Violent winds caused the palm trees to shake and whip their leaves back and forth, as dark clouds quickly rolled in, bringing in their downpour and thunder and lightning. The shudders on the windows slammed against the brick walls, making their owners wonder if they were going to fly off, in the comfort of their own home.

Save for one, most kids would have been asleep by now, but not this child. No, not Sora. A whimper escaped the small boy as he lay in the other room, he clutched onto his bear tighter and clenched have eyes shut. If there was one thing he couldn't stand was when his best friend made him upset about something, then it was storms like this. When the wind made the shudders slam against the wall and rain beat against the window, and when the lightning lit up the night sky and thunder boomed causing him to cry.

"Sora?" That voice, peeking from under the covers he could see the shadowy silhouette of none other than his best friend standing in the door, hand on his hip. The younger tossed the covers off and along with his bear, ran over to the older.

"Riku!" It was like this often, every time a big storm came. Sora would spend the night with his best friend, and his best friend would have to get him at some point because he's sometimes too scared to move out of his own bed.

Once in the comfort of his friends room and under the covers, Sora held his bear close to him as he looked at his best friend. Thunder crackled causing Sora to jump and cry out, tears immediately springing forth and he held the bear tighter.

"Geez, what a baby." He furrowed his eyebrows and pouted before protesting.

"I'm not a baby, besides you came to get me, Riku's a meanie." Riku laughed softly and brought his hand up to wipe away the tears when lightning lit up his room, revealing bright blue glassy orbs.

"Don't worry Sora, whether its monsters or storms. I'll always be there to protect you." Sora looked up at Riku and couldn't help but snuggle the older male, completely forgetting about his bear and the storm.

"Thank you Riku." Riku just patted the younger on his head and closed his eyes, letting sleep wash over him.

"Where's Kairi, I thought she was with you!?" Sora ran to the bridge to see Riku staring out to sea, watching the waves violently rock against the isle they stood on. This was the second encounter since all those night ago, dealing with storms.

"The door has opened..."

"What?" Sora was confused, what was Riku talking about? What door?

"The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku turned to the younger male, practically excited about going to the outside world.

"What are you talking about? We gotta find Kairi!"

"Kairi's coming with us," Sora looked at Riku in shock, not really knowing where this was going or liking it one bit.

"Once we step though, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back." Riku said as he looked to the sky, looking at the giant orb of darkness practically sucking their home away.

"But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Extending his hand out, he looked at Sora. Hoping, no wanting Sora to see it his way, see how this was the perfect opportunity is, a chance to get away.

"Riku..." Sora's voice soft, skeptical. He wasn't so sure about this, especially when a pool of darkness, like the one from his dream suddenly appeared under Riku, but... they wouldn't get another chance like this if he didn't take it now, and what about Kairi?

Seeing as the darkness was beginning to engulf Riku, he grew worried and ran over to the silver haired male. The darkness also ensnaring him, trying so hard to reach out to Riku, yet not close enough, just as he was withing fingers grasp, it was gone. Riku, was gone.

Riku sighed deeply as he looked at the sleeping pod, bringing his hand up to touch the white capsule containing his best friend. He screwed up, he screwed up big time. How was he supposed to face everyone at this point, Sora would have surely been angry with him. He was an ass, and Kairi. How was Kairi fairing off without them, that's even if she remembered at all.

The clad in black teen lifted the blindfold to see the faint silhouette of a sleeping Sora and wondered if he still looked as he did all those years ago, always remembering the younger to be kind of a little effeminate. Longer eyelashes, lips a girl could actually be jealous of, and long feminine legs, a quiet chuckle escaped the silver haired teen and he let the blindfold fall from his face, revealing his true form.

"You always did sound like a girl when you were younger, now, you're growing up. Maybe... you don't need me to protect you like all those years ago., but right now. You need me the most, and I promise to fix what was broken and restore your memory. And even if it's from afar, I'll continue to protect you, even from myself. I will keep my promise, even like this. Sora."

Riku stooped down and picked up the discarded blindfold, he sighed through his nose and put the black fabric over his eyes. Once more, hiding his mistake, hiding the darkness within. One way or another, he will find a way.

"Riku, don't go!" The trio looked in shock as to what they heard and their eyes widened, Goofy the first to speak.

"Huh?"

"Kairi, what did you just say?" The red head turned around to face them, and they saw how sad she looked.

"Riku." Ansem turned away and began to speak.

"I'm no one, just a cast away from the darkness." Kairi turned back to face the three, motioning for the brunet to come over.

"Sora, come here. Say something to him." Sora looked at them skeptically, tilting his head to the side, trying to figure out of all this information. Before walking over to the two, the princess grabbed Sora's hand in hers'

"Here, you'll understand." Kairi placed Sora's hand on Ans- err... Riku's, holding them together. Sora looked up to Ansem, although, he could not see what the red head was talking about.

Looking down to their hands, Sora closed his eyss and took a look deep further down. Finally being able to see Riku. Sora opened his eyes to see unwavering yellow irises looking at him. Sora gripped Riku's hand tighter with his other, before falling to his knees.

