Kiyomisa: Thank you Dea, Blue Baroness and Katomi for your encouraging reveiws! Since I'm bored, and feeling generous, I'm going ahead and posting chapter two, just for you three. Enjoy!

At the bottom of the hill, Riku found himself standing before a tall, ivory-covered wall. "Now, to get in." Riku searched for a door, walking up and down the wall, but found none. Scowling at the wall, Riku began to look for something to help him climb it instead when he spied someone sitting with their back to the wall. He trotted over to them and discovered that they were a young man, only older than Riku by five years at the most. His hair was blonde and spiky, reminding Riku somewhat of Sora's hair, though the black clothes and red, tattered cloak gave the man a much more somber appearance. Beside him, also leaning against the wall, was a giant, squarish sword. It looked almost like a small plane's wing that had been sharpened to a deadly edge. He appeared to be napping.

Well, he'll just have to wake up. "Excuse me."

The man slowly, and deliberately opened his eyes, proving that he hadn't really been asleep. His eyes were the same blue as Sora's, and Riku felt a small pang in his heart. "Do you know where the door is?"

"Which door?" the man returned, his voice a soft tenor.

"The door to the Labyrinth."

"Who wants to know?" the question was neither sarcastic nor aggressive, but calm and relaxed and it threw Riku off balance.

"I'm Riku," he answered automatically.

The man nodded. "I thought you might be. I'm Cloud." His expression hadn't changed and Riku began to wonder if the man knew what a smile or a frown was. For a while there was a small silence, then Riku tried again.

"So do you know?"

"Know which?"

"About the door."

"Which door?" Cloud returned, completely deadpan.

Riku briefly wondered if the man was simple, but he caught his gaze again. Cloud's eyes were much too sharp for a simpleton and Riku realized that the swordsman knew exactly what hr was trying to find out.

"Look, if you didn't want to tell me, you could've just said so," Riku snapped.

Cloud's eyes narrowed slightly, the first expression change Riku had seen. "Maybe if you asked the right question, I'd give you the right answer." Though he hadn't raised it, Cloud's voice was no longer soft, but hard and sharp like steel. Riku got the feeling that he wasn't a man to cross. Still...that was no reason to show that he'd acknowledged it.

Riku sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, how do I get into the Labyrinth?"

Cloud merely gazed at him until he added, "Please?" The swordsman nodded and stood up. "That's better. You get in, here, " he said, thrusting his sword in the wall and turning it sharply, as if it were a key and the wall a lock. A moment later, the wall dissolved into the ground in a soft rain, leaving an elegant archway.

"Are you really going in?" Cloud inquired, still mostly expressionless.

"Yes."

Cloud shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Riku sent the blond another glare, then stepped through. On the other side was a long passageway that seemed to go on into infinity in both directions.

"Choose-y," Cloud said from behind him. Riku jumped, then growled. He was getting tired of handsome men sneaking up behind him.

"So, left, or right?" the swordsman asked, nodding in either direction.

Riku tapped his foot and glanced at his choices. "I don't know," he said at last. Cloud merely looked at him, unnerving him.

"Well which would you choose?"

Cloud raised his eyebrows, the first real expression change Riku had observed. "Me? I wouldn't go either way."

Riku wanted to punch him, but the dangerous air and the presence of the large sword stopped him. "You're just full of help aren't you?" he snarled instead.

Cloud's eyes narrowed and his voice hardened again. "You take too much for granted. If you do happen to make it through the Labyrinth, you won't get back again."

"Well that's your opinion," Riku said, still trying to decide which way he wanted to go, and irked by the blonde's lack of confidence in him.

"It is. And it's better than yours," Cloud stated flatly, then walked back through the arch, which returned to solid wall once he was through.

Riku tried to put the swordsman out of his mind and started walking, deciding that one way wasn't really any better than another. At times he felt like he was being watched, but he studiously ignored it, concentrating on Sora. He had to get him back as soon as possible; who knew what that perverted king was doing to him?

As he walked, it soon became apparent that there were no doors or openings in the stone walls. "What kind of Labyrinth is this? there aren't even any turns!" he griped to himself, but kept moving. Still no doors. He began to run, aware that every minute he wasted, was another minute Sora had to spend with Ansem.

However, after running until he had no breath and still finding no doors, he stopped in frustration, picked up a branch and chucked it has hard as he could at the wall, dodging it as it bounced back. "Dammit!"

"Whoa! Chill man! This ain't the WWE y'know!" an indignant voice called out.

Riku looked around for the speaker. "Where are you?"

"Down here, Mr. Violence," the voice drawled, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The youth looked down towards his feet and saw a red Chinese dragon about the size of a garden-snake.

"You're a dragon!"

"Congratulations, you get a prize, Captain Obvious," the dragon retorted, placing its claws on what appeared to be its hips. "Now, sit down and tell Mushu what that wall did to warrant such a ferocious attack."

Riku bristled; he hated being patronized even more than being laughed at. But he decided to ignore it; if he kept trying to pick fights, he'd never reach Sora in time.

"Okay, so I'm trying to solve this Labyrinth, but there's no turns or doors or anything! It just keeps going!"

"Well then you ain't looking right! It's full of them, there's one right there." Mushu pointed, extending a tiny claw. Riku looked, but saw nothing but the same ivy-covered stone he'd been seeing ever since he passed through Cloud's door.

"No there isn't."

"Oh yes there is."

"But it's just wall," Riku protested.

"You callin' me a liar!? Just walk through it, dunderhead! Things ain't what they seem 'round here!" the little dragon ordered.

Dubiously, and feeling more than a little stupid, Riku walked towards the wall with his hands outstretched. He kept expecting his hand to run into cool stone, but they never did. Instead, he found himself with two new choices of paths to take.

"Hey, you're right!"

"Damn straight! I'm the Great Mushu!"

Feeling slightly humbled, and a little embarrassed, Riku turned and thanked the dragon before starting down one of the new paths.

"Wait! Don't go that way!" he heard Mushu call out.

"Why not?"

"You don't wanna go that way, trust me." The dragon sounded completely serious, and he'd been right before, so Riku decided to take the advice.

"Thanks," he said gain and took the other path.

Mush shook his head as he watched the youth leave. "If he'd kept going that way, he would've ended up right smack at Ansem's Castle. That's somethin' that pretty-boy don't need."

Kiyomisa: So, whadja think?