"Where is Sora?"

'Sora is lost,' the voice said.

"I will find him."

'How?' The voice asked, malicious. 'You are lost, too.'

"I am not lost."

'Oh? So you know where you are?'

"That doesn't matter. I'm living my adventure, like I wanted. And when I find Sora—"

'What if he does not want to be found?' The voice was growing softer, seductive.

"That's stupid. If he's lost, he'll want to be found. And I'm the right person to find him."

'And what about her?'

"Kairi?" Silence. "Kairi is safe. What about her?"

'Maybe she will find Sora before you do.'

"Don't try to trick me or make me jealous. That doesn't work anymore."

'Ah,' the voice was undoubtedly amused. 'So you have grown past petty jealousies?'

"I don't know. Maybe I did."

'That is wonderful, Riku,' the voice purred. 'What else have you outgrown? Little crushes, perhaps?'

Snarl. "I've certainly outgrown you. Now show me the way out."

The voice chuckled. 'Now, that would be awfully nice of me, and I do not enjoy nice and easy. Wake up and fend for yourself, dear boy.'

§···§···§

Riku woke up sprawled on the ground, apparently having fallen asleep on the middle of a meadow of high grass. Far above him, the night sky brimmed with stars. He sat up after a moment, hugging his coat tighter to himself; feeling suddenly unprotected, Riku drew his hood up, fiddling with the silvery laces that fastened the leathery garment. He looked around, still too faint to get to his feet. Lately, that was the way he felt when he woke up: instead of calm and rested, he felt threatened and shaky. It wasn't a welcome feeling and Riku wished he could tell someone, but he was alone. The King had left in a hurry some time ago, and while he had promised to come back to him, Riku felt doubly alone now.

He lay back down, resting amid the cool grass. The inky night sky reminded him of home, of Destiny Islands, the Sea, his friends, lost things. Sora.

Riku closed his eyes. He didn't want to fall asleep again, because the haunting dream would surely return, but he didn't want to see the sky either. His eyes flicked open again and he scanned his surroundings; someone was nearby. Riku crawled on to his knees. That unknown man was there again. The one in the crimson attire. DiZ.

"Your friend is close, Riku," he said calmly.

"Sora! Where?" Riku sprang to his feet, wobbliness and loneliness forgotten.

The man moved away, almost gliding over the grass. "Not close enough."

Riku followed, already growing impatient. "But he is on this world! Tell me, which path? I'll go. I don't care how far!"

"He is on a plane of this world. Not the same as we are."

"Dammit! I don't care!" Riku spat to the man, as he stood before him blocking his path. The man's shoulders twitched. Was he laughing? "Tell me where Sora is," Riku ground out, snarling.

"I cannot tell you, because I do not know," the man waved a gloved hand. "He is already moving away with the rest of his Trinity."

Riku opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He suddenly felt deflated. "When will I see him, then?" The silver-haired boy knew he sounded childish and so very young just then. And truly, he felt it. He just wanted to see his best friend again; if Sora smiled at him, everything would be all right.

Riku's companion started to move away again. "You will see him when your time comes. You said you wanted to walk the road to dawn, yes? Well, the Keyblade master has a long way to go, but he will meet you at the road's end."

Riku stared after the retreating figure of the man, hesitating for a moment. Then he turned his head to where his heart told him that Sora was, even if in another 'plane' of existence. With one last look at the green fields and the starry sky, Riku sank his hands into his coat pockets and followed after the man.

Their time would come.

§···§···§

"I had to be the best so you would look up to me, Sora."

They were on the little island with the bent tree and Sora was sitting on the lowest end of its trunk, watching Riku kick sand around as the older boy made his speech.

"If I can't get you to look up to me, how else are you going to look at me?" His tone had a definite pleading edge to it and that in itself was unlike Riku. Riku was imperious, demanding; he commanded and dominated. He would never plead. Not even to Sora.

Silver hair glinting fiercely beneath the morning sun, Riku took a step closer to his friend, faced him and looked straight into the younger boy's eyes. "How would you even look at me?" He whispered, brokenly.

