Before starting I just want to leave something clear: this is not yaoi, it's never been, and it'll never be.

Disclaimer: I don't own kingdom hearts or it's characters.

Keyblade's Will

Chapter IV

"Kiss him goodbye"

Mickey sighed as he hid his face in his hands. He knew it was never easy to tell a mother about a son's death, but this was beyond his expectations. He was prepared for fear, he was prepared for rage and utter heartbreak and even to be call a liar, but never-even in his wildest dream- expected Sora's mother to react this way. Never.

A woman sat silently over the family couch in her living room. The dead body of her son laid on it, resting his head on her lap the same way she had done when he was only a child, still scared of his nightmares and dependant of her love. Her eyes were filled with adoration as she looked at him with a gentle smile. Her mouth moved singing a lullaby to ensure his peaceful rest. Her hands caressed his brown locks, so slowly, so softly, it was lovely to see. Then she would take his face in her hands and lower her head to give him a kiss. She would kiss his cold forehead to ensure the sweet dreams, a kiss to each cheek to make him smile, a kiss to the chin to make him proud, a kiss to the nose to let him know she was there and finally a kiss to each eye telling him to be brave. No monsters or bad dreams will come close to her son again.

It killed the king to see the mother kissing her son to sleep. Because that's what she said he was, sleep. She ignored every explanation, every one's words; she just took her baby to rest with her on the couch. It was his birthday, and he was allowed to sleep in as much as he wanted to. She will wait for him to come back from dreamland, after all, she had waited a year a half for him to come back, and she would do it again.

Worried about her well being, Cloud and Leon tried to make her understand that ignoring the truth would not bring him back to life. But she ignored them anyway. And when they tried to recover the body, to their surprise, the two friends of the fallen key bearer stood in front of them, shielding the mother from their intentions. They will be there with her, making sure he was comfortable, they promised. She looked at Riku and thanked him for keeping his promise and bringing him back to her for his birthday. When he smiled at her, the king widened his eyes so much he thought they would fall from their sockets. But the young boy paid no mind to his reaction, he just told her he wished she had been there to see Sora smile so much before going to sleep. Kairi told her about how much fun they had, and that the boy must have been so very exhausted.

The king couldn't believe they were playing along that lie. He was worrying about their own mental sanity, especially when they both took a seat on each side of the couch's feet. Kairi sat on the floor, next to Sora's mom. She still held to the hand of her dearest friend. She rubbed it gently as if trying to share some of her body heat with his deadly cold fingers, as if those movements were to make them move to take hers with the care they had done before. Riku kept silent as he sat by Sora's feet, his eyes watching how these two women covered his dearest friend with affection.

Leon and Cloud couldn't feel worst. They had been banned -by the guarding teen- from approaching. But they needed to hurry, the later they examined the body, the more clues they could lose. They needed to do something.

That's when someone ringed the door's bell.

"Might be your friends," whispered the mother to her son. "Riku, dear, would you please go answer? Please tell them that Sora is still sleeping, maybe they could come later, or wait for him to wake up?"

The silver haired boy simply nodded his head and left the room. His eyes giving a warning to the other occupants, if they did anything, Riku would know.

There was no sound for a while except from the sound of the sweet lullaby, but then, they heard a loud whaling cry; it seemed to be a girl's. Riku came back inside, by his side, a young boy with orange hair and big muscles entered. His face was grim, but calm. He didn't even pay attention to the weird people in the room, his gaze landed on his friend's body. A sudden tender shine entered his saddened eyes.

"So it's true," he said with a sense of finality.

"Yeah," said Riku with a sigh.

"Wakka, dear, thanks for coming, but he is still asleep. I'm sorry, but we'll celebrate later, ok?" the mother said softly while caressing her child's cheek.

If the boy was startled, he hid it very well. His calm face turned into a gentle smile as he said politely:

"Sure thing, Ma'am."

Riku sighed again, as if he was to do something annoying.

"He sure has some ways to fall sleep thought. To do this when he knew his mother was waiting," he grumbled.

