AHAHAHAHA OH BOY HERE WE GO. Let's just say this chapter has a scene I've been waiting to write... pretty much since I started this fic and I'm VERY excited that we're finally here. I should probs give the usual warning for, uh... blood and such. But other than that, I won't hold you here. Let's get started!


Chapter 56: Aloha 'Oe

Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace
A hoʻi aʻe au
Until we meet again

Hide and seek had always been a favorite game for Riku and Sora when they were little. They'd often spend many warm and bright hours running around the play island, eagerly searching for each other or competing to see who could find the best places to hide. But one such game, when Riku had been 6 and Sora 5, had taken an unexpected turn for the worse.

It had started off like any other playtime, with the boys alternating between hiding and seeking, throwing out their usual insincere taunts all the while. Neither of them had paid too much mind to the gray clouds gathering in the sky overhead, far too focused on their fun to even think about heading back home. At least until it was Sora's turn to hide, and Riku heard a loud clap of thunder banging across the island before he could even finish counting to ten.

Suddenly their game wasn't much of a game anymore.

Riku had run through the pouring rain, through the rumbling thunder, through the flashing lightning. He ran across the entire length of the play island, screaming Sora's name until his lungs burned and his clothes were soaked straight through. His heart raced, his eyes hot with tears, his mind surged with the kind of raw, natural panic that any 6 year old would feel upon being caught in such a terrible tempest. But when he thought of Sora, lost and alone in that very same storm… he quickly put his fears away. He thought of nothing else other than finding his missing friend, of making sure that he was safe, of weathering this brutal weather by his side. And in the end, his diligence, his bravery in the face of such adversity, was eventually rewarded when he stumbled into the Secret Place, when he found Sora sitting against the cave wall, his legs hugged to his chest, his face buried in his knees, his hands covering his ears against the downpour outdoors.

Riku had raced to his side, waterlogged and trembling as he pulled his frightened friend into a tight, comforting embrace. And there the two of them remained, leaning against each other for support as they waited out the storm together. The first of so many storms they'd see each other through across the years.

Riku finds they're both standing amidst a storm of an entirely different kind now. True, there is no crashing thunder or relentless rain, but the same exact feelings of fear, of relief, of desperation to find what's been lost still remain. They're all amplified tenfold now, now that they've at last reached the end of the months'-long game of 'hide and seek' they've both been forced to play. Now that he's finally standing before Sora again.

And now that he is… all he can really do… is stare.

Time stands as still as both of them do, silence swelling into the emerging evening air. If not for his clothes, Riku's not so sure he would have recognized him for how different he looks, a thought that weighs heavy and crushing on his heart. As for those clothes, they're still the same, yet tattered in some places, patched up in some others. His body is thin, alarmingly so, to the point that Riku wonders if a strong wind would be enough to knock him over. His skin is streaked with damage and dirt and darkness, surging down to his feet, one of which Riku finds himself baffled by for how flat and folded it is, and to his hands, which now end in knife-like, blood red claws. His hood is drawn, but in the sparkling glow of twilight, Riku can see the pure white hair hanging out from it just as much as he can see his eyes… Eyes that had once been so bright and blue and beautiful, now reduced to an alarming, awful amber. But even despite that, despite all of the other changes, despite how drastically different he is in every single way… he's still Sora.

And he's still here.

Riku draws in an unsteady breath as he finally manages to put his awe at bay, at least as much as he possibly can. He still has no idea what to say, much less where to start. The most he can do is take a small step forward, though he stops dead in his tracks when he notices Sora visibly tense up. He draws his hands in close, his already shallow breath catching in his throat, his eyes as wide as saucers, filled with unmistakable terror. Riku doesn't understand the source of that terror, and he certainly doesn't understand why it seems to grow when he slowly starts to reach a hand out toward him.

"Sora," he says his name again, his brow furrowing in confusion and concern. "What's-" He sharply cuts himself off with a gasp when he sees Sora take a sudden step back. Back toward the cliff's edge only mere inches behind him. "Wait!" he warns as he starts to rush forward. But even then, he's too late to stop Sora from tipping over the edge, a frightened cry escaping him as he starts to fall backward–

Only for a hand to grip him by the front of his shirt, saving him just in time. A hand that doesn't belong to Riku.

Sora yells again when he's roughly yanked forward, pulled away from the cliff and shoved to his knees. His already palpable panic skyrockets when he notices the pair of black boots standing beside him, and when he glances up, he meets the unreadable scowl Ansem is sending down toward him. "You should be more careful, number thirteen," he chastises unsympathetically. "You wouldn't want your master to lose an asset as valuable as you, would you?"

Sora winces, the words already audible before he can even think about who he's saying them in front of. "N-No… I wouldn't…" he mutters, hoping that Riku doesn't hear and knowing that he will.

And yet, his answer barely even seems to register for Riku as he calls upon his Keyblade. Sora starts at the sight of it, terrified as he scrambles to his feet, only to find that his severe, hateful glare isn't meant for him. It's meant for Ansem.

"Get away from him!" he shouts, the fury in his voice rattling Sora to his core.

