Neverland was the home of a certain Captain Hook, who had apparently found Kairi once before and if he recalled right, he still owed a favour to. With Maleficent's demise signalling the disbanding of her council, the possibly good captain had headed for home.
Since his ship was the only familiar thing in Neverland besides Roxas himself, Riku was not surprised to find his corridor had brought him to it first, where the captain himself awaited him.
"Oh," he said sounding disappointed. "It's only you again."
"Well that's nice," Riku remarked. "Were you expecting someone else?"
Hook grunted. "Those Organization fellows with Vexen keep showing up lately," he said, turning away. "Most keep to themselves, but there's a few who're always meddling, and that blonde haired boy is back."
"Ah, so Roxas made it here then. That's good to know."
"Good to know?" Hook exclaimed. "That little brat is responsible for decimating the Heartless here! How am I supposed to raise an army of them to deal with Pan if he's interfering!"
"Simple," Riku shrugged. "Don't. At least not yet. I need Pan intact for a while, at least until Roxas has managed to retrieve something from him, then you shouldn't have to worry about Roxas again. Unless the Organization comes back here, but so far it seems to be doubtful. They've lost interest, as far as I can tell."
"You... you're in league with them?"
"No, I just have plans that involve them," Riku replied, thinking quickly. "Certain things need doing in other worlds, and Roxas is the one I need to do them. Once he's gone you'll only have to worry about a certain Ventus who could show up if he finds out there's a gathering of Heartless here."
"And that's no help at all! Besides, the two are one and the same."
"You said what?" he asked, feigning puzzlement.
"Roxas and Ventus – they're the same boy. Ten years ago he came here and found Peter Pan. I uh... happened to be passing through and overheard them talking. Pan took Ventus's heart from him to protect it from something, then Ventus left. Next time I saw him was a month ago, wearing a coat like that and with someone else with red hair. Overheard them too, he said the last time he'd come here was as Ventus."
"So the intel on you was accurate after all. I imagine you know exactly what Ven is getting from Peter Pan then, and why I can't let you interfere with that."
"Are you threatening me boy?"
"I told you, captain. I need Ventus for certain things away from here. I'm here to protect my interests in him, that's all."
"Strange – I'm not concerned with your interests! Get off my ship, or I'll throw you of meself!
Riku sighed. Hook was stubborn as ever, and just as short sighted too. Fortunately he could see the mainland from the ship's deck, so simply opened a corridor there.
"Don't think I'll forget this, Hook," he warned before he left. "You don't want to make an enemy of me."
The shores of Neverland made him feel oddly nostalgic. It was almost like being back home again. It was a different beach, a different shore, but the sound of the sea was almost identical. He missed them. Even though they had brought him, or at least Riku as he'd originally existed, to open the door so they could leave, he still missed the familiarity of the islands. He'd have to look in on Kairi sometime, and Zexion too while he was there. Now Ansem was gone for good, he should be able to go back.
He'd also have to see to preserving these islands too, he decided. No matter how much Hook wanted to handle Peter Pan, he couldn't let him do it with the Heartless. Had Sora ever come here, and if he had, did he lock the Keyhole? He'd never mentioned, but maybe he'd get those memories back with his other heart.
For now, knowing that somewhere here was Roxas and Pan, he reached out once again, finding the Heartless. The forest provided plenty of shadows he could extend his reach with, letting him cover vast distances to pull in any Heartless he could find.
Except, oddly enough, there weren't many, and they were already under the command of someone else. The dark touch on them was... familiar. It wasn't his own and it certainly didn't belong to Ansem. There was only one other he knew of who'd commanded them, but it couldn't be her...
He did find a slightly different dark-touched shadow that held an even more familiar scent, one he knew he'd never caught before but immediately put Roxas in his mind. Since the Heartless weren't going to help him here, he used Roxas as a signpost so he could catch up. He could have taken a corridor he knew, but the familiar sounds persuaded him to walk instead.
A well worn path led into the woods in the right direction, occasionally spotting one of the few Heartless he'd detected on the way. They ignored him entirely, seeming to be focused on something further ahead, sneaking into bushes to get closer, but also carefully avoiding certain parts of the route.
Riku found out why when he entered a clearing ahead only to have a rope snap around his leg and haul him up into the air with a startled cry. He was sure he heard a nearby Heartless snicker at him as the tree branch finally subsided.
"Oh boy," a voice came from somewhere. "We got one!"
"Lets see who it is!" another added. "Maybe we got Hook!"
Two boys came into view on the ground below him. It took a moment for his mind to recognise what it was seeing. One of them had dressed to look like a fox, and the other a bear. Probably. The blood rushing to his head made it hard to think.
"Say, he looks like Pan's friend," the fox boy said, staring up at him.
