Hhhhh whoo boy so some behind the scenes facts about this chapter. It was originally going to be MUCH longer until I ultimately decided to split it into two different chapters so I could focus in more on certain things without feeling like I'm rushing through it all. As a result, I think this one, and the next one will both be much better off for it. Both are Angsty as Hell so prepare yourselves for that (also very minor blood/vomit warning for this one, its very short I promise). Enjoy!


Chapter 47: Distant From You

Don't think twice, don't think twice
Don't think twice, baby, don't think twice

When the guardians of light reconvene, there isn't much excitement among them. Though Aqua and Ventus return to the Mysterious Tower in high spirits (and with Terra happily in tow), they arrive to find the others in an unsettled upheaval. Riku had been the one to call for a meeting, requesting everyone's presence even though he knows that's not what he'll get. Not after all of the failed calls he's made to one certain member among their number. Though they hail Terra's long-awaited return as cordially as they can, there's still a mutual air of worry among the others, Riku and Kairi in particular. And given who hasn't shown up to join them at this meeting, even as it formally begins, that worry is far from unfounded.

Yen Sid greets the group as they file into his study, though little time is wasted on pleasantries before the meeting is properly underway. "To begin, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Terra," the sorcerer begins, smiling. "I believe I speak for everyone gathered here when I say that we are all immensely relieved to see that you have safely been freed from Xehanort's power."

"Thank you, master," Terra says with a respectful nod. "It feels good to be myself again. And I have Aqua and Ven to thank for that." He slides his hand into Aqua's as she stands alongside him, affectionately ruffling Ventus' hair at the same time. It's a burst of gentle levity that only the trio alone can really feel at the moment, though Mickey does try to invite the others into it.

"We're glad to have you on the team, Terra!" he grins brightly. "'This brings us up to eight guardians of light, even more than we needed. Isn't that swell, Riku?"

"Huh?" Riku blinks, finally tuning into the conversation. And in doing so, forcing his own lingering, apprehensive thoughts aside, at least for the moment. "Oh, um, yeah, it's... great."

"Well, look at you," Terra says, offering Riku a proud smile. "All grown up, and, if what Aqua and Ven told me on the way back is true, the man in charge. You don't remember the last time we saw each other, do you?"

"Actually, I do," Riku finally smiles, taking a step forward. He summons his Keyblade for Terra to see, knowing well that the older boy's bequeathing years ago had been what had brought the weapon to him in the first place. Along with every moment of growth and discovery that had come along with it, every moment that had led him to become someone he's finally proud to see when he looks in the mirror, regardless of how long and painful the path that had taken him here might have been. "I still remember what you told me back then too: 'no borders around, below, or above-"

"'So long as you champion the ones you love'," Terra nods, impressed as he inspects Riku's Keyblade. Neither of them pay much mind to the curious glances everyone else sends their way, all of them silently wondering what the context behind this apparent encounter between the two might've been. "I see you've gotten what you wanted back then after all. Strength to protect what's most important to you."

Riku falters at this, his Keyblade disappearing as he glances away. "I'm not so sure about that…"

As surprised as Terra by his sudden melancholy, Aqua is ultimately the one who asks about it first. "Is something wrong?" she presses, concerned.

"It's Sora," Kairi speaks up, coming to stand alongside Riku. "Nobody's heard from him in days, not since that last world we were all together in. He won't answer his phone, not even for me or Riku, and there hasn't been any sign of him anywhere-"

"Well, not since Twilight Town," Axel says from his spot on the far side of the room. "Kairi and I heard that he was there, but he ran off to who knows where-at least, that's what Roxas and Xion had to say, but I'm still not fully convinced they weren't pulling a fast one on-"

"Xion?" Riku suddenly interjects, his eyes wide with surprise upon hearing her name alone.

"Ohhhhhh right," Axel takes in a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck. "Looks like we have another long story that everyone's gotta be queued in on…"

"No, it's ok," Riku counters, shaking his head to clear it of the lingering fog. "I know who Xion is, I've met her before-several times in fact. I... guess I just completely forgot about her until now somehow…"

"It sounds like just about everyone did…" Kairi notes, exchanging a curious glance with Axel.

"So if both Roxas and Xion are back, then that means Sora must have freed their hearts from his…" Riku correctly assumes. And while none of the others really react much to that assumption, Ventus freezes up, a small, startled gasp escaping him as he quickly pieces together exactly what it means.

"The other two hearts…" he whispers to himself. While in the depths of his decade-long slumber, Ventus hadn't really been aware of much during his time his heart had resided within Sora's. At least, not until he had risen to the occasion to try and fight Xehanort's unwelcome, corrupting influence out of it. And in that fight, he knew he hadn't been alone; two other, always obscured and unknowable figures had joined him in that battle, two other hearts that had found shelter inside of Sora's, just as he had so many years before. Once he awakened, Ventus had hoped that, whoever they were, those two hearts could continue fighting in his stead, that they could still strive to somehow save Sora from within. But now that they're apparently out, there's no one left to defend him from the darkness devouring his heart, no one left to safeguard him against the malicious master making it his own.

No one left to save him from something that might not be able to be stopped by anyone at all.

"Ven?" Aqua is the one to break him out of the torrent of his own distressed thoughts. Her hand lands on his shoulder and he flinches with far more fear than he means to. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to notice. "You were the last one to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy before they left that last world. Do you have any idea where they might be now?"

The others all look his way, and at that moment, Ventus knows well that they're all silently asking him the same question Aqua just did. They're asking him for the answers only he holds here, answers that he'd promised Sora he wouldn't share. Answers that he knows he should share, especially now that he's suddenly turned up missing, now that the truth he's helped hide for so long now could very well lead to him being found.

And yet… for some asinine reason, he still hesitates all the same.

"I-I… don't know," he starts, knowing that much is true at least. He doesn't have any idea where the trio might've gone to, only why they had gone. And that reason is something he's in no way prepared to divulge to the others, not even after all this time of keeping it hidden. "I guess they could be anywhere by now."

"Well, then we'll just have to look everywhere for them," Kairi says, resolved to do exactly that. To search for Sora however long she might have to, to hear the sound of his voice, to see his smiling face, to feel his lips pressed against hers again. And above all else, to make sure he's safe and sound, even against all of the piling worries she has that he might not be.

"Yeah!" Mickey soundly agrees. After a brief pause, he decides to speak to Riku's still visible concern, hoping to lift his spirits in some small way at least. "And until we find Sora, we can be sure that he's in good hands as long as he's with Donald and Goofy."

As if exactly on cue, however, almost as soon as the king says their names, that exact duo happens to barge into the room. Right off the bat, they let out a mixed, yet equally panicked cry between "Your Majesty!" and "Master Yen Sid!". Only to almost immediately realize that the king and the sorcerer aren't the only ones present.

"Well, what do ya know! We were just talking about you two!" Mickey greets then with a grin, though its quick to fade into confusion upon noticing just how shaken they both are. "Is… everything ok, fellas? You both seem kinda upset about something."

The pair tenses up at this, both of them starkly silent as they take in the sheer size of the group gathered before them, each of them devoting their full attention to the duo of new arrivals. "...What do we do now?" Donald sharply whispers to Goofy. "We didn't expect everyone to be here!"

"Well," Goofy counters just as apprehensively. "Sora did want us to tell everyone, so…"

"Tell us what?" Riku asks, overhearing them.

"Is Sora with you?" Kairi presses, trying to peer past the pair out into the hallway. Hoping to catch even the slightest glimpse of Sora, because certainly, he's right behind his usual companions, just as he always is. Except this time, she finds, he's not. "Where is he?" she asks, unable to quell her rising alarm. "I-is he alright?"