"He's just a lazy bum like always," mumbled Kairi.

"That's true," answered him with another smile. Then the boy walked towards the mother touching her shoulder lightly and leaning down a little. "Ma'am, is it Ok if I take him to his room? He surely will rest better on his bed than the couch don't you think?"Mickey was surprised at how much Sora's mom trusted him, for she agreed almost immediately.

Kairi nodded towards Riku, who answered it back with his own. Then he leaned down and with utter care, took his friend's body away from his mother. It was slightly difficult since it was beginning to stiff, but it wasn't too bad either. The mother watched the 'sleeping' form of her son being taken away and for an instance she almost run to take him back, but was stopped by Kairi, who sat by her side and leaned her head against her shoulder. Silently, Kairi gave her permission to caress her hair and embrace her tightly. Riku nodded again to his friend.

Walking a little he turned to Wakka.

"Would you take care of things down here for a while?" he asked tiredly. Wakka nodded without thinking it twice.

Riku walked to the hallway that leaded to the stairs and without looking at them, he said to his other friends.

"Follow me," and without a question Cloud, Leon and Mickey followed.

Finally on his friend's room, the tired teen laid Sora's body on his former bed and looked at his peaceful face before backing away.

"OK… you may search him now," he said as he sat on the carpeted floor of the room.

Cloud and Leon nodded and moved to do their job, but Mickey stayed behind beside his friend. It was obvious to Riku that the king mouse wanted to ask him something.

"Before you even ask, let me tell you that we are not going crazy," declared the boy as he closed his eyes, feeling so very tired. "We did what was necessary in order to avoid her from braking. We promised to Sora not to allow her to break… no matter what…"

Mickey sat down by his side.

"Then… the whole sleeping thing…"

"If believing that he is asleep makes her continue to exist, then it's fine for her to believe it," he rubbed his eyes with his right hand before sighing again. " No matter what, she must survive."

Mickey found an underlying meaning on his words. He mentioned a promise. He didn't want the teen to concentrate on the work the others were doing nor did he want to, so he decided to ask.

"Can you tell me about this promise of yours?"

Riku looked at the ceiling with clouded eyes.

"Well, by now I'm sure you have guessed that Sora's dad is not around, right?" the king nodded sadly. "When he was nine, Sora's dad got sick and died. That day his mom almost went crazy. She used to consider her family her whole life. Sora would come to my home constantly, scared, telling me his mom wanted to go away with his daddy." Riku hid his face in his arms as he leaned against his knees. The king didn't know what to say. "It was by far, the darkest time of his short life. The lady was hysteric, she wanted to follow her husband so bad… even at the cost of leaving her only son alone," Riku looked at the little bedside table and pointed to the picture in it. The king took it in his hand and watched at it in awe. "The man carrying Sora is his dad. As you can see, they were really alike," the man had a strong looking body, but he had Sora's eyes and his tan skin, thou he was blond. "It was the resemblance with his dad that made her remain sane. Sora allowed her to let out her grief by crying and holding him against her chest. He did what Kairi is doing right now, just being there for her to let out whatever she needed to let out," Riku chuckled a little. "He acted so mature then… it was almost frightening…I used to get so mad at her for making Sora her scapegoat. I would shout at her, telling her to accept that uncle Toshirou was dead," Riku's body trembled with his voice. "But Sora would always ask me to let her be, in time, her heart would heal… in time she would finally understand… in time…" the king placed his hand on the teen's shoulder, Riku was getting lost in his memories, and he was being swallowed by misery. "He would act so matured then… I was scared… I thought that someone had taken my friend and replaced him with someone else… I was scared that she had hurt him badly… Kairi thought so as well…"

Riku turned to look at the ceiling and recovered his composure, thou it seemed to be lost. "That's when he asked us to promise… He asked us to promise that we will help him to keep her alive. Even if he couldn't, he wanted her to be safe… we thought it was his grief for having lost his father so soon… we thought he was finally crumbling by the stress, so we agreed in order to help him feel better… it seemed so important for him right then…" Mickey finally could see them, Riku was crying. "I never once thought it was going to become so real…" he said with a painful sob. "How did he do it? How did he manage not to crumble in front of her? I was there just two hours, it's been only two hours and I can't keep this inside any longer! Kairi is barely hanging there! How the hell did he manage to survive it!" he cursed feeling so week, so small, so afraid. "Just how strong do I need to be?" he whispered as he was consumed by his wrecking sobs.

