Special Thanks to XShootingStarX for re-beta-reading, on 01/10/08.

Note: One "X" marked where the story is remnants of memories or dreams.

So, here goes:

Saving Chapter 2: 2nd Meeting…or Not?

X

'I've been having these weird thoughts lately, like is any of this for real or not?'

X

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sora was back home with Roxas. It was a rare sight for Roxas to see that Sora wanted to be alone, since usually Sora wouldn't want that when he felt bad. The elder one had understood, so he settled in the living room, and left the younger one in their bedroom, hoping his brother would just go to sleep and forget everything.

But sleep didn't come to Sora easy.

The brunet rolled about in his bed, tangling in his bed sheets. He had done with enough thinking. 'Maybe it was some prank that guy was pulling. In that case, then nobody is dead'. Sora had his hands laced at the back of his head, his eyes looking up at the ceiling for a while, then they traveled to the window at his side, which was left open just to let the breeze in. He wasn't expecting something else beside the wind.

"BOO!"

Came the sudden voice, accompanied by a silhouetted figure that appeared in Sora's vision at his open window.

"Uwaaaaaaaaagghhh!" The brunet yelled, scooting himself off to the side and fell off the bed, his legs half on the cushion. He scrambled up quickly a few feet away and took another good look again while clutching his blanket for dear life, his heart pounding.

Blue eyes widened as they registered the dark figure at his window. It was the silver-haired boy, only head to shoulder visible behind the window frame, and upside down. His silky silver hair hung straight down, swaying in the wind. Sora immediately recognized the figure "Riku!"

"That's me." Riku responded with a chuckle, obviously due to the sight of Sora's landing on his back. "Can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah…" Sora threw out an immediate answer due to his dazed state.

Riku then flung himself through the window and jumped in gracefully. Avoiding stepping on the bed, he landed directly between Sora and the cushion.

"Hi," He greeted with a smirk, glancing down at the boy.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" The boy shot up from the floor, clutching where his heart would be. Then Sora realized there was something more important than him complaining. "Wait, where were you anyway? I went to the Island and you weren't in the shack."

"Well, I-" Riku paused as he whipped his head to look at the door. "Someone's coming."

"Probably Roxas. Good, so I can tell-" Sora was cut off when Riku took him by the shoulder.

"Don't tell anyone."

The door was opened and Roxas poked his head in. "Sora, is everything okay?"

Sora looked at Roxas, and when he turned back again, Riku was gone. He smiled sheepishly at Roxas while his brother narrowed his eyes and stepped into the room.

"Hey, Roxas, Everything's fine. I just fell off the bed!" Sora said.

Roxas's eyes studied the blanket on the floor. He sighed with a smile when walking over to grab the blanket, and threw it on the bed. "That's typical. Bad dreams?"

"Uh…yeah." Sora gave a lopsided grin.

"What about this time?" Roxas sat on the end of Sora's bed, looking up at the standing boy.

"Eh…I was kidnapped by an alien."

Roxas gave a soft chuckle before he got himself up and knocked Sora's head softly with a knuckle. "Careful then, don't fall too often. You're already dumb enough."

"Hey!" By the time Sora was about to throw some pillow at his brother, Roxas had already slipped out of the room, still laughing.

Sora let out a huf. He knew his brother was still half-concerned about him, although the blond understood perfectly not to bring it up. If either of them were worried, if affected the other. And it could go on endlessly; best for them not to go over it.

"Kidnapped by an alien?" The firm voice came from behind him.

When he turned, it was Riku, standing at the end of the bed and leaned against the window, crossing his arms over his chest. A smirk played on his lips.

Sora gaped at him widely before the surprise on his face faded away to be replaced by a brilliant smile. "Yeah, not quite this time. But I had had earlier dreams which some human like duck and dog dragged me all around, convincing me to save the worlds out there by locking the worlds with some huge key."

"A human duck and dog, and a huge key?" For a moment there, Riku's eyes widened at the tale, it felt awfully familiar. Yet coincidence was a thing that happened all the time, so he didn't give much thought to it. "And did you?"

"Yeah. I only went with them because they said I can find my lost friends," Sora's eyes dropped to the ground level.