Her dread practically skyrockets when neither Donald nor Goofy answer right away. Instead, the pair exchange a tight, almost mournful glance, the unbearable burden of the horrific news they know weighing as heavy on them both as it had from the moment they left Twilight Town. But it's news they know they have to deliver to the lights; because that had been Sora's last request to them. And even after everything else that's gone so incredibly wrong, it's a request they're both honor bound to fulfill, no matter how absolutely agonizing it might be.

"No," Goofy goes first, his voice quiet and sad. "He's not alright… He hasn't been for a long while now…"

"We don't know where he is," Donald adds, just as dejectedly. "But… we do know what happened to him. We found the Key to Return Hearts, h-he took it and ran, and he…"

"And he used it to set Roxas and Xion free," Axel finishes. "Yeah, we all got caught up on that plot point just before you two showed up."

"Roxas and Xion told us he left Twilight Town after he set them free," Kairi explains, perplexed. "They even told us he was with both of you."

Donald and Goofy share a shocked gasp upon hearing this, their once-dashed hopes rising as they cling onto the first half of what they've just heard. "They saw him?! Even after he used the Key?!" Donald exclaims, stunned.

"Then that means… he's alive!" Goofy nearly cries, both he and Donald absolutely beside themselves with relief. Both of them choose to believe, even through this secondhand account, that Sora had somehow survived, that he's still out there, even if he's far out of their reach. Because even so much as thinking the alternative is far too much for either of them to bear any longer than they already have.

"Whoa, hold on," Riku cuts in, aptly concerned by such a remark. "What do you mean he's alive? Why wouldn't he be?"

Despite being relieved of the unfortunate duty of detailing one side of this awful story, Donald and Goofy quickly realize there's still so much more to tell. So much that they both wish Sora were here to tell them for himself. "Sora wanted to… h-he hoped that using it would…" Goofy trails off, unable to even complete such a horrible thought.

"He said he wanted to… to disappear," Donald continues, finding it much easier and much harder to use Sora's exact words at the same time. Especially since the memory of how distraught and desperate those words had been still rings so fresh in both of their minds. "We tried so many times to convince him to come back and tell all of you the truth! We told him that he needed to get help before it's too late! But he's Sora, and we all know how stubborn he is. So-"

"He thought that the Key to Return Hearts was the only way to stop what's happening to him," Goofy says, his hat clutched solemnly in his hands. "Even if that meant… he wouldn't be around anymore after using it…"

The entire room grows even more quiet than it had been before upon hearing this. Riku and Kairi in particular find themselves nearly breathless over what they're hearing, their hearts both equally aching at the thought of Sora willingly wanting to wipe himself out of existence. It's enough to nearly bring them both to tears, but those tears are staved off, if only briefly, by their shared, burgeoning desire to know exactly why he'd wanted that to begin with. "What's happening to him?" Riku dares to ask, his voice barely above a whisper.

Only now that they're both standing here, surrounded by all of the other guardians of light, do Donald and Goofy both realize just how long they've kept the secret they're about to divulge. A secret that they'd learned months ago now, in a dark, lonely tower in Corona, when Sora had stood before them, his hair white, his eyes yellow, and his heart breaking as he'd begged them to help him shoulder the burden he'd been carrying on his own for far too long. And sure enough, they'd kept their promise to him, they'd done everything they could to help him hide it all away, supported him in any way possible in the hopes that it might help him somehow. And in the end, even all of that hadn't come anywhere close to enough. Because despite their best efforts to save him, they'd still lost Sora just the same.

Which is why, all they can really do now, is hope that everyone else gathered here can work toward succeeding where they had failed. That they can somehow find him, somehow free him, somehow bring him back from the brink they'd last seen him standing on. But they'll never be able to if they don't know just how close to that brink he really is to begin with.

And yet, just as they both draw in a shared breath to finally tell all, someone else ends up doing it for them.

"Xehanort is taking over Sora's heart!" Ventus shouts, his voice hitching into a sob as this horrendous fact finally, finally forces itself out. Suddenly, all eyes are on him again, shocked expressions across the board as the others all try to make sense of what they just heard. Yet even amidst their shock, Ventus continues, unable to stop himself now, knowing that he couldn't, even if he wanted to. Not after all this time of having to harbor and hide this. "H-he's trying to turn Sora into his lest vessel," he explains morosely, tears streaming down his cheeks all the while. "He's been filling his heart with darkness for months now. When I was inside of it, I-I… I tried my best to fight him off, we all did, but… it wasn't enough. Sora's still… h-he's being…" Ventus shudders, unsure of even what to say next. Because really, what can be said about a situation that's so utterly unspeakable?

It ripples through the other lights like a shockwave, the terrible truth far too few of them knew about until this very moment. The study is far more still and silent than it's ever been before, with even the usually calm and collected Yen Sid completely bewildered by what's just been said. Along the far wall, Axel swiftly stands upright, no longer leaning as he'd been before. Aqua draws in a sharp breath she nearly forgets to let out, Terra taking her hand to steady her when he sees her sway ever so slightly. Donald and Goofy fall into the same sort of regretful resignation Ventus has already adopted, while Mickey desperately tries searching for something, anything to say and ultimately finding nothing.

But the ones who are struck the hardest by this heartbreaking revelation are, of course, Riku and Kairi. Ventus' first sentence alone had been enough to spark starting tears in Kairi's eyes, but everything else he says is what ultimately makes them fall. She grips Riku's arm like a vice, practically leaning against him for support as she chokes out a tight, terrified sob. Yet for his part, Riku doesn't move, doesn't even look over at her as he instead stares straight at the marble ground before him, his eyes wide, yet his expression unreadable. Kairi is the first to break the longstanding silence by tensely whispering his name, but he doesn't respond. He can't respond; all he can do is stand there, frozen in fear and grief and anger, and hope that it isn't true; it can't be true, it can't be, it can't-

"That… no, that isn't possible!" Mickey finally speaks up, nearly echoing Riku's thoughts exactly. "We saved Sora from-"

"It didn't work!" Donald cries, shaking his head.

"The Organization kept telling us, even as far back as when we started lookin' for the Keys, that Sora was turning into one of them," Goofy details anxiously. "But we didn't believe them."

"We should have," Donald huffs, frustrated with just how long it had taken them to realize something was wrong. Because if they had caught onto the problem sooner, than maybe, just maybe, Sora would still be standing here with them now. "There was plenty of proof, between the X-shaped scar they gave him, and the cracks on his Keyblade, and those new dark powers he started using…" The magician pauses at this, both him and Goofy rubbing the still-sore spots on their arms where Sora's accidental magic had struck them back in Twilight Town. While they'd mostly healed up from that ordeal physically, the emotional sting of it, or rather, from when Sora had tearfully run from them seconds after, still lingers all the same.

"But we didn't find out until we saw his hair starting to turn white and his eyes turning yellow," Goofy glumly reports. "He begged us not to tell any of you-like we said, we wanted to, but… he was so sad and scared, so…"

"So we kept quiet and I cast a glamour spell on him to hide what was happening to his body," Donald admits, ashamed that they'd even done that much. Because in condoning Sora's stubborn secrecy, in going to such great lengths to help him keep that secret, they've done so much more to hurt him than to help him like they wanted to. And of course, they're only realizing that now, when it's far too late. "When it was undone in that last world, he still didn't want any of you seeing him-that's why we took off without telling anyone. Even as bad as it had gotten, he still wouldn't just come clean and tell the truth!"

"We went with him to Twilight Town," Goofy continues on with the saddest part of the story so far. "He found the Key to Return Hearts and ran away and… well, we don't really know what happened after that…"

"And now… who knows where he could be," Donald finishes, trying to mask his worry behind his usual frustration instead. Frustration that's aimed at Sora… but even more so at himself and Goofy. "We shouldn't have listened to him; we should have just forced him to come back here and tell all of you!"

