Is this the first reference to an FF character in my fic? I think so. Anyway, this is chapter two. Hehe...direct reference to Kingdom Hearts in this one. It's obvious.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fanfic except the story itself. In fact, I barely own that.


Today was not going to be like yesterday.

Friday was a disaster. Kairi had work. Riku had to escape his dad's party. Mom had to work too. Dad always has work. Roxas is never home anyway. But today would be different. It was the weekend. No one had work. I woke up to the smell of fresh waffles. I went to the kitchen, and mom was making waffles. Dad and Roxas came down, and we ate, and then I did the dishes because I felt good about today.

Today, I won't be lonely! I thought. I'll go see Riku. Or Kairi. Or better yet, I'll tell them both to come over. Or go to the other island. We haven't been there all week. I'm getting bored.

As I was thinking all this, the doorbell rang. It was Riku.

"Yo." he said.

"Hey, Riku!" I said. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the island with me, but if you're too busy…" Riku was grinning in that way that meant he was provoking me.

"Of course I'm not too busy!" I said. "Lemme just--" I was going to say, "Get my sword", but my mom called to me and I finished, "…finish the dishes…"

"Well, I'll be waiting." Riku said, and he left. I finished the dishes fairly quickly and went out to the other island.

"Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you." I said as I ran across the bridge to where Riku was standing, on the little island.

"The door…has opened." Riku muttered.

"What?" I said.

"The door has opened, Sora!" Riku said. "Now…" he stopped, then smiled. "Y'know what? I'll wait until Kairi gets here."

He went up to the paopu tree, which had bent over so much it should have broken. He sat on it, and I hopped on too.

"Kairi wanted to see some soap opera." Riku told me.

"Oh." I said.

There was a long silence, in which Riku and me just looked out at the horizon. No point to it, just staring. Then Riku spoke.

"Sora…have you ever wondered why we're not allowed out at night?" Riku asked.

"Not really." I said.

"You haven't?"

"There are probably wild animals out there. That only comes out at night. That's what I always thought."

"But…what if there's something else? Something you can't kill with a normal weapon."

"I don't think so. That sounds too unlikely."

"Why?"

"What is there that needs a special weapon too be killed?"

"Your shadow."

"My shadow? What're you talking about?"

Riku just smiled his usual smile, and didn't say anything. "Riku…what are you talking about?" I said. Riku still didn't answer. So I gave up. Another long, long silence. Riku broke it again.

"We've all grown up, haven't we?"

"Well…"

I suppose we had. The years when we had been young and carefree were not long ago. Why, last year, we'd been young, and naïve, and happy. Of all of us, I'd say Kairi changed the most. Only last year, she was young, and peppy, and happy. A little too happy, at times. Now she was still those things, but not to the same extent. She was a young woman now. Maybe it was her hair. Almost since she came here, Kairi had short hair. Now she let it grow to shoulder-length. It made her look older. And Riku. Riku was becoming more and more of an enigma. He let his hair grow too, especially his bangs. Now, it's so dark under there, you can barely see his eyes. Just when he flips his hair, or when he does that thing that makes his eyes glint. Wakka also changed a bit. He's growing a beard now, and he's more muscular. And he became captain of the Besaid Aurochs. Go figure what Besaid and Aurochs are, but oh well, he's captain. And Tidus. Tidus isn't so bigheaded now. He's still bigheaded, of course, but I don't think he really is. He just acts that way because if he didn't, he'd feel insignificant, because of his dad. His dad, Jecht, was a star Blitzball player in his day. And he tends--no, likes--to put people down. And then there's Selphie. She was always romantic, active, and energetic, but now she was a lot deeper. And she was always flirting with Riku and picking on Tidus and Wakka and me, and when Kairi started getting depressed, she always keeps her happy. And then there's me. I…haven't changed all that much. I mean…I guess I'm braver.

"Hey, Sora." Riku said.

"Yeah?" I said. Riku pushed me from behind and I fell into the water. I could hear him laughing.

"Whatwasthatfor!?" I yelled up at him.

"I just thought you looked dehydrated." Riku laughed down to me.

"My mom told me to keep my clothes dry!"

"So dry 'em out before you go home!" Riku said. "It's hot enough for them to dry in an hour!"

I went back up, and, after a while, tried to push Riku down too, but I missed and nearly fell again. Then we were quiet. Finally, Riku spoke again.

"I can't wait to get out of here," he said.

I didn't answer. We already knew there was no way off the island. Not that we hadn't tried. When Kairi came here, I was the one who found her. There had been a meteor shadow the day before, and I went to take a look around. I found Kairi, and woke her up, and she went off to find out where she was. She went to City Hall, and found Mayor Pureheart's mom. She calmed Kairi down by telling her a story, and Kairi eventually fell asleep. Mayor Pureheart came home, and put together a ship of men. Wakka's dad, my dad, Tidus's dad, Selphie's dad, and a bunch of guys I hardly know all went to find Kairi's home. They packed for a month-long trip, there was a tearful farewell, and everyone left. They came back in less than an hour. Mayor Pureheart and his wife adopted Kairi. Our parents never told any of us this little story.

Then, last year, Riku, Kairi, and I had been building a raft. We were planning to look for Kairi's home. And the night we finished…there was a storm. The storm left devastation in its wake. The dock, the look out point, me and Riku's obstacle course, all the shacks…destroyed. And our raft. When Riku found out, he swam out to find the pieces. They were all in the water. He just stayed out there for a long time. He was very depressed for a very long time. He cheered up, evidently, but he never spoke of leaving again…until now.

"Riku…" I said.

"I know. There's no way off the island if we take a raft, or a boat, but…what if we took a ship?"

"Riku, I don't think--"

"Some sort of ship set to fly in outer space! We would be able to get anywhere, if we just knew how to build it. Right?"

I was quiet, and then, not to upset him, I said, "Right, Riku."

More silence. Then Riku spoke, yet again.

"Hey, Sora…remember that time you, me, and Kairi all went swimming completely naked?"

My face went red. "Yes." I said.

"Well…" Riku said. "What do you say we ask Kairi to do it again?"

Now I went into a fit. "What?!" I said. "Riku! That's totally…that's just…it's…inappropriate!" I said, unable to find the right words.

"Relax!" Riku said. "I was only joking! Jeez, Sora, you're so uptight!" he was laughing. I hadn't seen Riku this cheerful in a long time.

Eventually, Kairi showed up.

"C'mon guys!" Riku said. "I have something to show you!"

Kairi and I followed Riku to the Secret Place.

"Wow…" Kairi said. "This place is really small now. Remember when we were little, and we could fit in here without hunching?" she asked me.

"Yeah. Those were the good ol' days." I replied.

"Okay." Riku said. We were in the room with the door. "You guys remember how this door never opened?"

"Oh…" I said. So that's what he was talking about…I was kind of disappointed.

"Well…" Riku pushed the door. It didn't budge. "Sora, help me open it." I went over to the door and pushed. Still didn't open.

"C'mon!" Riku urged me, but the door would not budge. Then we were all quiet. Kairi spoke.

"Riku…is this a…joke?" Riku didn't say anything.

"Yeah!" he said suddenly. "A joke! I sure fooled you guys, didn't I?" Riku hadn't seemed like he was joking before. I started to laugh. Kairi laughed too.

"You really had us riled up there!" I said.

"You should've seen the look on your faces!" Riku said.

Eventually, we all went home. Just as I was getting ready for bed, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said.

"Is this Sora Wellgood?" came a voice on the other side.

"Yes." I replied. "Who is this?"

"This is Leon. You have work tonight. Don't go to sleep."