Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Warning: From now on, there might be a few spoilers on Birth by sleep and Coded.

Note: Sorry for the bad grammar or vocabulary usage.

Well, enjoy!


Keyblade's will

Chapter II

The best birthday ever


It was meant to be done in the same place where once in a time, two became one. A heart that gave strength to another. A life that was about to end, came back to life by the hand of a stranger. A strength to connect two out of free will, now needs to save again that which requires of salvation.

Even thought, tears would be shed, bigger should be the price if it where to stay as it was.

Those that are doomed, still cry in solitude. And their cries hurt far more than those to come.

Because even in the strongest heart slept darkness. Because even the bravest warrior eventually will have to fall.


By the time they reached the beach of the Island, Sora was completely recovered and as eager as ever which, in turn, made Riku feel a little stupid for giving him a free ride. The boy was so ecstatic that he jumped to the small dock before Riku had pulled close enough to formally disembark.

"Sora! Watch it!" yelled the silver haired teen. His friend's silly jump made his boat almost crash against the dock's support.

"Oops… sorry," said the boy with an apologetic smile.

He was very anxious, jumping from foot to foot while waiting for the others to get off their boats.

"Come on guys! Hurry!" he whined.

"Hey! We need to make sure the knot well done, ok? We don't want to lose any boats today… especially, not the new ones!" the older teen was really starting to lose his patience. The fact that his friend seemed to be having an attack of anxiety was not enough to allow him to be demanding stuff.

"Oh, let him be Riku, this might be a side effect of his bad night," said Kairi with a smile. But something weird happened. Sora stopped jumping and for a moment he looked a little down at her words. But, fast enough to fool many –but of course, not to fast enough fool his two best friends- he covered it up and started running to the beach.

"Ok! I'll go ahead!" he called with a big smile.

Riku and Kairi looked at his disappearing form with silent confusion.

"Riku… you noticed that, didn't you?" she said almost in a whisper.

"Yeah. He's hiding something," he gave a final twist to the rope he was tying his boat with and stood up. "And apparently, it has to do with the excuse he gave us to let him come."

"You think he's lying?" she asked him with concern.

"Now, that's difficult to say… My head tells me that he had all the signals of a person that's telling the truth… yet, I have a feeling in my gut that tells me he's lying through his teeth," he said, but soon he noticed her worried expression and he knew he shouldn't have said it like that. "But you know? We could always force him to spit it out after this is over, right? After all, he wanted to come… whatever he might be hiding, he did it to come here, so let's allow him to have what he wants for now," he said with a reassuring voice. "He's probably got a cold or something like that and he just didn't want to ruin the king's surprise."

At the mention of the king, Kairi remembered the note that they had received from him a few days ago. A note where he asked Sora to go help those that where waiting for him. Sora had given his answer two days ago. Her dear friend -always rushing to help whoever needed from his saving- had said 'Yes' to the petition. But she couldn't help but being a little sad about it. He was leaving. He was going to go rescue this people that, supposedly, where expecting him… she wondered who they where, and also she wondered, why where they waiting for Sora? Why him? They had only been back for a few months, not even a year, and now he was going to leave.

Kairi sighed.

"Does this surprise have anything to do with the fact that he's leaving?" she asked, not making an effort to hide her disappointment, she knew that Riku felt the same about having to allow their friend to risk himself again.

"You could say that, but also about something else," the smile that he had as he said this was proof that he enjoyed that something else. "I bet the idiot had yet to notice. But I'm sure you do know. So Kairi, do you know why tomorrow is an especial day?"

Why tomorrow was an especial day? Of course she knew why it was an especial day! It was because it was Sora's…

She gasped and smiled at him brightly.

"A surprise birthday party?!" she said excitedly.

He nodded. "Tomorrow is Sora's sixteenth birthday. But because of this whole thing about a new mission and all, he is been so distracted that he must have forgotten it. I talked with the king and he said that we should make a party. On one hand it is a 'thanks for the help' party and on the other is an advanced birthday party. His mother agreed only if we allowed her to have him for herself tomorrow, so it had to be in advance. Sora still doesn't know it but there's people waiting to surprise him on the other side of the Island."

