Can't believe I forgot this. Kingdom Hearts is the video game series that happened between Square Enix & Disney. It belongs to them.

I'm not set on a ship. Some events will be changed/skipped over, & Destiny Islands won't have more than three chapters.

On the desk before him was a list.

Leaving home

Key-blade, teaching (not a Master)?

Kairi, Maleficent, Ansem

1st Organization

Organization 13, Vessels

Roxas, Naminè

Replica Riku

There were probably some things he was missing but he had to start somewhere. Riku was not ignorant of Sora's travels from last time. Between Maleficent, spying and asking his friend, he had a great bit of knowledge to work with. Though his memory of the year his friend was comatose was a little fuzzy.

First problem, Kairi.

Like it or not, he didn't know any other way of extracting her from Sora other than the Key-blade of Heart. Which comes back to putting Sora and the Princesses of Heart at risk. And Riku may end up at Hollow Bastion because reasons.

He sighed.

Okay, scratch that. His first problem was his capabilities. He remembered the man from when he was five years old. Now that he understood what it was, Riku knew he was set to receive a Key-blade of his own. That probably took part in his "there can be only one" attitude toward Sora. Riku scoffed, he had really been a selfish and jealous ass at the time. Anyway, he couldn't defend others if he was nothing more than a meat shield. That would be stupid and unhelpful.

Holding a hand out, he thought of the feel of the Key-blade. Dark in design, themed by wings, darkness and light. Balance the two, hand in hand.

A chilled feeling filled the air. A solid handle appearing followed by the rest of the blade.

Riku opened his eyes to see Soul Eater.

Slightly disappointed at that, he decided that it made a little sense. Way to Dawn didn't come until he was sixteen. Then he frowned. Just before he started panicking about still being in the Dream world, he was sitting on his favorite tree. So did that mean it was just his memories that got sent back?

He snorted and laughed at the irony. Riku may have long since matured after fifteen but he ended up with a version of his heart that hadn't. Okay. So he would still be able to use his dark abilities but magic and light might be tricky. His eye scrunched up at the idea of using the dark suit again. Battle ready it may have been for dark attacks, it was a little uncomfortable with bad memories. He decided to only wear the ridiculous thing for required situations, like getting his friends out through an emergency Dark Corridor.

Dismissing the blade, he went back to the list. Even without his help, the Princesses would still be kidnapped due to evil plots. Ansem had his fingers involved. Riku shuddered. The hooded creep could be anywhere and would most likely target him. Due to his strong association with darkness.

Riku shook his head. Problems first, creepy creepers later.

Kairi felt uneasy. She felt sad to say that she held concern in a different way. For the past few weeks, she started feeling more and more uncomfortable around Riku. She tried to shake it off and treat him the same way, he was her friend.

Then, sometime after this morning, the feeling let up. All of sudden, he felt like her friend again. Like watching a sick person for so long and then the fever breaks. They're happy at the littlest things with a much brighter attitude. The sudden turnaround was surreal.

So why, in the matter of hours, did Riku seem like he did before the raft? The change didn't make sense. Truly, Kairi wanted to be happy for Riku and no longer feeling uneasy around him. But she was worried.

No, not even before. Like Sora said, he was quieter than normal. Especially for their competitive friend. He was acting strange when she talked to him. As though Riku was guilty and too afraid to admit to a mistake. It wasn't just being quiet, up until the sunset, he avoided conversation. Was he even aware of his behavior? Riku said he had something on his mind but couldn't talk about it.

Conflicted, Kairi didn't know if she should be worried or not.

Sora hopped onto the dock. Since Riku actually opened up to conversation last night, he decided that maybe his best friend was going to be fine. Maybe, most likely. He wasn't certain yet.

The sky was even bluer today. Many clouds just appeared to have up and vanished lately.

Hopefully it'll be perfect for tomorrow's takeoff.

With a grin on his face, the brunet went off to find where his besties went.

Later...

It seemed Riku was back to normal today. After coming out of nowhere with the paupu bet, they had a race. Kairi had joined them this time, between those two, Sora barely won. After that, it was time for him to find the stuff for the raft. After getting most of the stuff, it was down to finding that last mushroom. Dim, dark, and moist areas he remembered. The one spot that left was the Secret Place.

It wasn't more than a simple cave filled with old child drawings. And one mysterious door. The door was a mystery on its own, no obvious way to open it, gold lining near the edge, but it had never done anything. Not as far as anyone knew.

The mushrooms Sora sought were right by a matching set made by him and Kairi. He smiled, glassed over with nostalgia. When he got older, Sora had gotten a certain fondness for the redhead. One that could be awkward if she didn't feel the same way. Still, he drew the star. Maybe it was just a crush, but when they were a bit older, he'd like to find out how she felt. Asking now felt too soon and they would be stuck with the confession unable to keep any conversations private. Such a matter would be rude to dance around in front of someone else. Especially Riku, it wouldn't be fair to dance cringe-worthy issues and leave him with a headache.

Sora stopped musing at a sudden chill at his back.

As much as Riku wanted to toss aside worries and just have fun before shit hit the fan, he couldn't quit. The storm was coming. Go long enough with entirely too calm of days and the clouds will come with greater strength rather than some rain.

He would stare off into the horizon to mediate, Riku did not want anyone to poke their fingers around his darkness. Nor light for that matter. This was the heart and body of the fifteen year old, which was before the bad influence and possession on his darkness. Small blessing and curse. His mind was used to balancing the heart elements, not the heart itself. So he wasn't going to see Way to Dawn yet.

