Me:...

Cast: (glare)

Me: All right, all right, I'm sorry I haven't been updating! Things have been... weird. I just never got the time or the patience to sit down and write this. So, incase you haven't noticed, this is a short chapter. Just a transition chapter to get you from one place to the next. What is our new destination? Only time will tell. Anywho, just go on and read. And once again, sorry for the delay!

Morning

Their legs swung back and forth over a sturdy log that lay implanted in the rich earth beneath them. The rain from the previous day left the grass wet and slippery, patches embedded with thick swamps of dark mud. The sun shown brightly on the wet planet and down on the two boys who were sitting side by side on the log.

It was early in the morning, somewhere around 7 a.m. The smell of cooking breakfast wafted through the air to the two boys who were contently munching on stacks of toast they had begged from the cooks. If there was one thing the silver-haired teen didn't need, it was to be bombarded with twenty questions from every occupant of Disney Castle.

Silence echoed in dull whispers between the two of them as their bright eyes stared up at the early morning sky. Hints of blue spilled over a burnt orange and red field, small puffs of cloud swirling the colors into a mindless abyss of light.

"Are we just gonna sit here all day?"

Peaceful bliss.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Heehee, what you want to do!"

An aura of light. Bleaching the shadows from their mind and giving them a calm blanket of security, one they wanted to stay wrapped in for eternity.

"Well, what is there to do here, anyway?"

"Hmmm... not sure."

"Gah, Sora! You've lived here for the past ten years and you don't know what to do here?"

"Are you calling me dense?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Hey!"

Riku laughed out loud as he watched an indignant pout form on Sora's lips, eyebrows furrowed and he puffed his cheeks out.

"Ugh, you haven't changed at all," Riku said in mock exasperation. He leaned back and twisted himself so he was laying down on the log, one leg hanging off the side and the other bent and sturdy on the rough wood. "When you were little, you did that to me all the time. When you wanted ice cream, a piggy back..."

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Did I really?"

"Yeah," Riku said, amusement mixed in with his mature voice. "You were such a little kid, Sora. Actually, you still are..."

Sora frowned. "Am not," he muttered, absentmindedly kicking at a dandelion with his foot. He watched the small puff of white explode into tiny milky tuffs before blowing away in the light spring breeze.

He blinked, and then sneezed as he inhaled something through his nose. Blinking in surprise and sneezing again, Sora looked over to see the perpetrator, who held the stem of a plucked dandelion, the white seeds haven been blown off and right up the brunette's nose.

Sora scowled. "Riku!" he whined as his best friend laughed. Best friend...? Was... was Riku still his best friend?

Sora's mouth drew into a thin line in thought. Sure, Sora had made some friends over the years, but something had stopped him from getting really close to them. Maybe it was that feeling that there wasn't something right. Like making a friend was a crime in someone's eyes. Was it because of Riku?

Had Sora really remembered? Had he just pushed the memory away in favor of more pleasant ones?

And if that was the case... what did that make Sora?

He blinked as a leather-gloved hand waved in his face, pulling him out of his depressing thoughts. Sora looked up to see aqua-marine eyes eyeing him with a bit of worry.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked curiously. "It was just a joke; are you allergic or something?" Had Sora developed a dandelion allergy?

Sora shook his head quickly. "No, it's nothing!" He forced a grin over his face, but it didn't quite meet his eyes. Something that Riku was quick to notice.

Frown deepening, Riku said, "No, really, what's wrong?" His eyes narrowed slightly as he realized that, fake smile gone, Sora was staring hard at the grass beneath them, not meeting the older teen's eyes.

Sighing impatiently, Riku firmly wrapped his fingers around Sora's chin and forced the brunette to look at him. Blue eyes met his. Was that... guilt?

What the hell?

Deciding to voice this thought out loud, Riku said, "What the hell? Sora, are you okay?"

Sora shook his head, but Riku still held on. His eyes had gone back to staring at the grass.

"Sora," Riku said coolly, a voice he had picked up from his father over the years, "look at me."

