Just correcting some grammar errors and filling in details this time around. If your one of my returning readers, rest assured nothing in-depth changed in this chapter--the core events are the same, they're just being told in a different way with some filler details. :)

This can't be:

Chapter 1

I moaned. My head was splitting... it felt as if a humongous nail had been driven through my head with a mallet. I roused gradually, slowly becoming conscious of myself--my foremost concern being my head and its pain. "I need some Tylenol..." I said muttering and slowly pushing my body off the ground.

One hand I used to investigate the cause of my headache while the other supported my weight. While gently trying to massage my headache away, i noticed the texture of the ground beneath my hand--rough, mossy... I briefly flexed my hand to answer the question forming in my head. That answer brought even more questions; I could feel the dirt and soil beneath my palm, and the moss growing beneath my fingers. I opened my eyes to view my surroundings.

It was dimly lit, but what I did see startled me. My eyes brought me the picture of a cave, little light, far from its mouth and little light to be had even outside, as the sun was just beginning to ascend the treetops. When I exhaled, the morning chill froze my breath and I watched it as it blended with the air. I'd been in my house last night... I was sure of it.

"So you're awake, good."

It took some time to process the sound of the voice, then more to realize it had been addressing me. I turned my head in the direction of the following footsteps. By the time I'd turned my head, he was already stooping beside me. The one hand was still feeling my head, realizing that, I drew it back and rested it on the ground. My mind was forming thoughts that I didn't voice. I'd never seen this boy before. And yet, he was inches from my face and carefully examining my hair line on the right side of my face. I sat there obediently, and let him look--for a reason beyond any that I could fathom later. I merely sat and peered at his face, and taking in his build and stature.

He was about my age, with a slightly thin but average build. His hair shone pale in the dim light and I hadn't been able to see his eyes. It wasn't until he touchedmy forehead that I woke from my trance-like state. The sharp, but brief pain roused me to my senses. "Ouch." I said pulling myself back and touching the area myself. The edge of my forehead was tender, and when I drew back my head, and saw blood. "You must've had a pretty hard fall coming here--I found you lying under a tree last night." the boy said offering me a cloth.

I took it and now peered at him suspisciously. I took the cloth and waited for a further explanation. But, my expectation was met with silence. After a few seconds, the boy relaxed from his haunches and leaned against a wall, letting his head roll back and rest. I held the cloth to my head, and checked it occasionally. After that avenue was exhausted, I shifted my gaze to him. "Who are you and where is 'here'?" I asked.

He turned to look at me. "Where I come from, it's rude to ask someone's name before giving your own."

I gave him a glassy stare in response. "My name is Riku and this is what's left of the Destiny Islands."

I set the cloth down and shifted my gaze back to the sun peeking over the trees. In my mind, I was miles away floating through thoughts and memories that should have led me to at least a theory. I tried to concentrate on the last memories I could string together... "Hey."

I glanced at him and was startled to meet his gaze. "You know what happened don't you?" I shook my head from side to side. "You world was destroyed by the heartless. Do you understand?"

My brow furrowed. "What are heartless?"

The morning chill wafting through the air gained an edge to it. I my legs closer to my chest to combat it, but the chill lingered and crept softly around me.

"Heartless are creatures that lack hearts." he told me. "They steal hearts and shell left behind is becomes a heartless... They invade worlds searching for its heart, so they can possess it. Your world was destroyed and you ended up here. The people on your most likely had their hearts taken, and are now heartless."

I looked at him in disbelief. It sounded too farfetched in an age run by science and reason. Worlds possessing hearts, and heartless beings whose only objective is to destroy... It was utterly impossible. The heart was a physical organ of the human body--yes, it could be removed... But that the body left behind would resume as a "heartless being" was asking too much. Aside from that, he didn't seem to be speaking of the physical heart I was thinking of... Even if I believed him, that still wouldn't explain why I was here, why I had escaped, where my family and friends were now... It didn't explain anything. I let his explanation remain in the air undisturbed. I didn't believe it. Believing something like that was completely and utterly beyond me. "I don't believe you." I replied gazing back at him.

In response, Riku shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes reclining against the wall again. "I suppose not." he said calmly. "but, whether you believe me or not doesn't matter to me." He paused for a brief moment and faced me. "Haven't you ever looked into the night sky and thought there were stars missing? Haven't you ever seen a star sputter out while gazing at the sky?"

I answered him with silence. "Say I believed you... How could I get back to my world?"

"If the heartless have destroyed it, there's no way you can return to it. If it's not, then there's not too much point in returning to it."

"Why's that?"

"If you were able to leave your world, that means the world's walls have been removed. It might not exist anymore."

I sat and let the information marinate... I wondered what my reactino should be? Sorrow? Anger? Indifference? For now, it was as if I had been removed in reality and placed into a body that didn't feel and couldn't react. This was strange to me. I couldn't wail and mourn because I didn't feel it yet--I was angry because I hadn't the competence to feel the blow dealt to me. To put it simply: I didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation. I didn't believe anything he'd told me, despite my changed surroundings and the lack of my immediate comforts. I guess I was living in the belief that, this was just an odd dream or that I'd somehow gotten lost in the woods and mild vegitation of my suburban home. Riku's question brought me back into the land that existed outside my thoughts.

"What are you thinking?"

My eyes focused on his face and held his gaze. "I don't know what to think." I answered. "I don't think I believe you, I don't think the heartless are real creatures, I don't think that an entire world could be destroyed or vanquished by such creatures, and I don't think that I'm in a different place speaking with you... If nothing else--I think that I'm dreaming and lost within the concoction of my imagination at night..." I paused for a time looking at the cave floor, clenching the dirt within my hands, relaxing them and feeling the dirt sift between my fingers. "This can't be."

I know, I know... It's been years since my last update and I just start all over again... To explain myself breifly: I remembered as one of my favorite sites and having two stories that I still haven't finished and promising to finish them. So, to finish reading these stories, I first back-tracked to find out exactly where I was in my plot line up... WEll, to say the least, it was there that I started "correcting" my mistakes. I haven't changed the story that much, just wrote a bit more and filled in a couple gaps. It's the same actions, same plot, just with a little more word play and filler details that satisfy my OCD. :) Sorry to be forever, but hopefully, I'll manage to finish it this time.