"Wow! Why didn't anyone tell me about it? I could have helped!" she protested.

"Because, my dear princess, you would have told him all about it when he started to cry and whine like a baby. After all, you're no good to keep secrets from him," he answered with a smug expression, making his way to the door that connected both sides of the Island. "Now, we better hurry before he ruins the surprise. I've got to reach before him to warn the others that we've arrived."

Kairi laughed with much glee, she could already picture Sora's face. Riku was right; she wouldn't be able to keep a secret from Sora, not when it was something meant to make him so happy.

Both friends run to catch up with Sora before he got tired of waiting for them.

"Hey guys! Good! I was getting tired of waiting for you!" apparently they got just in time. "Come on! Let's go!"

The two friends smiled at each other as the brunette opened the door to the passage. They followed him silently as he mused to himself, out loud, obviously.

"Wonder what the king wanted," he said with curiosity. "He seemed to be enthusiastic about something… what could it be?"

Riku had to bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. Sora was a total sap, no matter how old he got or how tall he grows; Sora was and would always be a total sap. But that was also a part of his friend that he really liked. Sora could really get surprised by this kind of stuff. Riku? Well, he would have probably connected all the points and draw a fairly clear picture in his head, thus ruining the emotion of it. But Sora? No, he was completely oblivious, thus making this so very amusing. With a smirk Riku took on running ahead of his wondering friend. Sora didn't know very well what was happening for it was very dark and his eyes weren't as used as Riku's to the darkness.

"Hey! What's the hurry!" grumbled the younger boy for he felt as if he were to be loosing in a competition he hadn't agreed on.

"Just keep walking Sora, Riku just went ahead to bother you," she encourage him knowing that Riku had to reach the other side first.


When they finally reached the end of the passage and saw the little light seeping into the dark corridor from the door's threshold, Sora heard his friend chuckling at him. The boy pouted.

"No fair! Why did you run?"

"Well, I was under the impression that you wanted us to hurry, didn't you?"

"Yeah but-"

"No buts, besides we're here, right?"

Sora's frown turned into a curious gaze as he reached for the door's handle. But before he could reach it, Riku stopped his hand.

"I'll do it," he said as he gave a knock on the door before opening it fast and with a smooth movement, he pushed the distracted teen towards the light.

For a moment, the light blinded his eyes, but he opened them a little when he heard…

"SURPRISE!"

"Ah?"

He tried to distinguish the voices that he heard, voices he had known for long; the voices of the people he held dear in his heart. He heard some claps and wished to open his eyes completely, but before he could recover all his visual capacities he felt himself being crashed by to big weights.

"SORA!" yelled the two creatures as they hugged him on the ground.

"Donald? Goofy?" he said with surprise as his eyes closed tightly for he was now facing the light of the orangey sky, making them sting a little.

"SORA! We've missed you!" exclaimed the duck.

"Ahyuk! Yeah we've missed you!" agreed the big captain of the royal army as he snuggled his face against Sora's in a caring way (like he did in the end of their last journey)

"Ahaha, guys, I'm so glad to see you!" exclaimed the boy returning the hugs with as much, or even more, enthusiasm as his friends.

"Ok, you two, off of Sora. Now that he can finally see he should greet everyone properly."

"Everyone…?" Sora sat up almost immediately only to stare dumbfounded at the many people waving at him. He saw the king, queen Minnie, Daisy, Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, Aerith and Tifa looking at him with smiles that ranged from happiness to amusement at the development of the scene.

Riku and Kairi could feel a warm feeling spreading within their hearts as the silly expression in Sora's face morphed into one of complete an utter joy. The boy was overflowing with happiness, so much that he was infecting everyone.

