Thanks for all the reviews! Keep reviewing! And you get to hear a bit about what happened to Riku in this chapter!
Jade swept the floor of the shop trying to get the last of the shards of a broken potion bottle into the dustpan that Rikku was holding. She looked behind her at the closed door, behind which Quistis was explaining the three thousand one hundred and thirteen year gap that Sora had missed out on. It's not like Jade needed to be in the room because what had started out as a simple explanation had turned into an all out war of who can shout the loudest: Instructor Quistis Trappe vs. Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Or at least, Sora had called the two teenage boys with him Donald and Goofy. In Jade's book Donald had been a duck and Goofy had been a dog, but the two boys who were accompanying Sora were teenagers only a year or two older than Jade. After gaining the ability to talk once again, Jade had taken Sora to the only place she could think of… the shop. After all if anyone could tell Sora what was going on in the universe today it was none other than Battle Instructor, and disbeliever, Quistis Trappe. Rikku had made a big deal about Sora's entrance, which confused the poor hero to no end. When he had left he was not a hero at all nevertheless the huge hero he was today. When Quistis had entered the room she at once spotted Sora and ever so professionally, dropped the potion she had been holding which shattered on the floor. Sora had made some comment about going away for a few weeks and suddenly everyone was shocked to see he was still alive. Rikku had of course told him it had been much longer, but it was Quistis who had to do the hard part. Break his heart. Though it might have been easier if they had allowed Sora to live a lie and think one day he was to be reunited with Kairi, it would have only lead him up to a bigger heartbreak and no one deserved that especially not Sora. It was hard to comprehend what must have been going through his head as Quistis delivered the news. The news that would shatter his heart into a million separate pieces: Kairi was dead. But of course, Sora would not take this sitting down. He objected to it at once calling Quistis a liar and so on. And so the shouting competition had begun. Of course Donald's bad temper was legendary and Sora had a pretty short fuse himself but Instructor Trappe could be pretty convincing if she wanted to be, and right now she wanted to be. The only one in the room who wasn't shouting his head off was Goofy; Jade assumed he was just sitting quietly waiting for the madness in the room to blow over. Jade shook her head it must be horrible to hear what Sora was hearing but he needed to accept what had happened. Living in a lie was going to do him only harm and denial could cause him to loose his Keyblade forever. It seemed endless, as if no one was going to win this battle of the voices. The universe Sora had fought for, had called his home was lost and never going to be found. He could never return to it, to Kairi, and that information must have been hard to believe, even for Sora. "They certainly are yelling an awful lot." Rikku said as Donald burst into some rant about who knows what.

"Got that right." Jade said sweeping up the last of the glistening shards that littered the floor into the dustpan. Rikku stood up depositing the tiny shards into the trashcan. Jade fell backward into a chair listening to the argument that was flaming behind the door. It sounded like a war was going on in there, but that was only wishful thinking on Jade's part. Anything was better than what was really happening behind the door. She didn't want to listen in but they were shouting so loudly that their was really no choice. It was either that or leave the warm shop to go outside in the freezing rain which was now a torrential downpour. Jade shook her head watching Rikku plop into a chair next to her. There was no end in sight; no winner was ever going to rise up among the others.

"You're wrong! You have to be! Kairi isn't gone! I would never let that happen to her!" Sora shouted his voice clearly heard through the wooden door separating him from Jade and Rikku. "I can't believe you! Not if you say that! They aren't gone! Not Kairi! Not Riku!" Jade looked at Rikku raising a questioning eyebrow. Sora only had half of that right. Kairi was gone but-

