We did not talk about what happened that night. Riku absolutely refused, and I didn't want to push it. And on some level, I kind of didn't want to know. If it had Riku acting the way he was, it must have been something really bad, and I wasn't sure if I could handle that kind of news right now.

Thankfully, I had something to occupy my thoughts. Halloween was quickly approaching, and my mother had asked me to come along with the family while they took my sisters Trick or Treating. She said Riku could come along as well, so I had immediately agreed. Which then lead to me having to beg Riku to dress up with me, then actually finding costumes.

"How about the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood?" Sora suggested as he looked over to Riku with a quirked brow. He was in the small kitchen preparing dinner for the two of them while Sora was looking up costumes on his phone.

"So, you want me to eat you?" Riku teased with a light chuckle. Even though they had never done much more than kiss, Sora couldn't help but giggle along with him.

"Who said you'd be the wolf?" Sora winked.

"Why wouldn't I? It's the Big Bad Wolf," Riku grinned as he moved away from what he was doing and stalked over to the bed, crawling onto it and making his way up to Sora, towering over him. "and I am much bigger than you are."

"Well who cares? Maybe I want to be the wolf." Sora challenged, trying not to crack up.

"If you really want to, I won't argue with you. But I think you would make a much cuter Little Red than a Big Bad Wolf." He stated calmly, leaning down and nuzzling his nose against Sora's cheek.

"Alright, jeez!" Sora giggled a bit more as he wrapped his arms around Riku. "We're not even sure this is what we're wearing yet, this discussion is unnecessary."

Riku chuckled as he moved to rub his nose against Sora's in an Eskimo kiss. "Well hurry up and pick something so we can discuss it."

"Well I can't with you all over me like this."

Riku hummed thoughtfully. "Fine, I'll let you get back to your search." He said, pressing his lips to Sora's briefly in a slow kiss before climbing off the bed and heading back to the kitchenette to continue making dinner.

Sora sighed happily, watching Riku for a moment before reluctantly looking back to his phone. He really liked a lot of the costume ideas he'd come across, but none of them really stood out, and a lot of them seemed rather clichéd or were geared towards straight couples, which was quite disappointing.

After a bit more searching he finally came across something that piqued his interest. Riku came over with a bowl of pasta for both of them, handing one of them to Sora as he sat on the bed.

"How about this one?" Sora asked, holding his phone up to Riku to show him the costumes. Riku dropped his head the moment he saw it, but he couldn't help the wide smile that spread across his face. Of course Sora would pick something like that.

"Alright, we can do that." Riku conceded, then turned his amused gaze onto Sora. "How do you want to go about it?"

Sora practically skipped down the street with Riku walking close behind. They were on their way to meet up with his family for Halloween, and Sora was just filled to the brim with energy today. Riku would never be capable of matching his enthusiasm, and he really didn't want to. This difference between the two of them melded well together, balanced them out. Plus, Sora was really cute when he was all hyperactive. Like a little puppy. If Riku acted like that people would probably just think he was a spaz that desperately needed to be medicated.

"Hurry up, Riku! We're gonna be late!" Sora called, looking over his shoulder and grinning. Riku smiled slightly and raised a brow.

"What do you mean? We're almost there." He questioned in amusement. Sora huffed but didn't respond as he continued down the street. Riku sighed and shook his head as he watched Sora hurry ahead of him. He never walked much further than two yards ahead of him though.

When they finally came upon the church where they were supposed to meet Sora's family, the place was absolute chaos. There were people every where, bounce houses and other inflatables, cars parked all over the lot, but only the ones near the building were decorated. Some of them had games set up by them where you could play and earn candy or there were other cars just handing it out. There was music blaring, music that Riku wasn't certain was really "Church" appropriate and a food truck on the right side of the massive parking lot that Riku was certain was selling insanely over priced, shit food. The children were mostly the only ones dressed up, though some adults were as well, and he had to give them some credit, not many of the parents were letting their kids run around like maniacs. The kids were actually pretty well behaved right now, at least the ones that were Trick or Treating. The kids playing on the inflatables were all over the place.

Chaos.

"So, where are they?" Riku asked, looking over to Sora curiously. Sora hummed, brows pinching together as he looked around the lot, trying to locate his family. Riku would be seriously impressed if he was capable of finding them in this mess.

"Over there!" Sora cheered suddenly, pointing towards the line. "I can see Leon." He then looked over to Riku and grinned. Riku could only sit there and stare at him for a moment, eyes wide in surprise.

Sora's face dropped as Riku continued to stare at him, raising a questioning brow. "What?"

"How the hell did you spot them?"

Sora shrugged as he turned his attention back to the crowd, beginning to head in the direction of his family. "I don't know, I just know my family."