Ansem turns his attention toward the other boy, his expression generally unimpressed, bored even. "You're still here?" he sneers coldly. "I thought I told you to give up and go home, boy. You have no reason to linger in this world any longer. I'll take things from here."

"Shut up!" Riku snaps, his Keyblade nearly trembling in his hand from sheer anger alone. "I'm only going to tell you one more time: leave him alone!"

Ansem simply smiles at this, a treacherous grin that sends an all new spark of dread shooting through Sora the second he sees it. "Make me," is all the man says. The smug tone of the challenge alone is enough to fully provoke Riku… and completely petrify Sora.

Riku charges forward, Braveheart raised high as he charges straight for his longtime foe. He reels his weapon back for a heavy swing, but his blade stalls midair mere inches away from both Ansem… and from Sora as he suddenly comes to stand before him.

Pain is etched across every inch of his face, his arms held out wide as if he means to protect this terrible man. Riku can't make any sense out of it, but before he can so much as ask what he thinks he's doing, Sora answers that question for him. "S-stand down…" he chokes out the words Ansem forces into his mouth. Words that he hates even more when he sees the shock, the sheer horror they bring Riku when he hears them. "You can't win a-against… my superiors… o-or my master…"

"What?" Riku hisses, his voice coming out much harsher than he wants it to. "Sora, what are you talking about?"

"He's speaking of loyalty to his Organization," Ansem replies in Sora's stead. Even so, he goes a step further when his hand lands upon the boy's shoulder, his grip tight, unbreaking, possessive. "Not that loyalty is something you would understand."

Outside of shooting him another dirty look, Riku largely ignores his foe in favor of focusing his attention on Sora. He almost tries reaching out for him again, but hesitates when he sees another flash of fear, mingled with obvious agony, run through his face. "Sora, listen to me," he says, his tone stern and steady. "I need you to tell me what's going on. Why are you trying to defend… him?"

Sora swallows hard, his gaze involuntarily drifting back to his superior, as if to show he's silently asking him for aid. Of course, Ansem is just about one of the last people he'd want to ask for help, and just as he expected, help is the exact opposite of what he gives. "Well, number thirteen?" he nods expectantly, crossing his arms. "Explain yourself."

It's an order, one that once again prompts him to voice something that he'd never say to Riku on his own volition. "I… I belong to my Organization now," he can feel tears building up behind his eyes, but of course, Ansem doesn't let them fall. Doesn't let him show just how miserable this despicable display is truly making him. "My duty is… t-to serve them in any way I can…"

By this point, Riku is essentially seething; yet even still, his fury isn't directed at Sora. It still sits with Ansem as he fixes the man with a fearsome scowl. "You're forcing him to say that, aren't you?"

"Not at all," Ansem says with an easy smile. He's lying, of course, and Sora wishes with every inch of his soul that he could somehow tell Riku that. That he could somehow put a stop to this twisted charade before it gets any worse than it already is. "We possess no power over his words. What he says is entirely how he feels, isn't that right, Sora?"

"That's r-right," Sora nods, his heart sinking when he feels his mouth snap up into a wide, falsely contented grin. "You don't need to worry about me a-anymore, Riku. I'm… h-happy with my Organization." A lie. "T-they take care of me…" Another lie. "They accept me." A truth, but a harsh, horrid one. "As long as I'm w-with them… I… I'm home…" The biggest lie of all, a lie that he knows is soon bound to become true, as much as he desperately doesn't want it to.

"Sora…" The sound of Riku's voice when he says his name, the disbelief, the sheer distress in his expression is enough to split Sora's heart in two. For perhaps the first time, it dawns on him that for as much as he thinks the guardians of light have betrayed him… he's betrayed them every bit as much in turn. In words, in actions, in everything he is and everything he's going to be.

But even then, this terrible torture doesn't end. He struggles to breathe when he feels Ansem wrench his control over his heart to a practically unbearably degree. His body, ever annoyingly compliant, reacts in turn as he suddenly drops to one knee, his head lowering in false respect. Please, he begs internally, wishing that at least a few of his pressing tears could fall. Not here, not in front of Riku…

But either Ansem doesn't hear his pleading thoughts, or he doesn't care. Because he still forces Sora to humbly, obediently bow to him all the same.

"Don't you see?" Ansem says to Riku, a haughty, satisfied smirk hanging on his face. "It is exactly as I told you. Sora's place is with us now. There is no room left in his heart for someone like you."

For what feels like an eternity, Riku says nothing. Sora isn't allowed to lift his gaze to glance over at him, isn't permitted to try and figure out what he might be thinking. He can only assume it's nothing less than absolute hatred, something that would only make sense after everything he's been forced to say. He hopes Riku will simply walk away, that he'll leave him to his fate, let them both leave this unfortunate encounter with some semblance of their dignity intact. But of course, he doesn't. Instead, he rushes forward, Keyblade at the ready to try once more to land a strike against Ansem. The man makes no move to block it, however, as he again forces Sora to do so in his stead.

