AN: Started this after I finished the game. Sora has sealed the World's and is now on his quest to find Riku (I haven't seen the secret movie you get when you beat it in expert mode, I'm still working on it ^-^). Hmm, slight yaoi if you want it, I made it where it can be taken either way. I'm thinking it will be two parts, but I'll just have to see the reviews ^-^
WARNINGS: Spoilers for end of the game.
Disclaimer: A warning placed at the beginning of (most) fics to exempt the author(ess) from liability should anyone take offense. Example: Though Sora and Riku are fun to play with, they do not belong to me.
Some OOC-ness, in my opinion... Sora acts more mature, but I tried to keep everyone as in character as possible ^-^ R&R and enjoy!


To Find A Friend
Into the Darkness

I promised to find you... I swore to find both of you... Back then, we made a promise to explore all the Worlds together... But then the Heartless came, and destroyed everything, including the Destiny Islands.

Destiny Islands... such an ironic name since I'm the one who was destined to wield the Keyblade... Keyblade... a weapon created to seal the Worlds from the Heartless, to serve as a final light against the darkness of hearts.

But you found a way to make another Key... one to seal people's hearts... I still can't believe you turned to the side of destruction, though I can't really say I was that surprised. You always struck me as the strong, indifferent type, even if you did seem to lean more towards the darker end of the spectrum personality wise...

Maybe that's why I admired you so much... You were never afraid to be true to your feelings... or was that just a façade to keep people away? The way you always acted superior than everyone else, was that just a cover? An attempt to protect your heart? But why? And from what?

Somehow, I think you knew what was going to happen... But if that were true, why didn't you tell me? Was I that naïve? To think our friendship held that much trust in it? If that's true, than I guess I'm a horrible judge of people. And if I believe that, I'm a horrible judge of myself...

* * * * *

Sora looked up at a knock on his door. "Yeah?" he called, dropping the Keyblade to lay beside him on the small cot from where he'd been twirling it above his head.

"We're about to land," came Goofy, opening the door and peeking his head in. "Gawrsh, are you okay Sora?"

'Surely I don't look that bad, do I?' he thought. "I'm fine, why?"

"You look like you have something on your mind."

Sora shrugged and sat up. "Just thinking..."

"Thinkin' about what?" asked Goofy in that cracking voice of his.

He looked away, idly turning the Oathkeeper Keyblade in his hand again. Ever since End of the World and his defeat of Ansem, he had taken to carrying it. Even if they happened to run into powerful Heartless, which he doubted, what with the Door sealed and all, the Oathkeeper Keychain held more than enough meaning for him to use it rather than the more powerful Oblivion.

"Just have faith Sora. We'll find King Mickey and Riku, and then we're sure to find a way to get you back to your island with Kairi," said Goofy confidently.

He looked back up and smiled. "Thanks Goofy..."

"Glad to help," he replied, giving one of his laughs before taking his leave.

Sora shook his head with a sigh before lying back down. 'I sure wish I could convince myself of that,' he thought.

It seemed like forever since he had sealed End of the World, but really it had been only a short time. The barriers between the Worlds were slowly being reformed, but it was still possible to travel between them. Even so, all his searching had found nothing.

They had re-traveled to almost all the Worlds, but to no avail. After a quick stop at Traverse Town, they were now landing at the next to final one, Hallow Bastion, where everything had come together in a cataclysmic and chaotic 'beginning of the end'.

There, the pieces had finally fallen into place for Sora, leading him to End of the World, and from there, back to Destiny Islands, where his so-called destiny was shoved in his face.

The ship shuddered, signaling their exit from hyperspace and pulling him out of his thoughts. He closed his eyes, lying back down with a sigh, trying to clear his mind before they searched this World.

When he finally did get up, he was in a daze. He didn't know why he was even still looking, but something kept pulling him on; much like what had made him continue forward when he got the Keyblade and wanted nothing more than to pawn it off on someone else and go back to his life as he knew it.

Before he realised it, he was walking through the large castle door and up to the large double sided staircase. Looking up, he found a figure standing at the top, back turned to him. The boy's silver hair swayed as he turned to smirk at him before disappearing down a hallway.

"Riku! Wait!" called Sora, chasing after him. He followed the older boy until they reached the room with that World's Keyhole. "Riku! What are you doing?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard by the aqua eyed boy, who was resting casually atop the Keyhole. One leg was drawn up with an arm slung across it, the other hanging idly, a familiar scene from his last visit to this World.

"Waiting for you," was the reply. "I guess even after all you went through, you're still no match for me," he added with a teasing smirk.