"Did you find them?"

"I found both. But one of them turned against me, he was consumed by darkness. But in the end he helped me fight off the darkness and we saved the worlds. The other friend of mine went back to our world safely while the one who helped me closed the door of darkness was locked inside it. And I lost sight of him."

"What did you do then?"

"I intended to search for him again. But it ends there, I never found him." Sora finished, closing his eyes, looking slightly solemn. After a moment, he spoke again. "Geez, it was just a dream and I'm making a big deal out of it because you encouraged me."

"Dreams…can tell all sorts of things." Riku pushed himself off of the wall with his shoulders and stepped closer to the boy. Tilting his head to the side, he reached near Sora, his hand almost touching the boy's face. "You look sad."

"One of my friends in that dream was Kairi, my best friend at school, and another one…I don't even remembered his face or his name and that's kinda sad." Sora grinned sheepishly. "I know it's absurd to feel sad because of such an irrational dream. I don't know what's wrong with me, with this dream." Then Sora shook off the earlier expression and replaced it with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Geez, now I'm just babbling, you must be thinking that I'm weird."

"Not at all… I've seen weirder things. There's nothing wrong with you, everyone has something to feel bad about when they wake up from bad dreams." Riku commented. "And you're…talking as if I'm not some kind of vampire that just leaped into your room and might have harmed you."

Sora narrowed his eyes playfully. "If you're going to do it, you would have done so before I started babbling like that." Then he smiled a toothy grin before asking. "Now…where were you?"

"Been away…"

"From the shack? I thought you couldn't go out under the sun." Sora quirked an eyebrow.

"There are shadowy places which I can hide in without being too exposed to the sunlight." Riku then pulled up his sleeves, revealing his pale skinned arms that were healed perfectly, leaving no hint of the burn. "It didn't affect me much."

"Good, you're healed. Wait…" Sora paused, eyes going sharp, as did his tone of voice. "You didn't hurt anyone, did you?"

"No," Riku replied and added. "Just to let you know, I'm not a normal vampire as in those myths and legends that human wrote about. I'm a Nobody-vampire; I don't need blood to sustain my being."

The brunet cocked his head to the side, clearly showing confusion.

"As a matter of fact, I am not really a vampire, that is…if you call that a blood draining creature who needs blood to keep himself alive. I am a Nobody, but my kinds and I are called vampires because to create us, blood must be shared, like how vampire would be created from a human. It's basically the same process. As well as the fact that we burn during sunrise, but not sunset."

"Hmm? Aren't morning rays weaker than the noon and late evening?" The brunet pointed out.

"Morning rays mark the beginning of the light of all, it has something to do with theoretical points that it's the way it should be, you know, the beginning of light is the end of darkness, and us…" Riku pointed to himself and said, "-the creatures of darkness. We also gain some vampiric abilities, but they can only be used when enough of another's blood is running in our veins. That's the sole reason that Nobody-vampires drain blood from others. I hadn't done much draining, and not at all for the last 70 years, since the Nobody's abilities alone already sufficed." Riku spared a glance at Sora's confused face and summed it up. "In short, I don't need to hurt or kill anyone for blood. Sure I might need a pint when I want to use my vampire's side abilities, but in the meantime I don't need it so I won't be hurting anyone for blood."

"Okaay. I see. That's good to hear." The brunet nodded, compromising in earnest. In all honesty, he wouldn't know what to do if Riku had to kill someone to save himself.

Riku smiled.

"Wait, and how did you find me?" Sora asked, finally getting to the question that he should have asked a long time ago.

"I was still there when you came to the Island in the afternoon." Riku shoved his hands into his black coat's pockets. "There were people with you; I didn't want to meet them so I remained in the shadow until you head home and I followed. I saw how the blond guy ealier tried to stop you coming to me." Riku's face wore a frustrated expression when he looked away from Sora. "I don't blame him though."

"Roxas is my twin brother; he'd just concerned about me, though he's been strangely overprotective lately," the brunet explained as he realized another flaw in Riku's answer. "But I didn't see you when we paddled back to the main Island. How did you-?"