Riku chuckled, grabbing Sora's shoulder and pulling him backwards into a half hug.

"You amaze me sometimes."

Sora chuckled and grinned up at Riku. "Only sometimes?" He teased.

Riku smirked and used his free hand to pinch Sora's cheek. "Yeah, sometimes."

Riku then released him and started to head towards the crowd of people, lined up for candy to meet up with Sora's family.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Sora called, fake pouting as he hurried after Riku. He really wasn't that far ahead of Sora though, so he easily caught up with him.

When they finally made it up to Sora's family, Leon was the first to notice them, greeting Sora warmly and nodding in recognition to Riku. Then his mom turned around, smiling brightly as she pulled him into a tight hug, making Sora laugh as he reciprocated.

"Sora!" A small voice squeaked happily, gaining his attention as he pulled away from his mother. He smiled widely as he looked down at Naminé, dressed up in a pink and white witch costume as she reached her arms up towards Sora, small hands grabbing at him. He swiftly scooped up her up into his arms and hugged her as tight as he could without hurting her.

"Hey Booger Face! You look so cute!" Sora cheered. She giggled as Sora adjusted his hold on her, so he could hold her. She leaned back so she could look at him and smiled so widely Sora thought her face might break in half.

"I'm a good witch! And Olette is my cat!" She stated excitedly, making Sora chuckle.

"I can see that. You know cats can't eat chocolate though." Sora teased, glancing over to his other little sister.

"I know. I'll eat her chocolate." Naminé grinned widely as Olette protested, making Sora laugh.

"Hey," Sora's mother started, tapping on Naminé's arm to gain her attention. "do you like Sora's costume?"

Naminé looked him over for a moment then nodded.

"Do you know who he is?" She asked, making Naminé look him over once more as Sora watched her examine the ears on his head along with his red shirt and yellow pants in amusement.

"No." She answered simply, making Sora chuckle.

"I'm Pooh Bear silly. And Riku's my Hunny." He looked over his shoulder at Riku, who simply smiled at the two of them. He was dressed in a yellow shirt with black skinny jeans and a bulbous brown pot hanging off of yellow straps around his waist.

Naminé shyly hid herself from Riku's view, but giggled all the same. "You're funny, So."

"I'm funny? What do you mean? This was Riku's idea."

"Oh, I'm sure it was." A familiar voice interjected, making Sora look up curiously. He immediately set sights on Vanitas, standing on the other side of his father. His expression fell for a fraction of a second as he set his eyes on his brother, but he smiled all the same.

"He did. Said he wanted me to eat him." Sora grinned playfully as Riku dropped his face into his hand. Of all the things he could have said in response, he just had to say the worst innuendo he could think of. Thank God Naminé was too young to understand what was even happening.

Vanitas frowned suddenly, glancing over to Riku for a moment. "Lovely."

When it came to Vanitas, we still got along pretty fine after our fight nearly a year ago, but he never got over his unreasonable dislike towards Riku, so I never stopped being upset with him about it. Our relationship at this point was pretty superficial. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than constantly being at each others throats.

I don't know. Part of me wished it wasn't like this, but I wasn't ever going to be okay with letting someone shit on the person I love, even if that someone is a family member. So I'll get along, for everyone else's sake, but I can't just forgive and forget. Not over this.

They finished with the church from hell after about forty five minutes, then crammed into Sora's mother's truck and headed over to the next, then after that one another. The girl's bags were getting pretty full, and it was getting a bit dark out. They decided to let them play a couple more games before heading out for dinner.

That was about the point that weird things started happening.

Sora looked up at the sky to admire what few stars had started to appear, he was quickly distracted though by multiple flying bodies up in the sky, one of which he was sure he recognized.

"Riku." Sora whispered, grabbing his arm and tugging to get his attention.

"What?" He asked, though he didn't need Sora to answer, he simply had to follow his line of sight. His brows pinched together and his jaw clenched. He knew something was coming tonight, but he didn't think it was going to be this bad.

Then one of the beings started to fly down to them, and Sora finally realized who it was.

"Roxas, what are you doing here?" Sora questioned curiously, but he just put a finger to his lips, telling him to be quiet.

"You're the only ones that can see me. Just pretend you're talking to each other so you don't draw attention to yourselves." Roxas explained.

"Oh..." Sora nodded slightly in understanding then turned his attention to Riku, keeping his voice down as he spoke. "So what's happening?"

"Something's coming. Something bad. It has the potential to do a lot of damage, that's why there's so many other Guardians here. They came to protect their humans." Riku explained, and from the corner of his eye he could see Roxas nodding along in agreement.

"All of us can feel it. Everyone here is in danger, including Naminé." Roxas added, looking around pensively.

