Hey everyone! I know it's been a little while since I last updated this and I'm really sorry, but these are the last couple of chapters coming up so I kind of had a little brain fart on how to end it but now I'm good and I'm going even if this chapter is a little shorter than other ones. Lol. But I really tried and at least I have gotten it up. Thank you all to those who have read and reviewed this as far as it has gone so far. Lol. :D:D Well I really hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I hope to have the next one up soon. :D:D

A Hard Choice

Axel and Demyx came over and Demyx rubbed my head with a wide grin on his face.

"So we're all accounted for now?" Demyx wondered with a smile.

Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and the mouse came running over to us as well and we crowded the beach.

"Axel, didn't you fade into the darkness?" Sora asked with a cocked eyebrow, "You know, I was right there."

"I thought I did too, but when I opened my eyes I was here," Axel explained quietly.

'I wonder what's wrong with Axel…'

"How does that work?"

Now Sora was even more confused.

"I guess we'll never know," Riku stated, about to start walking away from everyone.

"Where are you going?" Donald asked.

"I want to go to a place I haven't been in a long time."

Riku pulled me along behind him towards the waterfall and little pond. Beside it was the cave that Sora and Kairi had spent so much time in. 'I think something's going on that I'm not aware of…'

"Demi, I want to show you something," Riku started quietly, "Something that has changed over the past two years."

"Alright," I agreed, nodding my head.

Everyone on the beach split up. Sora and Kairi went to the dock. Donald, Goofy, and the king stayed on the beach, looking out into the ocean and talking about how they were going to get home. Axel and Demyx went back to the little island, watching the sun in the sky.

"I can't stop wondering if she'll be happy with him," Axel nearly whispered.

"Well, we're going to stay until she doesn't want us around anymore," Demyx said with a smile, "We won't leave otherwise… Besides, it's not like we can leave. We're on an island!"

Axel smiled slightly at those words. There was much truth behind them because they were on an island with nowhere to go.

"If he hurts her, then I'll watch over Demi… I'll protect her so she doesn't have to fight anymore."

"Agreed. We won't let her stay by herself," Demyx nodded with a grin on his face.

Things fell silent for a few moments except for the sound of the ocean and the waves.

"So Demyx, did the duck bite you?"

Demyx's face froze for a moment and then as the silence drew on, both ex-Organization members burst out laughing.

Riku led me into the cave and my blue eyes wandered over the tunnel until we came to the actual cave. There were drawings all over the rocks in white from other rocks being rubbed against them.

"Wow," I half laughed, "You guys really had a hay day in here, didn't you?"

"Kairi and Sora did most of them, but I only did a few," he said quietly, looking around the cave as well.

'The door… I remember that always being there… We always wondered where it led to.' Riku turned to me with gentle eyes and I could tell that there was still something bothering him.

"What's wrong?"

"You're not going to disappear on me again, are you? Now that I've found you… I don't want to let you go again," he said quietly, resting his forehead against mine.

"I don't plan on going anywhere… do you?" I asked suspiciously, looking him in the eye.

Riku laughed slightly as he pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around me.

"I wouldn't go anywhere if I couldn't take you with me."

I blushed slightly as I looked up at his face. His eyes were so gentle and kind, staring down at my face. 'Why do they bother make me feel this way? Why can't I stop myself from wanting to be near both of them?'

"Riku," I whispered, closing my eyes as I listened to the sound of his beating heart.

"What would you like?" he wondered quietly, as if he was near sleep.

"What was it like?" I asked, almost solemnly, "What did it feel like, being possessed by Ansem? By the darkness?"

I heard his heart jump slightly as Riku heard my question. 'Does that bother him?' I opened my eyes to look up at him, but he shook him head and put his hand on the back of my head.

"Please…" he whispered, "please don't look at me."

I felt something wet hit the top of my head and I was surprised to the point of not having and words. 'Oh Riku… why are you crying?' I wrapped my arms around Riku's back as comforting as I could.

"You are the first person to ask…" he tried to sound amused as his tears fell silently down his cheeks, "Is that the question you wanted to ask?"

"I just wanted to know why you were so sad all the time…. Why when you looked at me, you looked like you were ashamed of yourself…"

Things were silent for a few moments and then Riku lowered his hands to let me go. My arms instinctively let him go and hung at my sides. His light blue eyes looked at me with un-sureness and that lasted a few seconds. 'There's something wrong… He's not telling me… He said that we shouldn't have any secrets between each other anymore.' As my mind was thinking frantically with worry, I didn't notice his face coming closer to mine.

"R-Riku-"

I was cut off as his lips pressed against mine gently and a blush immediately formed on my face. It last a few moments before he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine.

