Inevitable Disillusion

Co-written by The Carpet Shampoo and The Ambitious Blank

Disclaimer- Kingdom Hearts isn't ours, it shall never be ours, and if it was.. well.. umm.. we won't go there. ^_~

Comments- Finally, a co-write by us! :D Hurray!

The Ambitious Blank here! Just for your information, "The Carpet Shampoo", the one who is hosting this fic, is formerly known as "PixieWhitefeather". ^_^ And of course, you all know me, right? Right?? x.x Um, so anyway. The Carpet Shampoo expressed the desire to write angst with a plot.. she had a beautiful idea for a story, and so I, The Ambitious Blank, commented on how we had been planning to co-write something for a while.. and since my specialty is angst, we decided to co-write a Kingdom Hearts.

Plot is slight AU-ish. It takes place at the end of what we would assume is KH2, where Sora is just finishing up his search for Riku, and has searched throughout the worlds. He can still move between the worlds, but they're starting to drift too far apart, so he can't look much longer. He's been searching for 2 years, has found King Mickey, but no sign of Riku. And now.. he's reached Hollow Bastion, the last place to search before he's forced to return home...

~*~

"When we get back to our island, do you think things will ever be the same between us?"

Sora pushed open the ornate wooden doors leading into the hallway of Hollow Bastion.

"Leon?" He called out, hesitantly, putting one foot inside the door, the silence from inside making him nervous. A door to his left opened, and Leon poked his head out, in an almost comical manner, had Leon been the type to really be funny.

"O-oh.. Sora. It's just you.. I thought you were Rin-- er, nevermind." Leon pulled his head back inside, leaving Sora quite puzzled. Leon never stuttered, did he? Ah, well. The man emerged a few seconds later, smoothing down his hair and pulling on his jacket. If Sora didn't know any better, he'd say Leon was downright nervous, or perhaps hiding something.

"Ahem.. so, any news?" The man asked casually, his hand reaching up in its trademark way to smooth down his hair. Sora gave a snort of mock indignation.

"What, no 'Hello, Sora!'? No 'How are you?'? No 'I love you and miss you!'?"

The door opened again, knocking into Leon, and this time, Cloud poked his head out, his eyes narrowed as if he'd heard something that had upset him in some way. The arm that had snaked around the door when Cloud opened it was quite clearly bare and as Cloud leaned out more, Sora could see that he was not wearing a shirt either. He looked odd, to Sora's point of view. Slightly angry, a little flustered. He looked down and saw Sora there and his shoulders relaxed. It was obvious to anyone he was in a state of half-undress, and he looked mildly surprised at seeing Sora there.

"What..?" He asked, staring directly at Sora, who could only blink in cute confusion, his expression oddly innocent. Leon's eyes widened faintly at the sight of the blond behind him, and he turned around, shoving the blonde back into the room, growling through gritted teeth. He gave Cloud one of his famous death glares as he pushed him back out of Sora's view.

"Cloud, go and take your shower…" He muttered, closing the door.

"Make sure to scrub behind your ears!" Sora called, grinning as he waved after him. Leon turned his gaze on the boy, shifting his weight slightly to lean against the door, his leather-gloved hand running through his brown hair, smoothing it down some more.

"Again, any news of your friend? Riku, was it...?" He asked. Sora shook his head, his hair swinging back against his face. His face remained as cheerful as ever, that famous Sora smile that had even made Leon's ice heart melt a little was plastered unwaveringly to his face. But something deeper, an emotion lost, was visible behind blue eyes. Inside, it hurt that he hadn't found Riku yet, more than it hurt when he couldn't find Kairi.

"Nothing. And we searched everywhere." He answered, dejectedly. Leon frowned a little.

"What about King Mickey?" He questioned. Sora sighed.

"We found him. But…he didn't know where Riku was. He said… he said Riku must have stayed back for some reason. I really don't know what's going on. It seems like I've searched every single world there is! There's no sign of him anywhere. I'm running out of places to look." The boy said, his shoulders slumping a little. Leon sighed, hesitating for a moment, as if there was something he didn't particularly want to say. Sora blinked. He could tell that something was bothering the older man.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Sora asked hesitantly. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to know.

"...You're not only running out of places to look, you're running out of time." Leon said, slowly. Sora blinked again. That made no sense.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean... the worlds are drifting too far apart for you to search anymore. You've been fine traveling thus far, because you've traveled from closest world to the next closest world. But the world's are drifting apart still Sora…" The man said, keeping his gaze away from Sora's. He couldn't bear to see the look on Sora's face "...The closest world to here is probably yours, Sora. But even it is drifting away Sora. But my guess is you only have about two hours before it'll be too far away for you to travel to. If you don't leave soon, you'll be stranded here."