"Is it coming for me?" Sora asked.

The two Guardians shared a knowing look for a moment before Riku slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Sora placed a hand over his mouth as he felt tears start to prick at his eyes. "That's not fair. These people don't deserve this. My family doesn't deserve this."

"I know, Sora. Really, I do, but I can't control this." Riku replied softly.

"It shouldn't be too bad. Riku and I will be fighting, and all those other Guardians too. We're all here to protect these people." Roxas added, hoping to help reassure him. Riku slightly nodded in agreement, reaching up to brush his hand through Sora's hair.

"What's going to happen?" Sora asked, his voice quiet and a bit broken as he clasped his hands together and stared worriedly at Riku.

"We're going to fight, we'll try to keep him away from everyone and defeat him as fast as possible. You just stay by your family and try not to watch. Even leave if possible." Riku answered, moving his hand from Sora's hair to his cheek. Sora took a deep breath and slowly nodded in understanding.

"Don't get hurt okay?" Sora said, then turned his gaze towards Roxas. "Don't let him get hurt. Or you either. Got it?"

Roxas chuckled lightly and nodded. "Yeah, I got it."

"Good." Sora gave them a shaky smile before grabbing Riku and leaning up on his toes to kiss him on the cheek. Once he walked off to rejoin with his family, Riku looked over to Roxas, finding a smug smirk on the blond's face.

"What?" He asked, sounding a bit irate.

"A hunny pot huh?" Roxas teased and Riku's eyes narrowed.

"Shut it." He snapped walking away as Roxas let out a loud laugh and followed behind him.

Mickey looked around a bit warily at all the massive, glitzy mansions on this street. He couldn't even begin to understand why someone would desire a home so lavish and large. That kind of thing just seemed like it would be a lot of cold, empty space. Something like that could never be a home. It lacked warmth and humanity. In a house like that, there was no room for forming any kind of significant relationships with another person, family or other wise.

No, that kind of place was not a home. It was a decoration, on display for all to see and mask the harsh, fragile truth of reality.

Then again, he supposed monsters like Xehanort had no kind of emotions left inside of them to be aware of how frighteningly hollow their life would be living inside of such a place. For him it wasn't a decoration, it wasn't a facade. It was a master piece in his eyes, a sign of his power, and he relished every moment of it.

Mickey let out sigh as he continued to make his way down the sidewalk towards the largest mansion on the street. Although, it was more reminiscent of a small castle rather than a mansion. It didn't even have a gate, just a massive archway that lead into the even more massive yard, which was filled with shrubs shaped like different Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed and Nightmares. To normal humans it would probably just look like a bunch of different animals, but Mickey could see all of it. Anyone with Sight could. It made him wonder how many people had just so happened to wander past, and see all of these horrible creatures standing outside this house. What had they thought when they saw the shrubs? Were they intrigued? Or frightened? Did they run away in fear of what might live inside a place that would decorate their yard with monsters?

He shook those thoughts from his head as he started to make his way down the stone path that lead up to the front door. He didn't even have a chance to knock, the door just opened, and he knew that was Xehanort inviting him in.

He could hear his own footsteps as he walked through the dark foyer, echoing around him loudly. Candles slowly started to light up the room till he was standing at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the room. The stairs split into two separate stair cases in the middle, though both lead up to a large wood door in the middle of the wall. There were hallways off to the left and right of the door, but Mickey knew that door was the one he was meant to go through. The one Xehanort would be behind.

He headed up the stairs to the door, though it did not open before him as the front door had. He knocked, but received no response, and opened it himself. Inside was a large room, well lit by the massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There was a balcony wrapped around the top half of the room, and on the far end, straight across from where Mickey stood at the door, was a white and gray throne. Seated in the throne was Xehanort, staring at Mickey and a smile clear on his face.

His voice was deep and gravely as he spoke. It was a voice he knew all too well, but not one he was glad to be so familiar with.

"Mickey. What a... surprise." His grin widened, and Mickey felt exhausted already.

The ground was shaking. He couldn't feel it, but he could see it. Just like he could see Sora off with his family, tense and quivering. He could only imagine what was going through his head in that moment, and it couldn't possibly be any good.

"It's coming." Roxas stated, and Riku nodded in agreement. It wasn't exactly something he needed to say, but Riku understood why he had. He was nervous. Neither of them had ever faced something this big. He wasn't sure too many Guardians ever had. It was very rare that Xemnas ever sent out anything other than the creatures he ruled over.