"But we didn't…" Goofy sighs guiltily. "And we're so sorry, to all of you… and to Sora most of all…"

While most of the others have no idea what to even say at this juncture, Mickey is the one to speak up again, his tone and expression mutually disappointed as he looks to his two longtime friends. "Wow, this is… a lot to take in…" he begins, just as overwhelmed as all of the others are. "I really wish you fellas had said something sooner."

"Yeah, I think we're all wishing that," Axel says incredulously. "What I can't believe is that you three all stayed tight-lipped on this whole thing for so long! I would have thought that Sora at least would have let something slip, even by accident."

"H-he was scared of what would happen if any of you found out," Ventus mutters, rubbing his arm as he glances away from the group. "That's why he asked me to not tell anyone either a-and why he wanted me to cover for him after he ran away. I only did it because I thought he'd come clean on his own sooner or later but…" He sighs, finally realizing that had been too much to hope for. After all, Sora had managed to keep this all so well-hidden even well before he'd even awakened. Why had Ventus ever been foolish enough to think that would stop once he came along? Why had he ever believed that he even had a chance at changing Sora's mind when it had already been made up from the moment this all began?

"Ven…" Aqua says, her tone torn both stern and sorrowful. "You knew, from the minute you woke up, that this was happening to Sora… and you didn't once think to tell any of us? Not even me?"

"Aqua, no, I just… Sora asked me to-"

"You should have known better!" Aqua scolds. Her blue eyes blaze with a kind of intense ferocity that Ventus has rarely ever seen, ferocity he's almost never seen directed at him. "Both of you should have known better! Your heart was inside of his, that means you must have known how serious this was! If you tried to help him from the inside before, then why didn't you do anything to help him once you were out!? Why didn't you tell us, Ventus!?"

He flinches, as if physically struck, by the sudden sharpness of her seldom use of his full name. He opens his mouth, only to immediately close it again, any words he might have said, even the apology he wants to offer her and everyone else here, falling short. Aqua's severity doesn't even soften when she sees Ventus' tears begin to fall anew, nor does she turn calm when she feels Terra's comforting hand find a place upon her shoulder.

"Aqua," he says, his earnest, steady tone finally diverting her attention away from Ven. "I-"

Before he can get another word out, she suddenly falls apart on him, cutting him off as she throws her arms around him, burying her face into his chest as her shoulders shudder with starting sobs. "We just got you back…" she mutters so quietly only he can really hear her. "I-I can't imagine losing anyone else I care about to him… not again…"

Terra lets out a long, sympathetic sigh at this, lightly rubbing a hand against her back in a gentle attempt at consoling her. "I thought all of you would have found out about what's happening to Sora a long time ago," he says, looking to the others. "If I'd known that you didn't, I would have said something as soon as we got here."

"Wait, you know about this too, Terra?" Mickey balks, baffled.

Terra nods gravely. "When I was still wandering the worlds as just my armor, I happened to sense both Ven's heart and Xehanort's heart in the same place," he explains as Aqua finally pulls away from him. Even so, she lingers close as she wipes her tears away, impressed with just how calm he can be when she's anything but. "When I went to where they both were… that's where I found Sora. I could tell he was going through something that was just like what had happened to me, but… it's still very different. When Xehanort stole my body and my heart, it happened in an instant. What he's doing to Sora is slow, like he's trying to take his time with him. I don't know why. But what I do know is that I tried to warn him to be careful about the darkness spreading through his heart. I… guess he didn't take my advice."

"That's Sora for you," Donald deadpans, crossing his arms. "He never takes anyone's advice."

"The darkness in his heart…" Kairi suddenly catches everyone's attention, even if her voice only comes out as a small, broken whisper. Her eyes are red with tears, though her hands finally slip away from Riku's arm as they find a place against her heart, as if they can do anything to placate the unspeakable pain pounding through it. "I sensed it before… a-after he was poisoned, but I didn't think it was… H-he begged me to heal his heart; I didn't understand from what back then, but now I do… How could I have not noticed? If I had, I could have done something! Maybe I could have saved him if I wasn't so… so useless!"

As the weight of her growing grief continues to bear down upon her, Kairi suddenly finds that even standing is a challenge in and of itself. Her knees buckle, and as soon as they do, Axel is the one to sweep in and pull a chair over to her. Under any other circumstances, Riku would have done something similar. But as it stands, he remains as unmoving and silent as he'd been since the news had first dropped; since his entire world began to crumble to pieces all around him.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Axel says to Kairi, his tone sincere and soft as he keeps a comforting hand on her shoulder. Even so, it does little to quiet her ongoing agonized sobs. "If you had known, then there's no doubt that you would have done anything you could've to help him. We all would've."

"That's right," Mickey devoutly agrees. "And even if it took us this long to find out about this, then that doesn't mean it's not too late to help Sora now. There's gotta be something we can do to stop this, right, Master Yen Sid?"

Until now, Yen Sid has remained largely silent, his hands pressed together in front of him and his eyes tightly shut in deep thought. They stay closed when he speaks, delivering his verdict with an aura of steady calmness that nearly none of the gathered guardians have. "If Sora truly is becoming Xehanort's thirteenth vessel," he begins slowly, carefully. "Then there is no way of knowing how to set his heart free, at least not without a full assessment of the current status of just how much darkness has made its way into it. But of course, that assessment cannot happen if Sora himself is not present for it."

"But… none of us know where he is…" Goofy notes fretfully.

"I think I might know someone who does," Axel mutters to Kairi, aside. She's the only one to really notice as he quietly slips out of the room, but she's far too despondent to question where he's going. Nor does she notice his expression sharpening into a bitter glare, his hands clenching into tight fists at his sides, his anger rising as he prepares to go after his newly-returned pair of friends. As he thinks about just how easily Roxas and Xion had both lied straight to his face with seemingly no sense of remorse in the slightest.

"Then it seems as though our next mission is more than clear," Yen Sid says evenly. "We must all do our part in finding-"

"The rest of the Keys," Riku suddenly speaks up for the first time in what feels like ages. The others all send him bewildered glances, but he doesn't return any of them. Instead, he turns toward the door, his manner every bit as tense and rigid as Axel's had been.

"R-Riku?" Kairi asks, confused.

"The rest of you need to go and look for the last few Keys," he pulls his posture as tall and stern as he can, as he tries his best to maintain the unflinching composure of the leader he needs to be now. A leader who won't be crushed under the weight of his own despair, not in front of everyone who's looking to him for strength in a moment where there's so little of it to go around. "I'll find Sora."

"W-what?" Mickey starts, surprised. "Riku, are you sure you-"

"Yes," Riku holds up a hand to stop him. He still doesn't so much as steal a single glance back at any of them though, lest they see just how hard he's trying to keep it all together. How hard he's trying to keep his held-back tears from finally falling. "I'm sure."

"Well, then I'm going with you," Kairi wipes her own tears away as she steps forward. She reaches for Riku's hand, more than prepared to join him in finding the boy they both care so much about, wherever and however he might be. And yet…

"No," Riku pulls his hand away when she only barely skims it. "I'm going alone."

Kairi jolts at this, and she's not the only one either. By now, Aqua's more or less regained her composure, and doesn't hesitate to protest upon hearing such a risky plan. "Riku," she begins as gently as she can. After all, she can only imagine what's going through his head right now, how he's feeling when faced with the mere idea of losing his lifelong best friend to such a terrible fate. "We all want to do anything we can to help Sora, just just as much as you do. You don't have to do this on your own."

"Aqua's right," Mickey nods sincerely. "If Xehanort and the Organization are going to all this trouble to get Sora on their side, then they're not gonna make getting him back that easy. It isn't safe for you to-"

"I'll be fine," Riku counters simply, succinctly. Like every one of his answers is turning out to be, it seems.

