-Part II-

All that Sora could remember was a sense of falling; falling with all of the grace in the world. But it wasn't quite falling, exactly. It was almost more like flying uncontrollably, and landing in a destination that hadn't been appointed. Sora remembered his weakened body hitting water gently; water that was drastically warmer than of that of which he'd previously been wading in. He forced himself onto his knees within the shallow waters, and squinted in the brightened light to see his surroundings. There, directly before him, stood Destiny Islands as he remembered it. The tree houses, the shade of the Paopu trees; everything was exactly as Sora had remembered it. And then, standing directly before him, was the one girl that he'd wanted to see more than anybody during his whole journey. The girl with the vivid auburn locks, that were considerably longer than they had been during his last visit to the islands.

Sora forced himself onto his feet, and he swayed momentarily in the sea-salt breeze. Kairi's expression changed from joy, to worry, as she watched Sora attempt to take a step forward and nearly stumble.

"Kairi –" Sora breathed, as he took another heavy step forward. "We-we're back!"

Just then, Sora's whole world swam before his eyes, as the girl in front of him slowly transformed from the auburn-haired girl he'd always known growing up, to a different girl whom resembled his former friend, yet she was different. At first, Sora had thought he'd never seen her before, but as she came more into focus, and her auburn hair changed to a pale blond, he suddenly remembered –

Sora reached a hand out towards her, her name forming at his pale lips, as he fell forcefully onto his knees, before blacking out entirely.

Now, Sora felt an odd tingling in his fingers that he hadn't noticed before, perhaps it was just his body reawakening, or perhaps it was more-like his hands had gone to sleep. He was in a bed; that much he could discern. It wasn't his bed at home though; his bed wasn't quite so…stiff. He opened his eyes slowly, only to find that he couldn't see any better than he'd been able to with his eyes closed. He closed his eyes once more, and began to raise his right hand to rub them when a different hand closed in on his and stopped him.

"Huh?" Sora muttered, squinting in the darkness of the room he was in to try to make out the figure beside him.

"Don't; your IV," a familiar feminine voice said thickly, and it didn't take long for Sora to recognize where he'd heard that voice before. It'd been almost two years since he'd last heard it spoken, and not a day had gone by that he hadn't missed it.

"M-Mom?" Sora asked hoarsely, as he felt his hand around to grasp hers, his vision slowly coming into focus as he fixated his eyes on the darkened silhouette of the woman beside his bed. "Is it – is that really you?"

Sora heard a choking sound, before the hand he'd found grasped his tightly and he felt another begin stroking back his hair.

"Yes, sweetie; it's me. You're finally home!" she cried, and before she could stop him, she found herself being embraced tightly by her son, his face buried into the folds of her blouse.

"Oh, Mom! I've missed you so much –" he said thickly, letting the tears that he'd been holding back to finally fall. "You've no idea…"

Sora's mom said nothing, as she swallowed hard and began rubbing little circles across his back.

"Me too, Sora. Me too…."

"I'm so glad to finally be home," Sora said enthusiastically. "Now everything can go back to normal again!"

His mother's heart began to beat quickly, as her grip tightened on him. Slowly, Sora began to pull away and look up into his mother's face, which was half-hidden by the darkness of the room.

"Mom?" he asked quizzically, "what's wrong? Is there something that you're not telling me?"

Sora's mom began fidgeting with her hair, as a door that Sora hadn't even realized existed until that very moment swung open. Now that his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, the light that now illuminated from the bright-lit hall blinded him, as he squinted to make out another figure enter the room.

"Is everything alright in here?" a female's voice asked softly, as the figure flipped on a light-switch, causing a dim light to turn on overhead.

Sora shielded his eyes with his arm, while his mom turned to the nurse and smiled.

"Oh yes, everything's quite fine in here," she said brightly, her hand still resting on Sora's.

Now that his eyes were semi-adjusted to the light, Sora attempted to survey the room more carefully. He'd heard his mom tell him that he had an IV in his arm, but for some reason it hadn't registered with him that it meant he was in the hospital. He took a glance down at himself, dressed in nothing but a hospital gown, and then glanced back up at the nurse.