"Do you think we can win?" Roxas asked after a short silence. And Riku would have answered if not for the massive man with wavy ginger hair and a long black trench coat that came stomping down the street with Nobodies leaping past him, heading straight for the church. Riku didn't think the stomping was intentional in any way though, just that the man had a heavy step. It was clear now though that his footsteps were the cause of the earth quake going on below. Now that he was getting closer to the church as well, people seemed to be noticing what was going on, and they were all starting to get a bit panicked. Parents scooping up their children as a means to protect them, while also looking around at each other in confusion, as if to ask if they knew what was happening or what they should do. None of them seemed to have an answer. This wasn't something they were used to, earth quakes never really happened here.

Finally, one of the workers at the event seemed to take charge as he started to instruct people about what to do. Riku turned his attention away from them for the time being, glancing at the man that was slowly walking down the street then looking over to Roxas. His expression was pensive and thoughtful, and his eyes were glued to the man. He then nodded slightly in what he was assuming to be determination.

"Let's go." He said, then started off towards the man, Riku blinking in surprise but hurrying after him. None of the other Guardians followed though, more concerned about their humans and Nobodies heading for the church, rather than the menacing man that was slowly trailing behind them.

As they approached him, he didn't even react, just continued walking with that stern, determined stare on his face. It was almost frightening in a way. Riku prepared his keyblade though as he landed on the ground.

"Are you Lexaeus?" Roxas questioned, the man glancing at him, but not responding.

"You're not getting past us. You're not hurting any of those people." Riku said sternly as he got closer. And dear Christ, he was one big son of a bitch up close. He still wouldn't acknowledge them either, simply shoving them out of the way and walking ahead.

Once he stumbled to a stop, Riku whipped around, glaring harshly at the large man before charging him, moving to swing his keyblade into his back. As he was about to hit him, the man suddenly spun around, a large, axe-sword appearing in his hand that he quickly used to block Riku's attack.

"Walk away." He finally said, his voice deep and gravelly. "You can't win this fight."

Riku gripped his keyblade tightly as he jumped away and braced himself.

"We'll see about that."

Mickey strode across the grand ball room, heading straight for Xehanort. He kept his head high, and his posture rigid as he marched up to the man. Xehanort didn't even move, just simply watched Mickey approach him with piercing yellow eyes from his lax position in his throne, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, your Majesty?" The way he said 'your Majesty' was like a curse. It sounded dirty and wrong. The kind of thing parents would scold their child for saying.

"You know why I'm here Xehanort." Mickey answered simply, standing a few feet from his throne now. He was straight as a board and his face was filled with determination. As determined as he appeared though, even he didn't have a good deal of faith that he could get Xehanort to comply. Maybe it's wrong to say, maybe it should matter more, but the issue is that it didn't matter. Sora's life wasn't vital to anything, his death wouldn't drastically change anything. If he continued to live, he wouldn't go off to do anything great. Sora is an amazing person, but that's just the facts of his future. If it weren't for Riku, Mickey wouldn't even be trying this hard to help.

Mickey had watched Riku grow up, he saw the passion Riku held for his job when he was young, he watched that fire die out as he grew up, squashed by the hardships of the world around him, by his parents. It was difficult to watch a Guardian with so much potential just lose all of his motivation. Sora was the only thing in Riku's life that, no matter the circumstance, he unfailingly cared for. The only thing he felt so passionately about anymore. That's why he didn't have the heart to simply let Sora slip away, because if it was anyone else, he would have told the Guardian to let them go a long time ago.

"I'm certain that I don't." Xehanort responded, looking at Mickey with mock confusion. He could tell he knew, but he wasn't going to admit it.

"I want you to leave that boy alone." Mickey's tone was stern, but it didn't seem to faze him.

"What boy?"

Mickey took a breath. He was not going to allow him to get on his nerves. "Sora. That boy you've been sending all of your terrible monsters after."

"Oh, that one." Xehanort smiled, and it was cold, sickening. The sight of it made Mickey feel gross all over. "Why would I ever do such a thing?"

"He doesn't deserve this Xehanort. He's only nineteen. He deserves to live a long life, with his family and friends. He deserves the chance to fulfill his dreams, to grow old and die happy. And his loved ones deserve that as well."

"His 'loved ones' shouldn't have even seen him grow to this age. He was supposed to die long ago. He should already be mine. Your Guardians messed that up." His tone was full of distaste as he practically glared at Mickey now.

"There's no guarantee that he would've been yours Xehanort. He was too young then to have done anything that would have warranted The Realm of Darkness."

"Precisely. He was too young. Meaning he would've gone to Castle Oblivion, where he could have had a second chance at life."

Mickey was stunned for a moment, but he quickly felt anger rising inside him.

"After what? After spending years as one of your minions, his soul tormented daily by doing your biding till you decide that he can finally have a second chance!" Mickey snapped, and Xehanort simply stared for a moment, as if he was waiting to make sure that he wasn't going to say anything more.

