Earlier…

Riku wasn't the only one who was up late at night. In a house near Riku's, a brown haired teen, Sora, woke up about an hour before Riku.

Sora gazed up at his bedroom ceiling with a bored, sleepy look. Why had he woken up? It was still dark out…Shrugging, Sora got out of bed and stretched. Well, he was awake now, and didn't feel like going back to bed anytime soon. Sora walked over to his bedroom window and looked outside.

There were only a few more hours left until dawn…

Sora snuck out of his bedroom, walked down some stairs, and managed to sneak out of his house without waking anyone. Sora decided to go and see if Kairi was awake as well. She lived right next door after all.

Sora halted next to the side of the house, glancing up at the balcony that connected to Kairi's bedroom. Sure enough, the red-haired teen, Kairi, was awake, leaning against the railing, and seemed to be lost in thought.

"Kairi," Sora called up in as quiet a voice as he could muster.

Kairi jumped and looked around in surprise. Then, her confusion turned into amusement as she looked down and spotted Sora. She smiled at him, "Hi Sora. You couldn't sleep either?"

Sora ran a hand through his hair, "No, I couldn't." He paused, and then asked, "You want to go for a walk along the shore?"

Kairi smile brightly, "Sure, wait just a minute," She disappeared into her bedroom.

Sora waited around for a few minutes, before Kairi finally exited her home quietly, "What took so long?"

"I had to change," Kairi answered, as if this were obvious.

It was then that Sora noticed that Kairi had changed from pajamas into her day wear, "Oh…err…right. Well, let's go." He and Kairi strode off, passing homes in silence until they got to the shoreline.

For nearly an hour, Sora and Kairi walked along the shoreline slowly, talking about events that had happened the day before, such as Tidus getting smacked in the head by Wakka's blitzball. This had been the source of amusement for hours. The topics, however, soon turned to Riku.

"Sora…have you talked to Riku lately?" Kairi questioned all of a sudden, glancing sideways at Sora.

Sora was silent for a moment, "Well…yeah, it's just…he seems to be more distant than usual…"

"Then maybe there's something bothering him, "Kairi commented, gazing up at the starry night sky.

"You think?" Sora wondered.

"Maybe…he's having trouble getting used to island life again. You know how much he hated being in this 'small world?' Especially now, after we know there are other worlds…" Kairi said softly.

"You don't think Riku would try and use darkness to get away from here..." Sora began, before shaking his head, "…No, as much as he'd like to leave, I don't think Riku would do that again…"

"You're right, he wouldn't. Maybe that's why Riku's been withdrawn and depressed lately…" Kairi broke off, something in the distant catching her eyes.

"What is it?" Sora questioned, following Kairi's gaze.

They saw Riku paddling a small boat towards the island they used to play on.

"Do you…think he's all right?" Kairi asked, concerned.

Sora shook his head, "I don't know…want to follow him? See what's bothering him?"

Kairi appeared uncertain, but nodded her head in agreement. She and Sora headed for the dock where other small boats were.

121

Endless darkness…again…

Riku had his eyes open, but that didn't do him much good. He still couldn't see anything other than the dark.

"Riku."

Ansem again…

"Leave me alone!" Riku snarled angrily, looking around warily.

"You can't escape the darkness Riku."

The voice was teasing him now.

"I thought I already had," Riku retorted, glaring around in the darkness now.

"You won't give in without a fight, will you?" Ansem sounded weary.

"I will never give in!" Riku responded. He really wanted to slash his Keyblade around in the darkness with the chance of striking Ansem…but…he found that he could barely move. Why was that?

"If you'd just accept the darkness again, then you would be able to move freely," Ansem told Riku calmly, appearing in front of him suddenly.

Great. He was a mind reader too. What the hell was up with that? Riku twisted and turned, trying to back away.

Ansem approached him slowly, as if enjoying every moment, "Don't bother…you can't escape me."

Riku closed his eyes, stubbornly trying to move. There was no way Ansem would use him again…

121

"Riku! Wake up!"

"Riku! Are you all right?"

Riku awoke abruptly, glancing up in surprise. Sora and Kairi were looking down at him, worry etched on both their faces.

