13/10/2022 - This story is updating weekly on AO3 only (more chapters already posted there) now due to all the recent issues with FFN. Username and story title are the same over there. Might occasionally update here as well, probably every couple of months.

He yawned widely and glanced up, checking the moon's position in the sky. It seemed a long time since the sun had set but, judging by how little the pale circle had moved, it must still be several hours until midnight.

Every now and then the boy's hoarse voice would float up to where he sat on the edge of a skyscraper roof, as he continued to shout angrily for the man to come out and fight.
It had been a nice change of pace, seeing Sora consumed with anger and openly trying to hunt him down, rather than skulking through the streets and trying to sneak up on him. But after several days of it, the novelty was wearing off.

He was bored. If losing that silly little charm of his hadn't been enough to push Sora over the edge yet then maybe it was time to give him another nudge...

His head snapped to the side as he sensed something change, something abruptly alter the energy of this world.
Someone else was here.
He stepped through the dark flames of the corridor he had summoned and emerged several kilometres away, atop the roof of another soaring skyscraper.
A red light pulsed beneath the platform he stood on, and from the matching tower that rose from the opposite side of the building.

The ideal place to spot his intruders from. He didn't have to look far.

There they were. Four teenagers, standing right in the centre of the semicircular plaza far below him. What a convenient location for them to have chosen.
A blue sphere surrounded by diamonds hovered in the air behind them, pulsing faintly. It disappeared as a blonde-haired boy pointed a weapon at it and cast a spell. That weapon though... a Keyblade?

A roar of anger rose in his throat but he forced it back down. They must be here for Sora. How dare they interfere! After months and months of careful planning and work, tormenting Sora with heartless, sleepless nights, and surprise attacks, these four were going to waltz in here and try to stop him? They could never defeat him of course, but unnecessarily killing more Keyblade wielders was something he would prefer to avoid, and if Sora glimpsed them and regained his hope... It would all be for nothing, and they would lose their ideal vessel.

Or maybe... His lip curled into a sneer as an idea occurred to him. Maybe this was that final nudge Sora needed...

The dark flames engulfed him once more as he returned to his previous observation point and called down to the boy running through the streets below.

"Hello Sora, why don't you come up here and join me?"

Hi there! This fic is a rewrite and expansion of a previous fic I posted. If you've read that version and liked it there are a few things I wanted to tell you about this new story so you know what to expect:

- There are going to be lots of new parts in this, some are longer versions of scenes from my previous fic, while some are brand new scenes. Some parts are going to be exactly the same so if you get deja vu it's probably because I did some copy n pasting from parts I was already happy with.

- The romance in this is just as G-rated, but in the process of writing this I became a SoRiku shipper so it is now a SoRiku romance but their friendships with Kairi are still a core part of the story.

- Just like the old one, this is basically all going to be character-focussed rather than a massive plotline delving into a KH4 headcannon

- Expect a LOT MORE hurt comfort, I had so much fun writing it last time that I decided to go hard, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Thanks for reading! From Chapter 2 onwards I'm hoping to post one chapter a week.