A few notes: Here are some of the worlds I'm planning on using: Pirates of the Caribben, Snow White, Hunchback of Notre dame, Halloween Town, & Lion King. Thanks to Lapse-Raevn and Uzimaki-sama for the suggestions. If anybody knows anywhere else they should go, just drop me a hint.

Also, I know tarantulas can't bite humans, but this way was freakier.

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Riku leaned against the side of the school, waiting for Selphie. The hyperacitve girl was retaking an algebra test.

"Riku!" A voice called, and Riku smiled as Selphie bounded towards him, her face lit up in a huge, immature smile.

"Hey Selph," Riku ruffled her hair affectionately. He liked Selphie. Her innocence reminded him of one of the reasons he had come back to the island in the first place.

"Oh yeah!" Selphie spoke quickly. "Everyone's over at Sora's house, and they told me to tell you!"

Riku ran a hand through his hair, sighing. He knew that things wouldn't be the same after what had happened, but Sora had grown distant, especially lately. Riku had a feeling that it was because he missed the adventure of the other worlds, as well as his friends, Goofy and Donald.

Riku understood how he felt. Sometimes he just wanted to leave everything behind. Nothing ever changed here.

Riku absentmindedly followed Selphie down a path he had walked thousands of times before. Sora's house was as familiar to him as the back of his hand.

The small, two story house rose in front of them, their small play island in the background.

"Sora!" Selphie called, and grinned as the cinnamon haired boy leaned out his window, a broad smile that didn't quite reach his eyes plastered on his face.

"Come on in!" Sora called down, waving at them. Riku stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking up the sandy path to Sora's front door.

Sora's house wasn't too large, but it radiated with coziness and it always gave Riku a sense of belonging. It just felt as if nothing could go wrong in this place...

"What are those things!" Riku turned, his heart pounding as his eyes refused to believe the evidence set in front of him. It couldn't be… Not here… Not this haven, not again.

"Selphie!" And then Sora leapt out of the window, stumbling slightly as he landed on his feet. Sora would never admit it, but Riku knew the younger boy was considerably out of shape. Riku and Sora didn't fight each other anymore, it brought back too many painful memories, and Sora didn't have any other challenges.

Riku was snapped out of his thoughts as one of the heartless leapt at the sunny girl in the yellow dress, and before he had even realized what he was doing, his keyblade had appeared in his hands.

Riku bit his lip as he stepped in front of Selphie, slicing the Heartless in half. Despite the number of times this blade had saved his life, he had never, ever wanted to pull it out again.

But life is never really about what you want.

Riku's eyes popped open as he lay atop the fluffy bed. The sun shone in through foggy windows, casting a homey look over the house. Wait, hadn't he just been in Hallow Bastion at night?

"Where am I?" Riku asked, sitting up suddenly. He instantly regretted it as the food left in his hallowed stomach rose into his throat, leaving a sour taste in it's wake.

"Shhh… It's okay," soothing, warm hands rubbed circles on his back, gently pushing him back onto the bed. Riku obeyed almost instantly, allowing his eyes to flutter close under the gently ministrations. His head ached, and his arms and legs felt like lead pipes. Where was Sora? Where was Kairi? Lost in his lethargic thoughts, Riku whimpered, biting his bottom lip. Soon, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next time Riku joined the conscious world, it was late evening, and the sounds of other people resounded through the house, causing his head to ache, but soothing him at the same time. After being alone for so long, Riku hated solitude.

"How're you feeling, Riku?" The same kind voice from before asked, and Riku glanced up into the face of none other than Queen Minnie. But didn't she live at the castle, and wasn't he at Hallow Bastion?

"What? How?" Riku asked, startled into a vague awareness. Where was he?

"Shhh… You're still tired. Why don't you try to get some more sleep?" The queen suggested, gently pushing Riku back into bed. Riku weakly fought against her, his worries overcoming the weakness of his body.

"Sora… Kairi…" Riku groaned, sinking into the comfortable bed sheets.

