Oh lookie another chapter! About time too. Umm..i'm not sure if I wanna expand on Kairi in this because it takes place in the square soft worlds (games 2-7) I haven't played any higher than that. This should be fun.

Chapter Two: Errol

The rain pored thick and heavy.

It pounded Riku's body unforgivably as he stood there staring up through his blindfold at the neon lights of the city. He was glad to have the thin strip of cloth over his eyes to look through, for without it, he feared he couldn't even look up at the exceedingly dim street lamps.

The street was strangely empty as he walked down it, his trench coat swirling about him in the wind. His booted feet caused tiny splashes in the large puddles as he walked. The young man had absolutely no idea where to go from here. He fingered his pendant, which had turned out to be a dragon curling itself up around a neon purple crystal with a miniscule feather inside it that was no bigger than a thin copper wire. He tucked the pendant down into his shirt to hide it from anything that might decide to attack him.

Riku continued down the street quietly. He knew he was being watched. He knew he was being followed. But he did not care. For some reason he was neither afraid nor worried.

He stopped in the middle of the street and allowed the heartless to pull themselves up out of the ground him. A cruel smirk formed on his face as he reached back and unsheathed his twin dark keyblades.

The shadows surrounded him, ten in all. They growled and snarled at him. Riku merely smirked at them. The shadows attacked all at once, biting and slashing, clawing and gnashing. Riku spun and sliced his blades through them. His pendant swung free and began to glow slightly. He swung the blades around slashing heartless in two whenever they got anywhere near him. He was vicious and almost uncontrolled as he fought, but he never lost his smirk.

Mere minutes later the heartless had vanished, defeated. Riku sheathed his blades and looked down that the crystal. The feather within was pulsating with a dim yet soothing white light. It had somehow reacted to his fighting the heartless. He could feel the crystals' warmth through his gloves. It was gentle and calming, like unconditional love.

Riku slid the pendant back within his shirt and pulled back the hood of his trench coat, letting his hair hang free. His hair had grown in the past years, it was a bit below his shoulder and had become softer and much more silky. But the young man had yet to see his new, older self. It was near the top of his to do list. First he had to get out of the rain, then he had to find out where he was, then he had to figure out where to start looking for Sora.

He ran his fingers lightly through his platinum colored hair before looking about him. It was easier to see without his hood up. He looked up at the sky as lightning spidered across the dark clouds and thunder boomed loudly almost deafening him. Riku covered his suddenly extremely sensitive ears.

He stood up and took his hands off his ringing ears and looked around frantically.

"I've got to get out of here" He muttered to himself, his own silkier voice shocked him slightly

Being older was a bit stranger than he expected it to be. He growled and looked around again. He made his way quietly towards a nearby inn. He stepped inside and had to shield his eyes for a moment from the dim smoky light that filled the room.

The tavern was small. Dust and a bit of cigarette smoke filled the air. The delicious smell of warm, fresh bread filled the air as did the smell of stale alcohol. The soft noise of people chatting was in the air as was the sound of food cooking and the sounds of sleeping from the rooms above. Riku swept his eyes over the assembled people. Many of them were dressed in simple street clothes. Others, in traveling gear. There was one young woman, however, who was sitting in a corner. She stood out indefinitely , but only to him it seemed. She was dressed much as he was. Long raven hair graced lightly down her back and was decently mussed. Her skin was a ghostly pale, almost pure snowy white. He could not see the color of her eyes however.

Riku sat down at a table in the corner near her. The light above them had broken, leaving the two of them in a shadow. The young woman was staring off into space and running her fingers over a small glass of a coppery liquid. The glass looked as though she hadn't even drunken any of it.

"Can I get anything for you dear?"

Riku looked up at the young waitress who was standing over him. She was wearing a simple peasant dress in a chocolate shade of brown and a white apron. Riku nodded to her.

"Can I get a slice of that delicious bread I smell?"

The waitress nodded and blew a purple bubblegum bubble before walking off to get his bread.

