"Riku!"

He was always running after his friend, arms outstretched, trying to catch him. If he didn't get to him in time, Sora knew he would never see him again. The thought alone was terrifying. Never to see Riku again. He'd lost him once, twice was simply too much.

"Sora." His friend turned, a gentle smile on his face, and in an equally gentle motion he held out his hand. "Come with me, Sora. Don't be afraid." Afraid. Sora wasn't afraid. To go with Riku was exactly what he wanted. That was what he was running for, but time was running out. If they couldn't clasp hands soon they would be separated forever.

Sora remembered that he had done this before, run after Riku, desperately trying to get at him, but at the last second a wall jumped up between them. It was an invisible wall, one that allowed him to see his friend right in front of him, forever unable to reach him. It was invisible, but Sora knew what it was. It was the wall that separated those of the Light from those of the Dark. Riku was on one side, and Sora was on the other. That had happened before, and he couldn't let it happen again.

His legs screamed at him as he pushed himself forward even harder, until their fingers finally touched, and, smiling, Riku took his hand. "I made it," he told the older boy, bowing his head to try and catch his breath. "I got to you in time."

He heard a laugh, but it wasn't Riku's. "In time? Silly boy, you will never make it in time."

Sora looked up, just as a dark hand grabbed his friend's shoulder, and jerked him back. Sora clung to Riku's hand, trying to pry him back to his side, but it was a futile effort. Their hands were separated, and as Riku struggled, Ansem pulled him close. "He's mine," Ansem told him, placing a hand over Riku's heart as he continued to silently struggle against the hold. "His blood belongs to me!"

Sora's eyes opened, and he gave a small gasp. He was in bed, but he felt like he'd actually been running...and running, only to never catch up. Dream Ansem's final words continued to echo in his ears.

"A nightmare?"

Groggily, Sora shifted his eyes to the end of his bed, where Riku had perched himself with a book. No doubt it was one of Jack's. The living skeleton had an entire library full. "Yeah..."

Though he did not look at him, Riku's lips quirked into a sympathetic smile. "Don't pay it any mind. Now that Ansem is in the world, the Dark has more influence, even on those of the Light."

"But Ansem's the heart aspect. Nightmares are of the mind."

"True, but the presence of one strengthens them all. They were all one person, once." The book was shut with a snap, and Riku slid himself off the bed. HIs next words changed the topic completely. "My magic is back."

"Yeah?" Rubbing his eyes, Sora sat up. It was the second day since the events of Halloween. It had felt like it had been forever ago, yet it also felt like it hadn't been long enough. After a good night's sleep, Riku had seemed well enough, but he had still been pale and had occasionally stopped mid-sentence to look at something that Sora could not see. He'd wanted Riku to get better, but he had also not wanted to see him get worse, and it had been terrible to watch him go through that. "Are you going to heal yourself now?"

"No," his friend shook his head. "That would be rude. Sally has done all she can to help me. Healing myself would be like saying all her effort was for nothing. I'll finish healing on my own." Sora wasn't really sure he completely agreed, but he wouldn't argue. Riku could and would do what he wanted. "I wanted to tell you right away though."

"Because we're leaving now?"

Riku nodded. "I'm sure Squall is plenty worried about his apprentice by now. Maybe he even cares enough to go looking for you. It's best to get you home. Besides," the young man shrugged, "We've intruded upon our hosts too long. Let's go say goodbye."

Goodbye did not take long, but Sora found himself smiling, and feeling like it wasn't really goodbye. Sally's stitched smile and Jack's own toothy one portrayed that they expected to see them both again before too long. Guardians were supposed to avoid this place like the plague, but Sora found himself thinking that coming here again seemed like a nice idea. The people were accepting of everyone, which was something Sora thought was important. Not enough people did.

With fond farewells out of the way, he and Riku made their way out of town. The air felt heavier the more they walked, and soon Sora realized it was the Dark he felt. Its rise in power. Every shadow seemed darker, the sky more clouded, the trees more bare. Worst of all was the silence, it seemed denser, and, as it always did, the silence drove Sora to ask a question. "How long will it take us to get to Hollow Bastion from here?"

The answer was immediate. "Two or three days, if we move at a reasonable pace. Traverse is between here and there, so we'll stop there for food and water when we arrive."

Sora nodded. He had been to Traverse a time or two with Squall for missions. Traverse was one of the few Sections of their Region where Light and Dark both resided without conflict. A place where they didn't bother each other and came to meet in the middle, and that made sense, considering it was halfway between Hallow Bastion, a place of Light, and Halloween, a place of Dark. Even so, a guardian was often called in to take care of disputes. Servants of the Dark always rose up eventually. He was sure there would be more problems in Traverse with the strength of the Dark on the rise.

For all the pressure the Dark placed on him, the first day of their travel was uneventful, and they reached Traverse by nightfall. They ate, stocked up, and slept in an inn, all of which left Sora feeling truly rested and sated for the first time since he had set for Enchanted Dominion with Squall. Riku was up well before Sora, if he'd slept at all, but Riku had even let the apprentice guardian sleep in. Then they paid the innkeep, a scruffy looking man named Hanekoma, and made their way onward.

That was when trouble decided to strike.

Riku sensed it first, coming to a stop, and the moment his friend stopped walking, Sora sensed it too, a great amount of Dark pressing on him. "Heartless?"

"Maybe some, but I think it's mostly something far worse." That didn't give Sora much to go on. Heartless were to be pitied, freed, to hopefully have their hearts return to their bodies, but they weren't something awful to fight, unless you came across an especially strong one. Almost anything was worse.

