The corridor he created to take him to Traverse Town was considerably more stable than his last one, though his aim was slightly off. He dropped down onto the roofs of the shops opposite the hotel.

Sounds of fighting came from below, including the familiar sounds of Donald and Goofy. He cautiously made his way to the edge of the roof and looked down to see Sora with them, fighting Heartless with his Keyblade. They were occupied for now. He could find out what else had been happening instead.

Taking care not to get seen by Sora or his former friends, he made his way down from the rooftops until he could retrace his original steps back into the Third District. He hoped he'd be able to find Leon at least in the First District, but with Sora busy in the second he'd have to go through the Third to reach it unseen. Even then, the sounds of their fighting Heartless grew closer, forcing him to hurry onwards before he was discovered.

This long route turned out to be completely unnecessary. When he passed the house just inside the Third District, he spotted Leon inside accompanied by Cid, Aerith and Yuffie, so let himself in. They all looked up when he came in, recognising him instantly.

"Riku!" Yuffie exclaimed, hugging him. "You're alright!"

"Of course I'm alright," he replied, disentangling himself from her. "Why, has someone been going around telling you I'm not?"

"We saw your friends, along with Sora," Leon explained. "Sora claims to have no memory in the slightest of stealing my Gunblade that night, but Aerith is certain. It's definitely him."

"I thought you were the one meant to be holding that Keyblade, Riku," Cid said almost accusingly. "What's he doing with it?"

"He took it off me," Riku muttered darkly. "Said it was meant to go to him then just summoned it. Went straight to him. Now he's running around with the King's... friends playing the Hero while I'm cut out of everything." Remembering their attitude toward Maleficent, he didn't want to mention that she and her associates had been working with him, and he with them. "I managed to find my way back here," he went on. "Not that it does me any good. No Gummi Ship, no Keyblade, no Kairi and nothing to work with. Even Sora isn't talking to me any more, if I go near him he'll just attack me."

"Sounds like you caught one hell of a bad break," Cid remarked. "I'd like to help you out kid, but I don't see anything we can do."

"You could find out why Sora's turned so nasty on me. He'll probably talk to you so long as you don't mention you're friends with me. If he does ask what I'm doing, just tell him I'm looking for Kairi."

"Where will you start looking?" Aerith asked him.

"I don't know. I'll think of something. I'm going to see if I can get through to Sora again, but most probably it'll just end badly again. Come watch if you want, but I wouldn't get involved."

"Be careful, Riku," Leon murmured. "Fighting alone isn't as easy as it sounds."

"Don't worry about me, Leon. I've got other things to back me up if I need to."

Then he left and headed down the steps into the Third District itself. Sora's fighting had been headed this way, it was only a matter of time before he showed up. With the darkness he now had on his side, he could feel the Heartless nearby. He found he didn't have to speak aloud to command them, exerting his will over them just by thinking about it. A small gathering of various Heartless started to build up behind the walls, just out of sight, held there by his will. Some few resisted, drawn by his own heart that they wanted to consume, but he was able to hold them in check.

Sure enough, Sora came in from the Second District. He didn't appear to notice Riku at first, instead stopping by the same small house he had. Riku waited patiently. He'd come out soon. When he finally did, he was talking with Donald and Goofy.

"It's simple logic, right? If the Keyblade just keeps coming back to me, surely that suggests it should have been mine all along, right? I mean, why else would it come to me over him?"

"I dunno," Donald replied. "We don't know much about it either. The King just told us to follow the Key."

"And now you got the Key, so we're with you," Goofy agreed as they came out into the plaza before the fountain.

"I guess you'd rather not mention turning on your own friend when it was stolen from him," Riku said. He'd turned to face away from them before they came into sight. "I thought friends were meant to stick together... but if you'd rather go with a thief than a friend... I question whether your friendship is really worth anything."

"Don't you ever give up, Riku?" Sora asked him harshly. "The Keyblade came to me. You took it off me, and it still came back to me. It's my Keyblade, it always has been. Can't you get that into your head?"

"So now that you have it, you're too cool to be seen with me, is that it? You don't want to be seen with some lowlife like me, so you just turn me away. We used to be friends, Sora. What happened to that?"

"Why don't you look in the mirror, Riku – it was you that took the Keyblade from me. You're the thief here, and no one likes a thief. Why should I trust you after that?"

"Because you're wrong!" he snapped, turning sharply. "I remember the night of the storm perfectly – the Keyblade appeared in my hand! Mine, do you hear! I was the one it chose, I was the one who went around locking Keyholes and fighting Heartless! All you did was take Alice from us in Wonderland and hand her over to Maleficent!"

Sora looked surprised at this. "Uh... Riku? I don't know any Alice... and I've never been to Wonderland."

"Ask them!" he shouted after only a short pause, waving toward Donald and Goofy. "They were there when it happened, they were the ones who saw you do it!"

"We did see it," Goofy agreed. "But Sora doesn't remember it at all..."

"And we saw you turn into him," Donald added. "How do we know that wasn't just you trying to frame him, huh?"

"What? But- Oh, come on. Sora is my friend... or he was, at least," he conceded. "I'd never do that to my friends."

"Yeah, sure," Sora said, unconvinced. "Whatever you say, Riku. I bet you don't even know what you're gonna do now."

"Sure I do. I'm gonna find out what happened to Kairi. I bet you haven't even thought of her since the storm happened."

"Uh... that's not true," he covered quickly. "I've been worried about her too."

"Of course you have. See you around, Sora," he said, opening a new corridor back to Hook's ship. "Just mind you don't get in my way."

He noticed Sora had seemed more surprised by the corridor than the news of Kairi. It didn't matter too much to him, Sora clearly didn't want anything to do with him any more. He didn't feel any friendship for his former friend any longer, so as he left, he willed the collected Heartless to attack Sora. He doubted they'd manage to turn him into a Heartless, but if they did... well, getting his Keyblade back could only help him now.

The question now was, what could he do about Kairi? She'd seemed to be in some kind of deep sleep, completely unresponsive. He didn't dare take her to Hollow Bastion himself, not if the darkness had a chance of harming her. He'd have to get Hook to take him there in the ship, and no doubt he'd want something back in return. He already owed the pirate captain one favour... what else might he ask for?

Nothing for it but to ask. As he exited onto the ship's deck, he felt his heart seem to tug again, this time toward the captain's cabin. It was as if it reacted to Kairi's presence. At least he'd have trouble losing her as long as they didn't stray too far from each other.

Kairi was laid out on a low couch just behind the door when he entered, and Hook along with one of his cronies were at a desk.

"You could at least knock," Hook complained.

"I told you I'd be coming back," Riku shrugged. "I need to get her to Hollow Bastion. When do you next stop by there?"

"The way things are going, not until we get that girl away from Peter!"

"Wendy," the crony explained. "She came here with him, and now the captain wants to use her to get back at Peter Pan."

"Just send some Heartless to go and retrieve her."

"We've tried that!" Hook snapped peevishly. "Stupid brat keeps getting her back to safety again."

"I could go. I do owe you a favour."

"Don't bother. Pete's already there trying to get her."

"Pete?"

"One of Maleficent's lackeys," the crony explained again. "He's going around trying to gather a Heartless army to add to our own for her. We got him to help us out by getting the girl for us."

"Suit yourself. I'm going back to Hollow Bastion for a bit. I want to see if I can do anything about Kairi's condition."

"Condition? Is she sick?"

"You imbecile, Smee," Hook sighed. "She's just unconscious. Anyone can see that."

"And I'm trying to find out why she won't wake up," Riku added as he left.