"Riku, quit fooling around; we still have to get back to our World before it's disconnected!" he called, ignoring Riku's last statement since it was just Riku being Riku, something he had missed in the past days... weeks, months? How long had it been since he had woken up in that alley in Traverse Town? It all seemed like so very long ago and yet, at the same time, he remembered it all like it was yesterday.

Getting the Keyblade, meeting Donald and Goofy and being dragged along on their search. Visiting all the different Worlds and seeing what, exactly, lay beyond the borders of his own World. The only thing that had been missing was that his friends hadn't been with him.

He was pulled out of his contemplation by Riku's next announcement. "I'm not going back..."

Sora looked up at him in surprise. "What...?"

"I said I'm not going back," he repeated, more slowly.

"What, you're going to stay here?!" he asked incredulously.

Riku shrugged. "This World still has a black aura in it, so why shouldn't I stay here?"

"In the darkness?!"

"Why not?"

He was silent for a moment. Did Riku mean he actually liked the darkness, even knowing what it did to people? But... "It's too cold," he said quietly. "And... it carries nothing but sorrow and lost dreams..."

"So what is wrong with me staying here?"

"Because it doesn't suit you!" he all but screamed. "Not the Riku I grew up with and remember anyway..."

"A lot has happened to the Riku you remember... This is me now, and the dark suits me just fine..."

"I won't believe that."

"It's not for you to believe. I'm the one who's decided it and I'm sure we can both live with it if you leave and just forget about me," he replied matter-of-factly. The Keyblade seemed to find its own way into Sora's hands and he reflexively brought it up to bear. "Don't tell me you want to fight me over this?" he asked incredulously, giving a small laugh.

Sora shook his head, confused as to why he was suddenly holding the Keyblade, but he wasn't given a chance to explain before Riku was in front of him, his own Keyblade in his hands and raised for battle. His Keyblade seemed to pull him forward against his will, as if it meant to destroy Riku like it would a Heartless.

Riku raised his own weapon to block and Sora's hands changed direction to cut under the parry. He blinked as Riku seemed to shimmer as his blade passed through him. Then everything faded to black and they were falling. He reached out his hand, trying to grab a hold of Riku. "Riku!!" he called, determined not to lose his friend again, not after all they had gone through to get there.

"Sora!" Riku called back, arm outstretched towards his. "Sora!"

"Sora?! Sora!"

Sora opened his eyes and sat up abruptly, clutching at his head as the suddenly bright lights hit his eyes and sent a pain straight to the back of his head. "Wha-?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

"About time you woke up," said Donald, who crossed his arms and gave his best glare at Sora, which quite frankly wasn't intimidating in the least.

"Heh... sorry, guess I dozed off," replied Sora sheepishly.

"Well, now that you're awake, we need to go see if your friend is here."

Sora nodded, picking up the Keyblade to follow the shorter duck out of the ship. He immediately took off for the stairs, expecting to find Riku there just like in his dream. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy. There was no sign anywhere that anyone had been there since they had sealed the Keyhole.

He sighed in disappointment as they boarded the ship a while later.

"Only one more World," Donald said, preparing for liftoff.

"Gawrsh, they've just got to be there," replied Goofy.

Sora sat behind them in silence for the short trip to End of the World. He was debating on whether or not to just give up, like he had done so many times before. Even if they did find Riku, what did his dream mean? That he was going to kill his friend? He would rather never see Riku again than have that happen.

Quite a few times he had almost reached out to turn the hyper-drive off, but could never bring himself to do it.

"Come on Sora, we're here. Quit zoning out," called Donald, tapping a foot impatiently with his arms crossed.

Sora jerked his head up in surprise, quickly grabbing his Keyblade and putting his other hand behind his head with a sheepish grin. He sighed quietly when the duck turned and headed out of the ship, following behind. He warped into the Final Rest area, which is where he had agreed to search. They had decided to split the search since it would be the final one.

He went to the door and ran a hand over it. The first and last time he had passed through, it had lead to his destiny. Maybe if he opened it now, it would lead to his new one. It couldn't hurt to try...

He glanced around for Donald and Goofy, finding them nowhere in sight, which was what he had been hoping for. He preferred to face his next trial alone. With a deep breath, he pushed open the door and immediately fell into darkness.

When he awoke, it was so dark he had to blink to make sure his eyes were really open. He sat up, shaking his head as he then tried to stand. After a few tries, he finally got his equilibrium back and he found he was standing on a familiar path. He blinked, looking around, fully expecting to see a huge, white door with stain-glass windows at the top. All he found was darkness.

Slinging the Keyblade behind his neck, he began walking, looking for any sign of his friend.