"Riku. It's Riku, Riku's here!" Clenching his eyes shut, as he bit back a sob, he couldn't believe Riku was truly here, before him.

"I looked for you." Looking away to hide the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Come on Sora, you've got to pull it together." The deep voice now sounding like Riku's. Sora's shoulders shook, not being able to contain it anymore, looking up at the older, physically changed male.

"I looked everywhere for you!"

"I didn't want you to find me." Sora frowned as he stood up, still holding onto Riku's hand.

"But, it was him that was helping us." Donald faced the loyal knight, and looked up to Goofy

"Wasn't it?" The royal magician nodded speaking up.

"Huh?"

"The clues we kept findin', that must've been Riku."

"I was starting to worry you guys wouldn't catch on. Sora never did pick the brightest friends." Donald the first to protest.

"Whatdya you mean by that!" Sora now upset, snapped.

"Why didn't you let me know you were okay!"

"I told you, I didn't want to be found. Not like this... I- couldn't... I fought with Ansem... Xenoharts' heartless... when it invaded my heart and I won... but, to use the power of darkness, I had to become Ansem himself."

"Does that mean you can't change back?" Kairi asked worriedly.

"The battle isn't over, and until it is... I still need the power of darkness."

"Then, let's finish it, you're still Riku no matter what." Donald and Goofy walked over to the three. Now the group was finally a whole. Both the knight and magician nodding in agreement.

"So, whatdya say, ready for one last rumble?"

~Back on the islands~

Sora shifted from foot to foot, he supposed it was like old times again. He got to spend the night with Riku so he guessed, that was an upside. But, now he was faced with a current issue. There was a raging storm tonight, and he couldn't sleep.

The brunet bit his bottom lip, maybe he should just go back to his room. Riku would probably be asleep by now, yeah that's what he'd do. Besides, he was getting too old for this, that's something Riku would say. Sora raised his hand to knock, but pulled it away as if he had just been burnt. As much as he hated to admit it, he was still scared to storms, after all this time. Something he couldn't get over.

Riku sighed as he looked at his ceiling, he knew Sora was outside of his door. He knew the younger would always come to him, no matter the circumstance. It never failed, but. Did he want Sora to come in, because, he knew after tonight, everything was going to change between them. It wouldn't be the same ever again.

"Riku..." The older teen smirked, Sora could not whisper to save his own life. Rolling over, the silver haired teen grunted and let his eyes slip shut. Might as well mess with the younger male a bit. Yet all he got was silence, nothing. But, he knew better. This wasn't the first time this had happened. He heard the door click shut, signaling that Sora was now in the room and the keyblade wielder would be in his bed any minute.

Sora stood by the door just in case he needed an escape route, for what? He honestly had no idea, but it could have come in handy he supposed. No response, the younger shifted uncomfortably and bit his bottom lip once more and made his final decision to climb into bed with the older male.

Riku felt the bed dip under a second weight, and sudden skin on skin contact made the temperature in the room spike drastically.

"Don't you think you're a little too old to be doing this?" Breaking the everlasting silence between them, he turned to look at the teen, face to face. Lightning lighting up the room, he could see bright cobalt orbs looking directly into his.

"Don't you think you're too old to play pretend?" He retorted, frowning, only to jump when thunder seemed to crackle right over Riku's house, and found himself clinging to the older male.

"Still scared of storms, I see?" Riku teased, and on natural instinct let his arms wrap around the younger. He felt Sora shift, and when lightning struck once more, he could see the ocean blue orbs becoming glassy as tears threatened to make their appearance.

"S-Shut up... you're always teasing and making fun of me." Sora muttered, hiding his face in Riku's chest, only to hold on tighter when he heard thunder once more this time, louder and the beginnings of heavy rain.

"That's because you let yourself get teased," Moving his arm, Riku used his hand to tilt Sora's chin up so he was looking the teen in the eye.

"You don't have to be scared you know." Sora eyes widened and he felt his cheeks grow hot, he let his eyes slip shut when he felt the pad of Riku's thumb wipe away a stray tear.

"Because, I know you'll protect me." Feeling lips press to his, Sora relaxed against the older male and kissed back.

Riku could feel himself growing uncomfortable in the current position they were in, and moved so Sora was beneath him. The younger moaned softly and began to grow greedy for more, but decided to pull away due to lack of oxygen. Their eyes locked as realization struck both of them, and now knew they had crossed threshold of friends, no longer able to go back.

Sora blushed deeply and brought his hand up to touch his tingling lips.

"Riku... took my first kiss." It came kind of muffled, but Riku heard it. He could have died of a nosebleed and he would have been perfectly fine with it. Sora, you're too cute for your own good

"That's fine, because it was mine too." Riku mumbled as he looked away, pink dusting his cheeks as he talked.

"Really, that makes me happy." Sora beamed and he pulled Riku down to snuggle and closed his eyes, Riku rolled his eyes, he had no choice but to be stuck with Sora. Whether is was destiny or the many promises made and kept to this day, there was no escaping any dark storm hurled his way, but in the end he'd always look forward to the light breaking through and the calmness settling in afterwards.