"I waited until you reached the main island, and followed that direction," Riku uninterestedly. Then he raised his eyebrows when Sora gaped at him, lips parted in awe.

"Whoaaaa…." Sora vocalized; his eyes gleamed attentively.
Riku just shrugged, and then smirked. "You really believed me right away, don't you? Quite a strange boy you are." To his surprise, Sora nodded.

"You speak as if you're not telling the truth, but you're telling the truth, aren't you?" Sora pointed out than asking. Then it was Riku's turn to nod.

The turn of conversation made Riku study the boy. He'd met lots of people who he'd easily let discover his identity, knowing they wouldn't believe him anyway. Boys at Sora's age would only stare at him like a maniac, while girls and women would mostly gawk at him seductively. At first, he thought Sora was just playing along, but now he knew the boy was obviously not. He could see pure curiosity and sheer excitement in the boy's eyes, which made Sora all the more…appealing.

"I believe that something beyond humans does exist. Like…Santa Clause too. Although I once thought I don't believe in his existence anymore. Now I think I still do" Sora trailed off.

"Once thought?"

"Yeeaah, someone told me a long time ago that Santa didn't exist. I don't know why, but I kinda believed in everything that person said, although sometimes it clashed with my own beliefs."

'That sounds so familiar.' Riku, thought, but he couldn't recall anything, so he only said his fact. "Santa Clause doesn't exist."

Sora snapped his head to look at Riku. "What? How do you know?"

The vampire shrugged again. "I've been to many worlds. I met and saw everything out there. Santa Clause doesn't exist."

Sora's shoulder drooped. He opened his mouth, but fought the urge to argue over the issue.

'Why do I feel like I've heard this line before?' The thought came to Riku's mind. Still, he recalled nothing. He absentmindedly sat down on another empty bed opposite to Sora's. Then he studied the room one more time. The room held two occupants, Sora on the left side of the room, and his older twin must be on the other. Between the two beds was a window that provided a perfect view of the ocean and the small remote island separated from the main one. At the foot of each bed was a bit of untidiness, piles of different sorts of things. On the left side, clothes and stuffs were scattered everywhere. On the right, it wasn't completely neat either; various kinds of books were lying on the ground. When Riku's eyes trailed up the built-in shelves that contained more books, he saw several titles that caught his interest.

"You have a thing for books?" Sora asked and received a nod. His smile widened. "Roxas loves books too, he told me to read some since it would do people good, but I always fall asleep when I read books."

The vampire was already at the shelves, reaching and tipping one of the book spines to let it slid down into his open palm. When he noticed Sora staring, he almost gave an apologetic look and trailed off. "Sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Nah, it's okay. Roxas wouldn't mind. He would be happy to share it with someone with the same interest. You know, there are not many readers around here on this Island; Roxas doesn't really have a chance to share with anyone when it comes to books, except Kairi. But Kairi mostly reads juvenile books, like me, while Roxas only reads those grown-up stuffs that never fail to lull me to sleep. Though the only interest we share is books about stars." Sora talked animatedly.

"I can see that." Riku glanced around the room, seeing the decorations that stood out most in the rooms were huge, yellow neon glow stars around the room, on both Sora's and Roxas's sides.

"Say, I'll let you meet Roxas and Kairi and the other next time, eh? If you're okay with that," Sora said, almost cautiously due to Riku's earlier frustrated expression when he talked about how others tagged along with Sora.

"I'm not okay with that," Riku merely brushed it off.

"Oh." Was the small reply from Sora as he cast his gaze downwards.

"Will he be up here in a minute or what? I mean, your brother," Riku asked.

"Roxas is consulting dad about his project, he'd probably come up and sleep at 10," Sora answered "have a seat already, Riku. I take it that you'll know if Roxas comes up? Riku, I want to hear your story. What worlds have you been to? What kind of people have you met?"

The vampire quirked an eyebrow at how strange the boy was. More than half of the countless people he'd met out there refused to believe the fact that he was anything but human. They claimed he was pulling a prank in all the vampire's abilities he'd displayed (because it was necessary rather than to show off). But this boy in front of him now already believed him only from witnessing him burnt once, while others would say he was tricking them or was even stalking them by showing up at their house like this!