"What are you…doing here?" Riku questioned. What in the world were they doing up so late in the night? Though…he was very grateful for having been awakened from his nightmare.

"I couldn't get back to sleep, so I went over to Kairi's house. She was up too," Sora began to explain.

"We went for a walk, but we saw you headed for the island. We decided to follow you," Kairi added.

Riku stared up at them in silence. He declined to ask them how long they'd been walking. Instead, he said, "Well, now that you're here…what do you want?" Wow, that came out differently than he meant it to. Great going Riku. Way to sound fine.

"We just wanted to see if you were okay," Kairi responded, as Sora nodded in agreement.

Riku looked down at the ground. On the outside, he could usually manage to look 'okay.' But…on the inside, he was far from it. Five or six nights out of the week he would awake several times from nightmares. Even in the daytime he couldn't escape.

"Riku…don't space out on us man," Came Sora's voice. He was poking Riku's head, "Earth to Riku, you there?"

Riku batted Sora's hand away irritably, "What? I'm fine…I…I was just thinking."

Sora sat down a few feet away, grinning, "Sure you are."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Riku questioned, scrunching up defensively.

Kairi sat down next to Sora, "We're just worried about you…so are other people on the island."

"Really…?" Riku asked, staring at the ground again. So…it wasn't just his two best friends that were worried about him. Other people were too. That was nice to know. Riku heard Kairi speak again.

"Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie keep wondering if you're all right. They said you kept declining to play or fight with them, when you and Sora used to a lot," Kairi explained, stealing a glance at Riku.

When he didn't say anything, Sora spoke, "A few parents are noticing too. But they just think it's a phase or something like that."

Riku smiled lightly at this. A 'phase' indeed. Was it normal to have recurring nightmares about a man that wanted to take over your body and wreak havoc on other worlds? Riku shook his head absently. No, it wasn't normal. No one else had dreams as vivid and real as his. Not even Sora and Kairi. They hadn't gone through as much as he had. They hadn't been lost to the darkness as much as he had been. They hadn't had their bodies taken over by another person who was bent on destroying things.

They didn't understand. They never would.

However…

"Riku! You're spacing out again." Came Sora's voice.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, worried.

Riku broke out from his thoughts to see Kairi and Sora's concerned expressions. He forced a small smile, "Sorry…I've been thinking a lot…since we got back to the islands…"

Sora flopped down onto his stomach, regaining his goofy smile, "Well…from the letter we got from King Mickey, we might be able to leave here every once and awhile to help stomp out the remaining Heartless in other worlds."

"Oh yeah…" Riku responded. He had forgotten all about the letter, instead focusing on the nightmares. Destroying Heartless would be a great way to release some of the pent-up energy and tension he felt.

"And this time, I get to go too. I still haven't met some of the people you've made friends with," Kairi said, smiling sweetly at Sora, but in a way that was daring him to argue.

Sora didn't say anything, but looked worried. He didn't want anything to happen to her again. Sora looked at Riku pleadingly, since he himself couldn't change Kairi's mind.

Getting the hint, Riku spoke to Kairi, while thinking that Sora was a wuss, "Are you sure you want to go? Even though there are less Heartless, that doesn't make it any safer."

Elbowing Sora a bit roughly, Kairi smiled at Riku, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," She paused, and then added with a serious expression, "You and Sora better leave some Heartless for me to deal with."

Riku shrugged apologetically to Sora, who didn't seem too happy with how the matter was resolved.

Kairi yawned and stretched, "We should go home and try to get some sleep. Maybe we'll find another letter."

Sora stretched as well, jumping to his feet, "C'mon Riku. You look tired too." He helped Kairi to her feet, both of them exiting the shack.

Riku stood up, but paused. Again, Sora and Kairi were acting as though they hadn't gone through anything life-changing, but somewhere, deep inside, there had to be something. Perhaps they were just better at moving on and dealing with tough times, etc.

"Riku! Come on!"

Riku left the shack, trailing after Sora and Kairi, who were headed for the dock. At least they didn't judge him. They acted as though he were the Riku who had been looking forward to journeying to different worlds. Riku paused, looking over at the leafy entrance of the Secret Place.

"Riku?"