"GUYS! What are you doing here?!" he asked, almost hyperventilating from the excitement. He wanted to have a group hug so bad! Yet he doubted that Cloud, Leon or Tifa would be up to it. Fortunately for him, Yuffie and the others wanted to do the same so, soon, those of the group that weren't too serious to join where already engaged in a group hug.

The king laughed as he was squashed by Goofy as they hugged Sora, who was unable to stop laughing.

"Well, Sora. I brought them here. We thought that, since we were going to have a new adventure together, we could throw a party for everyone to enjoy themselves," explained the king as they finally retreated from the hug.

"And also, this is a party in advance for tomorrow's especial day," added queen Minnie.

Sora looked lost for a minute. "Tomorrow…?"

Riku took him in head lock and smirking at his confused expression he said. "Come on Sora, you couldn't have possibly forgotten the day you were born could you?"

"Uh?"

"Sora, Tomorrow is you're birthday," explained Kairi. "so…"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN ADVANCED SORA!" exclaimed everyone with big smiles, even Cloud and Leon (thought theirs were not 'big').

They waited for a second to receive some kind of reaction.

Sora simply stared at them, with surprise written in his face. Riku let him go and looked at him a little worried for his friend's sudden silence.

"Sora?" he asked. "You alri-"

But he went mute when he saw soft tears fall down his friend's cheeks.

"Sora?" asked Kairi concerned about this reaction. But soon let it go as the brunette's mouth curved into a little childish pout.

"A b-birthday party? (sob) for me?" and the teary eyes that looked at everyone could only be describe as cute. "Geez… t-this…. This is….(sob)" he rubbed his eyes cleaning them before facing them again with a smile. "Thanks guys!" and he just didn't care if anyone didn't want to, he simply threw himself at them and -in some mysterious and till this day unexplained way- he managed to give a hug to each one of them.

Riku and Kairi could only laugh as they heard a few comments from Cloud and Leon about how strong Sora was getting to actually be able to knock the breath out of them like that. Only a person so easy going and carefree as their friend would find such a delight in making the two older warriors uncomfortable.

The friends started to guide Sora to the beach of that side of the island (a.n.: you know, where they had build the raft in the first game) where they had prepared everything, leaving only Riku and the king to watch as they left.

"You were a little late," said the king towards his dear friend in a soft voice. They preferred to talk softly for they enjoyed the peace that spread between the two when silence was present.

"I know… a few things happened," explained the teen as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Something I should know?" Mickey turned to look at the boy with some concern for he noticed the slightly worried expression in his face.

"Nothing that important… we may be exaggerating… but Kairi and I think that maybe Sora is sick," he answered.

"Oh…" Mickey turned his glance towards the place where the boy had disappeared just a few seconds ago. "Is there a reason for you to believe that?"

Riku sighed. "When we where coming to meet you guys, he… he fainted…he simply collapsed. We thought he was playing a joke on us but… he was all pale like a ghost and so cold. He was shivering and no matter how much Kairi called him, he just didn't wake up." Mickey touched the boy's hand comforting him; he knew Riku was very upset.

"It's ok Riku," said the king. "Sora seems fine now."

Riku looked at him with a grateful smile. Mickey always knew how to cheer him up. All that time trapped in darkness with the wise king was enough to form an unbreakable bond between the two.

"He woke up just when I was going to get help. He said he wanted to come, and said that he had a bad night and blamed the shower temperature for his black out… a part of me believes him, but another tells me he's lying." He took a serious look in his eye. "Would you do me a favor, Mickey?"

"Riku, you know there's no need ask. I'll do anything to make this party enjoyable!" the boy smiled at his friend.

"I should have guessed that you'll say that," the silver haired teen kneeled to be at his friend's height. "Would you please keep and eye on him? I asked him to tell us if he felt sick or something, but knowing him, especially in a situation like this, I'm quite sure he wouldn't tell us. So if you could…"

"Don't say anymore. I won't let him escape my gaze. At the first sign of sickness I myself will make sure he is taken to the bed of the gummi ship and then back home!"