"Thank you," Riku whispered, "I'll answer your question later."

I was still at a loss for words for what happened, so I merely nodded.

"Demi!" a voice called from outside the cave, "Where are you?"

It was Demyx and his tone made me smile.

"We want to talk to you," Axel called after, his voice sounding like he was laughing. 'Crazy idiots…' I laughed as I looked at Riku.

"Go on," he said with a smile, "I'll meet you on the island when the sun sets."

"All right," I replied, nodding my head.

I turned away from him and ran down the tunnel to the exit that covered in hanging vines.

"Come on Demi!" Demyx sounded like he was shinning now.

"I'm coming," I laughed as I made it outside.

Axel was close to the beach now and Demyx was beside the waterfall.

"Come on," Demyx said, grabbing my hand, "We want to show you something."

He pulled me along in a run for a minute before letting go. Both him and Axel disappeared around the corner, I ran after them. 'What are they doing?' When I rounded the corner, I got sprayed by water and all I could hear was both of them laughing.

"That's it," I whispered with a dark smirk, "You two are gunna pay."

I ran after Axel and Demyx started laughing harder as I chased him through the shallow water.

"Why are you coming after me when Demyx is the one who sprayed you?" he asked as he tried to run through the water.

"You're probably the one who planned it out!"

I heard a small chuckle come from him and I knew I was right. He had planned it out. 'I knew it.' As I came closer to him, I tackled Axel to the ground and we made a large splash in the waves.

"Ow, that hurt," he laughed, looking up at me from me sitting on him.

"Not as much as this," I laughed, reaching up and giving him a noogie.

"Hey!" he protested, trying to grab my arm to make me stop.

When I didn't stop, I got thrown to the side by someone and into a deeper part of shore.

Getting back up, I saw Demyx and Axel standing beside each other.

"Have a nice swim?" Axel asked me with a small smirk.

"It was very nice, thank you," I said with my own smirk.

My hair and clothes were dripping wet and the water was dripping down my face. Axel's black coat was soaked and dripping, but somehow his hair was barely wet at all. 'That's not fair… He should be soaked too.' I saw Axel whispered something to Demyx and Demyx nodded before waving to me and turning to leave.

"Is it alright if I talk to you – alone - for a while?" he asked me with unsure eyes.

My dark thoughts of revenge disappeared at the look in his eyes.

"Sure," I replied, nodding.

I ran towards shore and sat down on the beach with a smile. He smiled slightly before coming over as well. 'I wonder what's wrong… I don't think he's ever been this down before.' Axel sat down and stared out into the ocean.

"Do you like Riku?" Axel asked quietly.

It sounded like he didn't want an answer to that question. 'Then why would he ask it?'

"I… I don't know," I whispered, never having really thought about it.

'He did kiss me… so that means he likes me, right? And he makes me happy when I get to see him smile…'

"I guess I do."

"I see," Axel whispered with a quiet tone.

"Why?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

He was silent for a few minutes before he adjusted his position slightly.

"This may probably sound selfish, but I didn't want you to go with him," Axel nearly whispered as he stared out into the ocean, "I wanted you to stay with me… I guess that maybe I was afraid you were going to leave me alone."

'Leave him alone? Does he mean abandon him?' I looked at Axel with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry… but I have no intention of leaving you and Demyx in the darkness," I told him quietly, looking back out into the ocean, "When you two faded away, I cried because I didn't want you guys to leave. You were too important to me."

Those words made Axel look at me with a questioning look.

"Demyx said we were a family; his new family," I said as I pulled my legs to my chest, "I believe that. Together we're a family."

"That sounds like something he would say."

Axel may not have received the love he wanted, but he got a different kind of love. He got a special bond between friends and no one could break that. 'I know now that the four of us will share the Paopu fruit together and if they won't eat it willingly… then I'll sneak it into their food.' With a smile, I got to my feet as the sun sat in the sky.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked, looking out over the waves.

"Sure."

"Tell Demyx to come to the island tomorrow morning, nice and early. And you show up too. I have something for you," I stated happily as I got to my feet.

"Where are you going?"

"It's my turn to show you something."

Holding out a hand, I helped Axel to his feet and led him to the small waterfall near the obstacle course. I wasn't going to rest until I had revenge.

As the sun began to set, Riku sat on the trunk of the Paopu fruit tree as he listened to the calm waves of the ocean.

"Nothing sounds better," he whispered to himself, feeling the cool breeze against his skin.

Being home again felt wonderful to him. The place he belonged to the most was the island and he knew that now. While he was gone, he missed the waves of the ocean hitting the shore. He heard footsteps coming closer on the dirt behind him. He turned and smiled when he saw the light blue hair.

