look of happiness by seeing her son back home.

When he climbed into the boat, he realized he wasn't alone. Smiling contentedly at his new companion, Sora waited for Kairi to catch up. His smile soon vanished when he saw the look on her face.

Riku sighed as he leaned back against the Paopu tree. The sun was already setting, but it was enough light to re-read the confusing letter that is requiring him and his friends to leave their home once again.

His aquamarine eyes slowly contemplated on the hurried scrawls of the King's handwriting:

Sora and Riku,

I am afraid to say that your reunion with your home and family will have to be cut short.

I feel bad for havin' ta take you guys away so early but ya havta understand. All I can say is that I found some crucial information based on our journey.

In three days I'll be sendin' Donald an' Goofy on a Gummi Ship to your world for your answer.

If it's yes, then you'll be taken to Hollo- Radiant Garden. There I will explain everything about the Cave of Origin.

Gosh, sorry if I just confused you guys with that information, but I hope that you'll be able to accept this new mission.

Hope ta see ya soon.

Mickey

After the King's scrawl of a signature, there was his emblem. Other than that, there was nothing else. No other information, and no explanation as to what time in the day to expect the two goofball's that traveled with Sora the past year.

Riku smirked to himself at the thought of reuniting with those two in three days. Even if it didn't show on his face, he was scared. Completely terrified of what lay ahead.

Ever since the incident between him and his best friend, he never felt like himself. He still felt the remorse, and the guilt that he had actually tried to kill his best friend…Just for the Keyblade.

The smirk faded away as he remembered that fateful day in Hollow Bastion. The day that he had taken the Keyblade from Sora, thinking that he would be saving Kairi, when in reality, he made things worse.

(A/N: I kinda forgot about what happened in the near ending, so sorry for the inconvenience.)

((Flashback))

"Heh, Maleficent was right." Gloated Riku as the Keyblade bid to his calling. "I am the true Keyblade Master."

The look of disbelief, betrayal, and most noticeable of all, the hurt on Sora's face did nothing to Riku as he turned away towards the confines of the castle.

"W-what! But Riku! What's happened to you?" exclaimed Sora. "Nothings happened to ME Sora!" spat Riku.

"You're the one who's changed. While you were off saving other people and places, I was the one who searched for Kairi's heart. I was the one who never left her side in her time of need." Riku pointed the Keyblade at Sora. "Look at where your 'Heroic Deeds' have led you to. Hmph, you really are pathetic."

He threw a piece of wood at Sora's feet. "There, now go back to pretending to be a hero with your wooden sword. I'll pick up from where you never started."

With that, Riku turned around and left a betrayed Sora behind…

((End))

The silver-haired male stared blankly into the horizon as the guilt washed over him like a giant wave. He could never forgive himself for betraying Sora. Even if Sora already did, it made no difference to Riku. For he had tried to murder him.

And for what? A stupid blade and…and a very special person.

Kairi.

He shook his head in disbelief and began to massage his temple with his right hand while keeping his balance against the tree with the other.

Riku knew that ever since he and his friends were toddlers, both Kairi and Sora had always had the bond that they now openly shared.

However, being his arrogant and jealous self, Riku never accepted it. He had always thought that he was better than Sora at everything, even if they were best friends. So he thought that he could get Kairi for himself.

Riku smirked at the thought. Silently, he stood up and began to make his way to the shack.

He wasn't ready to go all the way home…At least, not yet.

His silver hair flowed behind him as his aqua eyes stared into nothing. 'Who's better than whom now, Sora?'

"Kairi, what's wrong?" asked Sora as Kairi caught up to him.

"Sora, before you start heading home, there's something you should know." She muttered, her head bent low in a somber motion.

He didn't like the sound of her voice. One minute she was happy, and now she seemed a bit… depressed?

"I just couldn't…I couldn't tell you while you were so happy from coming back home." She said as she stepped closer to Sora.

Sora began to worry by the sound of her voice. He burrowed his brow as he tried to catch Kairi's eye. Unfortunately, she was trying her best to avoid staring straight into his.

"Umm," she couldn't tell him…She just couldn't!

Sora's eyes narrowed as he cocked his head to the side to try and catch Kairi's eye.

"Y-you can't go home, Sora." Kairi murmured. "What? Why?" asked Sora, his face showing his confusion as he kept staring intently at the girl in front of him.

She gathered up enough courage and looked him in the eye at last. She bit her lip before letting out a dejected sigh and telling him the news of his mother…

"Sora, your mother passed away three months ago." She whispered. There, she said it! The hard part was over.

Sora's face was blank and she noticed that his eyes seemed to have glazed over as if in thought.

