Disclaimer---Gah, these things are SO boring. -sigh- I don't own any of this, if u wanna sue, I have a nice collection of TY beanie babies...that's about all u'll have. But if u take them, I'll cry, I swear it! ;.;

The Heart of All Worlds

Chapter 1 - Believing Recollections

Sora slept soundly on the large plush bed, curled around pastel blue blankets and the one pillow he absolutely refused to be rid of. He was not very fond of the down-feather pillows that had to be fluffed every so often, else they would go completely flat. Extremely inconvenient and uncomfortable things they were. Riku had taken the time to point out that his "special" pillow was looking rather less these days, but Sora just scowled, slammed his head on said pillow for effect, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

Kairi strode silently into the room, placing a palm flat on the door and closed it with over-exaggerated care, trying to muffle the click of the door interlocking with the frame. Turning around quickly, her skirts brushing the floor soundlessly and her slippered feet making silent shuffling noises as they brushed the ground, she approached the bed and sat beside Sora's sleeping form, gently brushing bangs from his face. "'Bout time he got some good rest," she whispered to the other occupant of the room without looking up, "Aurora's staying the night. She's willing to talk to him tomorrow. Riku-" Kairi looked up at him with a slightly panicked expression her face that caught him completely off guard. Her voice was desperate, "something's gone wrong and they want Sora to-to fix it. He'd have to leave, and fight probably an-and he's in no condition!"

"mmMM!" Sora shoved his face deeper into the pillow and stretched his body slightly.

Riku regarded him fondly before a troubled expression passed over his face. "It's his job . . ." Kairi opened her mouth to protest, lifting herself from the bed ready to use body language , and physical force if it got her point across. Riku's disarming smile stopped her and she sat when he spoke again, "We've just gotta believe in him."

The princess crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head dejectedly, "You make it sound as if I don't. He's injured, emotionally and physically."

"He'll be fine, Aurora can heal his wounds. She's a lot better with magic than you ya know." Riku grinned and Kairi flew up, socking him, harder than he expected her able to, on the arm. "And just what's THAT supposed to mean."

Riku was ready with a curt remark, but was stopped suddenly when Sora sat up, glaring at them with unfocused eyes. The sable-haired boy opened his mouth, and promptly fell back onto the mattress snoring loudly. Kairi hid a snicker behind her hand.

Riku did not even try to hide his amusement, "We should probably continue this fight outside." And with that, they exited the Keybearer's room.

Closing the door, Riku leaned against it and regarded Kairi with a cool expression.

"I'm just worried Riku. Everything's changed so fast, we've had to time to prepare for any of it. This is just happening too fast.

"They wouldn't stick us with something we couldn't handle. We've all proven we're more than resilient Kairi. 'Sides, it's not like he'll be going alone." Riku coked an eyebrow at his friend's amazed expression. "You actually thought-"

"NO! No no, heh." Kairi tried to laugh off her embarassment, but failed as the tell-tale tinge of her cheeks gave it away, "I just . . . hadn't thought about it that far yet."

"We'll see what Sora says tomorrow." Kairi nodded stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. She noticed the fond look Riku sent to the door, knowing it was meant for the person behind it, secured in the huge bed. She was far from stupid on the subject, and thought it rather adorable. There were doubts once, fears that she would be left behind, resentments because she had had her crushes, but it was all left behind when she was sure everything would be fine between them all. That her two best friends were made for eachother.

"You better get in there and be sure he's not sleepwalking again." There was a warm sisterly tone to her voice.

Riku glanced at her, his expression softening immensely. This was one thing he loved about Kairi, she always understood, always knew what to say, always knew when a person was distressed with a situation and her words would push them in the right direction, even if it was further away from her. "Yeah, I better go. We'll see you tomorrow morning ok?" Kairi blushed as he pulled her into a warm embrace. She smiled and returned it before skittering off down the hall, shouting the appropriate time to be up and not to forget about Aurora. Riku waved and slipped back into the bedroom.

Standing beside the bed, Riku wanted Sora's lips move silently, muttering something from his dreams. It sent a small jolt of fear down his spine. Everytime Sora slept he got that feeling. Traid had approached Sora in his dreams, controlling his mind, making him see things that were not there, not true. Riku, like Kairi, did not want Sora to go, especially not if his mind were prone to such things, but Riku had to believe, so reluctantly, he did.

The silver-haired teen crawled into bed behind the sleeping Sora and buried his head in the crook of the younger one's neck. Riku was close to sleep himself, he yawned noisily and rubbed teary eyes.

Believe.

It seemed like such an easy thing to do. But convincing yourself of something and actually believing it were two very different things. Especially when that believe was challenged.

Riku had discovered that the hard way.

They, whoever 'they' were, had tried to make him forget. Take his memories away and give him false ones. Ones where Sora never existed. And the saddest part was, he had almost believed them.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

His hope ran thin, throwing himself to his knees, he dropped his head into his hands and cried, completely unable to hold anything back now. Anger, frustration, worry, hurt, and loss, among more emotions than he could put labels to. One hand dropped to the ground and clutched the warm sand, picking it up, he chucked it into the ocean.

For hours, he came to realize, after he had cried himself out, Riku sat there, simply watching the ocean and sky emotionlessly. They skittered across the surface of his mind, but somehow he could not find the energy to acknowledge them anymore. Suddenly, something fell next to him, a bright yellow fruit in the shape of a star, with a small leaf protruding from what was declared the top of it. Riku grasped the Paopu fruit, looking at its unmarred surface. It was not even ripe enough to fall from the tree, the ideal time to eat, but odd that it had fallen so soon.