Riku smiled at him feeling more relieved now that he had another set of eyes watching the energetic teenager.

"Well, I'll trust you in that because, knowing him, he will put up a fight, especially when he notice the-"

"CAAAAAAAAAKEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" sounded a scream around the whole Island making the birds fly away from their homes in fear.

"Well, seems he found the sweets that Minnie brought," Mickey said smiling with amusement.

"CHOOOOOCOOOOOLAAAAATEEEEE CAAAAAAKEEEEE!"

"Oh, no," grumbled the silver haired teen. "If he was already excited… just imagine him on a sugar rush!"

The mouse laughed at the boy's frustrated expression. It would be a very entertaining evening.


They had decorated the area with lamps and chains of colorful paper. A big cloth hanging from two palm trees read "Happy B-day Sora" in messy handwriting (Yuffie's of course). There was a table under it, where a huge chocolate cake was laid in the middle of many different sweets and sandwiches. There was also a bowl of fruit juice, and for the elder ones, Leon had brought a bottle of wine from Radiant garden.

The happy mood spread around; at least, it did after everyone put a stop on Yuffie's and Sora's sweet rampage. Neither Riku nor Leon were up to having two sugar high teenagers. After giving each a limit, everything went back to normal.

The friends were talking, laughing, eating and sharing amongst themselves. As time passed by, the night started to fall silently and many mentioned the beauty of the world were the three friends lived in. The mixture of orange and purple in the sky was far more beautiful than in any other world that they new about. Only Twilight town's Twilight could rival the scene.

Cloud was leaning against a palm tree, looking at those gentle lights up above when he heard footsteps getting closer to him.

"At midnight is even more breath-taking. Sometimes you can even see a shooting star," said the young key bearer.

"I thought so," commented the blonde. He took a sip of his glass. He had to give it to Leon, he knew how to choose a good wine. He normally didn't like to drink alcohol or thinks like that, but this was too good to let it pass.

"So…" said the boy innocently.

"So?" answered the man as he took another sip.

"What's with you and Tifa and Aerith?"

The blond warrior almost choked at this. He had to take a huge breath to calm himself. He looked towards the two women and after making sure they weren't listening he relaxed.

"Is that reaction meant to mean it's not something good?" asked the boy, quite amused by his friend's reaction.

Cloud only glared at him, but after a few seconds he noticed that Sora hadn't said it with bad intentions, he was just been his innocent and meddling self.

"It's complicated," he offered.

"How so?"

The blond frowned. "Well… it's not like there's really something…"

"You sure?" asked the boy as he took a sip from his own glass (his was juice of course). "If I remember correctly, you seemed to be very 'gentle' with Aerith and Tifa seemed to be very happy when she found you," Sora noticed that Cloud's face was turning red. "Are you drunk?" he asked looking at the blonde's flushed cheeks.

"NO!" he screamed in anger making the boy flinch backwards.

"Okay, geez, relax!" the boy held both hands up in defense. There was a dangerous fire in Cloud's eyes.

After a few seconds Cloud decided to let it go, and went back to stargazing.

"But you know… at first I thought you and Aerith had something… for you seemed very lost till you saw her… but then, when Tifa came in, well, you seemed to be seeing the light after a good while… as if she was your light," he mumbled the last part and his face looked gently at peace. Cloud looked at him from the corner of his eye, curious as to why he suddenly seemed so mature about this kind of stuff. Then he turned to look at Tifa and noticed the young red haired girl that was speaking with her. The same girl that seemed to always smile at this boy and that seemed to make this boy smile with her presence. Cloud sighed in understanding.

"And I suppose you know about that, right?"

The boy turned to look at him with surprise. "What?"

"So…" said the warrior with a smug expression that made the boy feel a little edgy.

"So?"

"You and the princess of heart, ah?" he said giving Sora a soft nudge with his elbow. The teen became instantly red as he mumbled 'no comment'. Cloud had caught him, so better escape into silence.

