2 – Along the Moonlit Bay

Sora looked over at Riku sitting next to him out of the corner of his eye. The older boy was looking out over the water, glittering like the stars in the sky above them. He sighed as he looked up. The battle was finally over. He wasn't really sure where they were, or what would happen now. All he knew was that he was finally with Riku again; after not knowing what had happened to him for all that time, they were reunited. That was enough for now. He snuck another glance at him before he too looked out at sea.

"Hey, Riku," he said quietly. It seemed like just opening his mouth was enough to shatter the silence around them.

"Hmm?" Riku raised an eyebrow and shifted his position to face Sora.

"Do you – Do you think that we'll ever see Kairi again?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if we'll ever see the islands again."

Sora felt like saying to him not to think that way, that of course they'd get back, somehow, but he wasn't even sure himself right now. All of it seemed so far away, all the stuff about Heartless, Nobodies, and Kingdom Hearts, had all happened a long long time ago. He lay back, resting on his hands folded behind his head. He wasn't sure how long they'd been sitting there, it seemed like a long while, hours, but at the same time, it could have been five minutes. Time didn't seem to matter here. He slowly closed his eyes. The sound of the ocean that lapped at his feet echoed in his ears. It was almost as if he was back home lying on the beach on the island. But it was different. The waves had a sound of emptiness to them that never came from the ones at home. He knew if he opened his eyes it would be dark all around him.

"... Riku?" Sora half-whispered.

"What, Sora?"

"Ah... uh... nothing. Never mind," he didn't actually mean to say anything, it just sort of slipped out. He wasn't really sure what he would say to him anyway. The two of them sat there, in almost complete silence for what seemed like a long while.

Riku looked over at Sora, lying on his back. He looked like he was asleep. He thought about all the things that he'd gone through, most of it without him. He wondered if Sora ever thought about him during that time, or was he only thinking about a way to get back to Kairi? There were a lot of things that he wanted to ask him about the time when they were separated. He figured that there would always be a lot of things about Sora that he wouldn't ever know. Sora slowly opened his eyes, and Riku quickly looked back to the water.

"You know, Riku," Sora spoke softly, this place seemed to make people do so. "I was thinking, and all this stuff about 'light' and 'darkness' doesn't really make sense. I mean, since both of them have to exist... hmm... I dunno." he sat up. "Do you think we're stuck here now? Is there anyway to get back?" He looked up at Riku.

em As if I have the answers /em , Riku thought to himself.

"I don't know. For once I'm as clueless as you," he laughed. Sora smiled up at him. em If we have to stay here, if it's with you, I wouldn't mind. /em Riku smiled back. It seemed like the bond between them had grown stronger in their time apart. em If there has to be light and darkness in the world... Then, we'll be the darkness. /em

"Do you think... we'll miss home?" Sora asked.

"Mmm, probably after a while. We might – what's that?" Riku pointed to something floating in the water, drifting towards them. As it got closer, they saw it was a bottle with something inside. Sora picked it out of the water and popped it open.

"It's a letter!" he exclaimed as he unrolled the paper that was inside. Riku looked over Sora's shoulder as they both started reading. Neither of them noticed the small point of light that began to appear in the distance.