Well, everyone seemed to want an update as my apology, so here I am . Please enjoy the chapter, and I'm so glad all of you liked the last one! I'll try to make this chapter long, but no promises.

(kills self for taking so long to update)

Riku

Sora had been gone for a long while and, getting bored in the first five minutes of this extensive period, Riku decided to wonder off.

The sun had fully risen now, spreading it's warm glow blazing across the grass that gently blew in the wind, tickling the youths ankles. The earth beneath his fest was soft with morning dew and the torrential rain that had fallen the day before, but it sparkled in the sunlight and added to the overall beauty.

"Beauty can be deceiving, though, can't it?"

Riku snorted gently. "You've got that right," he murmured.

"It's so hard to believe that such a beautiful place, a beautiful face, can be hiding so many things. So many lies."

Riku blinked. "Yeah..." he whispered. He slowly rotated on the spot to face the man he was talking to...

... and saw no one.

"Hello?" Riku called looking around. He saw nothing, only the swaying green grass and the cloud-blanketed shy. He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess he left..."

"Who would expect such a pretty picture can be painted with the darkest of paints?"

Frowning, Riku spun around again, only to be faced with even more open space. The castle twinkled in front of him, perched proudly on a tall hill with a crystal river dwindling along the East wall.

"But I guess... everything is painted with the darkness, isn't it? Even you."

The voice was delicate, but carried an air of unmistakable smugness in it. It bit into Riku's ears like ice, making them numb with cold.

And the voice... was coming from everywhere.

"Where are you?" Riku exclaimed, spinning on the spot.

"What a useless question. Shouldn't your question be who I am?"

Riku frowned. "Fine then," he snapped, getting agitated. His eyes were narrowed into tiny slits. "Who are you?"

"I shall tell you when you figure out what I am."

"Besides a pain in the ass?"

There was a breathy chuckle that vibrated through the air for a moment or two before everything fell silent once again. A few seconds alter, the birds began to chirp, and it was then that Riku realized that they had once stopped.

Riku's eyes twitched a bit. This place was screwy...

With a heavy sigh, he set off across the grounds. He had been planning on going up to find Sora again, but now he didn't really care where he was going. That voice still rang in his head, and he needed to get rid of it before he bashed his own head in.

There was a clearing in the woods ahead of him, so he headed for that. The scratchy grass blew against his ankles through his jeans every now and then, sending tiny tingles up his leg. He longed to bend down and scratch at the itch, but he knew better; it would just come back anyway.

Urg, everything about this place annoyed the Hell out of him.

"Hey!" he had a voice call from behind him. "Hey, please wait!"

Riku stopped in his tracks and tilted his head to the side to see a woman rushing towards him, wind sweeping her long brown hair in front of her green eyes. The bottom of the woman's dress was splattered with rain and early morning dew, splaying around her dark brown boots.

"Thank you," she said gratefully, coming to a halt a few feet from the teen, who still had his back to her, although his eyes watched her with interest.

After struggling for a few moments against the wind, Aerith managed to get her hair in control and out of her face so she could smile at him. "I've been looking for you," she said.

Obviously, Riku thought. But aloud, he only said: "Well, here I am."

The grass glittered like thin slivers of emerald gems on the ground in the sun, bending gently in the gusts. Riku could feel the dew beginning to weep through the bottom of his jeans, but he paid it no mind.

"I've been hoping to meet you," Aerith said with a small bow of her head. Smiling kindly, she said, "I had hoped---"

"To get the full story?" Riku finished for her, raising a fine silver eye brow. She hesitated before giving a slight nod. With a tiny sigh, Riku turned around so he was fully facing her, hands buried deep into his pockets.

"Well, what is it you want to know?" Riku asked.

Aerith bit her lip gently. "Well..." she said tentatively, "I was sort of wondering... everything, really. I'm not sure where to begin."

Riku sighed, rubbing the back of his head. His eyes darted up to the castle, looking for any sign of Sora. Seeing none, he continued, "Well, just ask a question. I'll answer."

"Well..." she began quietly, obviously contemplating on what to ask. A moment of two later, she asked, "How did you get here, anyway?"

"I don't know," Riku said honestly. "This portal just opened...and I jumped in."

Aerith raised an eyebrow. "You jumped into a portal?"

"It wasn't the smartest move," Riku admitted sheepishly, "but I felt I had to."

"Had to?" Aerith asked.

Riku just shrugged. "Yeah."

She waited for him to deliberate on the subject further, but when he didn't, she opened her mouth to question further...

"Hey guys!"

And then Sora came.

Riku turned to see Sora trotting up to them, trademark grin on his face, blue eyes bright, he stopped in front of them, hands on his knees as he grinned up at them. "What'cha talking about?"

"About how we're going to put thumbtacks under your bed sheets tonight," Riku said sweetly.

"Oh, really?" Sora replied, just as sweetly. "Because me and Oram were just trying to plan on how to slip some arsenic in your tea this afternoon."

"Ah, did you finish your plans?"

"Yup!"

Aerith, who was about to giggle, caught the look that passed between the two teens. An understanding of some sort, and it made Riku look a bit relieved.

Sora's already hiding things from us... Aerith thought sadly. But instead, she forced a smile on her face as she said, "If you two are doe discussing your murder tactics, perhaps you'd like to give Riku the tour, Sora?"

Sora's face, if possible, brightened even more. "Yeah!" he said happily, pumping the air with his fist. He grabbed Riku's wrist, said boy beginning to smirk slightly, and tugged him towards the general direction of the castle. "C'mon, Riku! I gotta show you the gummi garage!"

And with a quick spurt of laughter, the two were off.

Aerith sighed, a small, bitter smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Sora... we're going to lose you, aren't we?"

And the wind continued to howl.

Sora

"I'm bored."

"Yeah. Listening to you talk non-stop is starting to get on my nerves, too."

"Yea---hey!"

Laughter.

"You're so mean, Ri-ku..."

"Get used to it, So-ra."

"Nuu..."

The two boys were making their way down the halls of Disney castle, Sora with his hands crossed behind his head, Riku's hands dug into the pockets of his jeans.

"So what is there to do around here?" Riku asked absentmindedly, eyeing his surroundings with genuine curiosity.

"Well, I usually hang out at the gummi garage," Sora murmured, feet shuffling a bit and skidding on the floor with a bit of a squeak. "But Donald kicked us out, so..."

It was then that Sora noticed his friend wasn't walking with him. Blinking, Sora turned around to raise an eyebrow at his friend. But Riku wasn't looking at him. His gaze was transfixed straight ahead, something akin to shock and horror on his pale face.

"Riku?" Worried, Sora walked back to his best friend and started to wave a hand in front of his face. "Helloooo? Earth to Riku!"

But Riku didn't notice him. He was busy staring over Sora's shoulder at an equally surprised individual.

"TIDUS?"

End

Riku: Five bucks says they don't review.

SHUT UP! Grr... Well, bad news for everyone. SM... is burning out. I don't feel inspired to write it. At all. It's gotten to the point where it hurts to write it, and is more of a chore then fun. I promised myself that if this ever happened, I'd stop writing the story.

Which is exactly what I'm going to do.

Sorry, guys. It's been fun. I will, of course, continue to update. But... not very often. As in, it could be several months until I post again. So if you want to stay updated then add this to your Alerts list. But... I'm sorry. I really am.

Bye everyone. Hope to see you all again real soon.