I do not own anything nor do I make any money from this story. All rights apply.

Set after Kingdom Hearts II and after Final Fantasy XII; possibly AU as I've ignored some things or twisted them for my purpose. Hmm… game mechanics are not really welcome in my stories – potions and spells are for the game. However, the keyblades posed a bit of a problem for so they are as they are. FFXII RW has been ignored as I haven't played it.

FRIENDS OF MY HEART

The frantic shaking was what woke Sora, not the window opening and someone struggling to get in and across the floor to his bed. He woke with a fright but relaxed when he saw it was Riku that shook him. However, the panic returned when he saw the pain in Riku's eyes.

"Sora…" he whispered harshly. "I'm…"

"What? What's wrong?" demanded Sora sitting up and reaching for his trembling friend.

"I… lost…"

Riku suddenly went limp and collapsed, Sora tried to catch him but his hand passed through Riku as he disappeared like sand in the wind.

"Riku!" yelled Sora.

ONE

Sora woke and looked around, heart beating in his chest. The sun shone brightly through his window and his mother was calling from downstairs. It had been a dream but it felt so real; he could almost feel the sand between his fingers. There was sand between his fingers! He jumped up and searched for sand next to his bed but there was nothing. Throwing on his clothes from yesterday he ran downstairs and passed his bewildered mother claiming he wasn't hungry and was late. He paused briefly as the front door closed behind him wondering where Riku would be; he refused to belief that he had disappeared. Seeing as it was still morning he headed off to the little isle across the bridge where he knew Riku would normally be as he trained there every morning. Hopefully he would still be there as late as it was.

He ran at full speed the entire way and arrived completely out of breath to see Riku and Tidus laughing over something, wooden swords in hand. The both stopped when they saw him in the panicked state.

"You're here," Sora wheezed as the made his way over to them.

"What are you talking about, you goofball?" asked Riku. "I'm always here at this time of day."

"You should be training as well," pointed out Tidus.

Sora nodded absentmindedly and sat himself on the ground.

"Are you okay?" asked Riku wondering at this friend's strange behaviour.

"Yeah, I guess," muttered Sora looking at his hand.

"I going to meet up with Wakka for a swim," said Tidus. "See you around."

Riku crouched down in front of Sora once Tidus was out of earshot.

"Is this something to do with, you know, keyblade stuff?" he asked.

"I don't know, I-" he stopped; staring at Riku's upper arm and the hand shaped bruise from where he had tried to grab Riku last night. "Where did you get that?"

Riku looked where Sora was pointing.

"Hmmm," he thought. "Don't know, Tidus must have done it while we were training."

Saying nothing Sora placed his hand on the mark.

"Sora?" There was a hint of apprehension in Riku's voice.

"I had a dream last night…"