Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, and all characters belong to their respective owners.

Homecoming

"OK! Things are looking up," Riku thought. The void he had come into from the hole was apparently either oxygen rich or had enough magic so that he didn't need to breathe. "Now, how do I get out of here?"

There didn't look to be anything in the void, much like there was nothing in Kingdom Hearts, except instead of a grey color, there was random colors splashed everywhere, and the hole he had come from and the doors of Kingdom Hearts Behind him. Riku thought for a minute, and then smacked himself on the head with his hand.

"Gah, I'm such an idiot, if I can use darkness, why not use all of the dark gifts?"

Riku felt around himself, searching for the power. Finally finding it, he grabbed a hold of it.

"Here we go."

Riku stuck out his hand and pulled on the space itself, tearing a hole through the dimensions, and then stepped through.

Riku was hip deep in water.

The sun was hot. The sand was smooth, and the water was warm. "Ahhh, its good to be home again."

Riku took a look around Destiny Islands. A lot had changed since he'd left. Many of the trees had grown bigger, and new ones were sprouting. The wooden palisade had been torn down, and the tree house had been extended, with more rooms and a diving board into the ocean.

"Wonder if anyone is around?"

Riku walked out of the water. He began by climbing the treehosue, but no one was there. He then crossed over to the other side of the island, and was surprised by what he saw.

Sora, Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, and even shy Selphie were all there. But the fact that struck Riku the most was that they were older. Much older. Kairi had grown her hair out, and Sora was now a good 6 feet. Tidus finally got a decent haircut, and carried himself much more maturely than before. Wakka was the most surprising, he was dressed like a priest. Which kinda explained Sora and Kairi's costumes: Sora in a tux, and Kairi in a wedding dress. Tidus and Selphie were there as best man and bridesmaid respectively. Judging by Tidus's nervousness, the service was almost over.

"You may now kiss the bride."

And Sora promptly did so.

After much cheering, the group walked over to where a cake lay on a table. Riku followed at a distance, not sure of what to do. Sora and Kairi cut the cake, and passed out pieces. "Now or never." Riku thought.

"Can I get one too?"

Wakka and Tidus both jumped nearly out of their skins at the sound of his voice. Selphie did a double, then a triple take, and Sora and Kairi had their mouths open so wide the cake could fit.

"Is that a no?"

"RIKU!" They all shouted.

"Riku, what are you doing here? How did you...When did...Where is...Gah! Riku, how did you get here? Why are you still so...young?" Sora (attempted) to say.

"Good to see you too." Riku replied. "Well, first I..." choke

"RIKU! Its you! Its you! Its you!" Kairi said, squeezing the life out of the poor boy. "Still a little girl at heart." Riku thought, as air continued to fail to flow into his lungs.

"Kairi cough you are choking me cough."

"OH, I'm sorry Riku." Kairi said

"Its OK, its OK."

"Riku, wheres the King?" Sora asked, finally getting a complete question.

"Let me tell you the whole story after we got stuck in Kingdom Hearts."

MM

"You got your fingers caught! HA." Tidus said. And was swiftly smacked by Wakka.

"So the King is dead? He was so helpful to us. And now you have a keyblade to? Lets see it." Sora said."Very well." Riku summoned the keyblade, instantly Sora lost a little of the joy in his eyes upon seeing the blade. Kairi and the others noticably recoiled from the blade.

"Do you still have yours Sora?"

"Yup! I've even got this 'ultima' keychain on it. Its super cool. Here, I'll show you."

Sora summoned his own keyblade, and it seemed a good six inches longer than Riku's.

"The keyblade just sorta grew along with me." Sora said, laughing as he scratched the back of his head."

Then Sora and Riku's eyes met. They both knew what it meant.

"Same place?" Riku asked.

"Right after cake, you haven't had any food in 14 years." Sora said, again with a laugh and head scratch.

"Deal."


"Good cake, butter-cream frosting right?"

"Yup, Kairi made the whole thing from scratch."

Sora and Riku were on the promontory, sitting on the bent tree, staring at the waves.

"Just to let you know, I still have the dark powers. That should even things out a little, seeing as how your are now about a foot and a half taller than me."

"I kinda figured from the keyblade design. You still in control or is…"

"Still me, just think of it as I have a new tool to use."