"You've always known what goes on in my dominions Mickey, you're the one that gave me control of them. Why is it only now that you suddenly have an issue with this?"

Mickey froze, wracking his brain for an answer.

Riku skid to a halt next to Roxas, who was panting slightly, after colliding weapons with Lexaeus. This guy had already worn them both down quite a bit, and they hadn't even been fighting for ten minutes.

"This isn't looking so good, Riku." Roxas said, looking over to him warily then behind them. Riku glanced back as well. They were getting a lot closer to the church, close enough that he could see it and the people out on the front lawn.

"I know. We can't let him get any closer though." Riku responded, turning his attention back to Lexaeus. Riku's jaw clenched as he watched the man simply continue to walk towards them. It was like he wasn't even trying. Honestly, Riku wouldn't be surprised. He wasn't even breaking a sweat yet, mean while, him and Roxas were already feeling rather exhausted.

Roxas summoned his other keyblade, the Oblivion, and ran back into the battle, lashing out with some quick yet fierce blows. Lexaeus managed to block about half, but he couldn't block all of them. There was only so much he could do against two blades attacking him at once.

Part of Riku wanted to hang back for a minute, try and think this through while he had a chance, but it didn't feel right to leave Roxas to fight him alone, so he quickly jumped back into the fight, slashing at him with all he had.

Sora was crouched on the ground with his family, waiting for the tremors to stop. Naminé was clutching his mother, balling her eyes out, while Olette looked to be closer to a panic attack. Leon and his mother were trying to make sure everyone stayed calm.

Then, suddenly, everything stopped. It was calm, and his mother looked around for only a moment before standing up, scooping up Naminé and heading for their car.

"Let's go, we're leaving." She said, looking over her shoulder at the rest of the family. No one argued with her, simply followed along.

Except Sora.

"What? No way! Riku's not back yet! What if he's hurt?" He said, looking off towards the church. He knew Riku had told him to leave if he could, but he couldn't possibly. Everything in him screamed at him to stay and make sure Riku made it out alive.

"Riku isn't my problem Sora! You are!" His mother called back, and his face flushed red with anger. How could she be so cold and uncaring towards another being?

"Well you should! He's my boyfriend! And my best friend! He's a person! He looks out for me, he cares for me, he loves me! I'm not leaving without him!" Sora argued. She didn't respond though, and suddenly Leon was grabbing his arm, dragging him along.

"Leon! Let go!" He demanded, trying to pull out of his tight grip, but it was no use. Sora wasn't anywhere near strong enough to get out of his brother's grip.

As they continued to fight, they managed to weaken Lexaeus quite a bit, and Riku was starting to think they might actually win this battle. Of course, they didn't expect what was about to happen.

Lexaeus let out a booming roar as energy began to surge around him, throwing Roxas and Riku back. Riku slammed into the ground with a grunt. He got up as quickly as his sore body would allow and looked over to Roxas to see him leaning against a near by tree, rubbing the back of his head. He then turned his attention back to Lexaeus. He was standing with his knees bent and his free hand balled into a tight fist as a bright red energy surged around him. The ground around him was cracking from the force of the energy. Then with a final burst of energy, things started to calm down, but the red aura remained.

"Time to end this." He spoke, breaking the short silence as he looked up at Riku.

Riku narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as he started to charge him. Lexaeus immediately moved into action, swinging his axe-sword into the ground, causing pavement to break and shoot up at Riku.

"Shit." He cursed under his breath, jumping to avoid the rocks that were about to hit him and spinning in the air, his wings then flapping out to launch him towards the man. Lexaeus easily blocked him and pushed him back. Riku didn't land on the ground this time, figuring it might not be the safest place now that he saw what Lexaeus could do to it, and continued flying above him.

Roxas was starting to get up now as well, a bit of light shining out of the back of his head, meaning Lexaeus had injured him pretty badly. He summoned his keyblades back to him, having lost them when the energy wave sent him flying, and charged at Lexaeus again, slashing at him with such ferocity even Riku was frightened.

After a moment of simply watching, Riku launched himself forwards to join in the assault.

Mickey let out a slow sigh, locking eyes with Xehanort as he prepared to answer him.

"I've always had an issue with it, Xehanort. There's never been a single moment in my lifetime that I was okay with how you ran things. I've always been able to ignore it though." Mickey finally answered.

"What's stopping you from ignoring it now?"

"This is wrong. It's sick and twisted. One Guardian made a mistake years ago, saving his human, a child. And you… you can't just let it go. You've gone on a man hunt for one soul because you think you're entitled to it. Because you have this perverse idea stuck in your head that it belongs to you. And you're willing to destroy his entire life and everyone in it just to get your hands on it. It's wrong Xehanort, and you know it." Mickey stared at him, long and hard as Xehanort seemed to slowly process his words.