Both stood there looking at the darkening sky. It was almost completely black. Cloud felt the boy at his side sigh deeply. For some reason, he felt it awkward for Sora to make such a noise.

"Only when it gets darker, the light shines brighter, doesn't it?" the question made Cloud turn to look at the brunette boy for a few moments. Sora was looking mesmerized at the stars that were twinkling with more strength now for it was almost completely black.

The blonde looked up and only answered with a "Un."

"I'm glad you're here Cloud," said the boy earning a suspicious look from his friend. The brunette chuckled at it. "I mean, after the whole Sephiroth thing I thought I may not get to see you again, but here you are," the boy looked at him in the eye. "You helped me so many times. You helped me keep my light close," at the mention of 'his light' Sora turned to look at his friends and caught them looking at him. He waved at them making them turn away as if faking they hadn't been looking at him in the first place. "You are also part of my light now," he gave the older warrior a fond smile. "I hope we can continue to be friends from now on," he extended a hand offering it to his startled companion.

Sora was never someone to talk so seriously, it had taken Cloud by surprise. But he felt the same about him. Sora had helped him recover his light and till some point, maybe, because now they were friends, Sora was also part of his light. With a small smile, he took his hand and shook it firmly.

"I look forward to that as well," he said with complete sincerity.

The two warriors shook hands till someone's yell interrupted their little friendly moment.

"IT'S LIMBO TIME!" screamed an enthusiastic ninja girl as she pulled a wooden stick out of nowhere.

"Where did you hide that?" asked a dumbfounded Riku.

"Ninja skills my friend, ninja skills," she turned to the other people that were still away and call. "COME ON PEOPLE, DON'T MAKE ME BRING YOU HERE MYSELF. IT'S LIMBO TIME!"

"Gosh! Limbo! I love Limbo!" everyone turned to see an excited Mickey.

"I haven't played Limbo since our last anniversary Mickey," said the queen with a bright smile.

"Oh, you'll do just fine my dear, we're gonna teach this fellas how it's done!"

"Not if he teach you first!" exclaimed the ninja.

"Come on Donald, we can't stay behind!"

"But Daisy… I'm not really fond of Limbo"

"Oh, come on Donald!"

"Yeah. Hear your lady and have some fun, old duck!"

"Who are you calling old you disrespectful ninja wannabe!"

"What did you call me?!"

Cloud looked at the scene with a baffled, Sora couldn't help but to laugh.

"Hey Sora, want to see who can do it better?" asked Kairi with a smile on her face and extending her hand to him.

"Of course! And let's force Riku to join!" he said jumping to take her hand and go with her.

"Oh, no, I'm not doing it!"

"Oh, yeah, you're going to do it Riku!"

"Why should I?" asked the teen as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because, this is in part my birthday party and it wouldn't be the same if my best friend didn't play with us!" he whined and gave him a taste of his most powerful weapon: his puppy dog eyes.

"OH, No! Not fair! Turn those away from me!!!" Riku started to run as Sora persecuted him.

Cloud sighed and found that Leon had taken refuge by his side.

"Will you run away from this battle?" asked the gunman.

The blonde looked to be thinking it, but soon enough he noticed Tifa waving at him.

"I'm afraid this is battle you can't run away from," he said with a sigh.

Leon saw Yuffie coming their way and sighed as well.

"Yeah, no matter where you go, they will find you… better go and get it over with."

The two men took what was left of wine in their glasses with a single gulp and walked decidedly towards the challenge that waited them ahead… a fatal game of limbo.


They played for almost five hours.

The king and queen demonstrated awfully great abilities in Limbo, but -and surprising everyone- Cloud ended up in first place. He said it was due to his military training, but, you should have seen him. Boy! He could really get low!