Unable to find the right words, the king simply sat down next to his crying friend and rubbed his back slightly. Mickey wished he could help someway… if only they knew what had happened.

An hour later, Riku and the King where still sitting on the floor, but the boy seemed slightly better, he had let out much of the pressure in his chest, and thou he was still suffering, he could hold it better. That's when the two older warriors turned around to share their findings. Their faces seemed to tell bad news.

"So?" asked the king with nervousness.

"We searched his whole body for a sign of aggression…" said Cloud.

"Also for any kind of perforation or minimal wound…" added Leon. "But… even after performing the typical tests… we've found nothing," he said tightening his fists.

"What do you mean by nothing?" asked Riku startled.

"He means to say, that we don't know what may have caused this." Growled Cloud, he was feeling very frustrated by then.

"There must be something, no one just goes and dies like that!" exclaimed the King.

"Well, we found nothing," Leon turned to the boy's body. "But we haven't tried yet to do an autopsy… with a qualified healer it may…"

"NO," said Riku with determination taking everyone by surprise. "No one is going to open my friend up; there must be some other way!"

Everyone tried to think about it…

"Well… if normal procedures ain't helping …" said the king in thought. "Then how about a magical inspection?"

Everyone looked at the king, their expressions clearly said that they didn't get that quite right.

"That would be like an autopsy, but done through magic spells, the body won't have to be harmed and it would tell if another spell was used on him," the idea seemed to actually appease the young boy's mind.

"Is there someone in your crew that can make that?" asked Leon considering the possibilities.

"Well… actually, Donald could, but I doubt that in his condition he can even cast a basic fire spell," everyone seemed to get down at that. "But! How about we take him to Master Yen Sid!" he proposed. "Master Yen Sid is the greatest magician I know. If anyone can find the truth, that's him!"

By looking at his friend's determined face Riku felt relieved of his worry. He soon agreed to do that. Cloud seemed to think it a good idea, but Leon worried how they were going to be able to get Sora out of the house without making his mother getting a mental breakdown.

"Don't worry about it. Let us care about that." Said the teen.

It was difficult, but they finally convinced the mother that her son needed to go on a travel. They'll bring him back as soon as he wakes up, they promised. Maybe she knew she was acting crazy, maybe she finally went mad. Either way, she simply declared that she was angry with her child for not taking her feelings into account. She didn't want him back till he was awake enough to properly apologize for not letting her be part of his birthday. This was all they could get out of her before she went inside her house, not to come out again.

Riku and Kairi explained the situation to their own parents and even against their will they soon took the things they needed and headed to the gummi ship. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie promised to look after Sora's mom.

"When you know what happened… don't forget to come and tell us, ya?" said Wakka with a lower voice than it was used for him.

"Of course," said Riku shaking his hand.

Tidus got closer to his friend, a deep frown on his face. It was obvious that he was making all he could to keep his emotions in control.

"Riku…" he said, his voice laced with some anger. " If you find out who did this… could you tell me?" his fist shook in anger. "I know I'm not as special as you, Kairi or S-Sora… but, if there's even a chance of me giving the responsible a piece of my mind!" Riku noted both fists going white. "I won't be able to sleep well, not till I know!" he lowered his head feeling close to tears.

Riku placed a hand on his shoulder. Both looked into each other's eyes. Riku nodded.

"Count on it," he said firmly.

It had been evening when they left destiny Island. It took them all night to reach the castle of mysteries.

The travel to master Yen Sid's castle was a quiet one. No one dare say anything. The body of their friend rested on the bed at the infirmary and it seemed that no one wanted to be by his side this time. Maybe no one wanted to remember it, even Kairi and Riku. Who knew? But even when they arrived, they kept the body covered by the baby blue blanket. No one said a word. They just went inside.