"Look Kairi is gone! It's just a fact of the future Sora! No matter how much you denying it won't change what has happened!" Quistis's voice interrupted Jade's train of thought. This was how the argument had been going: Sora objected and called Quistis a liar, Quistis yelled at Sora telling him denying it did nothing, Sora denied it anyway. "This isn't some fairytale Sora! So stop living in your false happy ending and look around you! The Universe has fallen to Darkness! Kairi is gone! And no amount of denial will change that fact! But you can change the Universe! You're the Keyblade Master! Our hope! Our light within the darkest depths of Darkness! Our Hero Sora! You are our hero! So suck it up and start acting more like it! Stop questing for a happy ending because when the Heartless are involved there won't be one to find! So stop treating this like a kid's story! This is life! All around you! This is what really happens! Do you think any of these people have had a happy ending? This isn't some little bedtime story that your mother reads you when she tucks you in! This is the Real World Sora! So stop fantasizing start living in it!" Quistis shouted. Too harsh! Were the first two words that pushed themselves into her mind. Sora wasn't like she and Rikku, he had lost his entire universe not just the world on which he was born. Almost everyone he had known was gone now with just a few exceptions, and Kairi not being one of them. Sora needed time not volume.

"I can't believe you." Sora said his voice returning to a normal volume for what seemed to be the first time ever since the battle had begun. "I WON'T!" He sounded his voice full of rage, but the rage was only a mask for a more powerful emotion that the great hero was suppressing. The door flew open and Sora burst from the room his blue eyes blazing tears streaming down his cheek. Before anyone could say anything he was out of the door his figure vanishing in the pouring rain. Jade was the first to recover from the sunned silence Sora had left in the room.

"I'm going after him!" she announced and before she could even think about what she was doing she had pulled up the hood of her coat and run out into the pouring rain. She had absolutely no idea which way Sora had gone, so she took a wild guess and ran off toward the center of first district. The rain blew against her pounding on her face with almost painful force. Jade looked around her seeing the figure of Sora standing in front of the two doors that separated this world from the next. Jade walked up behind him putting a hand on his shoulder, he tensed at her touch hand tightening his grip on his Keyblade. "You know she's right don't you?" Jade asked softly. The rain seemed to quiet slightly and Sora seemed to relax hearing and recognizing Jade's voice.

"Yes," he replied his voice almost inaudible as it blended in with the steady thud of the rain. "I don't want to believe it, but deep down inside I know she's right." He stared at his feet not turning to look at Jade or pulling away from her. "It's just so hard to accept… everything seems like a bad dream, that I'm just going to wake up and realize none of this is real…"

"It's like that for everyone who looses something or someone close to them. And for you… you lost a lot Sora, but that's no reason to just give up." She didn't need to force the confidence into her voice; she knew Sora could do it, if only he believed in himself.

"You don't understand," Sora said shaking his head. He pulled away from Jade looking at his feet. Jade walked in front of him looking at him the concern that filled her heart was not visible on her face; she had to make Sora believe once again or just as before she'd be the only Keyblade Master.

"Then make me understand." Jade said simply. There was a moment of silence that made it seem like the world around her had fallen completely silent the only people on the planet just seemed to be she and Sora. Sora looked up from his feet, bringing himself up to his normal height. He looked down at Jade; his cool blue eyes were no longer blazing in anger as they looked into her mismatched blue and green eyes.

"Kairi…" he said softly. "She was the one I always looked to, the one I was trying to protect. I always thought about her when things seemed hopeless, and then I knew I could get out of there. I had to. I had a promise to her I had to keep. She meant everything to me…" Sora said his voice sounded as pained as he looked. His eyes gleamed with emotional agony that the mere thought of Kairi had burned into him. "She was my light." he said looking away the pain too much to handle. Tears joined the rain that spilled down his face, Jade shook her head.

"You're wrong about that Sora." she said calmly. Sora looked up at her his eyes showing a mix of confusion and suspicion. He had no idea where this conversation was headed but Jade did. She had to tell Sora the part of the truth he needed to hear most. "Your light is yours Sora, no one else's. All these people who live in the universe today, they need you more than Kairi ever did. Your needed here Sora, and whether or not you'll help us is up to you. But I believe in you Sora. I know you can do this. You can save us." Jade said her voice was only a whisper by the end of her speech.

"You…" Sora said quickly, but he fell silent looking at Jade, behind his sharp blue eyes his mind was racing trying to comprehend everything Jade had said. Jade hoped Sora saw what she said was truth. Only he could bring the light back. "You're right." Sora said after a long silence. "I let my world fall to darkness and that was a mistake. I won't mess up again. I'll bring


Yes Riku will be having a bigger part comming up but that's all I'm saying.