Finally, after a long silence, he spoke up. "Perhaps I do. But that is exactly what I am meant to do. You control the Light, and I control the Darkness, keeping everything equal and balanced. I am merely doing my job, the same as you are doing yours."

Mickey balled his hands into tight fists, dropping his head as he glared at the floor. He didn't know what else to say. There was no way to possibly get through to him, he's too stuck in his ways.

"Please, just… Let this one go Xehanort." Mickey plead, his nose twitching and his eyes prickling with heat.

There was a lull, and for a minute, Mickey thought he might actually be considering leaving Sora be. Before he could look up at him though, he started to speak up once more.

"No. That boy's soul will be mine."

Mickey quickly turned his eyes back to Xehanort. They were full of fire, anger, but Xehanort didn't even flinch. He didn't expect him to agree. In fact, this was exactly what Mickey expected to happen. But that didn't mean it didn't anger him, or disappoint him.

He didn't say anything more, simply turned and began to walk away.

"Goodbye Mickey."

Lexaeus let out a loud roar suddenly, swatting Roxas away from him with his axe-sword, then grabbed Riku's ankle, spinning around in a circle before throwing him down the street. Riku let out a short yell in pain, his right wing scraping and possibly breaking as he slammed into the ground.

He let out a slight hiss as he got up. He could barely move his wing, it wouldn't even stretch out, and Lexaeus was already making his way towards him. To finish him off presumably, so he could finish his job and take Sora. He quickly dragged himself up off the ground, muttering a quick healing prayer and taking a few steps back, waiting for his wing to heal.

That's when he noticed Roxas on the opposite side of Lexaeus, getting off the ground and looking more pissed off than he'd ever seen him.

He spun his keyblades quickly before bringing them together over his head, his form floating off the ground and a bright light shooting out of his keyblades. Beams of light started to hit the ground in front of him, trailing forwards till they hit Lexaeus, making the large man yell out in pain. Roxas did a flip in the air, his keyblades breaking apart and moving to his sides as the light became brighter, more powerful, sending out a small shock wave with it.

Then suddenly, it stopped, as soon as it had began, and Roxas dropped back to the ground, panting and giving Riku this look that told him he better hurry up and finish this. When he looked back to Lexaeus, he was leaning against his blade, now stuck in the ground, heaving and clearly in pain. The red aura that had been around him was gone, and Riku knew this was his chance. He summoned his keyblade back to him and flapped out his wings, the broken one now healed. He stood there for a moment, gathering his strength before launching himself at Lexaeus in a barrage of quick, sliding attacks.

When he was finished, Lexaeus fell forward, slamming into the ground as he started to disappear into black wisps.

"It's over..." Riku whispered, and he could've cried in relief if it weren't for the fact that he had to go check on Sora now.

He didn't bother waiting for Roxas, he just took off running for the church, his wings disappearing into his back. Honestly, at that point, the part of his brain that was in control had forgotten Roxas was even with him. His only concern then was making sure Sora was okay.

The moment Riku had the church in his sight he was trying to spot Sora in the mess of people and Guardian's. There were still a few Nobodies left, but they were being easily dealt with, so there wasn't much to worry about anymore there. Even so, he couldn't find Sora's messy, spiked up hair, or his bright red shirt. He couldn't find his family anywhere either. Panic was quickly rising in his stomach as he grew closer to the crowd, hoping that he just hadn't spotted them yet. That nothing had happened that might warrant Sora needing to go to the emergency room.

"Where did they go?" Roxas asked worriedly as he flew up and landed beside him.

"I don't know." Riku answered quickly as he pulled out his phone. There was six missed calls from Sora. Riku breathed a bit easier as he started to open his phone and call him back. The more it rang, the more Riku started to panic though. What if something had happened? What if the phone calls were from one of Sora's family members trying to call and tell him Sora was hurt. That they were heading to the ER because he was dying and Riku wasn't there to help him, to keep him safe. He was making himself sick with the thought.

"Riku!" Sora's voice cheered through the phone, snapping him out of his depressing thoughts.

"Sora! Oh thank god!" Riku breathed out in a mixture of surprise and relief. Then he remembered. Sora was gone. He left in the middle of a dangerous situation. How was Riku supposed to protect him if he was gone? "Where the hell are you?" Riku questioned, his tone lower, menacing in a way.

"I know, I didn't want to go. Once the earthquake stopped my mom told everyone to get in the car. I didn't have an option, my brother just dragged me along and shoved me into the back of the car." Sora explained quickly. He sounded apologetic.

"Asshole." Riku muttered and he heard Sora chuckle.

"Sorry. I really didn't want to leave my hunny behind." Sora teased, and Riku smirked.