At the last level of the castle, a tall man with a strong presence awaited for their arrival, inside his head the reason for their journey to see him had been revealed by the stars.

The door opened slowly, the sound of old hinges moving seemed more foreboding than usual.

"Master Yen sid," said the voice of his dearest apprentice. It was laced with pain and he knew that the stars had been right.

"The stars tell me a sad story; a few of them seem to have lost their normal luster. Might you and your companions, my dear friend, be the bearers of a tragedy?" he said without turning around, his gaze lost in the stars.

"I'm afraid it is, master."

Riku entered the room carrying Sora's body. That morning when he saw his face, he just couldn't recognize his friend in that corpse, he felt now –more than ever- that his friend was truly gone. Kairi walked by him, looking with a slight sense of curiosity to the surroundings of this magical place. No one else came, everyone else decided to remain on the gummi, awaiting the master's answer.

The old wizard turned around when he felt the princess of heart closing the door. His face was grave, a sad frown placed on it by his long eyebrows. His gaze stopped over the form that was being carried by the keybearer of dawn. He felt the air leaving him as he took sit on his own personal throne. As a Master, this was a great loss.

Moving his hand over his desk he cast a spell making his books disappear.

"Bearer of dawn, please, may you place the bearer of light over here? This way I may do what you came here to ask me to do."

Riku, already feeling numb from all the things they've been through since the other morning, proceeded to place the body of his friend over the desk, removing the blanket and backing away. Kairi seemed to be a little uncomfortable by this.

"Worry not, my dearest princess. I shall not infringe any damage to your dear friend." He said reassuring her. The wizard looked over the body of the young man he knew held the key of so many destinies together and felt a soft burning on the corner of his tired eyes. He soon closed them and rubbed them gently with his fingers. The king got closer to his former teacher.

"Master, is there something wrong?" he asked with worry. "Is there something I can do to help?"

The master opened his eyes thinking about the question.

"Oh, yes, there is. Mickey, could you go fetch Flora, Fauna and Merry weather? Tell them to prepare some tea for all our guests. Explain them the situation and tell them to tend first to the ones waiting downstairs for I need to concentrate here."

"Yes master." The king soon left the room through another door at the other side of the room.

"Now, please, tell me what happened while I inspect him? I need every detail you could give."

The two friends told the wizard the story as he moved his hands over their friend's body. He never touched Sora, he kept a few centimeters away from him, which made them feel a little more at easy. The master would make some comments from time to time about their story like "uh-huh" or "so that happened" but never more than that. Then he moved to be by the side of Sora's head and whispered some weird words. A soft light covered the corpse and lifted forming a soft orb of light that the master took in his hands. It was at this time that the king returned.

"Master?" he asked knowing by the light that the exam was over.

The wizard opened his eyes and looked over at the three waiting friends. Then sighed.

"I'm afraid, that the answer to the question you seek, isn't very pleasant, my friends," at his words the three closed in to the desk.

"Even if so, I need to know. What did this to Sora, please answer me, sir?" said Riku with great determination.

"Whatever the answer, there's nothing you can actually do about it, do you understand this young ones?" said the master with a solemn expression.

"We understand Master Yen Sid, please, tell us." Answered Kairi.

"Very well," the master stood up and turned to look at the stars again. "Sometimes, things that happen around us seem unfair and unreasonable, yet sometimes, those things are simply meant to happen, and they are supposed to be for the sake of much greater things than we can't even imagine. Some things happen without a real cause, and no one but the bearer of the tragedy knows the real meaning of their occurrence."

The master took a second to recover his breath before continuing.

"What's happened to your friend is sad, yet it was simply meant to happen, and no one is actually to be blamed for that."

Riku snapped.

"WHAT?" he tried to throw himself at the wizard but was stopped by the king.

"Riku, please, stop!" he screamed.

"ARE YOU SAYING MY FRIEND WAS MEANT TO DIE? ARE YOU FRIKIN' SAYING SORA JUST SIMPLY DIED? JUST LIKE THAT?"

