Author's Note-Sorry for taking so long, guys. Exams were more stressful and harder than I thought they would be. But thank god we have a break now. Four days of actually getting a full night's sleep will really make you feel a whole lot better. We got snow! Unfortunately, it has been only a few flakes. But here's to everybody that's waited patiently for the next chapter! –gives everybody a snowflake- Huh..I was sure though that this chapter would be longer, though.. -shrug- Ah well. Don't worry, while I haven't been doing a lot of typing (to my story, anyways) I have been doing a lot of writing by hand with my rough draft. So I've just got to type most of this up, and hopefully I can post a whole lot faster. Anyways, I've been rambling too much, and I know that you're all impatient, so here's the chapter! (Demonsurfer, your requests for character torture has been answered, by the way, so here it is…)

The sky was clear and a pale blue. The trees swayed in the nipping breeze. Mainland. He was on the mainland. Riku pulled his jacket tighter around him to keep out the wind that poked at the exposed skin on his hands on cheeks. He looked around. He was at his grandparents' house. He remembered how he, Sora, and Kairi would come down there with his mom during Labor Day weekend. He and his friends would explore and play in the woods that surrounded the house all day long…

But then an earthshaking realization hit him. This wasn't all just figures of light. This…this was real…and…he could actually see again! And what was more, he was home!

"Grandma! Grandpa!" Riku shouted, running past the old, run-down, blue pickup truck and inside the house. Wait. It should be about noon right now, and if it wasn't Sunday, his grandfather should still be working in the drugstore in town. But his grandmother should still be home.

"Grandma!" he called. "Grandma!"

"Up here, dear." And old yet gentle voice called from upstairs. Riku ran upstairs and into the guest room where his grandmother was making up the bed.

His grandmother looked up and straightened. She then placed her hands on her hips and smiled, tilting her head a bit. "Well, how about giving your old grandma a hug instead of just standing there?" she said.

Riku froze for a few minutes more, then ran up to his grandma and hugged her. He was so glad. So glad that he was home. Someone must have defeated the Non-Existent. That's why he must be home. But the memories and the lessons he had learned during his journey had not disappeared. He would never take anything for granted again. Ever.

"Easy, kiddo. Wanna be careful of my arthritis, you know?" his grandmother said, chuckling.

Riku nodded and backed off. "It's been so long… Just look at you. Last time I saw you, you were just a little boy. Now you're growing to become a handsome young man." His grandmother said. Riku nodded slowly. "How's your mother been lately?"

Riku grimaced, thinking about home life. Thinking about how his father would abuse both him and his mother… No. Just stop. Just stop there. He was back. This was supposed to be happy. He wasn't going to think of unhappy memories right now, just save that for later.

Seeing this, his grandmother shook her head. "Oh… Nevermind. Your grandfather will be happy. Why don't you go into town and surprise him?"

Riku nodded and smiled. "Alright. I'll see you later, Gran." He said, walking out. And thus he began the walk down the dirt road that would eventually take him into town, about half an hour's walk away. Ten minutes into his walk, and he had come into view of the old abandoned chapel that was at the top of the hill. He blinked, then frowned. He thought he may have seen someone up there, someone that he knew. But in an instant, the person was gone. He paused, seeming to be deciding on something. After a moment's hesitation, though, he decided to go and check it out.

He hiked up the hill and stopped for a moment to stare up at the chapel. It was your standard country chapel, nothing really all that special. The wooden walls were still white (though you could see that the paint was starting to chip where the elements could get at it.) The walls were decorated with stained-glass windows that depicted various biblical scenes. And of course, one couldn't forget the tiny bell tower that rose up from the front, housing an old brass bell that probably hadn't been used in decades.

The white-haired boy slowly, cautiously pushed one of the doors open (which had been remarkably unlocked) and walked in. The musty smell, the thick layer of dust on both the pews and the alter-all hinted the vacancy of the chapel that had lasted for many years. But that's what it was. Vacant. He looked around and couldn't even find a single living soul in the darkest, most cobwebbed corners. He had to have been imagining things.

He started to turn to go, to leave, but as he did, something caught his eye. Two doors, nestled away off to the right, the furthest and darkest corner of the chapel. Two with doors with stained glass in them. They looked familiar, but he just wasn't sure where from.

With mere and simple childlike curiosity, he pushed the doors open. He was somewhat disappointed-the doors only led to outside, to the back of the hill. But he noticed something, something that he and his friends used to explore as children (and tease Kairi about for being so scared to come in.) A graveyard. The old graveyard-it was right behind the chapel.

He started over to the cemetery, unable to explain his sudden curiosity. He pushed open the black, wrought iron gates and strolled through the lines of tombstones. Through the green grass and the gray stone, he saw something bright orange and red. What was it?