"Kairi's at Radiant Gardens, and as for Sora…" Minnie shook her head, a sad frown on her face. Riku felt tears burning the back of his eyes as his throat grew dry and achy. Sora was somewhere unsafe. He could be hurt or dead. He might be suffering, and Riku could do nothing to help him. He could do nothing to save his best friend, when the other boy had pulled him back up countless times.

"We just don't know," she finished averting her eyes. Riku frowned at her, the evening light casting dark lines on his face and making him look as old as his hair suggested. Deep black circles had formed under his eyes, contrasting with his deathly pale skin. For a moment, it scared her, that he looked so old, and tired.

Riku's arms ached in pain as he pushed himself to his feet, his mind compensating for the strength his body just didn't seem to have. Riku's legs shook beneath him, and he collapsed quickly, feeling like a baby trying to take his first steps.

"Riku, you shouldn't be up!" Queen Minnie's voice echoed in the back of his head, but he didn't really hear her.

Riku pressed his cheek into the cool marble floors, ignoring the aches of protest his body gave. Kairi, and Sora were gone, someplace where he couldn't reach them and where he couldn't help them.

Riku pushed himself to his feet, grimacing at the bruises on his arms, and his aching muscles.

"What are you doing? You stupid boy, obey Queen Minnie when she talks to you!" Riku instantly recognized the high pitched, nasally voice. Donald had apparently come back to his home world.

Riku sneered at the thought. If they were such good friends of Sora's, then why weren't they looking for him?

"Oh no, that's okay," Minnie replied humbly, and Riku heard her light steps as she stood beside him.

"Where's the King?" Riku asked, closing his eyes. Mickey would help him get Sora back, and the King would probably already have an antidote for Kairi.

"He left when Leon appeared here with you. He said something about having to see a man. He also told me that you shouldn't be here, and that he wouldn't let the children pay for a mistake that he made a long time ago."

Riku's mind spun with the new information. Who was Mickey going to see? Why shouldn't he be here? What mistakes had been made, and more importantly, where was Sora?

"I have to go," Riku explained, rising shakily to his feet. This time his limbs supported him, though barely.

Riku didn't care if he didn't know what was going on. All he needed was to have Sora and Kairi back at his side.

"Where?" A deep, masculine voice asked him. Riku looked up to see the scarred man from last night standing in the doorway, his arms folded across his broad chest and his eyes closed.

Even from his position over a yard away, Riku could tell that the man was taller than him, with long, muscular legs and an aura of frigid cold that surrounded him.

"I have to find Sora," Riku stated, his anger rising. Did the man seriously expect him to stay here and do nothing when his friends were in danger?

"And how do you plan to get there?" The warrior asked.

"Anyway possible," Riku replied, his tone cold and biting. Riku shrugged past the man, brought to a halt as the older brunet opened his eyes.

The man's eyes were steel gray, with the slightest hint of blue. The stared at Riku with blinding intensity, and the younger boy gulped, remembering that this was a man who had beat him before, and could beat him again. If he didn't want Riku getting past, Riku wasn't getting past.

Still, despite his shaky limbs and foggy mind, Riku held his ground.

"Nothing will stop me from helping my friends," Riku stated, gazing up at the man with bright green eyes.

At the older man's appraising gaze, Riku felt like a little kid who just asked for more candy. That gaze took in the black rings that Riku knew were beneath his eyes, the torn black shirt and the ragged blue jeans, but the brunet said nothing.

"Whatever," the gunblader replied, running a hand through his hair before he gracefully stepped out of the way.

Without looking back, Riku walked through the doorway, glaring at the daunting halls and stairs. Hadn't these people ever heard of elevators?

Riku dragged himself down the hall, each step feeling like a mile long run. If he could make it to a hanger, then he could just grab a gummy ship and he'd be out of here.

And yet, something he once considered so simple seemed impossible to Riku.

His legs felt as if they were made out of pure rock, they were so heavy. His depth perception was off, and he tripped over his own foot, cursing his clumsiness. The room he had walked out of was no out of sight, hidden around a bend in the hall. Somehow, that fact drained Riku of energy.