He knew Sora was different. For the past four years he hadn't felt like talking to anyone, since after he'd explored the worlds and all that had happened. He'd felt empty, seeing things come and go, places he'd been to and left, people he'd met and parted. It all added to his emptiness and he found himself unable to be like he used to be; always curious about everything.

Maybe it was the dark side of life he'd seen. His eyes darkened at the thought, but when they shifted to the sitting boy who gazed at him attentively, Riku felt lighter.

Smiling at the boy, he walked back to where Sora was sitting on his bed. "It's been so long. I don't know…where to begin."

"Why don't you begin with how you came up with the idea of going from worlds to worlds?" The boy suggested.

Unexpectedly, Riku's gaze dropped. "I'll skip that. Since I don't remember how my story began…"

"You don't?" Sora asked, half-worried, half-curious.

The oceanic eyes looked up from the floor. "My life began when I was sixteen; from there I can remember that I woke up in Hollow Bastian. Before that, I don't know who I was or where I was."

"Okaaay…You can start from there," Sora said enthusiastically.

Riku felt oddly grateful inside. Sora was only a mere boy; he looked as if he wasn't the type to be thoughtful while in fact he was. He didn't look mature enough to put himself in the other's shoe, but yet he did.

So Riku spent a good few hours reading the story of his life to Sora.

Unknown to the human boy, Riku had left out all the part where his dark past lay.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

X

It was dark, everywhere, his surroundings and everything he set his eyes on. He'd thought he was alone in this no man's land, but he was wrong. He'd always been accompanied by darkness. And when he looked into his own heart, he again only met darkness.

It didn't matter that he had his blindfold on, the darkness was as clear as day. Everything didn't really matter anymore to him.

He used to be extrovert, always curious and hunger for more adventures. But every journey has its end, and so did his. He found himself unable to find anything interesting anymore. He wanted to stop, thus, he'd chosen his last stop, not at the Darkness.

But at the nothingness.

Realm of Nothingness, was his current location, and forever would be. Wondering and floating endlessly in the vast amount of emptiness. Thus, he was confounded when he saw a door, out of nowhere. It was slightly decorated with curves in gold and the door itself was in soft brown.

His oceanic eyes studied the colorful door that lay among the darkness. In his stomach, he felt something he'd not felt for years. It was something that he once used to feel, a long time ago.

Curiosity.

He reached for the door with hesitation, but it opened to him before he touched it. Bright, white light shoved at him and it stung his eyes painfully, yet he didn't back up.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in some place else. Not the Realm of Nothingness, nor the Realm of Darkness. He turned his head back and saw the very same door that he opened earlier there. He knew without a thought that the door linked the two places together.

Then what could this place be?

He looked around, and made out easily that it was only a cave, in the center of the ceiling was a small gap where light filtered through. Chirps of birds from the above filled his ears. He closed his eyes, and breathed in the scent of what he believed was coming from waves that came through the open wall above, though the musty smell of damp mud hit his sense the most.

Then his gaze traveled to the opposite end of the cave and found a narrow passage that led to somewhere, most likely outside. He trailed along and made it out through the thicket covering the entrance of what seemed to be a cavern.

Sunlight hit him which hurt his eyes more than the light that had come from the door. He could go back inside but he didn't.

This place was calling him.

He wanted to see what lay before his eyes. He slowly reached and pulled off the blindfold that had been secured around his eyes for years. It slid off easily but his eyes remained close since the light already stung his eyelids by just removing the material. He stood his ground and slowly opened his heavy eyelids, with effort he hadn't mustered for years. Then the surroundings came into view. There was an ocean in the horizon, yellow sandy beach just a few steps away and clear blue sky above him.

He couldn't really grasp anything at the moment, but he knew there was a feeling of longing inside of him, something very close to nostalgia.

Had he been here before? But when or how? He could not tell.

He took a slow step out of the shadow of the trees, not forgetting that his body couldn't tolerate morning rays. He'd known by how he hadn't burned right there that it must have been about midday. He only felt itched by it, but his body was fine. Despite that, his eyes couldn't bear the light anymore once he reached the yellow sandy beach, his body went down. He closed his eyes, and groaned in pain.