Anger and loss filled him again, apparently he was still capable of emotion, and he stood, fresh tears springing from his eyes. "HERE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and chucking the fruit at the horizon, "share this with me! Be with me forever!" Riku fell to his knees, more than crying, sobbing actually, "Forever," he whispered before falling to his side. He felt like a baby with all this crying, but Sora meant more than the world to him, he curled up into a ball, not attempting to stop crying anymore, "You said believe, but, I have nothing to believe in. You're not here." His eyes drooped and he fell asleep with one last thought lingering.

I love you.

What happened after that was fuzzy, like a dream, except he was absolutely certain he was awake.

Riku's form lay in a prone position, tears still running the worn track down his face, over his chin, and finally, dripping onto the cool evening sand. His expression was neutral, not even appearing as if he were asleep only that he had closed his eyes for a moment.

But Riku dreamt. In his dreams, he reached out through a pool of darkness to reach for a small pin prick of light, certain that it was too far away to even hope to touch. In this place, there really were no solid forms, just the realization that you existed. Closing what would have been his hand into a fist, he pulled it back. Looking back up, the light was gone. This startled Riku, and he opened his hand only to find the small peck of light twinkling in his hand. If it were human, Riku would have said it was happy.

Could that light really be this small? Any smaller and it would not be there . . .

And just like that, the prick of light shot up, circled around Riku twice, and flew in the direction assumed to be up. Riku stumbled forward a few steps calling out "H-hey wait!" He needed that little light.

Everything slowly faded into black.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Riku, hey! Wake up! We've gotta go!"

The Riku in question groaned and rolled over, unsuccessfully wiping away the itchy wetness on his face from the sand and his tears. Cracking his eyes open, they immediately settled on the startlingly blue ones of Sora that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Everything was out of focus and it took a moment to remember where he was. When it did come back, Riku scrambled up clumsily, stuttering and grabbing Sora's face, arms, shoulders, anything, just to be sure he was actually in front of him. In his frantic scrambling, he missed the tiny pinprick of light in Sora's eye.

Sora giggled and Riku stopped, content with rubbing his eyes and staring at the boy before him that went about as if nothing in the past few days had happened. "We gotta go! Everyone's waiting for us!"

"S-Sora! It's really you?" It was taking Riku's mind a little longer than usual to process information.

"Yeah Riku. It's me." The Keybearer took his companion's hand and held it in his own. His soft smile lasted for a bit, until it cracked into another goofy grin. "They couldn't keep me down, had to teach'em a lesson!"

"But what was this?" Riku gestured to the false island and the lands beyond it and suddenly, Sora looked extremely ashamed, and mad.

"I'm sorry, I really am. It wasn't my idea. They were afraid, so they put you through one of your worst fears, wanting to know if you'd overcome it. But, you did, and now they've been put in their places! Heh, weren't very happy when I started yelling . . ." Sora trailed off and Riku just stared.

What exactly had happened, and who were THEY?

"Riku!" Sora jarred him from his musings, "we've gotta go or Cid'll leave us here!"

"Cid...who?" The silver haired teen was being tugged across the bridge and across the sands before he knew it.

"He's our pilot! He's taking us outta here and the new place we can call home. It's SO amazing! Got a castle and everything! It's like all those places we used to dream about, except we don't have to dream anymore!"

Before Riku knew it, he was aboard a strange ship, made of something his mind did not even want to identify quite yet. The rustic blonde in the cockpit talking to Sora right now had swore at the two for a while, going on about taking too long and how people Riku did not even know would be angry at HIM for the delay. The blonde, known as Cid, flicked his cigarette out of the craft, and shouted for them to brace for impact, and they were off.

Off to a new world.

A few more weeks, Riku mused, and they were here, in this world, playing more important roles than they had ever played in their fantasies. It was overwhelming in the beginning, having countless worlds' destiny weighing upon their shoulders. But they soon found that they were not without help. Aerith was here for her son and Cloud had taught Riku the fine art of swordplay, was still teaching him actually, but duty called at the moment and the two were gone.

It had been bad enough that Sora's parents had already known about this, but that they had expected each of the teenagers to accept with without so much as a dropped jaw was a little too much. So, when the three, Riku, Sora, and Kairi, found time for themselves, the discussions were often steered toward the fact that they could not believe what had happened.

Life was certainly the adventure they had been looking for for so many years.

Riku smirked, to himself just before falling asleep.

And it was about to get even more adventurous.

A/N: AHA! I actually finished this before the inhuman hours of the morning set in! It's ten thirty (two to be exact) Go me! Heh, sorry, had to say that.

So, the main purpose of this chapter you ask? To tie up a VERY loose end I left in the last story. I'm sorry this may have seemed so painfully boring ;.; I promise it will pick up next chapter! This was not a very good chapter one...I think the next one should be chapter one...maybe this should be prologue two or something. Hmm...

All of the italics are the flashback...just in case you were wondering...probably not but I'll just put that here to take up space.

Oh, all those who adore feather pillows, I'm sorry, I mean you no offense...I don't really like them, but that's just me. I write a lot of this on comical life experiences, because yes, I can be odd like that.

OH yes, one more thing, my beta reader is not with me right now, and I just did not want to wait, so I'm posting this now, and I'm sorry for all the mistakes that could be in there. Don't yell ;.; I have low self esteem right now and all my other chappies should be beta'ed. -.- I'm a terrible proofreader.

Hearts to all my readers and double to those who review! Who knows, I may off chocolate (or something else to suit your tastebuds)

TTFN