Riku's eyes closed slowly, the irises narrowing into thin green strips before they disappeared beneath porcelain eye lids and ebony eyelashes. Riku took another step forward before a numbness swallowed his body, hundreds of thousands of needles prickling every inch of his skin.

Riku fell forward, only to be caught by thin, bruising hands. The grip on him was crushing his torso, and Riku could feel his ribs creaking under the enormous strain. Slowly, he looked up, expecting to see anyone but the person there.

"Dad," Riku asked, struggling to pull away. His father was dead. His father was one of the people who had died when the island was swallowed by darkness. His death was Riku's fault. He had been killed by his own son's ignorance.

But now, with a hood covering his thinning gray hair and a long black cape on, he looked nothing like the man Riku called father. The only similarity Riku could see was in the man's cold green eyes. How many times had he looked at someone with those eyes?

"You have your father's eyes," they used to tell him.

"You killed me," he told his son, shaking the weak boy slightly. Riku blinked slowly, watching his reflection in eyes so startlingly similar to his own.

"I'm sorry dad," Riku stated, his voice low.

"You killed me," his father repeated, a disgusted grimace appearing on his face. His cold green eyes searched Riku, the pupils slit, like a cat.

Riku's eyes had never looked quite like that.

"I'm sorry dad," Riku spoke automatically, as if he were being grounded for spending too much time on the play island.

"You killed me," his father's face pulled into a grin, "and it's time I returned the favor."

At his words, Riku felt something touching his legs, breaking through the numbing barrier of pins and needles. It felt as if something were crawling over him.

Riku looked down, watching as the first, large, hairy tarantula crawled up his leg, followed by its minions, an army of the large arachnids. Riku's eyes widened in pure horror. His legs were still numb. He couldn't even kick the eight legged monsters off.

Turning back to his old man, Riku nearly screamed at the horrendous smile.

"Let go of me!" Riku screamed, pushing his dad away, but his father's grip was like stone. The first spider had reached his knee, and Riku screamed in terror. Only his father and Sora had ever known of his terrible arachnophobia. Riku feared spiders more than he'd ever admit. They were the only things that could cause him to lose his infamous confidence.

"Let me go!" Riku screamed, pushing against his father even harder as his struggles increased. The spider had reached the bottom of his black shirt, and through the thin fabric Riku could almost feel its disgusting limbs crawling up him.

The spider was reaching for him. It was going to kill him and drink his blood, leaving his rotted skeleton blue and black and wrinkled, like a human sized raisin.

"Let go of me!" Riku screamed, a tear falling from his face as the spider reached his neck, hundreds of others covering his arms and legs, their hairy, disgusting bodies covering him, suffocating him.

"Let Go Of Me!" Riku screamed as the tarantula buried surprisingly sharp fangs into his neck, pushing a lethal poison through his body via his jugular vein.

The spider looked up at him with eight pitch black eyes that suddenly reflected Sora in their midst. Riku stilled. Sora was smiling. He was dying and Sora was smiling and the man who he was supposed to admire and look up to was killing him.

"LET GO OF ME!"

Riku suddenly fell onto his back, and he stared up into cold gray eyes, expecting to see green. No, where was his father? Where were the spiders? Where was Sora?

Riku brought a hand up to his neck, shaking violently. There was no raised or injured skin. There was no sting. There was no bite. There was no danger.

"Where am I?" Riku asked, glaring at the brunet. Where was he indeed? Was this all some sort of sick dream? Would he wake up only to find that Sora was okay?

"You're at the castle," the man answered, his brow wrinkling as a deep frown marred his features.

"I knew that," Riku replied, getting shakily to his feet. The older man watched him like a hawk, as if he expected the teenager to keel over any moment. Riku frowned. He wasn't someone delicate who needed to be protected. He could protect himself.

Just like you could protect Sora and Kairi, right?

Riku turned suddenly, loosing his balance and falling backwards into the brunet, who caught him easily, already expecting it. That voice, it sounded like his father. It sounded like his dead, rotting father.