"Are you all right, Sir?"

He looked up languidly and forced his eyes open again. Something was standing between his way and the sunray, so he could bear it a little better, though he couldn't make out much of what was in front of him. But he need not jump away, he just knew that thing wasn't dangerous in anyway.

"You don't look so good."

A boy's voice. Therefore, the thing in front of him must have been nothing else but a boy.

"Go away," he managed a snap. The first word he'd ever said in four years. The boy didn't react to his wish but he was too weak to do anything violent enough to communicate that he wanted the annoying boy to go that instant.

Two small hands were on his shoulder and he found himself wincing at the touch. With his reaction, the hands recoiled away, followed by a faint whisper of "sorry." Strange as it was, he felt discontented about the lost of contact, something he hadn't felt for years. He looked up, squeezing his eyes slightly from the light. He was able to make out a clearer vision of the boy.

The boy had mussed brown hair which stuck out in all direction, his skin was soft tan, and his eyes were a darker shade of blue from standing with his back against the sun.

"Sir, are you hurt? Let me help you," the boy said again, with a more cautious tone. But the older one could tell that the level of sincerity hadn't dropped by any degree. Only the boy was afraid, if not much, then slightly.

He was hit by a tiny feeling in his stomach that could possibly be…guilt. He shook his head slightly and the boy asked, "What?"

"No. Just…" He started. 'Leave, I'm fine, whatever, leave me alone. You're annoying, you can't help me. I said go away.' All those words were running in his head, ready to slip off his tongue. But when he opened his mouth, he found it very surprising that it came out the other way around in a single simple word: "…stay."

He wasn't sure if he'd said that due to the fact that the boy was in between his way and the sun (although only slightly due to the boy's small frame). And he didn't know when his hand had caught the smaller boy's right one, then his head leaning lightly against the boy's stomach.

They went silent.

Until he slowly looked up, he saw the boy still looked at him with the same worried expression.

"Hey…" He said softly to the boy, and he was unable to say more. He'd spent years after years in the dark and in nothingness, not uttering a single word, at least not to another human being or anything with a sense of communication. Though he rarely had trains of thoughts running in his mind, he found it strange to form the words and roll it off his tongue.

The boy shifted uncomfortably, and the flash of light that peeked through made him hiss slightly. The brunet boy seemed to notice as he suggested, "Why don't we go to the shack over there? It's pretty shady. I think you're having a heat stroke or something."

The next thing he knew, he was being dragged by the smaller boy to a shack nearby.

Despite the hot rays from the sun, the Island did have a windy, cooling breeze from the ocean. Instead of going to the shack, the vampire beckoned to the boy that he would be fine just sitting somewhere in the shadow of the trees. So they both settled near the waterfall.

He cleared his throat and glanced back at the boy, catching eye contact. Now that the soft ray of light was on the boy's face, his eyes were lighter, like a sky blue. Said eyes were still gazing at him, with a hopeful look, a mix of concern, and something like…curiosity.

'Right, I used to have those very same eyes.' A thought came into his mind.

"I'm Sora."

He blinked at the sudden introduction.

Sora flashed a cheeky grin for the first time, and he couldn't recall if he'd ever see any smile as big as this boy's, so full of emotion, so full of merriment, so full of life and light. Everything he lacked at the moment. And he found it very difficult not to return it.

A very small smile, or more like an extremely miniature curving of the mouth was all he could manage. But that didn't matter, for the boy's grin was obviously wider, if possible.

"What's your name, Sir?" The boy asked.

"Riku. Don't call me Sir." The Riku said.

"Okay, Riku. Are you okay now? Sunlight on Destiny Island does have its way of attacking tourists." Sora said with a soft chuckle and looked the taller one up and down. "I've never seen any tourist with hair and eyes like yours, not that there're many tourists around here though."

"I'm no tourist, and I'm not having heat stroke," Riku corrected, trying to ignore when the little thing was studying him, particularly his silver hair and oceanic green eyes.

