AN: I was going to do a Lea chapter here, but I actually have never played Final Fantasy VII so I can't do Aerith's death justice until I do some research first. So I'm going to give you some action at the place where it all began, Destiny Island.

Riku

Kairi and I dropped out of the lane between and flipped off our Keyblades into the ocean. When we came up I saw that we were still a few miles off shore, and not at all where we had planned to land.

"Why did the Lane Between open up here?" Kairi asked from where we were floating in the water. "I know I wasn't trying to leave, what about you?"

"Me neither, but we need to get to the main land, Sora's counting on us." I said, starting to swim back to shore. 'Don't worry Sora, we'll find whatever's here that can save you.'

When we finally made it to the beach we were met by Selphie who was wearing her usual yellow dress and brown leather boots. "What were you two doing so far out, did you swim here from the island or something." She asked, looking down at us with her hands on her hips.

"We decided to have a bit of a race, you know with Sora being out of town and all." I said, standing up so that I was looking down at the girl. "Hey, where are Wakka and Tidus?"

"There playing Blitz Ball trying to impress the girls as usual." She said, crossing her arms and looking away. "Besides if you're looking for a duel I'm always up for one."

"It's not like that Selphie, we're just not used to seeing you all alone." Kairi said as she wrung the water out of her hair. "I remember when we were kids and those two would fawn over you, it was so adorable."

"Not as adorable as Sora and Riku." Selphie giggled in reply, much to the shock of Kairi. "What, you didn't know that Riku liked you too.

"No, and I was hoping to keep it that way." I answered, all the muscles in my body tensing up. "That's not important right now. Come on Kairi, let's go check the town square for clues."

I spent the next few minutes walking in silence besides Kairi, Selphie following close behind us as we headed to the square.

"Riku, why didn't you ever tell me that you liked me?" Kairi asked as we were about the leave the hedged path and enter the circular square.

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked up at the fountain engraved with crowns that always reminded me of the one on Sora's necklace. "Because it was pretty obvious you were in love with Sora." I answered, smiling as I watched the water shoot out the top of the fountain. "And who was I to stand in the way of my best friend who didn't even know how I felt."

"Wow Riku, I always thought you were a real jerk, looks like I was wrong." Selphi giggled as she walked past me. "I didn't know it was going to rain today."

I looked up and saw black clouds heading towards the town, but they didn't seem like normal storm clouds, and they weren't nearly spread out enough. "Kairi, are those what I think they are?" I asked, looking down at my friend who was still looking at the clouds with wide eyes.

"I think it is." She said, drawing her Keyblade without moving a muscle. "Selphie, I think it's time you head back home."

"It's just a little rain, what are you guys so worried abou…" she started before she turned around and looked at us. "Those aren't just rain clouds, are they? Well if you two are fighting, than so am I." Selphie reached into the pockets she had on the back of her dress and pulled out two red escrimas attached by a long chain. "Wakka and Tidus are at the top of the hill, we should re-group with them up there."

As we began to run to the hill on our left the black rain started to fall from the sky and nearly stopped us in our tracks when a Giga Shadow grabbed Kairi, but Selphie through one of her Escrimas, turning the Heartless into black smoke before pulling the weapon back towards her.

"You okay Kairi?" I shouted as we slashed our way through enemy's running up the hill. "Remember there's no point to this if Sora comes home to a world with no friends in it."

"Don't worry Riku, I can handle this." She said before we all stopped, a horde of Mega Shadows baring our path, and our view of Tidus and Wakka.

"DARK FURAGA!" I shouted swinging my blade around before blasting black flames out of Way to Dawn destroying all of the Heartless in our way.

We ran up the hill and saw Tidus and Wakka fighting off the Heartless. Wakka was wearing his old blue head band, an orange and black vest with black x's on the sides, black pants with yellow chaps, and his miss matched arm guard.

While Tidus was wearing his usual black capris with the loose hanging straps on the front, his yellow boots, his greenish grey jacket with yellow on the sides and black as well as black and red checkered short sleeves, a belt wrapped around the coat attaching to the metal shoulder pads under the red collar, and his black finger less gloves. In his hand was a blue shark like Keyblade.

"Tidus, when did you get a Keyblade?" I asked as he batted off a giant shadow and Wakka through a spiked blitz ball at a gig shadow.

"I was about to ask you two the same thing." He said as Kairi, Selphie, and I spun into the violence and started hacking through the Heartless. "Wait, is that why you Kairi and Sora are always out of town?"

"Yeah, we've been working with other Keyblade wielders to get stronger." I said, blocking an attack from hitting Selphie. "Of course now Sora's missing and we need to find something on the Islands that can help us."

"Hey Brudda, what if this something is Tidus." Wakka suggested as he hit three Heartless with his blitz ball before it returned to him. "After all he is a Keyblade wielder."

"That would make since." Kairi said as she blasted a few Heartless back into the World of Darkness with an ice spell. "Maybe that's why the Dark sides of Keyblad wielders showed up in those worlds in the first place."

"We can worry about that later; right now we need to get rid of these Heartless." Selphie shouted as she through her Escrima and broke through a few Heartless before pulling it back to her hand.

"She's right, now everyone duck!" I shouted right before I released a wave of Dark energy, destroying all of the Heartless around us.

I looked around as all of my friends got up off the ground, all of them covered in cuts and bruises before black rain started to pour down again, but it didn't form into Heartless this time. All of the Darkness began to gather in one spot, forming a dome that a human could fit into if they curled up.

Tidus walked up to the dome and put his hands on it. "Does anyone here know what No. IV means?" He asked before the white dome began to glow. He jumped back just as it exploded in a blinding light.

I enstinctually slammed the bird wing of my Keyblade into the ground and grabbed the nearest person possible which happened to be by a slender ankle. I heard the snap of a chain and the sound of a wooden stick hitting a hand right before the explosion ended and I fell to the ground.

On the other side of the field was Tidus holding on to Wakkas hair, but between us was a woman in an organization cloak that was unzipped down the front to reveal Tidu's symbol before it clasped back at the top and below her naval. She flipped her hood off to reveal a beautiful face framed by black hair in a pixie cut.

"Yuna?" I heard Tidus say from across the field before the girl looked at him and smiled. "Yuna, what are you doing here?"

"My names not Yuna kid, it's Novi." She said before she burst into a pillar of darkness and disappeared, just a scorch mark in the center of the field remaining.

I stood up and looked up into the sky, trying to see if I could smell where she'd gone when I saw something indescribable. 'What in the world is happening?'

AN: Sorry that I did such a bad job describing Tidus' X2 outfit, but it's really complicated. If you want to find out what Riku saw please review and you'll get it in two chapters. I'd also like to congradulate you all on being the readers of my longest story yet, and we're not even half way done.