"Didn't he say to catch anyone what looked like him?" the other asked.
"I'm a friend of Ventus," Riku ventured. "He just doesn't know I was coming to find him."
"How do we know you're telling us truth?"
"You could go ask Ven," he suggested. "I promise not to go anywhere until you get back."
"I dunno," the fox boy said uncertainly. "We were meant to stop any bad guys who came, and he said that meant anyone with a black coat."
"I'm different," Riku assured them. "Trust me, Ventus will recognise me."
The two shared a further uncertain look.
"We-ell... okay," the bear boy said. "But only 'cause you promised!"
Then the two ran off into the clearing, disappearing behind the tree.
"Honestly, where do they think I'm going to go anyway?" Riku muttered, then looked up – or possibly down – with a "Huh?"
The tree must have been hollowed out somewhere, as a bright white light shone out of it. Riku winced back as it touched the shadows he'd forgotten he was still using, noticing that the Heartless had conveniently picked this side of the tree to hide on, as the light was blazing out of the other side. Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Tentatively he reached out again.
The sense of Roxas's presence had vanished. Or at least, the sense of a Nobody had vanished – he must have done what he came here to do.
Riku reached up and used the rope tied about him to hold himself up long enough to stop his head from pounding, hoping the two boys wouldn't come back and think he was trying to escape. Which he could have done, one quick slash and he'd be down in moments... but he had promised them. Besides, they'd find Ventus for him.
Sure enough just moments after he'd lowered himself down again the voice of the fox boy came to him, "...just hanging right outside! He's got the coat and everything!"
"Relax, Slightly," Roxas's voice said reassuringly. Ventus's now, he mentally corrected himself. "By the sounds of it you just found Riku, that's all. You can trust him, he's a friend."
The two boys emerged from behind the tree and pointed to him.
"That's him, over there!" the bear boy insisted.
A third boy, somehow floating in the air wearing all green, came into view by flying out of the top of the tree. From what he knew of this world, Riku assumed that had to be Peter Pan.
Then Ventus emerged, on the ground like the boys. He'd discarded the coat, evidently returning to the way he'd looked ten years before. A white jacket over a black one, the white left open. Grey pants and similar shoes. Set on one shoulder was what appeared to be a piece of armour, green and grey.
"Didn't you trust me to handle this myself?" the newly restored Ventus asked Riku, looking amused.
"C'mon, aren't I allowed to drop in on my friends now?" Riku replied. "I thought I'd see if the local Heartless wanted to play, maybe keep them off your back, but there's only a few here."
"Yeah, we know about them," Pan said. "They've been watching me for years now, knew I had his heart safe in me, but no one ever taught 'em to fly so they never caught me."
"And I occasionally stop by to keep their numbers down," Ventus added. "Always have. Did Saïx send you here?"
"Actually it was my own idea. He was so busy trying to head you off he didn't give me any details to work with. Now d'ya suppose you could get me down from here?"
Ventus chuckled again, called out his Keyblade and just threw it at the rope, calling it back before it hit the tree behind. Riku hung in the air for a moment of consternation, then fell to the ground.
"Anything else I can help you with today?" he heard Ventus ask as he extricated himself from the bushes. When Riku looked up it was clear all three of them were trying not to laugh.
"Maybe later. I don't think I'd survive sticking around here any longer."
"Halloween Town," Ven said.
"What?"
"You want Heartless to destroy, right? Believe me when I tell you there's plenty there. If you meet Jack, tell him I said I'll be there for his Halloween Spooktacular, will you?"
"Just turn me into a messenger boy why don't you," Riku said with an exaggerated sigh. "Don't forget about tomorrow," he added, then turned aside into a corridor. Maybe the trip hadn't been needed after all, but then if he hadn't... those Heartless had been given new commands very recently. Something was up there as well.
His day's quota met, instead of returning to the castle immediately, Riku made a side trip to the islands. It was late there of course, but he felt he needed to go home for a time.
Halloween Town had been... interesting, to say the least. He should have taken the name – and mention of the 'Halloween Spooktacular' more literally though. He hadn't met Jack Skellington, but he'd managed to get a fair idea of what he was like, being the Knight of Nightmares – among other spooky titles.
He leaned against a tree the three of them had often gathered at in the evenings, taking Riku's spot because at least in name, that was who he was right now. Without Sora's memories and heart, it just didn't seem right taking the place that he still knew ultimately was the one he'd originally sat on.
It was as peaceful as ever. Nothing ever seemed to change here. The Paopu trees still bore fruit, their various treehouses and makeshift bridges and piers still needed the odd repair in places, but the islands never changed.
Before he at last chose to return to the castle he made a promise to the sleeping town across the bay, and more specifically to Kairi, that he would not return until he too was whole.