What Riku meant came to light quite quickly. There were Heartless, a few lowly Shadows, drifting in and out of view, it was what they followed that was the threat. The figure staggered, but never quite fell over. Its gait reminded Sora of Riku, when his head injury had been at its worst. As it came closer, Sora realized it was a person, but there was something off about them, aside from the gait. Her, for it was a her, had matted, filthy hair, torn clothes, and what looked like open wounds. As she came even closer, Sora saw movement on her skin, and he felt bile come up in his throat when he realized they were maggots. "A...witch?" That was what the pressure suggested. It was that sort of a power.

"Worse," Riku's voice was soft, barely audible. "A dead witch." His friend took a defensive stance, and Sora knew why. He had never come across a dead witch, but Squall had told him horror stories from the few times his own master had come across one. For one reason or another, a dead witch came back if they were not properly taken care of, and what was worse was that they often had stronger powers. Their bodies, minds, and hearts all rotted, but they moved while they did it. What could be worse than that? No matter what kind of witch they had been in life, they had only one objective; drinking blood.

By now, the dead witch was close enough to them for Sora to see that before she had come back, the crows had gotten to her eyes, but her mouth was intact, and when she was about ten feet away from them, she opened it, and spoke in a grating voice that felt like it could make his ears bleed. "I smell a Light, and I smell a brother."

"You smell me," Riku hissed. "But I am no brother of yours."

The witch's head moved back and forth as though she could not tell where his voice was coming from. She licked her lips, and then said, "Then you are with the Light. I will put a stop to that!"

"I think not." The mage beside him crouched down, and then, like a rabbit, sprung at the woman, knocking her fully on her back. She struggled and trashed against Riku, her claw-like hands scratching at his face, her jaw opening and closing incessantly, filed teeth trying to find their way into Riku's skin. "Sora!" Riku called for him, but Sora was already moving, keyblade drawn.

"Move, Riku!" He swung his blade high, and at the last moment Riku rolled to one side, and, as he swung Oathkeeper down, the woman sat up, and the blade went in deep. She shrieked, but then fell back again and was silent.

Sora pulled his blade out of her chest with a sickening squelch, and he stepped back. "Is she dead now? For real?" That was something Squall had never really told him, or something he hadn't bothered to remember, how to kill something that was already dead. Did you just kill it again, or what?

"No," the silver haired boy moved forward again, kneeling down beside her, "but she will be. You should look away." Riku advised him to avert his eyes, but Sora didn't. He wanted to see. Riku didn't want him to know what he was going to do, what he might be becoming by doing what it took, but Sora wanted to know. Sora didn't want there to be secrets between them. Not a single one.

The mage pushed his sleeve up, reached down, his fingers ghosting over the wound that Oathkeeper had inflicted a moment before. Then, as though he had gathered his resolve, he plunged his hand into it, black blood bubbling up out of the wound and over his hand. The sight was disgusting, but the sound was worse. It was a mixture of rotting flesh and splintering bone, and it bothered Sora to the point of feeling more bile in the back of his throat. If he could trust Riku's own expressions, his friend was no better off.

After a few moments, Riku wrenched his hand back out, and Sora saw what he'd been looking for. The witch's heart was clenched tightly in his hand. "Fira." The word was mumbled, but it took effect, leaving no doubt that Riku's magic had returned. The heart in his hand burst into flame, and then drifted off into ashes. "Disgusting..." the mage shook his hand, and spatters of the witch's blood flung off onto the ground around them.

"Is that how you do it?" Sora asked, his arms limp at his sides. "You burn their heart?"

"Or eat it." Riku added with a shrug. "Blood witches especially like them, because they contain all the power." Sora knew that blood witches would eat hearts as well as drink blood, but was it true? Did the heart really hold all the power? "Sora."

Sora tore his eyes away from the now truly dead witch's corpse to gaze at his friend's face. "Yes?"

"When you kill me," Sora's heart dropped. There it was. He'd pushed it to the back of his mind, but here at last was the confirmation he'd feared. Maleficent had told Riku that Sora would kill him. He couldn't accept it, but he couldn't find the words to say it either. "Take my heart and destroy it. There could be nothing worse than for me to come back as...that."

"I can't do that." Sora looked toward the ground. That wasn't just some small favor that Riku was asking of him. He was asking him to burn, or even eat, the heart of his best friend. "I can't kill you twice."

"Sora. I know I'm asking a lot of you, it's a dark thing to do, but I'm asking you now, before we're not on the same side anymore. I'm not always one to blow my own horn, but I'm powerful. By the time I die I am going to be a servant of the Dark. If I come back, that will be tenfold. I'll keep my mind and the memories in my heart for a while, but even then, I'll just kill. Seek vengeance on you. I can't stand the thought. Put my heart at ease, Sora. When you kill me; destroy my heart. Promise me, Sora." There was a short pause during which Sora felt like time stood still. "Please."

Sora bit his lip. The please told him how much this really meant to Riku, but Sora felt like he couldn't kill his friend, let alone burn or eat his heart. He also knew that Riku knew that once he made a promise, he would be bound to keep it. He could not break a promise, it just went against his very being. He sighed, he had to say something. "If..." he began. "If I'm there when you die," he could not, would not, say that he would kill his own best friend. He couldn't. "I will make sure you don't come back. I promise." It wasn't really very specific, but he stared at the mage, hoping that it would be enough.

Riku nodded, and Sora breathed a sigh of relief. It was enough. "Now."

The apprentice's heart fluttered. "Now?" There was more?

"Now would you take care of these?" His friend drew back his foot and kicked at a shadow Heartless that had dared to come too close. It rolled back over the dying grass of autumn before it melted away into the ground, only to pop up somewhere to his left a moment later. "They are beginning to be a nuisance."

Sora grinned a little, despite the dead witch, and despite their conversation. At least he knew about Heartless. "That I can do."