We'll Meet Again

Chapter 9

"It's no use." said Sora, now out of breath. "We've searched the place for hours! Kairi's nowhere to be found."

"So that's it?" Riku asked. "You're just gonna give up? You don't want to save her from the darkness?"

"I do...but..."

"We can't just give up! Would you like it if you were on the side of darkness and nobody helped you?"

"I guess not. But how do we know if she's even still in this world?"

"Not sure." Riku leaned back against the wall, accidentally moving a lever. A hidden passage was suddenly revealed.

"Oh good." said Riku. "Another place to check."

They walked through the entrance. For a while it was dark, but when they continued walking they could see again. In the room was someone chained to a wall and unconcious. The man was quite a sight to behold. He had long, long, long, gorgeous silver hair, black clothing, and he had one large blue wing on the right side of his body. Nearby, was another man on the floor. It seemed like he had been fighting and was near death. Riku and Sora then realized the man on the ground was Cloud, the man they met at the Collesium. Poor Cloud was covered in blood. Also, Maleficent was in the room, staring at Cloud.

"Did you really think I'd let you win?" she said to Cloud. "This man, Sephiroth, has such amazing power. And I plan to take it. It was cute of you to come and try to save him, but unfortunately for you, I shall have to end your pathetic life."

"Stop right there!" Sora said to her.

"You must be Sora and Riku." she said calmly. "It is a shame that Kairi was unable to defeat you two. If you're looking for her, you won't find her. She left to a place known as End of the World where she plans to merge with the most powerful heartless. I would have done so, but her heart has grown darker than mine. When she combines with the heartless, she will be able to help me destroy all worlds."

"That won't happen!" said Sora.

"Oh but it will. I have taught Kairi the way of being one with the darkness. But enough of this. Kairi has ordered me to kill you both since she could not do so."

"Get ready." Riku said to Sora. They both pulled out their keyblades.

Oh no! Maleficent though to herself. The keyblades! THEY were the chosen ones? I will have to use all my strength then. I shall use all the darkness I have to be sure I win!

Maleficent began to spin her staff around and started chanting. She was sorrounded by green fire, and when they flames went away they saw she had become a huge, ferocious black dragon.

"It can't be simple, can it?" Riku rolled his eyes. Meleficent, now a dragon, began spitting out green fire all over the place that was nearly impossible to dodge. Lucky for Sora and Riku, they managed to avoid it. Whenever the right moment came, they would use their keyblades. After a while, they had finally defeated her. She went back into her human form.

"This...may be my...end..." she said, panting. "...but Kairi shall continue on with my plan to destroy...all...the worlds. You'll see!" And with those final words, she died.

"Are you ok?" Sora asked Cloud who had not moved since the battle with Maleficent began.

"I'll be ok..." Cloud replied. "But..." He stopped and looked up at the man chained to the wall. "I don't know if he is."

Sora and Riku rushed over immediately and unchained the unconcious man. Cloud slowly made his way to him.

"Sephiroth," he said shaking the man. "please wake up! Sephiroth!"

"Cloud..." he said as his eyes slowly opened.

"Are you ok Sephiroth?"

"Yes. I'm fine. I...I can't believe you came all this way to save me though."

"Of course! I never gave up." Cloud said, hugging him. "I wasn't sure what had happened to you, but I knew I had to go find you."

"Thank you, Cloud..."

"Do you guys need a ride to your homeworld?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, actually." said Sephiroth. "We live near the Olympus Collesium."

"Then we'll take you there." said Sora. "But we gotta hurry. We need to find Kairi at that End of the World place."

"You're going to End of the World?" Sephiroth asked. "That's where the heartless were originally born. The most powerful of heartless live there. The ones that aren't as strong are the ones that were sent to all the other worlds. The strongest of people had gone there to defeat those heartless, but were unable to win. All I know is once they're defeated, all the heartless in the other worlds will be gone, and the worlds that haven't been destroyed by the heartless yet will be ok again. As for the ones that were destroyed, they're pretty much a lost cause. But anyways, if you two go there, it'll be like a deathwish."

"Hey, we're not the ones who got our asses kicked by that woman earlier." said Riku. "If we could handle her, we could probably handle those heartless. So shut up and let us help you out."

Later on, they dropped Cloud and Sephiroth off at Traverse Town like they did with Aeris, Leon, and Yuffie. Once more, they decided to stay at Traverse Town for a little while, but not too long.

"I'll be right back." Riku said, walking off. "I just gotta go see something for a second."

Sora watched as he walked away.

"Knowing him, he's probably going to his stupid secret waterway." said Cid. "He used to hang out there everyday when he was younger. It's close to Merlin's place."

He was right. Riku had gone to his secret waterway. In there were stoned walls full of drawings Riku did with chalk when he was young. There were so many. Most were pictures of what Riku thought other worlds would be like. Riku laughed at his drawings.

I sure was bad at drawing. he thought to himself.

He then spotted his favorite drawing on the wall in the corner. It was a picture of him and Sora on Destiny Islands. The two were standing next to each other, by the shore, smiling. There was also a date in the corner by the picture.

I remember writing that. he thought to himself. I wrote that so I wouldn't forget the day I went to that island and visited Sora. Those few days I was there were the best days of my life...

This made Riku think about how he had put four years of effort into meeting Sora again.

I still can't believe I did that. He actually had a life. He went on and probably made new friends while I was helping Merlin find a way to help me travel back to the island to meet him again. Why did I work so hard? I guess I was jus that desperate for a friend seeing that I didn't have any others.

Riku felt his heart pound fast. The thought of Sora made him feel so strange and he couldn't help but wonder why. Since he met Sora again, he couldn't describe the strange feeling he kept getting. After a long thought, he finally realized why.

I understand now... I see why I can't help but smile when I look at him, or laugh when he says something. It had bugged me for so long but now I see it's because... I love him. That's it! I love him! How else would I have been set free from that spell Kairi put on me? When I saw that I had injured Sora, I felt a horrible feeling overcome me. He means everything to me...

Riku sat up and continued to stare at his drawing. How can I be sure if he likes me too? He says he doesn't like Kairi but...that doesn't mean he likes ME. I can't just ask him if he does or not...but then how will I ever find out?

Riku sighed, looked at his picture one last time, and walked away.

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Meanwhile, Sora was sitting outside, waiting for Riku to come back. It was night time, and he could not help but stare at the stars. It was his favorite thing to do.

I remember when Riku and I stared at the sky in that jungle. And then we did it again here. It seems to be something we both enjoy doing. I shouldn't be thinking about all this though! I gotta focus on how Riku and I are supposed to stop Kairi from destroying the worlds!

The thought of Kairi made him sick though. Especially when he saw her kiss Riku. He had never been so angry in his life.

Why does it bug me so much? It's not like it meant anything. He was under a spell, and she didn't really even like him! But...when he was saying he hated me and loved Kairi...I mean, of course he was under a spell but hearing those words...

Sora then got the same feelings Riku had a minute ago. I...I like him! No...I love him! I always enjoy being by his side! I love his smile! His personality! Everything about him! I don't know if he feels the same way though. I shouldn't worry about this. After we save Kairi, I can worry about this.

But it bugged Sora anyway. Since he was going to be with Riku to save all the worlds, he knew he'd end up thinking about him.

"You ready to go?" Riku asked.

"Um, yeah." Sora replied, hardly able to look Riku in the face. Riku could hardly look at him as well.

"Let's go then." said Riku. Sora forced a smile, and they exited Traverse Town.

To be continued...