"You would do well to heed Mickey and Aqua, Riku," Yen Sid chastises, shaking his head. "Reckless haste will do little to save Sora when-"

"Master," Riku suddenly interrupts, his hands in tight, almost trembling fists at his sides. "You and Mickey chose me to be the leader, right?"

The sorcerer pauses, seemingly caught off guard by this. Even so, he folds his hands on his desk and nods. "Yes. We did."

"Well, as leader," Riku reaches for the door, his shoulders squared as he prepares to depart. Entirely on his own. "I've made up my decision. I'll be back in a few days. And when I do get back, Sora will be with me. I promise."

None of the others, not even Yen Sid himself, know what to say as Riku steps out of the room. But as far as Kairi is concerned, this conversation isn't over. Not even close. "Riku, wait," she rushes out into the hall after him, closing the door behind her. None of the others seem keen on following them, and she's glad for it; this is a matter that needs to be settled between the two of them alone. "There is no way you're going to look for Sora without me. I won't let you."

Riku's only taken a few steps down the stairs when he stops. Yet even still, he refuses to look her way. "Kairi," he says with a tired sigh. It's the first time his unyielding façade has begun to falter, and it isn't lost on Kairi. "I don't want to argue with you about this. Go back inside with the others and get to work on finding those Keys. Like I said, I'll be back before you know it. We both will."

"No!" Kairi hisses, stomping her foot down in frustration. "I won't let you leave me behind, not this time! Not when it comes to Sora!"

"Kairi-" Riku tries to reason, but Kairi refuses to have any of it. Not now, not when there's so incredibly much at stake.

"Things are different than they were before," she presses, trailing after him as he continues down the stairs. "I can fight now; I can stand by your side instead of being the one you and Sora need to save! I want to be there, I want to help you just as much as I want to help him! Together we can find him, we can free him, we can-"

"That's enough," Riku pauses once more, his back still turned to her. "I already told you, I've made up my mind. I'm leaving, and you're staying here. End of discussion."

"No, it isn't!" Kairi practically shouts, her face red as hot tears begin streaking down it. "Why won't you just let me go with you? Isn't this already hard enough for all of us as it is without you being stubborn and stupid about it?!"

Riku flinches at this, but ultimately says nothing to counter it. Because at this point, there's really nothing she can say to change his mind, not when he knows this is his burden to bear on his own. Not when he knows the only reason any of this is happening is entirely because of him.

"Do you really think you're the only one who can save him?" They've reached the tower's foyer, and Kairi barely cares that she can hear her own enraged shouting echoing through it. She hardly cares about much of anything at all right now aside from stopping Riku from walking through those doors without her. From saving, from searching for, from even just seeing Sora again without her. "If that's true, then where were you when Maleficent had him chained up and poisoned?! Because if I remember right, I was the one who brought him back then, and I can do it again, I know I can, if you would just give me a chance. Please, Riku, I-"

"STOP IT!" he suddenly yells, slamming his fist against the front door. Kairi gasps, startled into silence as he presses his free hand against it. As she finally hears him choke out a tight, strangled sob of his own. "Just stop it already! I-I can't… you're not…" He trails off, holding his arm over his eyes to try in vain to keep the tears from coming. But they come all the same, and yet, even as they do, he still refuses to let Kairi see them. He still has to do what he can to be strong, if not for himself, than for her. "Y-you're not coming," he says, steadying himself as he lets out a long, shaky breath. "And that's final."

Kairi knows she should just leave it there, she knows she should just accept his word as leader and move on. But she's never been one to simply fall into silence so easily, especially not when either of the boys she loves most are involved. "Please…" she whispers, placing a feather-light hand on his back. "Just tell me why…"

Riku wishes he could tell her, by the stars he wishes he were brave enough to even try. He wishes he could tell her that he knows she can fight, that he knows she can hold her own this time, that he knows she'd be an asset and that they'd make a great team. He wishes he could just turn to her with a smile, a sad smile, but a smile all the same, and accept her offer for companionship and company, accept the aid she's so willing and ready to give him. He wishes they could both go together, that they could find Sora and bring him home safe and sound and stop this nightmare once and for all.

But at the same time… he knows that he can't. He knows that he doesn't deserve the privilege of having her at his side anymore than Sora deserves to bear the unspeakable burden of his mistakes. He knows that what he's about to do, the journey he's about to embark on, isn't one he should make on his own. But suffering alone through the pain of the disaster he'd been too weak to prevent seems only fitting now. After all, he realizes mournfully, isn't Sora out there somewhere, doing the exact same thing, all because of him?

"We're losing Sora," he finally says, finally glancing back at her. Finally allowing Kairi to see a single tear slip out from his now murky teal eyes. "I didn't… I-I wasn't strong enough to protect him. All I can do now is hope that I'm strong enough to save him. That's why I have to do this on my own. I'm sorry."

He doesn't give Kairi a chance to say a word in edgewise. Instead, he simply pushes the doors open, and walks through them, on the first steps along the path that he hopes will somehow lead him to Sora. The path that'll lead him to his constant, comforting light, a light that's all too close to going out altogether.

Kairi doesn't follow him. Instead, she stands still, silent, as the doors creak closed behind him. Tears continue pouring quietly down her cheeks, but she draws in a long, calming breath all the same. "I'm sorry too, Riku," she whispers almost inaudibly.

With that, she turns on her heel and begins ascending the staircase back up the tower. A handful of the other lights must have been listening in on their argument as they peer out of Yen Sid's study, though Kairi all but ignores their questioning, concerned glances as she passes them by. Her pace is swift, her heart heavy as she goes into her room and shuts the door, locking it tight. She knows she shouldn't waste time on this, not when Sora might not have much time left to lose, but she can't help it. Her heart has already been broken several times over today alone; why not let it break just a little bit more?

She collapses onto her bed, reaching for what she'd left on the nightstand earlier that day: the lovely pink lily Sora had picked out for her during their much too brief time together in New Orleans. It's all but wilted now, a few of its shriveled petals threatening to fall. But she still holds it close to her heart all the same, imagining she's back in that moment, where his laughter had been so bright and smile had come so easily.

When both had been masking away the untold anguish hiding just under the surface.

How long has he been suffering like this? How long has he been trying to keep it all locked away? Why had he been so intent on staying silent? Why hadn't he let her know, if no one else? Didn't he trust her? Did he think she wouldn't have been able to help? Did he think she wouldn't have cared? She tries to think back on something he might have said, something that she might have seen that could have shown her something was wrong before. And in doing so, she realizes just how blind she's really been. Because so many moments spring to the forefront of her mind, from his haste to gather the rest of the Keys, to his jealousy over Riku being chosen as the leader, to so very many moments she'd witnessed during his month of recovery by her side. One among them stands out above the rest, the very moment she'd remembered back in the study. When he'd asked her, begged her to heal his heart… and when she'd failed him completely.

"Kairi…" he'd asked, his tired, tearful eyes a mangled mess of gold and green and blue. "I need you to heal me… please…"

"Sora," she'd frowned, confused like the fool she's always been. "I'm already healing you-"

"No," he'd countered and he'd looked so scared. No wonder; she would have been every bit as terrified if she was going through even a fraction of what's happening to him. "My heart… I-I need you to heal my heart…"

"Your heart…?"

"Something's wrong with it. I don't know what," But he had known, even back then he knew. But even then, he never bothered to tell her the truth. Not that it would have made much of a difference even if he had. "I just… I need your help, please, Kairi, this… i-it feels so-"

"Shh," she'd held his hand in hers. What she wouldn't give to be able to do that now, when he's somewhere so far away from her. "I… I'll do whatever I can to help…"

Except she hadn't. Except she'd done nothing to save him, nothing to free him, nothing to even ease the pain he'd been feeling in that moment. Her light wasn't-isn't strong enough to drive away the darkness devouring him, it can't even come close. But even if her light isn't enough, she still finds room to hope that maybe something else might just be in its stead.