"Hey," I said with a wide smile as I jumped onto the trunk as well.

"What happened to you?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow and laughed in his voice.

I was soaking wet from head to toe. Water was still dripping from my hair.

"Oh," I laughed, looking at my wet shirt, "Axel and I got in a water war together. Then Demyx joined in and I guess I lost."

Riku laughed at the explanation and moved a wet strand of my bangs out of the way of my face. 'Why is it that when I look into his eyes he never seems to be peaceful?'

"Riku… what are you thinking about?" I asked him quietly.

His face became solemn and he looked towards the setting sun over the ocean.

"You," he replied in almost a whisper.

"What about me?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

'He's trying to avoid the question…' He didn't answer me.

"Please don't avoid me Riku," I whispered, "I told you not to burden yourself with it. You can't take the blame for my problems."

Riku sighed and didn't turn to look at me.

"I know," he replied, "but I can't help it… I really care about you and…"

He trailed off, not finishing his thoughts.

"I don't care that I chose to fade into darkness… that I became an Other because of it. Even if I was a Nobody… I wouldn't care. I still have my heart, even if half of it is consumed by darkness," I explained, looking at the sunset and seeing the beautiful colours that I had seen the first day I met Riku again. 'There will always be light in the world… even if there is darkness there as well. What path a person takes can only be decided by them. No one should be a medium for their decision.'

"You see Riku," I said with a small smile, "It's right now that makes me happy. Not a week or so ago when I couldn't remember anything… It's the happy moments and memories that should matter, not the dark ones."

"I don't believe that," Riku whispered, turning to look at me, "I believe that all memories matter even if they are bad ones. You learn from them… but I guess that it's not a good thing to dwell on the bad ones."

Things fell silent for a few moments before I looked at him with curious eyes.

"So, are you going to answer my earlier question?" I wondered.

He sighed again and looked at me gently. 'I really want to know what he felt when that happened… then I could make it go away.'

His eyes were gentle yet unsure at the same time. It worried me that the memory might hurt him.

"It was like my heart was being crushed with loneliness and nothingness," he whispered, "It started as jealously of Sora getting Kairi… that I would really be left alone… Then that feeling consumed me to the point where I was afraid to be alone."

"Sora and Kairi forgot about you."

'With me gone… Riku wouldn't have had anyone else if Sora and Kairi left him alone would he?'

"Then I remembered you," Riku stated, almost looking away as if he was ashamed, "I remembered I had to find you while I was in the darkness, but it was like my body was moving without me. I was forced to watch everything happen without being able to make a decision… Ansem was making them for me."

'That's not fair… This was entirely my fault. Everything was my fault that Riku went through so much pain alone.' I put my hands together in my lap and looked down at them without saying anything.

"Demi I…" he started, looking away as well, "I didn't mean to forget about you…"

"That's not it," I whispered quietly, furrowing my eyebrows at my hands.

"Then what…"

"You spent all that time alone without being able to control what was happening around you… It wasn't your fault at all. It makes me wish that I hadn't run away like that."

Riku looked at me again with an apologetic look in his eyes. It felt like I wanted to cry again so I closed my eyes to try and keep them in.

"If I wasn't such a coward… I could have…"

"But I found you again Demi," he told me, placing a hand on my shoulder, "That's what matters to me. That you're safe now and things worked out in the end."

'They worked out all right…' I tightened my grip on my hands.

"You shouldn't have had to go through that though," I whispered, "All I had to go through was sitting in the darkness for a long time… not being controlled by someone and being completely alone…"

At first Riku didn't really know what to say that could be of comfort, but I guess he found it when he took his hand away and jumped to the ground below.

"You know what?" he asked from in front of me.

"What?" I asked as I opened my watery eyes.

Riku was standing before me, facing as he looked up towards me.

"You're the only person who I feel hasn't turned their back on me," he stated with caring eyes, "Right now, I feel like you've always been the one standing beside me when no one actually was… You are my light."

My eyes widened slightly at his words. I was surprised to hear that considering I was really a being of darkness; even if I was the light side of my heart. 'I'm his light?'

"Oh Riku," I whispered, "You're my light too."

He pulled me off the Paopu fruit tree trunk and into a protective embrace.

"Nothing's going to take you away from me," he whispered as the sun fully set.

End of Chapter 10

Hello again everyone. I really hope that you all enjoyed that chapter even though nothing really happened in it. You got to see how Riku really felt about being possessed and stuff like that so I hope that I got into it right and did everything fine. :D:D Well, please R&R and I'll try to update whenever I get the chance. Thank you for reading. :D:D