After that, they played charades. They divided in teams according to their worlds. And it wasn't really difficult to guess that Destiny Island's group just sucked. Sora was completely useless when it came to guessing and Riku just simply couldn't manage to make anything understandable. The only reason as to why they didn't end up in the last place was because Radiant garden's group was even more helpless than theirs. At least Kairi gave Sora's team a few points, but no one could save any point for Leon's group. Tifa and Aerith couldn't understand anything that Cloud, Leon or Yuffie tried to represent, so they were doomed. Disney's, of course, won the first place for they even had their own code for this stuff. Daisy explained to them that this was a very common way to pass the time in their castle, which in turn made everyone think about how much free time this people really had.

Then they went for a few sparring matches. This part made Riku, Leon and Cloud happy. They were tired of child games, but as soon as they were forbidden to use especial abilities and real weapons they began to whine childishly. Sora had no problem with this, for he was enjoying himself dearly. Kairi could see the shine in his eyes and soon challenged him to simple struggle match.

Later on, came a little magic display by Donald. Some fireworks and mystical illusions. Sora wanted to participate and with the help of Donal and Goofy he used his drive to show everyone a few amazing tricks with his keyblades.

In sum, they had an amazing night.


It was already eleven o'clock. By then, the table, decorations and remaining food had already been packed inside the gummi ship, but they just couldn't leave. The friends had decided that they could stay the night in the Island, after all it had a really good weather and the rising tide still left them a pretty good portion of the beach where they could just relax and watch the stars. They were very tired, but they were happy and satisfied. Especially since Sora officially declared: "This had been the best birthday ever!" even thought it wasn't really his birthday yet.

Now they could relax and smile as their mission in this visit had been completed.

Leon and his group were mesmerized by the beauty of the sky of this world and listened with all their attention to the explanation Riku gave about the different constellations and stars that he knew about. The teen seemed to have a story for almost every star in the sky.

Leon smiled as he noticed that Yuffie and Aerith had fallen asleep against the bark of a palm tree. Tifa was hearing the stories but was slowly dozing off by Aerith's side.

They had come in the King's gummi ship which was big enough to carry them all since Cid had modified it. Therefore, as long as the king wished to stay in the Island, they had no rush to leave. Besides, everyone deserved a vacation.

"And what is that one called?" asked Mickey softly as his queen slept peacefully against his shoulder.

"That's the Blitz minor," Riku said with a nostalgic smile. "We used to call it Avex and actually, that's the official name. But since our friends Wakka and Tidus won their first Blitzball championship we kind of decided to rename it in their honor."

"Haha, to rename a star in name of a game, what a funny idea," laughed the king.

"Well, it wasn't my idea, actually it was Sora's. Right, Sora?" he turned to his friend only to find him leaning against a palm tree and while Kairi –surprisingly-had her head on his lap, both of them deeply asleep. He could only smile. "Already sleep. I was hoping to give him his birthday punch at midnight, but as always he tries to avoid it," he chuckled softly at the peaceful faces of the two sleeping teens.

"Well, it seems it was too much excitement for one day, don't you think so, your Majesty?" asked the court magician with half lidded eyes.

"It seems so. Better to leave them drift into slumber. And within dreams, may their wishes come true and their beautiful experiences enhanced as they travel through a world where they won't receive any harm…" as he recited his words, his loyal companions allowed themselves to be taken away by Morpheus gentle hands. Even Leon and Cloud allowed themselves to follow.

"That sounds nice," commented Riku. "Was it a spell or something?" he asked with a curiosity.

"Haha, only a little something that elder's at my home recite to the tired but stubborn children so they will fall asleep," answered the mouse with a fond smile at his dearest friend.

Riku turned to look at his two sleeping companions. How he cared for this two. Gently he removed some bangs of red hair from Kairi's face and then petted Sora's head softly.

"It seems I worried too much for nothing," he said letting a deep yawn escape him.

"I'm sure Sora appreciates your concern, but as you've seen, he was quite well. Not even once did he seem weak or sick."

"Yeah, you're right," he rubbed his eyes slightly and stretched his arms before using them as pillow for his head. "Good night, Mickey."