Sora smiled, a bright and full grin that lit his entire face, as he stretched out his arms to grasp Riku by his bare shoulders; they were almost at the same height now, in a way they never would be hadn't Sora been sitting on a high place.

"I would look at you like this," he said, winking at his older friend. "Eye to eye, Riku. Because that's the way friends look at each other."

Riku had then looked at Sora in the eye for a long time, carefully studying the blue circlet around the boy's pupils. At last, he had discovered that Sora was right. Surprisingly, amazingly, incredibly… Sora had been right. And for the first time in a long, long time, Riku didn't want to challenge him on this, didn't want to refuse nor deny it.

·§·

But as it happens with most revelations, this one came too late for Riku. When he again opened his eyes, under a different sky than that of Destiny Islands, Riku knew that he had dreamed a real dream. Nothing but a dream. It had never happened… for all the times he and Sora had shared on the Paopu Island, he couldn't remember that episode ever happening. And Riku was tired, tired of never knowing the difference between dream and memory. Memory and reality. It had been so, so long since the last time something had felt entirely real…

Too long.

He wanted to wake up. And he wanted… ah. He wanted something –someone- that was lost.

·§·

Next to Riku, another slumbering figure stirred. "Another nightmare, Riku?" He asked, gently.

"No, Your Majesty. Just a dream," Riku replied with a sad smile.

"Ah," the King nodded. "You've been having many dreams lately."

"Yes. But I prefer them to the nightmares," the young man paused, pensively. "Those seem mostly gone now."

"That's good, Riku," the King said, leaping to his feet. "Actually, no. That's wonderful!" he chirped. "I've been waiting for this."

Riku frowned. "Waiting for what, Mickey?"

But the King was moving forward down the path nearest to them, beckoning Riku to follow him. "Come. Dawn is near," he said over his shoulder.

§···§···§

The reunion had been unexpected. Sora's companions had launched themselves on to their King and in the blink of an eye, the three of them had been chattering animatedly. Or actually, Donald and Goofy were blabbering both at once while the King listened to them patiently.

Riku had used the first moments of disorder to study Sora, fully aware that he was being inspected as well, but unable to take his eyes off the younger boy. Gone was the impish grin that formed a dimple on his cheek, gone was the red jumpsuit and the big, yellow shoes; a sober smile and darker clothing had replaced them. But the eyes were the same, Riku noted with delight. The same limpid shade of sky blue. Windows to the soul, indeed.

The King had dragged his friends a little way ahead of the path, correctly suspecting that Riku and Sora's reunion would not be as smooth as it had been for himself and his friends.

Riku was grateful, as always, for having the King there with him. Soon as they were gone out of earshot, Riku placed all his attention on Sora. The silence between them kept lengthening, so the older teen took a step forward, right hand outstretched and—

"Riku."

The childish trill was gone, too, and an adult spoke with Sora's voice. Riku stopped, uncertain. He hadn't expected for Sora to make the first move, but he locked eyes with his old friend and crossing his arms over his chest, Riku waited.

"You look different," Sora said with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"So do you," retorted Riku, with a nod of acknowledgement.

Sora shrugged. "I guess, but then… it's been a long time." A shadow crossed his face and he looked away, fingers fiddling idly with the crown pendant at his neck.

Riku closed his eyes. It had been far too long. Instead he said, "But it feels like yesterday that I saw you last. In the pod at Castle Oblivion…" He trailed off, not sure of how much did Sora remember about that.

Sora blinked. "I only remember you at Kingdom Hearts, when we closed the door. But there are some things that are hazy… There was this girl, Naminé, she said I would remember everything once I found my light."

Riku bowed his head. Of course, Sora wouldn't remember much about Castle Oblivion. He had chosen to regain his past memories, while Riku had decided to go on and let what memories were important enough come to him. Well, that had certainly turned out to be difficult to handle.

"Never mind, then. I'm just glad you're here, Sora."

§···§···§