Dust

"HACKHACKCHOKE!"

"Geez Sora, don't cough up a lung…"

Sora looked up for a few moments to register what exactly he was looking at. At first all he saw was white light, and then his eyes corrected themselves.

"Riku…? Where…"

RIKU! They weren't separated! They were still on the same ground! And speaking of ground, he was no longer slipping on the dark. Which was no longer…. Anywhere. Now there was sunlight everywhere. Sunlight and dust.

"Uhh Sora? You planning on standing up? It's a much better view from up here…"

Ignoring the sarcasm, Sora attempted, very slowly, to stand up weary that only a few moments ago, he could barely breathe. It seemed to work. Pushing his boundaries a little further, he tried walking. Good lord, it works! He must try this again sometime…

"Sora? You can move a little faster can't ya? I'm getting bored."

Oh shut up…

When Sora did finally reach Riku, he realized that Riku was not lying when he said there was a view. Of absolutely nothing. It was all just flat. They were standing on a cliff viewing miles of nothingness below them. Granted there was a rather large drop separating the flatness and them. but still, Sora expected a little more.

"Uhh Riku?"

"Oh thank the heavens he can still speak!"

Shut up.

"Where are we?"

The smile disappeared from Riku's face.

"You know that is actually a very good question. To which I do not have an answer. I was hoping after you were done reeking the benefits of suffocation, we would explore a little bit. Unless you have a reason why that is a bad idea."

"Well…"

"Fantastic! Now I was thinking, we should probably head towards that castle in the distance."

Castle in the distance?

"Castle in the distance? What castle in the distance?"

"….the big giant one waaaaaay over there…."

Sora focused on where Riku was pointing, across the valley and realized that there WAS a gigantic castle in the distance. And it was really really far away.

"Riku? That looks like it could take weeks…"

"Oh hush you. Unless you think there is a better direction to wander aimlessly in, I'd say that is a pretty safe bet."

While Sora tried to think of a witty comeback, he noticed that Riku was already walking towards a convenient path along the Cliffside that led down to the flatness. Apparently, this was not open to discussion.

After a bit of walking down to the flat desert area, a disturbing thought came to Sora.

"Riku? What…what happened to our island?"

Riku stopped dead in his tracks. Sora accidentally bumped into him.

"I…"

"And what about our friends? What happened to Tidus and Selphie and Wakka?"

"Sora, I don't…"

"And what about Kairi?"

Riku spun around on his heel.

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Sora stopped asking questions.

"I just…I just don't know Sora. I'm in the exact same position as you right now, okay? I don't have all or any answers. All I know is that we should head towards somewhere that looks like there are people. Maybe get some food and water, or even find out where we are. But we have to keep moving. I'm sure that the others are fine. They are all tough people, and I saw them more than once kick your butt in training. I even saw Selphie do it."

Sora smiled.

"And Kairi? She never kicked my butt."

"I know Kairi. She is a smart one. I'm positive she will be fine as well. Maybe she even ended up in the castle over there…"

Riku didn't get a chance to finish his thought. Sora was already running down the path and was on the flatland sprinting towards the castle.

"Bet I can beat you there Riku!"

Riku started to laugh. He took a position and started to run after him.

"If you couldn't beat me on the islands what makes you think you can beat me here?"

A/N damn it! this one turned out short too... okay chapter 3 will be longer. i promise.