"Then why are you-" Sora didn't finish the question but his eyes asked Riku. Riku never hid his identity. "We vampires are allergic to sunlight."

The boy's blue eyes widened, not in fear, not in shock, but in sheer excitement. "A vampire! But don't vampires burn under sunlight?" The boy had both his hands on the ground, inclining towards the older one, and peering up at him in near range.

It made the said vampire chuckled a little, and almost choked in doing so. He hadn't chuckled for a good number of years, let alone laugh.

"We evolved," the silveret lied with a smirk. Yet again, something he hadn't done in years.

Riku didn't feel like explaining to a kid about his being of a Nobody-vampire, which was different from a normal vampire. A kid was just a kid; he found no reason to get into details.

"Woowww," the boy voiced in awe.

Riku couldn't say he was feeling the same way. This kid right here was making him feel just about everything he had forgotten to feel in only just a short span of time since they met.

The boy lifted his hands to their eye level and the vampire raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Can I see your fangs?"

Before the vampire could say anything, small hands were already on his cheeks to bare his lips, and revealing the inhumanly sharp fangs.

In another situation or with other people, Riku would have already swatted their hands away, but he didn't this time. Instead, he found it oddly pleasant. For a moment there, he reasoned with himself that he'd forgotten how it felt like to be touched by someone else. Still, he remembered hating people touching him back then, didn't he? He decided that he would argue with himself about that matter later.

Somehow his eyes narrowed down at the boy, just enough to make the boy retract his hands.

The vampire closed his eyes in annoyance. The boy did cross line, didn't he? Though he didn't deem it wrong like he usually would, he wanted payback. "You want to try?" With that said, he bared his fangs with a small hiss.

It was enough to drive Sora to struggle a few feet away from him in fear.

Riku laughed at the sight.

Little Sora huffed in anger. "You tricked me!"

"And had fun doing it," the vampire said between his slowly, dying down laughter.

He laughed; he just laughed, and was having fun teasing the boy he'd just met. Riku himself couldn't believe it.

There was certainly something about this boy.

"You do believe me?" He asked.

The small one nodded his small head enthusiastically. "I do believe in vampire just like I believe in Santa, although Roxas told me to stop believing. But if I met a vampire today, I'm sure I'll meet Santa too." The brunet looked up at the sky with a childish anticipation shone in his eyes. All came crashing down with Riku's next words.

"Santa Claus doesn't exist."

Riku didn't know that when he said it, the statement had hit the brunet boy, hard.

"What? No way! Santa does exist!" Sora wailed in protest.

"Trust me, he doesn't," Riku responded blandly.

"I don't trust you!" The boy said; voice thick with disbelieve.

"You don't trust me?" Riku turned to Sora, grazing his hands above his heart as if he was hurt by it.

The boy was taken aback. "No. I mean…I trust you! But I don't trust your words with Santa's existence, because he exists!"

"Santa Claus doesn't exist." The vampire reiterated blandly.

"How do you know?" Sora snapped his head and glared at Riku.

The vampire shrugged again. "I just know. I've been around the worlds. There's ports where pirates exist, a space swarming with androids, town of Halloween lurking with ghosts, coliseum that held strange creatures to battle with, etc." He paused, drawing a breath. "But Santa Clause doesn't exist."

Sora's jaw dropped, blue eyes looked shock enough to make Riku feel bad for revealing this information. "But…but why? Vampires exist, why not Santa too? Maybe you're wrong! Maybe you haven't been to all the worlds just yet; there could still be other worlds you haven't explored! Or…or maybe the door to Christmas Town could be located near Halloween town and you didn't find it!"

"Holloween and Christmas? Don't you think it's a little irrelevant?" The vampire dipped his head slightly to level with Sora's shorter form.

"I don't believe you! Santa does exist!" Sora almost whined.

"Fine, I can't convince your stubborn little spiky head anyway." Riku rolled his eyes and he heard Sora growl.

A moment of silence reigned.

"Say…you have traveled to all the worlds? I want to hear about it!" The little boy said eagerly.

He'd told hundreds of people of his adventures, he couldn't remember with which person it was that boredom started to creep up on him. He thought this time would be the same.