"I understand, Sora."

"You did say to leave if it was possible though." He muttered, just loud enough for him to hear through the phone.

Riku blinked in surprise. "I did?"

"Yeah, when you said you and Roxas were going to fight." He responded quietly. "You told me to stay by my family and leave if possible. Remember?"

Riku thought it over for a moment. He did remember. He let out a long sigh, placing his hand over his eyes.

"Shit, I did." He conceded, Sora humming in agreement. "Sorry, I just..."

"Panicked?" Sora finished, making Riku smile.

"Yeah."

"It's fine."

"I just thought-"

"I know. I understand. I worry too. Why do you think I called you so much so soon?"

"Because you're insane."

"If anyone is insane here it's you." Riku could practically see the look on Sora's face at the moment. Eyes squeezed shut and his tongue sticking out playfully. He smiled softly at the thought.

"Where are you heading? I'll come meet up with you." Riku asked.

"My parents house." Sora paused, then started to speak again, a bit more quiet this time. "But, you know… nothing suspicious, okay?"

"Of course not Sora, I'm not an idiot." Riku deadpanned.

"I didn't say you were!" Sora defended in a whine.

"I'll see you soon." Riku responded with a light chuckle.

"Later 'gator!"

With that they hung up, and Riku turned to find Roxas looking at him oddly.

"What?" He questioned, now staring at Roxas with his typical blank stare.

Roxas' expression soured as he narrowed his eyes at Riku. "You are like a completely different person."

Riku didn't make it to my house till about twenty minutes after we got there. It seemed a bit excessive to me, but he said he didn't actually know how long it took to get to my parents house by car, which he pretended is how he got there. We both knew he flew though.

My parents were making dinner at that point as well, not wanting to go back out after the 'earthquakes' to get take-out. Which seemed fine with everyone else.

The moment there was a knock at the front door, Sora jumped out of his seat and ran to it, ripping it open to see Riku, looking rather surprised and his clothes beaten up and dirty. Even his hunny pot was badly dented. Sora couldn't even be concerned about any of that at the moment though, all he cared about was having Riku in his arms immediately. So that's what he did.

"I missed you!" He exclaimed, jumping on Riku and hugging him tightly. Riku chuckled quietly in his ear as he returned the hug.

"I missed you too. You didn't get hurt at all did you?" He responded quietly, Sora pulling back slightly to look at him in bewilderment.

"I'm more worried about you. You look like hell, and you fucked up your hunny pot." Sora said, pouting as he looked down at the plastic pot. "What is my family gonna say when they see you?"

"Nothing, magic makes it look fine, they won't notice anything." He then looked down at the pot for a moment. He didn't really care about fucking it up, but he knew how much Sora loved this costume. He had laughed so hard when he saw it on Riku he actually snorted. He almost took it off then and there, but Sora begged him not to, and he honestly couldn't say no to those damn puppy dog eyes. "And I can fix the pot if you want."

Sora chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, you didn't like it anyways."

"Because you laughed at it."

Sora looked up at him with a quirked brow and a smile tugging at his lips. "That's why you don't like it? Because I laughed?"

Riku sighed and rolled his eyes in response, making Sora laugh again.

"It's just because you're normally so serious, even the way you dress is super serious. So, it was really funny and cute to see you dress like… this." He explained, tugging at the straps on the hunny pot. Riku sighed and dropped his head for a moment before slowly looking back up to Sora with a small smile.

"I'll fix it." He amended, and Sora frowned.

"You don't have to."

"I want to." He said, leaning down to kiss him. Before he could though, another voice interrupted them.

"Sora, close the door before you let all the bugs into the house." His mother said, standing over by the stove where she was stirring some noodles.

"Oh, sorry ma." He said, a light blush on his cheeks as he stepped back to allow Riku into the house, shutting the door behind him.

"Hello Mrs. Osment." Riku said politely, Sora's mother looking over her shoulder and smiling at him.

"Hello Riku. Sorry we left you behind there, I panicked and I just wanted to get my kids out, make sure they were safe." She said and Riku waved her off.

"It's fine, I understand." He responded, smiling slightly.

"Where did you run off to anyways? With all the commotion, I didn't have a chance to ask Sora." She questioned as she turned back to the food.

"I had to call my job." He explained simply, taking a seat at the small table in the kitchen, Sora immediately taking the seat beside him and scooting it a bit closer.

"Oh, do you work nights like Sora?"

"Sometimes." He looked at said brunet and smiled cheekily. "My schedule is pretty all over the place though."

Sora chuckled quietly, so his mother wouldn't hear.