Sora hesitantly looked up, unable to disobey that voice. He wasn't sure how to word things... what would Riku say? Would he be angry? Upset? That his best friend, the one he'd been waiting for, for a good part of his life, had completely forgotten about him? And then, when he remembered, tried to commit suicide?

Well, it wasn't really suicide, but still...

"Sora," Riku said, facial featured relaxing into a gentle smile, "you can tell me anything." His smile grew a bit. "I'm your best friend, remember?"

Sora muttered something, eyes now focused on Riku's collar and not his face.

"What was that?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking a bit. "I don't speak Mumble, Sora."

He didn't even have the heart to pout. "I said..." he murmured, "I don't deserve that."

The smirk sliding off his face like oil on tarp, Riku said, "What?"

"I can't be your best friend," Sora muttered. "I'm not worthy of that."

"What...?" Riku said, shocked. "What's that supposed to mean?" Frowning, Riku briefly wandered whether or not ten years in a castle had turned Sora into a snob. But he had severe doubts about that; he trusted Sora too much for that. Brushing the fact aside, Riku waited for Sora to speak again.

Which he did. "Riku... have you forgotten about me?"

"Um, yeah, sure," Riku muttered. "Yes, I jumped into a portal to try and find a complete stranger."

Sora's eyes, dancing with flames, darted up to Riku's. "I'm being serious!"

Riku's hand slipped away from Sora's face and he sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "No, Sora," he said in a heavily resigned voice, "I haven't forgotten about you. How could I forget you?"

That obviously wasn't the right answer. He didn't look angry, but he wasn't happy, either. If anything, he looked down right depressed. And guilty. Where was this coming from?

"Would you rather have had me forget?" Riku whispered, slightly hurt. "Don't you...?"

"No," Sora said, shaking his head. "It's just... I..."

"You...?" Riku pressed. He scooted closer to get a better view of his friend's face. "Sora, no matter what, you can tell me. C'mon... what's bothering you?"

Sora sighed. Might as well get it over with. "I... I'm not like you, I guess."

Wonderful choice of words.

"You're beating yourself up over the fact that you're not like me?" Riku questioned, smirking. "Sora, bad news for you. Only I can be me. Everyone else would die in the attempt to even be my equal."

"Is your ego big enough?" Sora joked bitterly.

"Might be," Riku shrugged. "Anyway... what's wrong with not being like me...?"

"Iforgotaboutyou!"

"..."

"..."

"What did I say about me not speaking Mumble?"

"I FORGOT ABOUT YOU!"

A thick cloud of birds burst from the woods in a wave of clawed feet and feathers, sending shrieking caws ringing through the morning air, obviously startled by the loud outburst. Riku himself was a bit shocked, but not enough to leap in the air and fly, or in his case, run, away.

Sora was breathing heavily, energy spent from the sudden shout. His shoulder slumped and his head hung on his neck, spiky hair seeming to lose some of it's spring and allow itself to be yanked down by the forces of gravity.

"I forgot about you," Sora repeated quietly, the words dragging themselves up from the dark, murky bottoms of his heart. "I forgot all about you... and Destiny Islands..."

His breath hitched, but he found that he couldn't stop. The words were spilling out of his mouth and he had no control over them. "I was so stupid! You've been waiting for me all this time and when I finally DID remember everything, I jumped off a damn tower!"

"Um, Sora...?"

But he kept on going. "I should never have forgotten you! I've been hear all happy and you've been stuck three waiting! I may have never remembered you, and then what? I'm so sorry! But I don't' deserve to be forgiven... I'm just so s--- mmph!"

Riku had affectively shut Sora up, placing his gloved hand firmly over the brunette's mouth. Sora was surprised to see that, instead of looking angry, Riku looked quite amused. The corners of his pale lips were curved upwards slightly into an amused smirk, his green eyes flashing with mirth.

"Sora, shut up," he laughed, grinning now. "You idiot, that's not the reason I was so miserable back there!"