He was wrong.

And he couldn't really grasp why. Maybe it was the undying curious look in the intense blue eyes that made him think of himself at a younger age, or maybe it was the childish energetic nature that drove him, or maybe it was everything about this kid.

Maybe it was simply because Sora was Sora.

Riku didn't know, not that he'd ever talked to any six year olds before. He knew Sora was different from any other. There was a light in him. Something Riku had long lost and abandoned.

Still, the kid asked so many questions that it started to tire him out. The vampire raised one hand in a gesture to bring a halt to the boy's questioning and thankfully, the boy shut up immediately. Riku was grateful inside, not many kids know how to shut up when they were ordered to, let alone when gestured to.

"You tired?"

And not many kids knew how to read their elders properly.

Riku smiled softly, tiredly, which resulted in Sora scratching the back of his head in…abashment? Riku raised his eyebrow at that, wondering if the hyper kid was capable of that kind of gesture.

"I'm sorry. It's just that…it's lonely. Roxas just left for Twilight Town, although for only a few weeks, but I already miss him," the kid trailed off, seeming rueful for the first time.

"Roxas?" It wasn't that Riku was interest in the said Roxas. Still, if it was anything related to Sora…

"My twin brother," Sora said as he curled up into a ball, small arms draping over small knees. "We've always been together, but our Dad has to go there for his work, Roxas was interested in going, I wasn't."

"That Twilight Town," the vampire said with recognition. "I would prefer staying at that town instead of here." He noticed the kid went quiet immediately and realized his own mistake. "Well, different people, different thoughts." He hoped that made up for it.

"I don't understand, people said that I will, when I grow up. But…isn't it that people wants to stay with their families and friends forever?" Sora asked, confused.

"No, even if they wanted to, they can't always get what they want, or be where they want. Things are complicated when you grow up." Riku's eyes trailed off to the ocean blankly. "Not that I feel any sorts of those feelings. In all honesty, I don't know myself." Riku closed his tired eyes. "You're asking the wrong person."

"You don't feel like being with anyone forever?"

The silver head shook. "I did feel entertained being around certain people. But no, I never felt like being with anyone forever."

"Who've you been with the most?"

"Myself."

Sora's brow furrowed, and his face turned sad.

"Don't look at me like that. As I've said before, I didn't want to be with anyone forever. I can stay with myself. It's been that way for years after years," the vampire said, his face void of emotion.

"Vampires do live forever, don't they?"

"Correct."

Sora didn't know what to say, not knowing what it was like to live forever. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be alone endlessly.

"Riku."

"…Yeah?"

"I like you."

"…?"

"I'm here every Sunday, will you be here again?"

Riku didn't answer. It wasn't the first time that someone had told him they liked him, nor the first time that someone asked him to come back again. But it was the first time from the six year old that was far more open and sincere than any other would be. It felt different.

The boy was waiting, and Riku found it uncomfortable, so he got up. "The sun's killing me, I have to go."

Riku believed that it would be the last thing he'd say to the boy, and it would be the last time he'd ever see the boy.

Again, he was wrong.

X

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

The light bathed the room through the window, casting soft rays on the sleeping boy who turned once and twice before his eyes slowly opened. He groggily sat up and stretched while yawning, and rubbing away drowsiness. He recalled something in a blur and trailed off to himself, "what a weird dream…Wait, it wasn't a dream, or was it? And which one was it? Or both? I don't know…"

A quick look at the clock made him decide that he should just forget it. Swinging his legs to the side, Sora got off the bed and went over his morning rituals then went downstairs, preparing for school.

Roxas was already at the kitchen table, taking a bite of the toasted bread with butter. As the brunet skipped down the stairs, his brother glanced over him, with hidden concern in his eyes.

"Morning, Roxas!" The younger brother chirped, as bright as ever.

Roxas was relieved; his younger always had a knack of making him feel that way. He smiled inside, no matter how much weight the world sometimes crushed on Sora, the boy would only go down temporarily and rebound back up again after that. He could always start anew.

"Morning, Sora." He greeted back with a warm smile, forgetting all the yesterdays. They ate their breakfast in comfortable silence. There was only the two of them; their parents had gone out for work. Though their parents were able to make it back for dinner, it was still only the two of them in the morning.