He started over. Had to take a closer look. Had to see what it was.

When he reached it, he saw that it was a red rose and a paopu fruit. He frowned, kneeling down to read the tombstone. What he read took him off balance, literally; he nearly fell over.

Kokoro Kairi

1990-2004

The Princess that fell from the sky

And touched our hearts

Riku's pale face was ashen, his blue eyes wide in shock. He heard movement behind him and whirled around to see Sora, frowning down at the grave. Riku jumped up.

"Sora!" he exclaimed. "What happened?! Kairi was supposed to be safe! What happened to her?!"

"It was you." Sora replied quietly. The statement made Riku freeze.

"…What…?" he whispered.

"It was you. It's your fault she's dead. You killed her." Sora said simply. He suddenly glared. "Riku! Why did you kill Kairi?!" he shouted.

Riku took a couple of steps back and ended up tripping over the tombstone. He fell, landing hard onto his back. He winced and sat up.

"You killed her! Why, Riku?!" Sora yelled.

"No! I-I didn't!" Riku stammered. Did he? He couldn't remember. He was sure he didn't, but… He couldn't remember! He remembered himself beginning to open his heart to darkness and then…everything going black. After awhile he awoke to find himself in Kingdom Hearts. There were flashes…fighting against someone, fighting with a keyblade, a black one, who was it against?! Not Kairi, please, not Kairi. God, no, he couldn't have killed one of his best friends, he couldn't have killed the girl he had cared for.

He shut his eyes and covered his ears at Sora's accusations, the very accusations that might be true. "No!" he shouted. "I didn't do it! I didn't! I-"

"Of course you did, Riku." A deep voice said. The voice penetrated the shielding of his hands over his ears, it echoed in his head. Riku opened his eyes slightly and started to look up when a hand suddenly wrapped around his neck and lifted him off the ground. Riku shut his eyes and struggled, then opened them to see the black figure, the shadow from earlier with red, glowing eyes gripping his neck.

"Sora…!" Riku cried. "Help…me-"

"Sora can't save you. No one can. You killed Kairi, Riku, and it was all thanks to the darkness in your heart. You, Riku, are nothing more than…a puppet…" the shadow said. Riku felt himself being released and then everything…went black…

-----

"A bit strong of a spell for a beginner, don't you think?" Yukiro asked as he sat down in the chair next to Vincent, who was sitting next to Riku's bed. Vincent opened his eyes slowly, as if he were just waking from a light sleep. He also looked disgusted. He sighed as he looked down at the sleeping boy before them.

"This boy is weak. His heart has already been tainted by darkness to an extent to where it will be very difficult to remove. It's pitiful. If not for the Goldenwood, his heart would have long since been taking by darkness." He said.

"Which is why I don't think it's wise using such strong spells on him at this time." Yukiro said.

Vincent frowned but didn't look at his prince. Finally, he said, "Time is not on our side. We all know that. We can't afford to waste our time babying him. I gave him a mere dream simulation-if it was a dream ofdarkness it would have gotten him a lot worse. If he's going to defeat the darkness in his dreams and more importantly, in his own heart, all in such a short amount of time, then the simulations are going to have to hit him hard and very realistically."

The White Knightthen looked over at his frowning prince. He sighed. "You should try to understand. The Dark Knights move swiftly. The Heartless grow in strength. How long will it be before we come face to face with your brother? A month? A week?"

"Never, I'm hoping." Yukiro replied. "But the strength of these simulations still trouble me. I am at most concerned about the boy's sanity. One can only handle so much torment before he goes completely mad. Bad enough we have difficulty trusting him as it is. Worse if he goes insane."

Vincent nodded. "Just doing my job." He said. "But I understand. I'll ease up on the simulations. Slightly." He glanced over at Yukiro. "But don't you have a job as well?"

"Red XIII is taking over for me. He's going to watch Rufus for now. I heard Riku cry out and I came to see what was wrong." Yukiro said.

"Ah. Well, not much. Nothing on the physical plane, anyway."

"So I see." Yukiro said with a nod. "So I see."

Author's Note-Anyways, would anybody believe me if I said I could get the next chappie out by next Thursday at the latest? –smiles and sweatdrops- Didn't think so. But to everybody that thinks I can, I will try to reward their faith by doing just that. ...Just need to find that page I'm hung up on now to my rough draft, but I'm sure it's lying around here..somwhere.. –sweatdrop- Anyways, to all that is still reading this, thank you! I will work as hard as I can to complete chapters to come. Now, I am going to get some sleep and warm myself up (because we have no heat in our computer room! –needs gloves so that she can type without having to worry about her hands getting cold, lol- So I shall get to work as soon as I can and post the next chapter as soon as I can. Ja ne!