"Ok then, no need to hold back."

Riku hopped off of the branch and summoned Betrayal.

"Lets get started."

Sora took his time getting off the branch, finally standing up, taking off his tuxedo jacket and tie, and summoning Ultima.

"Shouldn't we be using wooden...WHOA." was all Sora had time to say before he had to throw his blade up to block the overhead strike. Both men grinned. Sora then charged, swinging left to right, right to left, then turned and spun, trying to hit Riku in the side, only to find the boy's blade right in the way.

"Come on Sora, stop holding back!"

Riku did a short hop back, then swung in the air, instantly he was back to back against Sora. Both turned to their right and swung, both blades collided between them. Sora placed his off hand on the grip, while Riku placed his behind the teeth of his blade. Sora jumped and pushed off Riku's blade, then began to execute Ars Arcanum. Riku had expected this, and jumped high to avoid the ground attack, then he pointed his blade to the ground where Sora's attack would end, and let himself fall, putting all his weight on the tip of his blade. Sora barely had time to jump out of the way as Betrayal was buried in the sand.

"Smooth moove, now you have to get it out." Sora laughed.Riku just smirked, then formed dark energy into a ball and threw it at Sora. It hit him squarely in the chest, burning through the shirt and winding him. Riku casually pulled his blade out.

"Is this all you have Sora?"

In reply, Sora threw Ultima, Riku easily dodged it. Riku started to pull energy for another ball, when he was struck on the back by Sora's keyblade. Riku hit the dirt face first, then bounced back up, rubbing his back.

"New move huh?"

"I didn't spend all this time seducing Kairi."

Riku grinned. "HIDDEN DOOR" He held the keyblade aloft as the ring of energy surrounded the promontory, but this time, instead of charging from the middle of the circle, he appeared behind Sora. Sora jumped left, only to duck as Riku sailed overhead. The ground at Sora's feet suddenly got very hot, and he jumped to the right to avoid the flame, only to get sideswiped by Riku. Sora tried to get a lock on Riku, but the boy kept appearing and disappearing too quickly. The hotfoot that the gouts of flame were giving him was not helping. Then the magic cut out, and the circle was gone. Riku was crouched behind Sora, then, as the boy looked up, expecting an aerial attack, Riku swung at Sora's legs tripping the man and sending him flat on his back. Sora instinctively struck out with the keyblade, but Riku caught Ultima in the teeth of Betrayal and sent it flying away. Riku pointed his blade at Sora's throat.

"New move, but same predictability. You always did look to the clouds first, hopefully your wife will keep your feet on the ground."

Riku stuck out his hand, and pulled Sora up. Sora examined his tuxedo.

"Good thing i took the jacket and tie off, that force ball you burned a hole right through the shirt."

"Sorry about, we probably should have waited until after your wedding day for the welcome home fight."

"Nah, its ok, this was my dad's old tux, he won't mind. I hope."

Both of them laughed. Riku yawned as he waved goodbye to Sora, hand in hand with his new wife. Riku started out towards home. But when he got there, the house that he and his parents had lived in was gone.

"After Sora told them what happened to you, you know, they left after a while ya?" Wakka said, putting a hand on Riku's shoulder. "If you want, you can sleep at the temple, ya. I'll even forget about rent since you've been gone so long hahahahaha." Wakka said, with his characteristic laugh.

"Sure Wakka, I need a place to kinda sort things out."

"Anytime bro, you know the way right?" Wakka said, walking off.

"As long as you haven't moved it." Riku replied. Wakka just waved his hand in the air.

"Hopefully that's an affirmative." Riku thought. He headed out in the direction of the temple. He hadn't spent much time there, but it was a small island, and he hadn't been far away for that long (in his time, at any rate.)

"The island hasn't changed much for 14 years." Riku thought, the hardware store, (where he and Sora had gotten their wooden swords), grocery, and yup, there was the temple, Wakka hadn't moved it. A few more homes, but that was about it. Riku yawned again.

"Definetly need some sleep." Riku headed into the temple, and then headed into the back rooms, he found a comfortable couch, and dragged a blanket out of a nearby drawer. And promptly fell asleep.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

a/n:Time for a dream sequence, and i think I'll try to a little more space between the long battles.