"Take care of her," I said quietly as the doors shut.

Sora paused and looked at me again, a look both filled with determination and what I think was a bit of hate. But he still nodded, and then closed the doors in my face.

That was all I could remember of that fateful day before I was taken on a swirling vortex through Kingdom Hearts. And yet, I ended up here. In front of a snow covered path and shivering. As I look down the winding path, I again think of the people I left behind.

"Sora...Kairi... I'm sorry."

I take my eyes off the snow, something I had never seen before coming here, and gaze around. "Is this...the world of death?" Somehow, I don't think it is, but still, it's so cold and there's nothing around to tell me that the world was anything other than a lifeless void of despair.

I start to walk again, arms coming up as if to shield myself from the cold. Why didn't I ask Mickey to toss me in a sweater when he left? Maybe my punishment would have been better then.

I'm not usually known for being fumble-footed, but still, I stumble over something, and there's suddenly a pain in my chest. "I can't disappear yet..." A pale blue aura that I didn't even notice before disappears from around me. "Not until I've met Sora and Kairi one more time..."

I start to walk again, but a voice stops me again.

"Riku, can you hear me?"

Looking up again and into the darkness, I frown. There was no one where a minute ago.

"I'll be there soon."

They're behind me...whoever they are. Turning quickly, I glare into the darkness. "Who's there?" But...there's no one there.

"I've been talking to you all along. But my words were hindered by the darkness covering your heart."

I stayed quiet, though confused. Hadn't I rid myself of the darkness when I abandoned Ansem? Or was I really so evil that I could never get rid of it?

"Another Keyblade. I've gotten the Keyblade for this side."

"I don't know who you are, but what's happened to me?" I forced the quaver from my voice. For some reason, I thought he would know, whoever he was.

"Your heart has overcome the darkness," the voice started, "But you couldn't take back your body. So only your heart was left behind, in this dark side where stolen hearts are gathered."

I couldn't help the sigh rising in my throat as I slowly turned to walk the way I had started again. "What should I do?"

"The door of darkness that is soon going to appear... That door, through which we cannot pass... In order to close it, two keys and two hearts are needed. Perhaps you too, like me, come here for that purpose. Maybe it was fate."

I shook my head ever so slightly. "Fate... You know everything, don't you? If that's so, I want you to tell me one more thing... Are Sora and Kairi safe?"

"You yourself should be able to feel their hearts."

I paused at that then, in the distance, saw Sora, running toward me.

"How you perceive your friends... is dependent on your own heart."

Sora is so close to me now. He has that beautiful smile on his face that I remember so well, yet so faintly. If I reach out, I could trace his lips with my fingertips.

But, I've been fantasizing again. My eyes open, and a gentle smile curves my own lips. I know he's all right now, and I'll find him and Kairi again. "Thank you."

~*~

So, after that little interlude, I've been walking for a week. Or at least, I think it's a week. No way to tell really, especially with all the darkness surrounding me. At least my little encounter told me why I didn't get hungry anymore. I sighed softly though, wondering when this door is going to come again. Perhaps I could get through it...somehow. There was always hope.

Something seemed to shine in the distance and my breathing hitched. A light in the dark? It was too cliché, but still. My feet pounced on the ice-like snow as I started to run. The door slowly became clearer, the white of it hurting my eyes. I raised a hand to shield them from the glare as I got closer, stopping in front of it as the door slowly started to open.