Sora blinked and Riku's hand slid off of his mouth, allowing him to speak freely again. But the only words that managed to come out of Sora's mouth was: "It wasn't?"

Riku laughed, ruffling Sora's hair. "No, you dummy!" he exclaimed. "I was worried that you did remember me."

Sora frowned. "That doesn't make any sense..."

Riku shrugged, still grinning. "Yes it does," Riku informed him. "The whole reason I sent you here was so you could forget!"

"But..." Sora whispered, "but you said to never forget you..."

Riku snorted. "Sora, did you ever really forget me?" he questioned. "Hasn't there always been that feeling that something was missing? Are you sure you didn't remember, even the tiniest bit?"

Sora thought it over for a few moments. Actually, Riku was right. He did always feel something was missing. True, he ignored the feeling but at night, when he couldn't sleep, he did remember a bit. He remembered green... just green eyes... and sand. Lots of sand.

He didn't realize he was smiling until Riku chuckled and ruffled his hair up even more. "You see?" he asked. "You never really forgot about me. I just didn't want you to remember. As long as you didn't recall it all, everything would be all right!"

"You put a lot of faith into me forgetting all that stuff," Sora informed him, laughing a bit.

The silver-haired teen shrugged. "You're pretty naive, Sora," he snorted. "I knew you'd forget."

Before Sora could respond, Riku suddenly frowned. "Hey... I just remembered something..."

"No more remembering!" Sora groaned, but his friend ignored him.

"All those people I met last night," Riku muttered. "You were being pretty cold to them..."

Sora frowned and, for the second time that day, felt a wave of guilt wash over him.

"Erm, yeah," Sora muttered. "I sorta got mad at them... a lot..."

"What did they do to you?" Riku hissed. Different murder plans were already running through his mind.

"No, no, they didn't really DO anything," Sora assured him. "But... well, I sort of god mad at them for, ya know, keeping me in the dark all these years..."

Riku sighed heavily. "Sora..." he groaned. " I told Oram to keep you in the dark! I told them to let your forget!"

Sora blinked. "You did?" he said, shocked.

"Yes," Riku said, rolling his eyes. "This is great, just great..."

Sora smiled sheepishly, waiting for the older male to continue. Which he did with fervor.

"You know what you have to do, right?" he said sternly.

Sora groaned. "Yeah, yeah... I'm going."

Castle

Oram walked with a slight hunch in his back. He had deep rings under his eyes and he was bone-dead tired after the sleepless night of walking around the castle. He just couldn't get the strange silver-haired boy out of his mind. He couldn't believe a cute little kid could grow up like that.

And that cold... that cold that seeped in waves from Sora's body was enough to keep anyone awake. But he wouldn't be surprised if the others used sleeping pills to get it off their minds so they could get just a bit of shut eye. After all, it had been a tiring night.

But Oram had decided no slumber was better then a drug-induced one.

But he certainly felt drugged. His limbs dragged along, foot by foot that felt like mile by mile, arms swaying beside him, twice their normal weight. And his head ache... oh God, ouch, his head...

Nothing could stop him from just tumbling over a railing now. Or even into a wall. Well, everything except for one thing.

One person.

Who was standing right in front of him. Five feet away.

Oram stopped. So did the chirps of the blue jays. So did the dull chatter of maids. So did time.

One step.

Bright blue eyes stared uncertainly at him. Dark brown ones met Sora's.

Two steps.

I'm sorry...

"I'm..."

Twelve steps and a leap.

The air was knocked out of his lungs as Sora launched himself at the man, wrapping his arms tight around him in a tight bear tug that probably cracked a rib or two.

But did Oram care? No. He was too busy hugging Sora just as fiercely.

"Sora..."

"I'm sorry..."

"...I'm sorry..."

Done

Voila! I thought of this as a transition chapter, so I hope you liked it. If I have any readers after such a long time... I'm so sorry guys, I really am ;o;. How can I make it up to you guys? Tell me!

...and drop a review, maybe?