"Good night, Riku. May you have good dreams," said the king as he lost himself in the sight of the three most shining stars in the sky and falling asleep.

With nothing more to worry about and feeling completely covered by the presence of everyone around him, Riku allowed his body and mind to be lost in slumber.

The wind blew softly singing lullabies in their ears, and all was surrounded by peace, complete and utter peace. But what they all were oblivious of was that not everyone was asleep. With his eyes closed and relaxing as much as he could, he just enjoyed of this simple calm waiting for the night to advance.


It was almost morning, the soft cold of the dawn made her snuggle in the blanket that covered her body. Some unconscious part of her mind made her wonder if she had a blanket before falling asleep. But before she could wonder anymore, she felt a strong pull in her chest. It was cold and painful; she shivered and soon noticed that it was something in her heart, someone calling her. She wanted to try to listen to the words that were being whispered, but it became so overwhelmingly painful that she felt herself lose the little consciousness that she had. The last thing that went through her mind was the thought that Sora wasn't by her side as he was before falling asleep, and then only darkness surrounded her.


"Kairi?"

She felt someone calling her.

"Kairi," it was there again. "Kairi wake up!" that voice was whining again. "Come on, you've gotta see this, is a one-time-in-a-life thing!" exclaimed the voice of girl.

Kairi slowly opened her eyes and saw the blurry image of her ninja friend. Yawning she rubbed her eyes to see better and noticed the overjoyed expression of her dear friend. "Yuffie? What's happening?"

"Shhh! Don't speak aloud or you'll ruin it!" the girl told Kairi to look at the other side, to the palm trees, to the place where Leon and Cloud had fallen asleep. "Check that out," she said barely containing her laugher inside. Apparently, Cloud and Leon had slept too close from each other. Kairi had to bit her tongue to keep from laughing. Leon was sprawled on the floor with one hand on Cloud's hair as the other warrior was holding him as if he was his personal teddy bear.

"Mommy…" mumbled the blonde as he snuggled against the other.

"(snore) …it's Leon…(snore)"

That did it. The girls burst out laughing as hard as they could, which in turn woke the two men up.

"What?" both asked before noticing their compromising position. It took only the blink of an eye for them to put as much distance as they could from each other. The girls kept laughing. This woke up the rest of the group, who where completely oblivious of the scene that just went through.

"Kai, why is this about?" asked the drowsy Riku.

"Oh, don't worry Riku, I've got it all in my camera!" exclaimed the ninja but soon she was buried underneath the two angry and very embarrassed warriors as they fought to take the camera from her hand.

"Where did she hide it?" asked the confused teenager.

"Ninja skills, Riku! Ninja skills!" yelled the young girl escaping from Leon's grasp.

The group sweat dropped. What a way to wake up!

But then a comment broke between their complaints.

"Where we wearing this blankets before going to sleep?" asked the queen as she looked at the one that covered her and the king.

"Now that you mention it…" Daisy noticed that one was over her and Donald. Everyone had a Blanket on. Even Leon and Cloud had one, but they lost it when they rolled into their weird position before waking up.

"This… this are the blankets we keep in storage on the other side of the island, right Kairi?" he asked her as he inspected it. She did the same.

"Yes. This one's mine. It has my initial," she answered. Riku agreed with her. The others followed their example and noticed that some of their's also had a letter.

"These are part of the emergency kit … but why?" asked Riku in confusion.

"It must have been Sora… he's the only one that could have done it," said Kairi while looking around. "Speaking of Sora, where is he?" she asked as suddenly the anxiety from her dream came back to her.

"Now that you mention it… I was hoping to wake him up and give him the official birthday punch but he's not here." She rolled her eyes at his comment; this was an every year thing.

"That's weird, he normally wakes up late," she said looking around. "It's been an hour since the dawn at most; the sun is not even completely out yet,"

Both friends started to get worried as they got up and cleaned their clothes from the sand.