"Wh-what?!" Sora didn't want to believe it. His search was over, and he hadn't even found a single clue yet. It just wasn't fair! But what was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he had the ability to push the worlds back together. The wielder of the Keyblade was capable of a lot of things.. but manipulating the worlds wasn't anywhere on the list. Sora could only stare, open-mouthed, at Leon.

"You have to be kidding me. Please say you're just kidding." He begged. "Or that you have some news of Riku."

Leon shook his head, his eyes still downcast.

"I'm sorry. I don't have anything." He said, holding out his hands in front of him. Sora sighed.

Leon wasn't one to be funny, after all.

"We'll help you get ready to go." The gunbladist said, nodding to him. Sora's shoulders slumped even lower. He didn't want to be stuck here, in Hollow Bastion.. he needed to go back to the island. Go back to his parents. Go back to Kairi. After all, a promise was a promise, right?

Sora leaned back against a pillar, putting a hand to his forehead. He fought the few tears that threatened him. His head behind to throb dully, though Sora tried to shake off the pain. This was all just too much. He couldn't stop looking for Riku... but what choice did he have now that the worlds were almost completely separated again? What could he do to change something like that?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and Leon stood there, his eyes showing an extremely vague worry.

"Hey. Don't worry too much about it... you're starting to look like me." He said, the very beginnings of a smile quirking at the corner of his lips. Sora managed a weak grin. He must look really pathetic if Leon attempted to make a joke to cheer him up.

"Heh.. right."

~*~

"This friend of yours.. Riku. He can think for himself, I'm sure... so maybe he's just waiting for you on your island or something." Leon said as they headed towards Sora's gummi ship. Leon knew this was a highly improbably situation, but he couldn't help it…Sora looked so down, Leon would say anything to cheer him up at this point. Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith had tagged along behind. Well, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith had tagged along, while Cloud seemed to be purposefully keeping his distance from Leon, though he was heading in the general direction they were.

"I dunno.. I really don't know how he could have gotten out of Kingdom Hearts." Sora said, frowning. The idea that Riku was already waiting for him toyed with him, trying to get his hopes up. But Sora knew within himself, somewhere, that Riku wouldn't be coming back. He'd searched almost every world as thoroughly as he could, and there had been absolutely no trace of anything. His heart ached within his chest, a feeling of failure beginning to enter him. But, there was still Kairi, always waiting for him, he knew that much.

Kairi.

His heart lifted a significant bit. Maybe because Kairi was there, things could go almost back to normal. Even without Riku there. Maybe there was still some hope left for happiness. Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus would be there, goofing off as usual. The beach would still be the same. The Paopu tree, in all it's desolate crookedness, would still be hanging over the water. It wouldn't have Riku, but things would be all right. Sora would never have to fight the Heartless and he and Kairi could run around and have adventures, just like before. Like none of this ever happened.

Yeah, maybe things could be the same after all!

Sora turned as the Gummi Ship's doors closed, grinning back at Leon.

"Hey, don't worry. If I see Rinoa on my way back, I'll make sure to distract her so you and Cloud can have some 'alone time'." He said, giving the now completely dumbfounded man a thumbs up. Even Cloud jerked in surprise, staring at Sora with wide, ice-blue eyes. Sora smirked as the doors closed on him and the ship flew away.

Cloud came up to stand beside Leon, slipping an arm around the other's waist. Leon sighed, shaking his head.

"..I hate kids." He muttered.

~*~

Sora kicked off his shoes and his bare feet sink into the familiar sand on the beach. He stretched, inhaling the fresh, salty air. It felt good to be home again, even without the company he would have liked to have had with him.

Riku..

"SORAAAA!!" The cry scared away a few seagulls that had been pecking around near him, as a flash of red hair was all Sora saw before he was knocked to the ground, a familiar face smiling down upon him.

"Gah.. gimme a break, Kairi.." Sora complained, struggling to sit up as she clung to him.

"Sora, oh my god.. it's so good to have you back!" She said excitedly, practically exploding with joy. Sora smiled.

"Good to be back." He said, grinning. "But.. I.." He hesitated, thinking about Riku. How was he supposed to break the news to the poor girl? Riku had meant so much to both of them. To tell her that Riku was nowhere to be found was hard.. almost too hard.

"..what? What's wrong, Sora..?" Kairi immediately grew concerned, peering closely at his face. Sora turned away. He couldn't bear to tell her this so soon after getting back. He could feel a familiar pricking at his eyes. With Riku not here, things couldn't be the same. Things would always be different, now. Sora's hopes crashed to the floor, shattering like glass.

"It.. it's Riku, I couldn't find.. I couldn't find him, Kairi.. I'm so sorry.." Sora choked out, feeling a warm tear escaping involuntarily from his eye, dripping into the sand. Kairi opened her mouth to say something, but a painfully familiar voice from the shadows interrupted her.

"..jeez, Sora.. stop being such a crybaby."

Reviews are appreciated, as always. ^_~

~*~To Be Continued..