She sits up, carefully placing the lily aside as she retrieves her notepad instead. Her latest letter had been written right after the ball at Cinderella's Castle, a night so filled with happiness and peace that it practically feels like a lifetime ago now. She can't even bear to look at the obliviously blissful thoughts she had taken down in the aftermath of it, instead turning to a new page completely. It's a page she could do so much with, from unloading her grief, to detailing her fears, to scratching out her sheer, unbridled anger with Riku and Sora alike. But instead, all she can spare enough time for now is a few short, simple sentences. Sentences that carry an unspoken vow that she can only hope reaches Sora, wherever he might be:

Dear, Sora,

I don't care what Riku says. I promise I'm going to find you, and I'm going to save you, no matter what it takes. And when I do, we'll find a way to set this right. I won't rest until we do.

Love,

Kairi


Mere seconds after his dark corridor opens up somewhere worlds away from Agrabah, Sora stumbles out of it, though he doesn't stay standing for very long. His vision abruptly blurs, his ears ringing and his head pounding as he collapses into shallow water, waves lightly lapping over his clawed hands as his portal disappears behind him. His stomach turns violently in the aftermath of using it, to the point that he quickly finds himself overwhelmed by just how sick he suddenly is. He's powerless to hold back a brutal, painful series of coughs that ravage his lungs and leave an unpleasant, metallic taste inside of his mouth. It's only as his vision starts to clear and his coughing starts to turn quiet that he can see the crimson blotches staining the clean waters beneath him. Blood mingled with something darker, something unnatural, something that he doesn't get to make sense of before it all dissolves away into the sea.

But really, he can't even be bothered to care as he manages to slowly crawl his way out of the ocean. He collapses onto his back on the sandy shore, his chest heaving for air as he's met with clear blue skies above him. Something about the air here is undoubtedly familiar, from the calming warmth it carries to the salty sweetness wafting along the gentle sea breeze. But it's only as he finds the strength to sit up and take in his surroundings that he realizes exactly where he's managed to escape to.

He's home.

The adrenaline his hectic departure from Agrabah had left him with slowly begins to fade at this realization. His legs are still somewhat unsteady as he struggles to stand, but sure enough, the back half of the play island sprawls out before him. And, across the stretch of sea spanning before him, is the main island. The main island, where the town he'd grown up in is, where the house he'd always lived in is, where his mother is… Where, after everything he's been through lately, he wants nothing more than to run to, swim to even, if he has to. To be there, to be home, to greet his mother with a warm hug and sleep in his own bed and wake up to find that this has all been nothing more than a bad dream. And, with his damaged heart yearning for even some kind of comfort right now, he almost decides to make the short journey across the sea, the journey home… at least until he happens to catch a glimpse of his own reflection in the ocean before him.

His hair is more white than it had been before, his eyes more yellow. His claws seem longer now, sharper, but this time, there's something else that's sharp to go along with them: his teeth. Just about all of them seem to end in a point, some longer than others, but each equally as unnerving. Because by all accounts, he can't deny that each time he sees his reflection, it looks less like him and more like a monster pretending to be him instead.

He knows a monster wouldn't do well in his tiny village. A monster would never be welcome into his mother's home. A monster only deserves to be alone. And now, Sora realizes as he morosely tears his sights away from the main island, that's exactly what he is on both accounts.

At the very least he can take solace that he managed to slip away from Xehanort and Maleficent and their equally abhorrent plans for him. And in the process, he'd left Roxas and Xion behind. He tries to shake the guilt that comes along with that thought as he begins to head to the far side of the island. There are definitely worse worlds he could have stranded them in, after all, and the other lights are bound to run into them sooner or later. Sora can only hope that they don't end up somehow running into him too.

He has to stop as soon as he reaches the far shore of the play island. Because so many of his memories live here on this bright beach, so many of them made bittersweet now that he stands here alone.

He remembers the first time his parents brought him here, the hours he spent playfully chasing his father through the shallows, the perfect picnic lunch his mother had prepared for them. He remembers exploring the Secret Place alongside Riku, their wooden toy swords clashing above the din of their innocent, childish laughter. He remembers finding Kairi on the day she'd first washed ashore, the time he'd spent showing her around and helping her feel more at home in her strange new surroundings. He remembers, tears starting to swell in his eyes, the sweet and serene sunsets the three of them had spent, gazing out across the sea, wondering what lay beyond its horizon. He remembers the stories they'd tell, the laughter they'd share, the smiles they'd offer each other in a time when the most they'd had to worry about was building some silly raft so they could pretend to set sail to somewhere else.

But now… the shore is silent. Whatever glimpses he wishes he could catch of his parents, whatever echoes he wants to hear from his friends, whatever feelings he'd been filled with in the fleeting moments they'd all been there together… they're all gone. And in the absence of all of the things that he's always cherished so much about this place… Sora strangely feels as though he doesn't belong here. At least not anymore.

He doesn't know why his dark corridor brought him here, doesn't know what to do now that he's arrived. It's a rare moment of solitude that he isn't grateful for, not here on the otherwise empty shores of his youth. He's half tempted to call upon another portal, though considering how ill he'd felt after that last one, that's not something he's keen on experiencing again so soon. So he stays where he is, awash in far too many emotions, far too few of them pleasant.

He slowly strolls up to the shoreline, his hands in his pockets as he takes in a deep breath of the salty late-afternoon breeze. There's no telling what might happen next, now that he's torn himself away from his friends and his foes alike, and honestly, he's not so sure he wants to know. Not when he knows there's so little left for his future now that his awful, final fate has been set in stone. Now that he knows what he's ultimately doomed to become by the end of it all, no matter how much he wishes he could be literally anything else.

This wasn't how his life was supposed to go, he thinks as he pulls his hands out to stare at his own blood-red claws. At 16, he's supposed to be getting ready to finish school, spending time with his friends, thinking about what he'd like to do as a career, about starting a family someday with someone he loves. There wasn't supposed to be any Keyblades or Heartless or darkness or destiny. He wasn't supposed to turn into this, into something that he can barely even call human anymore, into a helpless slave for someone he'd never serve on his own volition, into someone who he barely even recognizes as himself now. He was supposed to stay right here, right at home, with his mother, with his neighbors, with Riku and Kairi. His life was supposed to be simple, but comfortable, ordinary but content. But now… the happy and peaceful life he could have, should have had has been stolen from him… only to be replaced with the endless nightmare it's become instead.

And yet, even as unfair as it all is… there's still almost nothing about the past few years that he'd take back. Because if he'd never left the islands, then he never would have met Donald, or Goofy, or Aqua, or Ventus, or any of the other remarkable friends he's made across all of the amazing worlds he's been to. If he'd never left, then Roxas and Xion would have never come into existence, they never would have become the people he's so glad to have gotten to know, if only for the brief time he'd been with them. If he'd never left, then there would have been so many incredible things he would have never gotten to see, so many exciting things he would have never gotten to do. If it were up to him, he wouldn't mind if things had continued like that forever, if he could keep on exploring wonderful worlds with the welcome companionship of his closest friends by his side. But of course, it isn't up to him; just about nothing about how his life's been going lately has been, when he thinks about it.

He's not sure what prompts him to head for the Secret Place; maybe because the picturesque sight of the shore has gotten too painful for him to process. So he heads inside of the quiet cave, an all new wave of agonizing nostalgia hitting him as he does. The day he and Riku had first happened upon the tiny cavern years ago stings as it rings across his memory, as do the sight of all of the carvings they'd left upon its walls across the years. Childish scribbles that make little sense to someone who doesn't know the stories behind each one; but to Sora, each of them is as clear and coherent as the day they'd first been drawn.