The continued on like that while dinner finished cooking, my mother making small talk with Riku. She even questioned him about his religion and was enthralled that they seemed to have the same views. I could tell Riku was holding back a bit though, because he knew what was real when it came to that kind of stuff, and I could see it in his eyes how badly he wanted to assure her of the truth. I had no clue why though. Maybe it was his way of impressing her haha.

The moment we all sat down to eat the news came on, showing what had happened on the street near the church we were at before. Or, what they thought happened…

"Hey, look." Leon said, making Sora look up from his bowl of pasta, the church they had been at on the screen in the back ground while they were interviewing one of the people that had been there. Sora's eyes widened and he looked over to Riku in alarm. He had no fucking clue what they were going to say, what they had potentially seen or assumed happened.

Riku didn't seem to be even kind of worried about it though. In fact, he just seemed bored as he watched the news reporter rap up her interview and begin talking about what happened in a very elaborate manner.

"Riku..." Sora whispered, gaining his attention for a moment before he turned his attention back to the screen, making a small gesture for him to watch.

Sora sighed and looked back over to the tv, watching as they flipped the shot over to a camera set up at the site where the fight had taken place. There were two massive holes in the ground, effectively destroying the road.

"Though we haven't seen much activity like this in the past, sink holes are a lot more common than you may think. And though they aren't a very common cause of death, they are still quite dangerous and can happen anywhere at any time…" The reporter continued blathering on about the sink holes, but Sora wasn't even trying to listen anymore, instead turning to look at Riku with wide, confused eyes.

Riku smirked at him, mouthing the word 'magic' in response. Sora giggled quietly, turning back to his food as his family began to loudly discuss the sink holes.

My mother tried to insist we stay there for the night, saying it would be safer and that she didn't want us walking home in the dark. We both declined though. My bed there was far too small for both of us, and Riku wanted to get me back into the Holy Zone so we wouldn't have to worry about any more attacks. So he told her he got us a ride back and that we'd be fine, then we rushed out. Riku flew us back to his place, and I thought that was the end of things. That there wouldn't be anymore surprises that night, that we could just rest and forget about our problems.

There was so much going on around him he could hardly focus. Heartless and Nobodies, and a third type of monster he didn't recognize, were swarming the streets, all of varying degrees of danger. Angels were flying around everywhere, trying to keep them contained. And there was so much noise, he couldn't even hear himself think.

Then he turned his attention upwards, finding Riku, clashing weapons with a tan skinned, silver haired male that he'd never seen before. The battle between the two of them was so insanely fast, Sora wasn't even sure how he was keeping up with it. He didn't even know Riku could fight like that.

Sora wasn't even sure how it happened, but suddenly, the other man had knocked Riku hard enough to send him falling to the ground, his body slamming into the pavement. Before he could even blink, the man was in front of Riku, stabbing his energy sword into his chest.

Sora screamed out for him, running towards him. He hadn't even made it half way though before the man turned around, looking over his shoulder at Sora before disappearing and reappearing in front of him, stabbing his blade through him.

"Riku!" Sora called out into the darkness of the room as he sat straight up in bed. Tears were already welling up in his eyes and he could feel a sob building up in his throat.

"Sora?" Riku's groggy voice responded beside him, and he could feel the bed shift as Riku moved to sit up. "What's going on?"

Sora couldn't even respond, he just pulled Riku into a tight hug and started crying harshly into his shoulder. Riku didn't even question it, just wrapped his arms around Sora and stroked his hair as he whispered calming things into his ear.

I didn't calm down at all that night. I cried myself back to sleep in Riku's arms and when I woke up in the morning with his arms still wrapped tightly around me, I cried some more. At some point I calmed down enough to tell Riku what had happened, but I couldn't even give him much detail. All I could tell him was that there was a big battle and we both died.

He assured me that wouldn't happen. He wouldn't allow that to happen. But I couldn't shake that dream. The image of Riku dying, replaying in my head over and over. Then that man… That man, with the cold yellow eyes and that wicked, depraved smile as he stabbed through my chest. It was absolutely horrifying. Those images haunted me for weeks…

I am terrible with fight scenes and I am so sorry XD also, word to the wise, when you're doing that back and forth shit that I displayed here with Mickey and Riku, write them separately then cut the scenes up how you want them. Because that is exactly what fucked me up and made this chapter take so fucking long. Mickey's part came out great, but then I'd go back to Riku and it came out like absolute shit. I had to rewrite the whole thing in a separate document at that point. I am also well beyond burned out, like holy shit. I wrote two more chapters after this one, I haven't even read them yet but I'm pretty sure they're absolute shit. I'm gonna take a few days off before I go over them though. My brain needs the rest.

Enough of my ramblings though. I seriously hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I worked really hard on this one for you guys because I really wanted that fight scene to be good!

And as always, thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a good day!