"W-what am I doing here?" he asked hoarsely, looking from his mom to the nurse with wide, blue eyes. "I'm not sick! I'm perfectly fine, see?"

With that, Sora sat bolt upright in the bed and began to swing his legs over the edge. He was about to stand up and prove to them that he could walk, until both his mom and the nurse began chuckling.

"Yes, Sora, we can see that you're fine," his mom said, attempting to stifle a laugh. "But your dad and I thought you ought to get checked out first, just in case. Okay?"

Sora huffed, and he swung his legs back onto the bed and leaned against the pillows.

"Alright, but you'd better hurry up and check on me; I've got things to do."

His mom smiled, laughter filling her eyes playfully as she brushed his bangs back as though he were still a little boy – and to her, he indeed was a little boy. The little boy that she'd missed for two years, and thought she'd never see again.

"Oh, things? What sort of things?"

Sora's eyes traced the patterns on the ceiling, as he thought about it hard.

"Well, I haven't really said hello to Kairi yet, and Riku…" Sora, snapping out of his daze, turned to his mom abruptly and cried out "Riku!" far louder than he intended to.

The nurse looked over at Sora's mom confusedly, while his mother bent her head down low, biting her lip.

"Mom, is Riku okay? Where is he, do you know?" Sora asked anxiously, now sitting upright once more. Amidst all of the joy in his and his mom's reunion, Sora had completely forgotten as to how bad Riku was when they'd left the Realm of Darkness; he didn't even know if his dear friend was still alive.

"Riku's okay, Sora," his mom said shortly, patting his shoulder gently. "Don't be too worried; you'll be able to see him once you're released, okay?"

"But Mom, where is he? Is he here, in the hospital? What happened to him? How bad is he?" Sora further pressed; as his mom attempted to push him back gently against the pillows once more.

"Sora, you need to calm down," she said, her tone holding a slight edge of impatience. "Yes, Riku's here, and I saw him earlier. He's okay, Sora, you brought him back in time."

Sora studied his mom's expression carefully; she refused to meet his eye, and he could see the worry tugging at the edges of her features as she spoke. He then turned to the nurse whom was standing directly behind his mother.

"Do you know what's going on with Riku?" Sora asked her hopefully.

The nurse shrugged her shoulders, as she checked a few things off of her clipboard.

"I don't even know who Riku is, hon," she muttered, as she turned to face Sora's mom once more. "He seems to be fine, but we should probably have a doctor look at him later, just to be sure."

"Yes, that would be nice, thank you," Sora's mom replied, turning to offer the nurse a radiant smile.

Sora barely heard the nurse ask him if he needed anything before she left, while his mind was spinning frantically. He didn't believe his mom - not for a second. Even though he hadn't seen her in years, he recognized that look – it meant that she was trying to avoid his question. That, or she was lying; she never had been a very good liar.

"Mom, what are you not telling me about Riku?" he demanded, while she sat back and pulled out her cell phone. "I need to know, how is he? I know he got hurt pretty bad, and –"

"You'll see him once you're released, Sora," his mom said in an exasperated tone. "I'm sure the doctor will be here soon, and if he says you can go, you may go see Riku, okay?"

Sora barely muttered an inaudible agreement as he buried himself deeper into the pillows, thinking back to how long it'd really been since he'd slept in a bed, while his mom dialed up a number and put the phone to her ear. He hadn't noticed before, but he really missed sleeping in one. He wondered if Riku had missed sleeping in a bed as well as his mind slowly began to drift off and sleep began to claim him once more…

Author's Note:

For those of you whom are unfamiliar with Chain of Memories, the girl whom Sora had envisioned taking the place of Kairi was her Nobody, Namine, whom Sora had met throughout Chain of Memories and subsequently, had forgotten her through obtaining his original memories. Anyhow, I just wanted to point that out, in case anyone's wondering what the heck I was thinking ;) (and yes, Sora indeed does see Namine taking the place of Kairi in Kingdom Hearts II, only in a different context.)