One such drawing grabs his attention above all the rest. He falls to his knees before it, his heart aching as he stares at it despondently. He and Kairi couldn't have been any older than 7 when they came here one afternoon when Riku had been too under the weather to join them like he usually would have. She'd been the one to issue the playful challenge for them to draw each other, and he'd been more than happy to accept. Neither of them could claim to be too terribly talented, and there was plenty of lighthearted teasing that came along after, but their portraits were passable at least. Sora hadn't thought much of them until he was 14, when Riku had been the one to issue him a different challenge entirely: to share a paopu fruit with Kairi. Even back then, he hadn't had the courage to even so much as try to ask; so instead, he'd come here, his face red and his heart fluttering with emotions he hadn't understood. And in solitude he'd carved the star-shaped fruit connecting the two of them, all the while wishing that he'd be brave enough to do this in more than just a simple drawing. But when he'd come back well over a year later at 15, he'd discovered what she'd added in his absence: another paopu to match his own, extended out in offering to him. At the time, the sight of it had left him feeling dizzy and delighted at the mere thought that she wanted the exact same thing he did: an unbreakable bond forged between their hearts, a promise that they'd always be together, no matter how far apart they might be.

And now… he's 16, seeing that drawing again for the first time in many months. And the longer he looks at it, the more he realizes that it'll never happen. He'll never share a paopu with Kairi, their destinies will never intertwine, they'll never be together, not in the way he'd always wanted them to be, or in any other way at all.

Not that they even should be together to begin with. Kairi is kind and brave and brilliantly beautiful and she deserves the companionship of someone so much better. Someone who can actually withstand the kind of darkness that's destroying him, someone who won't lie to her and leave her behind; someone exactly like Riku instead of someone like him.

He's overwhelmed when he tries to think of what their lives will be like now that he's no longer a part of them. At least if his plan to use the Key to Return Hearts had truly worked, he wouldn't have survived to see that future they'll get to share without him. But in the end he couldn't even die right. And because of that, he'll get to know just how happy they're bound to be now that they no longer have to pretend to care about him. Just how glad they'll be to be rid of the most worthless one among them once and for all.

His own anguished sobs echo across the cave, growing louder and more miserable by the minute. His grief mounts rapidly, crushing him from the inside out to the point that the pain it's causing him is practically physical. It's all too much to take, far too much to take, far too much to bear. He doesn't want to be here anymore, doesn't want to be anywhere anymore. What he does want is exactly the same as he'd wanted before; to take himself out of the picture in any way he can. Even if it's something as small as taking himself out of the literal picture in front of him.

Between his tears, he glares back up at his own image carved onto the cave wall before him, at the wide, cheerful, downright silly smile eternally plastered onto his face. He can't help but hate that smile now, hate how happy he somehow used to be. He hates how far out of reach that happiness is now, how he's likely to never get even a small semblance of it back ever again. And of course, above all else, he hates-

He doesn't allow his mind to even finish the thought before his voice erupts into a fierce, bitter scream. He lashes out without thinking, slashing his hand toward the wall as several glistening spikes burst out of the ground all around him. His claws painfully grind across the cave wall, tearing across Kairi's drawing of him and leaving deep, blackened streaks in their wake. He doubles over as soon as it's done, struggling to breathe amidst his unstoppable sobs as he wraps his arms around himself, his claws digging so tightly into his skin that they draw blood. He only spares a second to glance back at the drawing, and when he does, he can barely even make out his own image on the wall before him between the jagged lines scarring it. By all accounts, it's all but gone now; if only he could be too.

At that very instant, he's overtaken by that feeling again, that immense, impulsive desire to be anywhere else but here. It's much like what he'd felt in those last few seconds in Agrabah, and yet somehow so much worse. Because this is home. And because he knows that from here on out, it never can be his home again.

Tears continue pouring down his cheeks as he forces himself to his feet and somehow pulls himself into motion. He refuses to let himself so much as look at any of the other carvings on the cave walls, instead making a swift beeline back to the beach. Sunset has started to fall over the island by the time he emerges from the Secret Place, and its orange glow nearly blinds him when he stumbles out into it. He almost summons a dark corridor right then and there, even if he has no idea where he intends on going next. Yet just as he raises his hand to do exactly that, he's stopped by the sudden voice of the only other soul standing on the same island as him. From just about the last person he could have wanted to see, especially after what had just happened in Agrabah, waiting for him just a few feet away on the shore.

"Going somewhere, my thirteenth?" Young Xehanort asks calmly. He faces the sunset, only briefly glancing over his shoulder at him. Sora freezes in place when he does, almost forgetting to breathe for a solid minute as fear floods through him without end. Strangely, his heart isn't seized by sudden pain as it had been when he'd stood in the elderly master's presence, but he does feel the usual pull of his powers practically diminish into nothing, even as he tries his best to summon a dark corridor to escape. When none appears, he's trapped once again, just as he'd been back in Agrabah. Trapped and forced to face someone he'd much rather never see again.

Upon noticing just how powerless Sora is to get away, Young Xehanort smiles, satisfied, as he beckons him forward. "Come and watch the sunset," he encourages almost cordially. And for his part, Sora has no choice but to do exactly that, his body refusing to comply with his terror-stricken mind as he slowly comes to stand alongside his master. "It's as beautiful as it always is here, wouldn't you agree, Sora?"

Sora's surprised he isn't forced into answering. Even so, he does supply one of his own volition, nodding glumly as he glances away from the sight of it.

"Isn't it ironic, how both you and I got our start on a world as small and insignificant as this?" Young Xehanort asks, keeping up a conversation that Sora wants no parts of. "Then again, perhaps it isn't irony at all that our point of origin would be one and the same. Perhaps, like what this very island is named for, it's destiny."

Sora lets out a sharp, irritated scoff at this, his next words coming out without much thought at all. "Could you stop being so weird and cryptic for a change?" he huffs, masking his former despair with annoyance instead. "I'm really not in the mood for it this time."

Though he half expects some sort of punishment for such a disrespectful remark, it doesn't come. Instead, Young Xehanort merely smirks, as if amused by his vessel's obvious exhaustion. "Forgive me, Sora, but I can't help but be curious: why did you come here?" His tone conveys that he already knows the answer, even when Sora himself doesn't. "Out of any world you could have escaped to, why was this the one that you chose to take refuge in?"

"I didn't choose, I just-"

"You did," Young Xehanort counters. "Or at least, your heart did if nothing else. Otherwise, we wouldn't be standing here right now. Dark corridors follow the intent of the one summoning them, whether that intent is conscious or not. So tell me, my thirteenth, what exactly did you wish to see here? Your family? Your friends?"

Sora shakes his head, his mouth desperately searching for words. For whatever reason, Young Xehanort is letting him speak completely freely here. And yet he still finds himself all but tongue-tied against the young master's more intrusive inquiries all the same. "I-I… I don't know…" he drops his voice down to a mutter as he absently kicks at the sand beneath him. "It's not like I've even seen anyone here anyway, aside from you…"

"You should consider yourself very lucky that's the case," Young Xehanort muses, his smile gone as he stares back out at the sea. "You have no idea just how wise your decision to run from that last world, from your friends, really was. You'd be in far more danger if your Nobody and that puppet had managed to drag you back to the guardians of light than you are standing here with me now."

"Somehow I seriously doubt that," Sora rolls his eyes. He knows it won't mean much in the long run, but he savors whatever small show of resistance he can against his master. Whatever little bit of rebellion he can muster against the man subjugating his heart in such an awful, agonizing way.

"...How very sad. You really don't know, do you?" Young Xehanort asks, peering over at him.

And this time, with curiosity getting the better of him, Sora finally looks right back. "Know what?"

"What your so-called 'friends' plan to do with you if you were to return to them," Young Xehanort explains, and red flags immediately raise in Sora's mind when he does. In an instant, he remembers exactly who he's talking to here, exactly what the young master likely wants him to believe. So he raises his guard as he decides to keep listening, wondering just how far his foes are willing to go even now that they've essentially already won.

