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After many years of friendship with Tidus and Selphie, both of whom could chat themselves to sleep, and a few month's in Donald's company, Sora had learned to appreciate silence and the calm that came with it. Of course, by general rule, he preferred the company of his Trinity and the voices of his friends all around him, but on occasion, Sora liked—or needed—to get away by himself for a while.
As he sat on the hill in Halloween Town's graveyard, with its garden of tombs around, or as he floated about the hidden treasure in Ariel's cave, Sora felt the intangible presence of one absent friend. If he trained in the waterway of Traverse, where the only sounds were those of dripping water, or if he explored the ever-silent corridors and chambers of Hollow Bastion, Sora felt it, there in the silence, the other boy's company every step of the way.
It seemed fitting then, that when Sora had last seen his best friend, as the heavy doors closed and were locked, that deafening silence had ensued and Sora could no longer feel Riku's presence in it.
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