"Now, now. No need to get nervous. Maybe the cold of the morning made Sora stir up and he went to get a blanket. On the way, he might have thought about bringing some for us as well," reasoned Mickey. "He probably was so excited of today being his birthday that he couldn't go back to sleep so went to take a walk."

Everyone seemed satisfied with that, everyone except Kairi for she was feeling a weird uneasiness in her chest.

"Well, whatever it is, let's get clean and go look for him," said Riku. "There's access to clean water close by, so if the girls could follow Kairi, they can get cleaned. Then I'll take the guys, is that fine?" everyone agreed, and so they did it.


"Geez! Next time I should remember how much I hate to sleep with my daily clothes on!" complained Yuffie as she reached back to his friends.

Everyone was officially awake after having clean up a little. Now the question was, where was the birthday boy?

"Where could he have gone?" asked Riku starting to get worried again since his friend hadn't showed up since they woke up. They had looked around the place but didn't found him anywhere in that side of the Island.

"Riku… what if he felt sick while we were asleep and decided to head back home?" Kairi asked getting more and more anxious by the second.

Riku brought a hand to his right temple as he thought about it. That could very much have happened. Damn it! Knowing Sora, if he felt sick he wouldn't have woken them up… not if he believed he would be alright by himself. "And now he could be drifting in the middle of the ocean and… EARTH TO RIKU! NO TIME TO MUSE ABOUT THINGS! MOVE!"

"Let's look at the docks," he said, and receiving a nod from Kairi both run to the other side of the Islands through the secret passage way by the star tree, leaving behind a group of confused friends to soon follow them.


Kairi and Riku soon reached the other side of the Island and jumped with expertise to the floor. Unfortunately for the others, they weren't expecting the sudden lack of footing. There was a loud thud as they all fell and piled up on the floor.

"Sorry," said Kairi as they run to the dock, but before reaching it Riku stopped. "Riku?"

"Of course… why didn't I think about it?" asked the boy with a smile on his face as he pointed to the other side for Kairi to see.

She turned and saw that Riku was pointing at their favorite paopu tree and on the bark she could recognize a black and white spot that could only be Sora's clothing.

"What is it?" asked Cloud as he dusted his trousers.

"Over there," exclaimed Kairi in relief.

They all turned to where she was pointing and identified the clothing of the young keyblade wielder.

"Only Sora would find it comfortable to rest on that tree," commented the silver haired teen as he run to the shed to reach his friend with Kairi close behind.

The rest of the group followed them, but Aerith stopped when she something flapping from a bush close to the waterfall. She took it and inspected it. It was a blanket of a very soft material and it had the initial 'S' plus a crown drawing embroidered on it. She guessed it was Sora's, but the fact that it was left abandoned like that made her feel a foreboding sensation. Something was not right.


"Sora! Get up lazy you bum!" said Kairi with a small smile as she and Riku went ahead to wake their friend. "Come on Sora, today is your birthday, wake up."

"Hey Sora, wake up! You won't escape from me this year!" announced the teenage boy as he got closer to his sleeping friend. The boy was sprawled on the tree's trunk. Both legs and and one arm hanging and another arm on his stomach, as he rested with a very peaceful face. "Come on, buddy, wake-" but Riku's words died in his throat as he noticed that his friend's face was ghostly white, even paler than it had been the night before when he collapsed. "Sora!" Riku ran towards him and could hear Kairi doing the same. He felt dread.

The teen reached for his best friend and took his hand to try to pull him out of his sleep only to notice how cold it was, it almost made him flinch away. His eyes widened when Sora's body started to fall to the side making no resistance at all, only because of the soft pulling motion he had done. Acting out of reflex, Riku caught his friend's body before it made contact with the sand.

And as he held the limp body of the boy in his arms close to his chest, Riku could feel how his world slowly fell apart.

"H-he… he is not breathing…" and with a gasp from the girl behind him he knew that hers was breaking as well.


Well that was chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it.

R&R