"What do you mean?" he presses as cautiously as he can.

"By now you must have considered the thought," Young Xehanort begins, taking a step closer to the sea. "That the guardians of light have all been made aware of your… current condition. The king's servants did as you asked; they went back and told them everything that you were too afraid to tell them yourself. And now, each and every one of them knows the truth. But of course, it was only a matter of time before it all came out; you knew that from the very start, didn't you, my thirteenth?"

Whatever measure of steadiness Sora might have had before quickly falls to pieces upon hearing this. At the confirmation that all of his friends finally know what he'd gone to such great lengths to keep hidden from them for so very long. That they know what's happening to him, how fast he's falling, how much he's lied to each and every one of them. And now that they know, now that Riku and Kairi know… he can't even begin to imagine what they must be thinking.

"Would you like to know?"

"H-huh?" Sora starts, caught off guard.

"What they're saying about you right now," Young Xehanort replies. And once again, Sora has to remind himself that the young master can read his thoughts as plainly as if he'd spoken them aloud. "If you do, then it's only fair that I tell you: you won't like what you'll hear."

Some small, persistent part of Sora's mind warns him against the trap this must obviously be. And yet, his morbid curiosity still ends up winning out once again as he nods silently.

"Very well," Young Xehanort complies, lifting his gloved hand. "But don't say I didn't warn you." With a light wave, the entire scene surrounding them both shifts. Sora gasps, surprised to find the beach has been replaced with somewhere else he knows well: one of the several spare rooms the Mysterious Tower has to offer. Confused, he glances over at Young Xehanort, who simply nods, directing his attention to the far side of the room, to the only two other people present here:

Riku and Kairi.

A startled cry escapes Sora as he backpedals, instinctually looking for some sort of escape while their backs are still turned to him. Noticing his immediate panic, Young Xehanort speaks up to surprisingly calm it. "You have no reason to worry," he advises evenly. "They can't see or hear us."

Sora doesn't even bother to ask how that's possible; not when he happens to hear the emerging conversation several feet away. "I can't believe he'd lie to us like this!" Riku snaps, slamming his fist against the wall. Sora shudders at the sheer anger in his tone, anger that reminds him far too much of that painful morning back at Beast's Castle. Only now, Riku's fury seems even sharper, which only makes sense given that the secret he's just discovered now is far more grave. "He knew, all this time he knew this was happening to him, and he didn't say anything!"

"Why would he do this…?" Kairi mutters tearfully. She sits in a nearby chair, her face buried into her hands as she pours out her grief, a stark contrast to Riku's frustration. "How could he do this? Did he even once think about how this would affect us? How could he be so… so selfish!?"

This bitter accusation alone is enough to stir up fresh tears in Sora's eyes, but even then, he's hardly surprised by it. This is largely how he expected both of them to act upon discovering the truth. Still, that hardly makes watching it play out any easier for him.

"And then he makes it even worse by running away," Riku scoffs, turning around. Unlike Kairi, he doesn't shed a single tear, his expression harsh and cold as he begins to walk toward the other half of the room. Sora freezes when he stops directly in front of him, though true to Young Xehanort's word, he doesn't seem to notice that he's there in the slightest. Which makes what he says next all the more painful for Sora to hear. "If he doesn't want our help with this, then fine. We don't have to help him."

"Riku-" Kairi starts, rising to her feet.

"He chose this, Kairi!" he glares back at her. "He could have come to us for help when this all began, and together we could have stopped this, but he didn't. He's the one who let this go on for so long, he's the one who didn't care enough to try and stop it. This is his fault, not ours. So if this is what he wants, to become one of them, then as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what he can have."

"N-no," Sora interjects brokenly. "Riku, t-that's… that's not what I want, I-"

He stops when his hand abruptly passes right through Riku's arm, another reminder that he isn't actually there with them at all. One that comes with the morose realization that this is how they talk about him when he's not around. Of course they would. After all, he knows that every single word they're saying about him is nothing less than the absolute truth.

Kairi stays silent for far too long after Riku's heated outburst. When she does finally speak, what she says next only serves to hurt Sora even more. "I guess you're right…" she hesitantly admits, glancing down. "He didn't trust us to help him before. And now… it's too late to help him at all."

Sora can barely hold back a miserable sob upon hearing this, upon hearing just how easily they're willing to give up on him completely. He knows it's selfish, to think that they'd want to help him at all after how dishonest and deceptive he'd been with them. Yet some small, foolish part of him had dared to hope they'd still want to stand by his side through his suffering all the same. Only for those hopes to be all but dashed right here and now.

"So… what do we do now?" Kairi asks after another bout of lengthy silence.

"...You heard what Donald and Goofy said," Riku shakes his head. "He has those new powers now, powers that we don't know anything about, which means we have to consider them dangerous. We have to find him, before anyone else can get hurt."

"And what happens once we do?" Kairi presses nervously as she walks over to him.

Riku sighs tiredly. Even from a glance, Sora can tell he's putting his own emotions aside for the sake of making a wise, calculated decision. Just another trait that makes Riku far more worthy of a leader than he ever could have been. "There's no telling what he'll be like when we bring him back here," he says, and the sadness in his voice shakes Sora to his very core. " His powers are unpredictable, we already know that much, but Xehanort could just as well use him to trick us, spy on us, or worse. I hate to say it, but I think there's only one thing we can do to keep everyone safe. We have to-"

"Lock him away?" Kairi worriedly infers. And the moment she does, Sora goes stiff. Not just at the thought of cold shackles binding his wrists again, or another tightly locked door meant to keep him imprisoned behind it. But at the idea that his two closest friends are the ones considering doing something so awful to him, something that only his worst foes have ever put him through before. He takes some, but not much comfort in the fact that Kairi at least tries protesting Riku's plan, even if it's a halfhearted attempt at best. "Riku, no, we can't do that to him, not after what Maleficent did to-"

"I know," Riku interrupts, not meeting her mournful gaze. "I don't like it either. But what other choice do we have? He has a piece of Xehanort's heart inside of him, Kairi. By the time we find him, he… he might not even be himself anymore… We have to do what we can to contain him and keep him under control, at least until we can find a way to stop this."

"What if we can't stop it…?" Kairi asks, a question that Sora already largely knows the answer to, as much as he wishes he didn't. "What if we can't save him in time?"

"I don't know…" Riku sighs in a way that makes it sound like he thinks they already lost, like it already is too late. Sora can't blame him for it, because by all accounts, it already is. "But I do know this. We have one mission: to stop Xehanort and Organization XIII. And if Sora is one of them… then that means we have to stop him too. No matter how much it might cost us…"

"No!" Sora cries, distraught by such a grim verdict. "Riku, Kairi, please! You have to hear me! I'm not one of them! I'm still me! You can't do this! Y-you can't just… I… I'm not… please..." His voice hitches in another small, sad cry when his hand phases cleanly through Riku's once again. There's nothing he can do to change their minds, to convince them that he isn't one of their worst enemies, that he doesn't deserve to be shackled and chained and silenced like this.

Except he does deserve that, Sora laments as he crumbles to his knees. He deserves all of that and so much worse for what he's done, for all of the pain he's putting them through. He deserves it… and yet he still can't stand the thought of it. Of looking into their eyes as they pretend to apologize to him, of feeling them latch frigid chains around his wrists before locking him in an otherwise empty room, of leaving him behind to rot, until they finally, inevitably realize there is no saving him. And when they have, when they discover he's truly corrupted past the point of no return… he doesn't even have to think twice about what they'll do.

"What does the light do when it can't subdue the darkness?" his master had said, and now, only now does Sora find some semblance of truth in his twisted words. "It snuffs it out, along with anything, or anyone that has anything to do with it."

And with a heart that's been as undeniably darkened as his own, why wouldn't they want to do exactly that?