"I can do anything," Riku spoke, his voice desperate with tired determination. He could do anything he put his mind to. He would do anything to save Sora and Kairi. He already knew this.

But, he wasn't sure if he was telling his father or himself.

Riku suddenly leaned back into the older man's embrace, going limp. He was lying to himself. He couldn't protect himself, or anyone else.

That was Sora's job. That's why Riku sided with Maleficent and Ansem and had to be dragged back home by Sora.

He wanted to give up so badly. He wasn't the hero. He was the villain who everyone liked, who was pitied and given a second and third chance to prove himself, only to be outdone by Sora over and over again.

"That's right Riku. You're just as bad as Xenmas. You're not worth anything. All you are is a jealous shell."

The other man suddenly tightened his grip on Riku, glaring at the other woman. Riku could feel a powerful spell building up somewhere behind him.

"You're just jealous of Sora, because you could never be half the person he is."

But there's one thing I have that you can never imitate.

What's that?

A friend like you.

"And that's why he'll die if you don't help us. Come with me, Riku." The woman held out a gloved hand, the dim light making in shine.

Riku remembered once, he had held out a hand to Sora, and Sora had never taken it. Because Sora knew that if he took Riku's hand, Riku would never wake up from the day dream he was living. The day dream where the world was falling apart around him but he was untouched, okay, uncaring.

"Go to Hell," Riku spat, brushing the older man off and standing, albeit rather shakily.

The woman retracted her hand, a familiar darkness reaching for Riku and the man behind him.

"I was hoping you would say that," she replied, and Riku could almost see a smirk on her hooded face.

"It's much more fun when they struggle," she hissed, vanishing into a puff of black smoke.

"Run," the gun blade wielder hissed, as the darkness she left behind approached them.

"Riku! Leon!" A high pitched, squeaky voice called to them. The two young men turned, glancing at the mouse running towards them.

"Your majesty," Riku called, temporarily forgetting the darkness closing in on them. It was the King. He could help them.

"Take this," Mickey called, tossing them a paper rolled into a glass bottle. Riku caught it and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans, turning to run, only to bash his head against the man's- Leon's?- shoulder.

"We're surrounded," Leon stated, his voice dead calm.

Riku looked around, and indeed, they were incased in a circle of darkness.

"Crap," Riku muttered, his eyes trailing around until they met King Mickey's. The mouse seemed to be held outside by some sort of protective barrier, stopping him from falling into the suffocating darkness that was quickly closing in on them.

"Riku!" He called. "The person behind this, it's--"

Riku's eyes widened, and he ran for the mouse as the darkness swept over them, closing them off from the world outside.

"No!" Riku exclaimed, reaching for the king. Instead, all he could see was the dark purple of wherever they were.

Then he heard it. It sounded like thousands of tiny legs scampering across the flat ground.

Riku turned, ignoring Leon as his lip curled backwards in disgust.

It couldn't be…

No one knew besides Sora and his dad. Sora would never tell, and his dad was dead. Dead men tell no tales.

In front of them, tarantulas, all at least three feet tall, glared at him with eight beady eyes apiece, and Riku gulped his dream appearing in his mind. The spider, sinking it's teeth into Riku's neck.

"I've never seen Heartless quite like these," Leon muttered. Riku nodded, biting his lip. That's all these things were, heartless. He could kill a heartless easily, right?

Riku backed away from the heartless, holding out a shaky hand. "Dark Aura," he shouted, growling as the tarantulas surrounded him.

The bright balls of energy collided with the closest monsters, squashing them and smearing their red blood over the dark ground.

Riku's eyes widened. Heartless didn't bleed. Stolen hearts pumped no blood. Those things… Those things were really spiders!

The remaining spiders hissed at him, and Riku took a step backwards. One leapt at him, and Riku automatically summoned his keyblade, impaling the creature inches before it's fangs could puncture his neck.

The spider's blood dripped down his arms warm and slippery, a small amount spraying into his face and hair. The dead creature's legs brushed his bear arms, sending shivers spiraling through his spine. Riku's aches disappeared as adrenaline pumped through his body, keeping him conscious.