Riku cast a glance over at the docks. Sora and Kairi were waving from their boats. He waved back, "You get going, and I'll follow you in a second!" With that, Riku walked over to the cave entrance and entered it. Pacing the entire place, Riku stopped momentarily to stare at the depictions of Sora and Kairi sharing a papou fruit. Shaking his head in amusement, Riku focused his attention on the door at the back of the cave, looking all innocent. Riku narrowed his eyes at it, before turning and heading for the exit.

"Riku."

Riku spun about, summoning his Keyblade at the same time and facing where the voice had come from. He backed up a few steps.

Ansem was standing there, in front of the door, staring at him.

No words were exchanged.

Riku lunged at Ansem, swinging his blade…which went through the other without inflicting any injuries. Undaunted, Riku tried again, but with similar results. And Ansem merely stood there, smiling evilly.

"You can not hurt me Riku. Why don't you just give up? Things will go more smoothly that way."

"Never!" Riku snapped, backtracking and fleeing out the cave entrance. He had to be imagining things. He was sleep deprived…that was all.

Behind him, Ansem remained where he was. He folded his arms, "Fine. Resist. But you can not deny me forever…soon…you will submit…" With a laugh, Ansem vanished.

121

Riku forced himself to walk towards the dock, keeping his face devoid of any emotion other than weariness. He was having a hard time not imagining Ansem following after him. But when he got into the boat and began to paddle after Sora and Kairi (who were nice enough to let him catch up) he felt as if a great weight had been lifted.

121

Once back on the main island, Sora and Kairi split paths with Riku, who had said he wanted to walk along the shoreline by himself for a little while. Before Riku could leave, he agreed to meet back on the other island late in the morning, to scrounge the shoreline for any potential letters.

Sora and Kairi watched Riku get smaller and smaller as he walked away. When they could no longer see him, the silence was broken.

"Do you really think he's all right?" Kairi asked softly.

Sora let out a small sigh. He didn't know what to think of his friends' behavior. "…" shaking his head, he began to walk towards the houses, "Come on Kairi, I'll take you home. Hopefully no one will have noticed that we were gone…"

"Sora! What are you doing out this late at night?!"

"Uh-oh, my mom." Sora glanced around quickly, before turning to Kairi, "Better get home before she sees you!"

Kairi nodded, and ran off, but hid nearby, smothering giggles as Sora got a stern lecture from his mother about not running off late in the night to engage in teenage outings. Kairi snuck off after seeing Sora blush deeply. Kairi arrived at her home moments later, living next door after all. Getting back into the house went smoothly, and Kairi was able to get in bed before anyone noticed that she had been gone.

121

Riku closed his eyes briefly as he walked along the shore, heading to his home at a slow pace. Riku opened his eyes again and stared blankly at the ground for a minute or so. For some reason, he felt more at ease when he was around Sora and Kairi. This seemed to make sense, because now that he was out of their company, anxiety and uncertainty returned to him. It was if he had woken up from a nightmare again.

Riku shook his head stubbornly and finished his stroll, ending up outside his house. Standing still to make sure that he heard no movement, Riku managed to get back up to his window, and back into his bedroom. Once inside, Riku headed straight to his bed, only wanting to flop down onto it and fall asleep.

A sudden chill caused Riku to stop, and the feeling caused him to look around his room suspiciously. He was alone…but…he felt as if someone were watching him. Riku walked over to his closet and opened it, peering inside. Nothing but clothing…

Riku crossed back over to his bed, and looked underneath it. Nothing. Riku shook his head. He was being stupid. Why did he think Ansem would be hiding in either of those places?

Riku slumped onto his bed and covered himself with a blanket. Closing his eyes wearily, he reminded himself again that he had defeated Ansem, and that his nightmares had been a result of him being too anxious and now, paranoid. Oh, and the hallucinations were due to sleep deprivation.

Feeling better after telling himself that, Riku drifted to sleep. He would have rethought everything and vacated the area if he had heard the sinister laugh issuing softly from the closet, along with his name.

"Riku."

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I update this sooner than I thought, so thanks to Polish and StarShinobi for motivating me to put up the next chapter. Am I the only one who would think it's creepy for a laugh to be coming out of a closet? Anyway...how did this chapter go? I'll try to update this when I can.

So...until next time thank you for reading and/or reviewing!