Yet.

Couldn't deny the reassurance the blade brought him after all.

Hearing footsteps, he looked over at Kairi.

"You okay?"

She was frowning at the door behind him. "I dunno. I think I should find Sora."

Really? He couldn't have been out of it for an hour. The race felt like minutes ago. Did First Sora mention anything strange before they left? Second seemed goofy as ever.

"He's lazy but he shouldn't take too long."

"Hmm."

Creak!

"Oh, hey guys. I got the stuff Kairi."

Both of them were going to end up here, because of that raft. He had to find them before they got hurt. Toys don't work on dark spawn. He remembered droning on about the door, it wasn't until he saw the black storm that he figured it out. It was the night of, not before. Someone else had done it.

Second one here, Soul Eater in his grip, Riku looked over the island from the dock. Kairi or Sora had gotten here before him, somehow. The smell of darkness whipped around the air, rendering his nose useless for tracking. He had to find them, this shouldn't have happened. Find them, find them!

The Secret Place had a fancy door. Why? Smelled. Won't open. Suspicious. Where were they!?

He heard a shout and yelp. "Riku! Kairi! Where are you!?"

Spinning around, he spotted Sora being chased by Shadows. "Sora!"

"Riku! What's going on?"

"I'm trying to find Kairi. Something is wrong."

"I noticed!"

Heartless, they were everywhere. Door won't open. Not safe, not safe.

"C'mon!" Sora tried to tug him away but Riku pulled his friend behind him. Facing off with Heartless, he stood, blade at the ready.

"Stay behind me." None of them should have come here. I have to fight back now.

"But Riku, they can't-"

Three leapt up only for him to hit them backwards. Their bodies falling back into the hoard. Defensive, he couldn't advance with Sora unable to fight. The sheer numbers will eventually overwhelm them both.

"Try to open that door." Riku commanded.

"O-okay."

Five then two more.

This time, the door finally opened. The two boys charged inside to get away from the shadows.

"Riku, what's going on? Where did you get that?" Sora gestured to the dark blade.

"I would explain, but we have to find Kairi." He pointed down toward the cave. "I think she should be in here."

She wasn't, an empty cave met their eyes and a dark wind greeted them. The same whirlwind tossed them back out of the cave. Blinding them. Next thing they knew, what was left of their world, everything was whisked away by the storm. Trapped with one threat, a boss Heartless, Dark-Side.

Two days, everything had gone wrong. In two days, something had changed. No matter who won, this was the turning point.

"Another monster from my dream!?" Sora backed up in shock.

Riku glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. What. Just- Kingdom Key. "Then shouldn't you have weapon too, Sora? I couldn't have gotten my blade from nowhere."

"I guess but I had a shield." He realized what his friend had said. "I, Riku..? I'm not sure."

"It's worth a try."

The Dark-side released its aura, making Riku cringe. Sora squawked at the odd sensation. Punching the floor, the two boys were hit, making them stumble.

"Find a weapon or get away from it!"

Sora shouted as he ran behind the Boss. "Attack the head and hands!"

"Right!" Riku charged forward to do just that, barely missing the punch Dark Side sent in his direction. Ignoring the small fry, he hopped onto the arm, beelining for the head.

Getting in three combos, the arm moved and Riku slid off to destroy the Shadows.

"Riku!"

These little Heartless weren't too much of an issue to run away from, but given his defenseless friend and their numbers... it was going to be a little trying to keep him safe. At least the Boss couldn't move too quickly or it would end up falling over on its lame excuse for feet.

DAshing behind the kneeling creature, he quickly dispatched the annoying pests. Okay, so he'd have to ignore the head in favor of destroying the Shadows or risk Sora falling. Gah! If only Sora wasn't in close quarters with this thing!

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Sora's eyes snapped up somewhere behind him. "Watch out!"

Flash!

Getting back up, aquarium blue eyes landed on Kingdom Key. The summon sparkles were already fading in front of his confused friend's face. Grinning, Riku hit Sora's back to bring him out of his shock.

"Think you can help out now?"

A shaky nod was all he was going to get.

The battle became five times easier and faster. The Dark Side was utterly destroyed. The truly bad part came in the form of the leftovers. As in, the dark storm and mostly destroyed world.

Clinging onto a wood plank for dear life, the boys were quickly losing their grip.

They were quickly ripped away into the sky.

Last thing Riku remembered was reaching out for Sora before everything went black.

Looks like the kid is going on an adventure of his own.

...

Quiet as ever? It's been years, at least pretend to listen.

...

C'mon! Not even a little worried? Have you not seen the shape? Or his looks. You can't sit there and pretend it doesn't bother you.

That man, from yesterday... do you think?

Dunno, the guy was always cryptic but not on that level. Didn't even talk right.

Luna- Dark Side isn't that interesting after having it set over and over again instead of just being tutorial fights. So I pulled a Riku and left Destiny Islands behind.

Riku- ... rude.

Luna- You can forget about that when someone gets on a high horse about priorities.

Riku- Who? Are you seriously going to stick me with Maleficent?

Luna- Poor islander, such a problem trying to keep thy heart.

Riku- *storms out of room in a huff*

Luna- *giggles madly over the fact that the Kingdom Hearts series has had her heart captive since she was nine*