After they were done, they walked off to school. As of usual lately, Sora felt that Roxas looked kind of gloomy. "Roxas."

"Yeah?" The blond responded.

"Do you…" Sora fidgeted a little, 'arrgghhh', he'd finally voiced his thoughts, he should think of something to say, "…miss your friends?"

The taller boy blinked, thinking where that came from all of a sudden. He looked off to the horizon. "Yeah. Haynor, Pence, and Olette. They wanted to see you too Sora," Roxas said carrying a cheerful undertone. Then there was a brief moment of uneasiness in his eyes as he continued. "There was one time that we worked to earn enough munny to get train tickets and come here, but unfortunately someone stole our munny pouch."

"Don't look so down, Roxas! It's not like I can't go there, I'll come for a visit next time!" The younger one said enthusiastically. "I miss them too!"

Sora had been to Twilight Town and had only hung around with Roxas's friend for a short period of time. They got along pretty well. He only knew more about the three through Roxas. He knew that his older twin had a life at Twilight Town rather than Destiny Island. At first, Roxas had only liked the no-mornings-and-nights there. The sun was forever on the horizon. But later he'd made close friends there that stuck like glue.

"Yeah, I'll take you to explore things there; there're these seven wonders about Twilight Town which we had actually solved, but every time one riddle is solved, another just comes popping up."

"That's interesting!"

"It is. And you like the sea salt ice-cream I brought you, don't you?" As Sora nodded considerately, Roxas continued. "There's plenty there. Eating Sea Salt ice-cream while sitting on the Clock Tower, the sunset there was quite a sight to see. And…"

The brunet tilted his head to the side, studying his brother at the sudden change in expression.

Roxas looked troubled. Sora wondered if it was the result of that last thing he'd said about sea salt ice-cream and sunset. Why it was bothering Roxas, he couldn't tell. Maybe Roxas just missed that time? Or maybe he missed someone he'd spent his time eating sea salt ice-cream and watching the sunset with? Was it his friends? Was it someone else? Sora wouldn't know.

"You look sad, Roxas." Sora commented and regretted saying it as he hurriedly clamped his mouth shut. He'd always been a straightforward type.

"Hmm, I'm not that sad, dummy. I've got you here, and that's the reason I'm here anyway." The taller grinned at the smaller one.

Sora then picked up his pace, leaving Roxas slightly behind, he said back. "That's really cheesy!"

Cracking a chuckle, Roxas quickened his pace to catch up with Sora. "You started it!"

They both ran one after another to the school, while thoughts were running through Sora's mind.

'Last night…' Then his blue eyes widened in realization. 'Riku came, we talked, eh, then after that…I think it was a dream after that…me and Riku…' Sora looked up at the sky, thinking hard and stilll he couldn't remember. He tilted his head back down again and looked at the far off horizon.

'But wasn't that a dream?'

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

At school, no one brought up yesterday's event. It was like an unspoken understanding that was shared between them. Things come and go. An accident like 'Sora meeting someone and not be able to help that someone and that someone is gone' always happened since the boy himself like to jump right in when people needed help and get himself dragged along by their troubles. If at last things didn't turn out right, Sora would go back home, disappointed, but he would be recovered by the next day.

It wasn't like Sora knew this guy for a long time, so he shouldn't be worrying over a stranger that he barely knew over a day.

The brunet thought hard again. He wasn't sure if Riku had been there. To Sora, meeting Riku made him feel like he was dreaming and yet he believed it was not. Either way, he decided not to think much about it, unless he met Riku again.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

How was it? So it was revealed that Riku wasn't a normal vampire who drained blood for living. I've revised the 1st chapter as well in the beginning where Riku reflected that he was tired of killing someone else for blood. Change of plans, more about this Nobody vampire will be revealed later.

About Roxas's taste, I've just seen in youtube video where player can access Roxas's room by code or something (man, I really wanna try that but didn't know how) to look around. I've noticed that there are books, a little more than average. And room decoration that Sora and Roxas have in common is the star.

Review please?