Riku, meanwhile, practically passed out when his head hit against the wall. It hurt so badly that he fell to the floor and could only watch helplessly as Leira stormed off. He wanted to follow Leira, to comfort her, but he could not. After about ten minutes had passed, he was finally able to pull himself to a sitting position on his couch. He rubbed his head through his silver hair.

She was so strong. There is no way that is normal.

But that did not stay on his mind long, for now he was thinking back to what he had done. Tears formed within his eyes, and this time they would not go away. It hurt him to let Leira go, and it hurt to him see how much he hurt her. He put a hand over his eyes as the tears streamed gently out.

Another ten minutes passed, during with Riku was able to regain his composure. Though, his head was still spinning. He needed to talk to someone, anyone. He picked up his phone and began to dial, hardly aware of which of his friend's numbers he was dialing. It began to ring.

"Hello?" a familiar teenage boy's voice could be heard. Of course he would call Sora, they were best friends. Riku could tell him anything. He remembered when they were younger, before all of their adventures. They would always turn to eachother after a bad break-up.

"Sora...it's Riku."

"Hey Riku. What's wrong? Is it the heartless?" Sora could hear something wrong in his friend's voice.

"No. It's Leira."

"What about her, is she okay?"

"We broke up," he said blankly.

"Oh no...you just hang on, I will be right over."

"Okay." Both boys hung up the phones.

It felt like forever until Sora arrived for Riku. He just sat there, staring blankly at the wall. That letter...that stupid letter. If he had never received it, he would never have broken up with Leira. Then again, he also would have hurt her by staying with her.

The doorbell rang, Riku answered to find a sympathetic Sora.

"Come in."

They sat in the living room.

"So, what happened?"

"I broke up with her."

"Why? I thought you loved her."

"I did...I still do. It was just...I know I was hurting her. I realized what was happening, I was passing darkness onto her and bringing the heartless and nobodies around." He did not mention the letter. That was personal.

"Wow...are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I'm really sorry. It must be terrible. How did Leira take it?"

"It is terrible...and she took it horribly. She was devastated, and pushed me away really hard. She ran off awhile ago. I am seriously worried, I have a bad feeling."

"I will help you look for her if that would make things better."

"That would be great, thanks."

The two of them left the house and began their great expedition in order to find Leira. They walked speedily, to many different places. They checked along many beaches, but failed to find her. Following that, they went to the park with the fountain that Leira had liked. Many hours had passed by now, where could she be? Then, the thought came to Riku.

"The cliff." Before Sora could even question him, Riku began to ran as quickly as humanly possible towards the cliff. He reached it to find Leira not present. Sora ran up from behind him, leaning over to catch his breath.

"She's not here..." Riku whispered to himself, staring down into the ocean below. As he eyes gazed downwards, he noticing something out of the ordinary. A giant chunk of rock was missing from the edge of the cliff, as if...

"Oh no." The most frightened expression came over his face at the very thought. Could she have fallen?

"There is no proof that she was even here, so don't worry." Sora tried to cheer him up. He shook his head.

"I can feel it in my heart...she was here," he responded softly. Within the same moment he started to run again, down the sloping grounds and towards the beach closest to the cliff and his home, Sora closeby the entire time.

Finally he was running on the sand, and then to the water. He stared downwards at the water which soaked through his shoes.

"I will find her. I don't care how long I have to swim for. I will find her, and she'll be alive."

"Riku..." Sora put a hand on his shoulder, trying to get a message across. There is no way she could have survived the fall from the cliff, but he couldn't bring himself to say quite that.

Riku pulled away, ignoring Sora's negativity. Leira was still alive, she just had to be. He ran into the water up to his waist amd then plunged in below the surface.

Sora stood on shore, watching his best friend's search, which he knew would be in vain. A few times he saw Riku reappear above the surface for air, but mostly he was gone from view. Sora sat down so that an incoming tide just barely grazed the tip of his shoes.

Ten minutes passed...then twenty...then half an hour. He was worried for Riku, who still refused to relent, but he would not leave. Every couple of minutes or so he would check up to make sure that Riku was still coming up for air. They were both very talented swimmers, but a strange tide could always come upon him.

He saw now that Riku was extremely far out, practically next to the little island in the distance. And then, something even more strange caught Sora's eye. The gentle tide was washing some sort of object closer and closer. He got on his knees and picked up the little thing, which he could only make out after he took it from the water. He felt his heart drop slightly when he did.

It was a familiar piece of jewelry; little pink Thalassa shells bound on a delicate silver chain. He had only ever seen this in once place, around Leira's neck.

As if on cue, Riku could be seen swimming back towards the beach at a quick pace. Before long he was out of the water at Sora's feet, drenched and breathing heavy.

"I couldn't find-" he began to say, but then stopped instantly once his eyes met with the necklace within Sora's open hand. He took it in his own.

"I found it in the water..."

"It might not be her's...she told me she would never take it off. She wouldn't." He inspected the shells, and his hands began to tremble when he found what he had hoped not to find.

"R+L"

"It is her's...but that can only mean." He looked out to the ocean, his whole body quivering now.

"Riku, I'm so sorry."

"I just need to be alone...thanks for helping me." His voice cracked at the end, and he walked slowly away towards his house.

o-----------------------------o

A/N: Aw, a depressed Riku. Writing this made me so sad to make him sad. That always gets to me. Well, now you won't be seeing Riku for a little while. Eventually, though, he will be back.

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