"Riku, I'm sure that we may have misu-"

"I'm afraid that no one nor anything had attacked your friend, bearer of the dawn," Said the master with a powerful voice stopping his apprentice from finishing. "You may see it the way it is now and always. Your friend simply went to sleep, and he never woke up. There's no wounds nor spells. Not other reasons for this. It just happened, because it has."

Riku tried to thrown himself at him again. "NO! IT CAN'T," angry tears were falling from his eyes. No one simply died just because!

"You may stop a second bearer of dawn and consider how much your words can hurt the friend that you still have left by your side," he said and pointed to his desk. Riku turned just to see Kairi, crying softly, holding one of Sora's stiff hands. He immediately shut up, biting hard on his lower lip; he fell down, sitting where the King was holding him, crying bitterly.

"It's as if he had gone to sleep and he just didn't wake up," she mumbled between sobs. "It means, he didn't suffer, right?" she turned to look at the old wizard. "Sora… he, didn't felt any pain or anguish did he?" she asked, begging him to tell her.

The old magician walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He smiled, not a happy smile, but a sympathetic one.

"If you wish, you may see it yourself," he said, showing her the little orb of light he held with utmost care on his right hand.

"See?" asked the tired Riku.

"Indeed. Using a spell, I extracted this. It's a piece of Sora's memories, the last ones that hold on to him before he… fell into his deep sleep. I can show them to you two, only if you promise to hold them, dear and close to your hearts, always," the two friends got closer to the wizard. "Consider them, a gift, from him to you both…" the room was filled with light and everything else disappeared from their sight.

(Memories)

It was a weird mixture of images. They seemed a little bit cloudy.

The boy stood up from his resting position. With much care he placed the sleeping girl softly on the ground, allowing her to keep on dreaming. He turned to see his best friend snoring softly and chuckled. He felt a little embarrassed about what he did next, but nevertheless he did it. He gently placed a kiss on the girl's forehead and then one on the boy's… the last one made him feel a little silly, but he had so many emotions running inside him, he didn't knew other way to convey them to the both.

The boy stood up and slowly went away from them.

Then the memories went blank for a few seconds.

The next ones were of the boy, placing a blanket over his dear friends, each time saying a soft "goodnight" to them.

Then the memories went white again.

The next image was of him walking by the shore with his own blanket in one hand, the more he walked, the more tired he became. He wanted to sleep so badly. He turned to look at his favorite spot at the paopu palm tree's trunk.

The memories skipped till a part where he was already at the paopu palm tree.

He wondered where he left his blanket, but that didn't matter much. He was so exhausted. His body barely answered him. For a second he wondered:

"Am I doing the right thing?" he said in a weak voice. He climbed the tree with the last strength he had and rested his head against the trunk. "I promised I wouldn't get sick… I feel kinda sick thou… kinda tired" His eyes began to close against his will. The sky was still dark, it was just before the dawn. "Riku might want to hit me… Kairi too…" his eyelids felt like they weighted tons. "So tired… so…" and everything simply went black. There was no pain in these memories, no anguish. If anything, there was some comfort, some warm feelings of welcome to the darkness that enveloped the keyblade bearer's mind. Sora was at peace.

The light faded away, and the orb was gone from the magician's hand. Two friends lay crying on the floor. Both of them so sad, both of them so mad and both of them so relieved. It was obvious that no one had done any wrong to Sora before he fell asleep, and that made them so terrified. They were so scared that their friend actually left them like that. But Sora seemed so unaware, so simply at easy before dying, just as Yen Sid had said, he simply went to sleep, and forgot to wake up.

"Damn… DAMN!" screamed the teen hitting the floor with his fist.

All this while, the king could only observe from a distance, unable to do anything, unable to give comfort of any kind. He felt… useless.

And that would be something he would feel, many times in the near future.

Well, there it was. I hope you guys liked it. It's been a long while since I've updated, but I just couldn't help it much xD.

Thanks to my friend Sazdx who beta this for me. And see you in the next chapter.