Riku forced the keyblade to disappear, allowing the spider to drop onto the ground, it's beady black eyes staring at him.

"Blizzaga," a cold voice whispered, and the spiders around him immediately froze, staring at Riku.

They kept staring. No matter which way Riku looked, they kept staring at him.

"Firaga," the ten or so spiders Leon had frozen were hit by the large ring of fire, and Riku felt the bile rise in his stomach as they were blown to pieces, some leaving their detached limbs behind.

"Blizzaga," Leon froze the next bunch, and Riku rolled out of the way as another giant creature lunged at him, landing on eight, long, disgusting legs.

The message in his pocket rolled away, escaping through the spiders into a thicket of darkness. Riku's eyes widened at the scratching noises the thin glass made, and he ran for it, only to be surrounded by eight spiders.

"Dark Aura!" Riku shouted, racing past the disgusting creatures for his prize. That letter held the key, he knew it. That letter would lead him to Sora and save Kairi.

Before his eyes, various portals opened up, the bottle rolling precariously towards one of them.

Riku watched as the darkness swallowed the precious message, transporting it to any one of the worlds.

"Shit!" He cursed.

Suddenly, legs latched onto his legs, and fangs brushed the back of his neck, almost tentatively.

Riku immediately went limp, dropping to the ground. His panicked mind screamed at him to struggle, but his instincts told him that it would be over more quickly if he just sat still.

Riku closed his eyes, wondering why after all he'd been through, he was being cut out of the picture by some deformed arachnid. Fate was very cruel indeed.

Then the blood churning melody of a steel blade slicing through thick flesh met his ears, and Riku felt the giant beast collapse besides him, its brethren backing away.

"You okay, kid," Leon asked, and Riku nodded, standing up on a ground stained red, dripping with blood that was not his own.

The remaining spiders glared at him as Riku held his arm out threateningly.

"Dark Aura," he whispered, grimacing as the spiders exploded against the back walls, the few ones left alive retreating into the darkness.

Riku dropped to his knees, staring at his blood red hands. Leon, peeling off his bloody jacket and gloves, towered over him, nearly spotless except for a few stray drops.

Riku peeled off the blood stained, yellow glove on his hand, only to find that the blood had sunk through.

"Is any of that blood yours?" Leon asked, swiping the sword through the air to rid it of the clinging drops of blood.

The thought of his blood mingling with the spiders' blood was disgusting. Would the blood slither into his veins, infecting him?

"No, I don't think so," Riku answered, surprisingly calm. He was covered in spider blood. He hated spiders. "Did you know, when I was younger, I was bitten by some sort of rare, tropical spider?"

He wondered why he was telling this to a stranger, but then again, why shouldn't he?

"I've been scared shitless of them ever since," Riku continued. "No one knows, besides Sora and my dad, and my dad's dead."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he though he saw Leon lift a brow, but apparently it was only his imagination.

Riku turned to Leon, allowing the man to see his face, stained with blood. "I lost the message King Mickey gave us. It vanished through one of the portals."

"Which one?" Leon asked, his voice lined with impatience.

"I don't know," Riku answered.

For a second, Riku thought Leon was going to hit him, that maybe he'd just backhand him. No one had ever done that before, not even Sora, who had sliced him up with a sword. Still, even then he hadn't been covered in this much blood.

"This is disgusting," Riku muttered, running a bloody hand through his bloody hair. He honestly didn't know why he was freaking out, but this cold calm really didn't feel much better.

"Worry about your hair later," Leon muttered. "For now, we have more important things to deal with."

Riku nodded, rising to his feet and following after Leon. He ached all over, and he stumbled slightly, nearly tripping over the large spider carcass beside him.

"So, how are we going to find the message?" Riku asked. Leon sighed, stepping up to one of the portals.

"We'll have to search, one world at a time."

Riku stepped up to the portal, glancing out of the side of his eye at Leon.

"Ready?" He asked. Leon didn't respond, stepping into one of the portals. Riku ran after him.

He didn't want to be alone.