Riku looked around the tavern at the people again. His eyes caught on a large grandfather clock that was near the door. It was late, later than he thought. It was near ten o'clock. He thanked the young waitress when she brought him a thick slice of a dark brown bread. He took a bite out of the bread and knew what God fed the angels. The bread was warm and smooth. It practically melted in his mouth and the flavor was amazing. After another bite he knew that God didn't give it to the angels, He kept it for Himself.

Riku ate slowly savoring the taste of the bread. It had a strange effect on him. The bread seemed to push into him a new energy. He felt stronger and ready to fight. He must have been hit by a shadow without even knowing it. He sighed as the warmth in his stomach brought on a mild, and comforting sleepiness.

He looked at the woman out of the corner of his eyes. She still hadn't touched her drink. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed weakly at the smooth blindfold. He was really tired for some reason. He fingered his pendant through his shirt. It was warm against his cold skin. He wondered about the tiny feather that was within the crystal. Where had it come from? What kind of animal had feathers that small?

He shook his head and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He looked over at the clock. It was near ten thirty. The rain was pouring down harder now.

It happened all so fast. The front door burst open and a man burst into the room. He was dripping from head to toe with blood. His clothes were torn up and he was panting.

"Heartless!" he moaned out. "Heartless. After blood."

Riku was on his feet in an instant as was the young woman nearby. His eyes flew to her. She looked back at him. She looked like a ghost. Her eyes were so pale grey that they looked almost white. There were small flecks of crimson here and there in them. Her figure was almost disgustingly slender. Her breasts were decently small and her legs nicely long. Riku was instantly taken with her. He found her strangely beautiful.

"Can you fight?" He asked her.

"Yes, if you can." Her voice was smooth and deeper than her expected it to be.

The young woman reached down at her side and unsheathed a long katana. Riku reached back behind him and unsheathed his keyblades.

"Shadow keyblades?" the young woman asked. "You must be the chosen one."

"If by chosen you mean sent by an odd voice the, yes I am."

"That's exactly what I mean."

"My name is Riku."

"My name is Ru.I mean Errol."

Riku nodded to her.

"Pleased to meet you Errol." He said.

Errol nodded to him in agreement.

"Shall we?" Riku suggested. Hew gestured to the door with his hand and bowed with a flourish.

Errol smirked and ran outside into the pouring rain with Riku at her heels. They stopped in the street and looked down the street. The young man who had burst into the tavern had died in the doorway. Shadows had gathered about the carcass and were ripping it to shreds, feeding off his blood and skin.

Errol flew at the shadows with amazing speed and slashed them and the carcass to pieces in a matter of seconds. She looked at Riku for a minute before looking down the empty street again.

"Here they come." She said.

Hundreds of shadows suddenly began to pull themselves out of the ground around them. They snarled and growled at the two young people. Riku and Errol merely stood there both wearing dangerous looking smirks on their faces while watching the shadows. Riku felt the crystal begin to glow underneath his shirt.

"Don't let them get that crystal." Errol said.

"How did you know about the crystal?" Riku asked quietly.

"I'll explain later." Errol replied. "Right now we have a battle to fight."

The shadows suddenly surged at them as one. The two fighters slashed at everything that got close to them. Shadows dropped to the ground and vanished in twos and threes.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Riku called.

"I know!" Errol suddenly put her sword away and clasped her hands in front of her. She began to mutter under her breath. A bright light surrounded her for a moment.

"Bolt!" she suddenly called.

A bolt of lightning suddenly flew down from the sky and crashed violently into the shadows. There was much screaming from the heartless as more bolts came down causing minor explosions that sent several shadows flying every time. The heartless hit buildings and broke apart with sickening splattering sounds.

"you're a mage?!" Riku suddenly called over the storm

Errol merely nodded and continued raining bolts down on heartless. The heartless where now greatly decreased in number and there was blood everywhere. Errol and Riku were both exhausted and very cut up. Riku's pendant was now shining very brightly. More heartless kept coming up out of the ground. They seemed endless.

"Where the hell do they keep coming from?!" Riku cried.

"I don't know!" Errol cried back.

Riku and Errol soon found themselves backed up against the wall of a building. Both were panting with exhaustion and shaking with cold from the pouring rain. Riku looked over at Errol. She was bleeding from several cuts and he swore he could she blood leaking out through her gloves from the palms of her hands. He knew he didn't look much better.