"Sora?" she whispered cautiously. Taking a step towards him, she reached out a hand to rest it on his shoulder. "Sora, please, say something…"

Her hand made contact with his shoulder jerking him out of his shocked state. He stared at her as if he just noticed that she was there.

The intensity of his ocean blue eyes made Kairi inwardly flinch as she felt the pain pour out of them. She could not believe that she just ruined such a happy day for him with just that single sentence.

Clearing his throat, Sora shook his head to clear himself of the many questions in his head and asked, "How?"

A bit surprised at his reaction to the news, Kairi let her hand fall limply to her side and said, "Heart problems."

Sora blinked a few times before suddenly letting out a wry grin. "Heh, I forgot all about that…"

Kairi scrutinized him with a small glare at the sudden information that he had always known about his mother's condition. "So you mean…You were expecting this?" she asked with an edgy voice.

"Hmm?" he stared at her face which held utter disbelief. "Well…Yea. About three months before he had left us, my father and I were told that she had 1 possibly 2 years before her heart gave out. We asked about the possibility of a heart transplant, but it turned out that her condition was something that made her ineligible for one. So I guess you could say, I expected her death to come sooner or later, so I'm not entirely surprised."

He shrugged at the concept of having no family now, and turned to stare at the horizon where the outline of Destiny City showed.

"But you know, it hurts." He muttered. Kairi stared at him sympathetically when she suddenly noticed a tear slide down his tanned cheek.

"That night that we were separated, I never told my mother where I was going. I had snuck out of the house because it was after my curfew. I-I can't even remember the last time I had told her that I loved her. I never got to tell her goodbye…" He raised a hand to wipe away his tears, but stopped when he felt someone else doing it for him.

"I know how you feel Sora, it's happened to me be-" she stopped mid-sentence when she realized what she was just about to say. 'Too much information... Not the right time...' she found herself thinking.

She shook her head of the thought and continued to brush away the tears from Sora's face.

"Look, despite what you, or anyone else for that matter may think, you are never too late to say your final words to someone who has passed." She said.

Sora stared at her with an intensity that made shivers run down her spine.

Smiling comfortingly at him, she boldly gave him a chaste kiss near his lips and embraced him with her arms wrapped around his waist.

Sora felt himself go red at the thought of being so close to getting his first kiss, and with Kairi nonetheless, just because she was trying to comfort him.

Instead of just drooling over the fact of what almost happened, Sora wrapped his arms around Kairi's small frame and pulled her closer.

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Kairi?" he began. Inhaling Sora's scent deeply and finding herself dazed and slightly drowsy by his spicy scent, Kairi answered with a small whimper.

"Where am I going to live…?"

Kairi's eyes shot wide open when she realized she hadn't told him everything yet.

Riku let a small sigh escape his lips as he leaned back against the wooden wall of his temporary abode.

Without even realizing it, he had summoned up his Keyblade, the Way to Dawn. He scowled fiercely at it, for immediately it had forced hateful memories to flood into his mind.

His anger getting the best of him, Riku suddenly stood up and threw his blade with all of his might. The blade landed with a clang and laid there for a few seconds before emanating a small, dark ethereal glow and reappearing in his right hand.

With his scowl firmly planted on his face, he looked at the blade in his hand with disgust.

"Why? Why was I so foolish enough to give into the darkness?" he asked himself.

His blade disappeared and he slunk back down to the ground, banging his head on the wall in the process.

Why couldn't he just let go of the past? Why was it so hard for him to just lock all of his hated memories away? Why couldn't he forgive himself, even when everyone else had already done so? What made him want to hang on to the past?… Why couldn't he find the love that he so desperately craved for?

Because you gave in…

"No…"

Your heart is too weak…

"No…!"

Because your heart now contains darkness.

"NO!" shouted Riku as he clamped his hands to the sides of his head.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to calm himself from his sudden outburst. He took deep breaths as he tried to keep himself from doing something he knew he was going to regret.

Slowly, he began to lower his arms, bringing his right hand to clutch at his chest where his heart should be.

"Something is wrong…" he muttered to himself.

He felt a very small sharp pain in his heart. And he knew exactly what it was. It was far from emotional pain; it was something much more dangerous than that.

"It's growing…" whispered Riku. He shut his eyes in disbelief.

"But, how? I thought it would fade away. Yet, the darkness, in my heart…It's growing…" There was another minor pain that stung him and made his body tingle.

With sick delight.

He tilted his head back, and stared of into space. He would not accept this as his fate...

A/N: Yea, bad cliffie, but it's my first so ya can't blame me lol. Neways, review and I'll get the second chappie up as soon as I can.