Somewhere in the space behind Sora, Young Xehanort smiles, knowing this illusion is working exactly as he intended it to. Because now that his vessel has come to stand at the edge, all he needs is just the slightest push over it completely. "Poor thing," he steps forward, reaching down to place a consoling hand on Sora's shoulder. At the same time, his illusion disappears, the Destiny Islands reforming around them both, not that either of them acknowledge it. Yet even as Riku and Kairi fade away from his sight, Sora still reaches a shaking hand out to them, wishing so many things he can't even begin to put any of them into words. Wishing so many things that will never come true now, or ever. "The truth is often such a bitter pill to swallow," Young Xehanort continues, his hand still resting on his distraught vessel's shoulder. "But it's better that you found out this way. I wouldn't have wanted you to go running back to them only to end up in chains yet again. I'm sure you're getting every bit as tired of that treatment as I am of seeing it so unfairly happen to you, my thirteenth."

Sora bristles at this comment, at the fake air of sympathy in his master's tone. He forces his sobs to simmer down, pushes his lasting heartache aside in favor of whatever fleeting scraps of hope he still has left to hold onto. "Y-you're wrong," he glares up at Young Xehanort with as much resilience as he can manage, pulling his shoulder away. "That… couldn't have been real. My friends would never do something like that; Riku and Kairi would never hurt me-"

"They already have hurt you though, haven't they?" Young Xehanort counters coolly. "Didn't it hurt when Riku was the one chosen to be the leader of the lights over you? Didn't it hurt when Kairi was so happy for him to the point that she didn't even seem to care about how you felt? Didn't it hurt when he punished you for simply trying to save face about a secret he would have never understood? Didn't it hurt when she refused to stay with you when you clearly needed her most? I think it's very plain to see, Sora, that you've always been the one who's always wanted them, the one who's always loved them. But they've never once loved you."

On impulse alone, Sora tries to protest this, tries to come up with something, anything he can to prove that isn't true. He tries to think of how to justify everything the young master had just used against him, from Riku's rise to leadership to his subsequent punishment, from Kairi's frustration with him both back then and during his recovery. But in the end, he can't come up with anything, at least nothing that holds any actual weight. Not when he's already certain of how much they both must hate him now. "I… T-they do…" he whispers, without a single hint of conviction in his voice.

"You say that," Young Xehanort shakes his head. "But you and I both know you don't believe that. Not anymore, at least. If you stopped trying to convince yourself that they ever actually cared about you, then maybe you wouldn't be so miserable."

That remark is just condescending, just cruel enough to snap Sora out of his rising despair. It makes him remember who's telling him all this, who's lying to him and manipulating him just as much as he's ever had before, who's trying to trick him into turning against his friends. And even if his friends might have already turned on him, Sora isn't about to return the favor. Not when he still knows who his greatest enemy of all really is.

"Maybe I wouldn't be so miserable if you weren't running my life!" Sora shouts as he swiftly stands. The tips of his claws dig into his palms as he clenches his hands into tight fists, and though his powers still refuse to cooperate, he wishes they would so he could unleash them upon the young master in full force. So he could give him even just a tiny taste of all of the anguish he's been putting him through since all of this began.

"Are you sure I'm the one responsible for that?" Young Xehanort raises a critical eyebrow at him. "It seems as though you're doing plenty to ruin it on your own. But it's not over for you yet, my thirteenth; there is one substantial thing you can do to turn the tide and hold onto what little freedom you still have left."

"Oh yeah?" Sora asks crossly. "And what's that?"

"Leave the lights behind," Young Xehanort instructs, his tone stern and serious. "Escape from them before they eclipse you completely. You witnessed it for yourself. Your beloved friends have little interest in searching for a way to "save" you; if you're foolish enough to return to them, then they'll simply lock you away in empty solitude before they decide there's no use in keeping you around any longer. Really, what else would they do with the worthless, unsalvageable monster they so clearly believe you to be?"

Sora swallows hard at this, forcing back tears that are trying their best to work their way to the surface. He's already known, even as far back as Twilight Town, that he can't go back to the lights. Even now that they all know the truth, he doesn't want them to see what's become of him, he can't let them bear the brunt of his shame. But now, there's an added risk, the chance, however small, that they really would imprison him, that they really wouldn't try to help him if he finally went to them and asked. If he hadn't made up his mind about not back to them before, he's certain of it now. And at the same time, he's every bit as determined against going in the exact opposite direction too, against the darkness Young Xehanort is not so subtly pushing him toward.

"I know what you're trying to do," he mutters, scowling at the young master.

"Oh, you do?" Young Xehanort smirks.

"Yeah," Sora's tone sharpens. "And if you think for one second that any of this means I'm just gonna give up and put on one of those black coats and be your obedient little thirteenth vessel, then you're out of your mind. Because like I keep telling you over and over and over again, I am not-"

"You're not ready," Young Xehanort finishes for him. "Don't worry, I completely understand. After all, the role you're going to play is quite a lofty commitment, one that your heart is still a bit too bright to undertake. You still need more time to come around."

"I will never come around," Sora hisses, his newly fanged teeth bared.

"Saying 'never' is the quickest way to prove yourself wrong, my thirteenth," Young Xehanort counters as smoothly as ever. "But by all means, take all the time you need to prepare. Go wherever you need to and do whatever you must. In fact, I'll even help you along to wherever your journey might take you next." With this, he holds out his hand, summoning a dark corridor over the sand several feet away, one that Sora eyes suspiciously as soon as he sees it.

"What kind of trap is that supposed to be?" he asks with a dubious scoff.

"Not a trap at all," Young Xehanort assures. "It's merely a gate meant to guide you, perhaps even to where the next Key is waiting. You're still planning on searching for the final three, aren't you?"

"Not for you, I'm not," Sora shoots back. Still, he takes a tentative step closer to the portal, knowing he's ill-equipped to summon one for himself. Besides, he can't deny that he'd much rather be anywhere else in any world that isn't here. Even if he has no idea where he'll go or what he'll do next.

"At least not yet," Young Xehanort corrects, smiling confidently. That smile quickly fades into something far more serious though as he holds an arm up to keep his vessel from proceeding any further. "Just remember, Sora: if the lights find you, they will catch you. They will chain you. And in the end, they will kill you. And even if death is what you sought before, I doubt even you can stomach the thought of facing it at the hands of those you most hold dear."

Sora says nothing to this, not even wanting to acknowledge the idea. Even if he wanted to argue, he knows he'd have no leg to stand on. Not when he'd heard it all out of Riku and Kairi's own mouths. Not when he already knew before that there's only one option for him now: to run away. Run away from everything he's ever known, everything he's ever wanted, everything he's ever loved and never, ever look back.

And so, that's exactly what he does.

Young Xehanort stands by, smiling in muted satisfaction as Sora runs past him, plunging into the portal and leaving his home behind in the process. "Until we meet again, my thirteenth," he bids him farewell as the dark corridor closes up behind him. As soon as he's gone, the young master turns back toward the sea, still standing on the shores of his own youth as well as his thirteenth and final vessel's. Though even then, he knows that this shore is far from the only thing the two of them have in common. "How destined indeed, that you and I would have the same beginning, Sora." His smile deepens as he pulls something out of his coat pocket and holds it aloft: a small, crown-shaped charm bound by a silver chain, glistening in the dying rays of the setting sun. "The same beginning… and the same end…"


So yeah this chapter hit me hard in the honey nut feelios while I was writing it and I hope it did the same for all of you :,) Seems like things always be going from bad to worse around here and the next chapter kinda won't be an exception to that. Its not another Disney world (yet) like I said I split my plans for this one up. So next time we'll get a bit more of the lights' game plan, and some of Sora on the run, which is something I've been DYING to write for so long now finally we're here. Anyway with all that said PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what you thought of this one in the REVIEWS! Until next time! ^_^