"Well here it ends." Errol said. "You can't run forever."

Yes," Riku nodded. "It looks like I won't find Sora after all."

At these words Riku felt a sudden loss at the thought of never seeing Sora again. His heart was heavy with sadness as he stood there, keyblades in hand and an angry look on his face.

That was when it happened. The pendant suddenly tore a hole in Riku's shirt as it flew out in from of him. It began to glow with an electric bluish purple flame. The flames exploded outwards at the heartless. The flames formed a great shield around Riku and Errol in the form of a giant heart. The flames formed a path at the point of the heart that lead down the street and around a corner. Riku suddenly grabbed one of Errol's bloody hands and pulled her down the path, both of them running for their lives. The pendant was still out in front of Riku, pulling him down the path. Heartless pulled themselves out of the ground and threw themselves at the flames. They could not however, get through to the two running warriors.

Riku could feel Errol weakening but didn't dare stop. He too was dieing to rest his aching body but they had to escape. Finally after what felt like hours the path led them into an old derelict building far away from the shadows. They two of them burst into the building and bolted the door. The purple fire vanished and the pendant stopped glowing. It fell limply back to rest against Riku's cold and wet chest. Errol collapsed on an old rug on the floor, a small cloud of dust rising up from it. Riku pulled a large white sheet off a nearby couch and collapsed onto the cushions. Riku tugged off his soaked trench before pulling off his shirt and examining the hole in his shirt. Errol sat up and looked at him. "I can fix that if you want." She said quietly.

Riku looked at her. Errol stared right back at him. Riku then realized just how torn up the two of them were. Neither had sustained heavy damage but they did need to get cleaned up.

"Give me a few minutes and I'll cast a cure spell. I need to rest a bit first. White spells aren't my specialty. I've never really practiced with them."

Riku looked at her and nodded.

Errol gently took his shirt from him and looked over the hole.

Riku stood up.

"I'm going to go search the upstairs. You stay here." He said.

Errol looked at him, her ghostly eyes calm. She nodded gently.

"Just be careful."

Riku nodded and headed up the rickety old stairs, the crystal bouncing lightly against his chest. It was dark upstairs but it was more comforting than evil. The rain had begun to come down harder but thankfully the roof was keeping the cold and wet out. The old building must have been an abandoned in of sorts for there were many rooms up here. Large rooms small rooms, dirty and broken bathrooms. Riku grabbed one of the sheets off the bed and wiped at his cuts before casting a low power heal spell on himself at at least stopped his cuts from bleeding.

Riku headed down the stairs again and made his way back to where Errol was waiting. He came upon an interesting sight. Errol was sitting on the couch in nothing but her underwear, her legs folded beneath her. She had Riku's shirt in her hands and was slowly patching up the hole with a thread and needle. Riku looked at the fire that was blazing in the hearth then back at the young woman on the couch.

"you'd best get your pants and boots off before you catch cold." She said. "you can put them on the table over there with my stuff."

Riku did as he was told. He soon joined her on the couch in his nothing but his black silk boxers and stared into the fire. Errol suddenly handed him a sheet that had come off one of the large chairs that were placed around the hearth.

"I shook the dust off it." She said.

Riku draped it over himself. He looked a her. She seemed to have healed herself already. As he looked at her, he thought about his quest that lay ahead of him. Maybe this young woman would be good to keep as a companion. She had fought bravely earlier she hadn't even seemed scared.

"Errol?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"Do you know where we are?"

"We're somewhere in a city called Midgar." She said. "It's on the outskirts of the Kingdom Hearts but is not controlled by it. We should be safe in this building. You can start looking for Sora here."

"How do you know about Sora and the pendant?"

"I had a dream about you and the Voice. And everyone knows about Sora."

"A dream?"

"I'm a bit of a Seer. I have prophetic dreams"

"so, what are you doing here?"

When Errol didn't answer Riku nodded. He knew how she felt. He wouldn't have told her anything if she didn't already know. Though they had just met, Riku trusted this young woman completely.

"Errol?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you help me with this quest?"

Errol nodded and went back to sewing. She cut the string and handed Riku his shirt.

"I'd be glad to."