Suddenly, Sora is on his feet, suddenly his expression is wrenched into something cold, stoic, and uncaring. His hand flies upward, his powers rise to the surface against his will as he summons a tall wall of spikes to block Riku's path. To keep him from getting both to Ansem… and to him.

"We're n-not allies anymore, we're not even… f-friends," Sora has no choice but to say, the words bitter and burning on his tongue. "You're nothing to me, Riku. Nothing but someone who's trying to stop me from becoming… w-who I want to be. Nothing more than something… that needs to be d-destroyed…"

His chest aches as he hears himself say this, his heart in absolute agony that goes far beyond the sharp stranglehold Ansem has over it. That agony all but explodes when he sees Riku's reaction to it, when he catches a glimpse of his shocked despair in the gaps between his horrid spikes. He wants nothing more than to push past them, to rush into Riku's arms, to tearfully tell him he doesn't mean a single word. But instead, he's stuck standing in place, stuck doing exactly what his superior tells him to, stuck on the wrong side, just as he always is anymore.

"There's still a Key that needs to be found, number thirteen. Let us be on our way," Ansem opens a dark corridor, one that Sora mournfully turns toward. Even so, Ansem digs his knife in even deeper when he icily addresses Riku one final time. "Stay away from the Organization's property, boy. If you don't, then I can promise you, there will be a high price to pay."

With this, Ansem walks forward into the portal, and Sora can do nothing but loyally trail after him. Yet even so, he manages to break through his control just enough to spare a glance back at Riku as he presses against the spikes, as he stares and says nothing and everything all at once. Sora can't respond to his silence, but he still sends as much of a message as he can. It isn't a plea for help, because help is something he knows he's not bound to get at this point; but at the very least, he hopes it can serve as proof that he hadn't meant a single word of what he'd been so cruelly commanded to say.

So he forces himself to finally shed a single tear before he turns away. And with that tear still streaking down his cheek, he steps into the darkness… and leaves Riku behind.


Sora feels even sicker than he usually does when Ansem all but drags him out of the dark corridor. He's teleported them to the far side of the island, well out of Riku's range. Sora finds a cold sense of relief to be away from him, but even more relief when Ansem finally releases his oppressive hold over his heart. He collapses to his knees, something between a sob and a scream escaping him as he clutches his hands tight to his chest, his claws digging into his skin as he continues wailing and crying, his grief and heartbreak finally allowed to shoot up to the surface. His powers don't respond to his despair, likely because Ansem is still suppressing them, but at the moment, Sora couldn't care less. Because the only thing he can even remotely think about is the look on Riku's face in those last few moments before he'd been forced to walk away. The only thing he can think about is how he certainly must despise him even more than he already thought he did, how much more of a malicious monster he must see him as now that he's gotten a firsthand look at how fall he's fallen.

"Cease your pathetic sniveling," Ansem staunchly orders, and at that very instant, Sora's tears are brought to a swift end. Even if the pain that had brought them on still vividly remains all the same. "You're mourning over something you've lost a long time ago. Have you already forgotten what that boy intends to do to you if he were to get his hands on you? If anything, you should be glad that I arrived just in time to rescue you. I was merciful enough to save you from spending the rest of your days in chains, and this is how you repay my generosity? With this childish, ungrateful display?"

"I-I… I wasn't trying to-" Sora is starkly cut off, his voice breaking in a sharp cry as his heart bursts with another jolt of electrifying agony.

"Silence, number thirteen," Ansem glares down at him. "Stay away from the guardians of light and find that Key. You have your orders. I expect you to follow them to the letter. Or else."

"But… n-no!" Sora protests, his voice as labored as his breathing is as he struggles to stand. "I can't stay here! You have to let me leave this world, p-please, superior! If Riku finds me again, then he'll-"

"I'm well aware of what he'll do, just as much as you are, Sora," Ansem interrupts crossly, impatiently. "But regardless of your fear, your responsibility to your Organization comes first. You are not permitted to leave this world until the Key that lies within it is secured. Do I make myself clear, number thirteen?"

Sora sighs, hanging his head as he responds quietly. "Yes, superior…"

"Very good," Ansem replies shortly as he summons another dark corridor. "Do not inconvenience me by forcing me to intervene in your affairs again."

Sora says nothing to this, resisting the urge to let out a disgusted scoff at such a notion. After all, he'd never asked Ansem for his "help", and he certainly didn't want it, especially since he'd shown up at just about the worst moment possible. At the very least, he's finally allowed full freedom again when his cruel superior departs, and as soon as he's gone, Sora finds himself back on his knees again, his tears returning in full force.

He'd seen Riku. After months upon months apart, he'd finally seen Riku again. He'd seen one of the two people his heart has been longing for most… and he'd only had the worst things to say to him. True, those thoughts hadn't been his own, but they'd still come out of his mouth, in his voice. The way he'd stood there, foolishly smiling, gleefully telling Riku that he wants to be part of the Organization, that he wants nothing more to do with him… it's enough to nearly drive him mad. He wonders what Riku must be thinking now, what he made of how he looks, of what he said, what he did. He can almost imagine him reporting back to the lights, confirming their shared suspicions that he's a lost cause, that he needs to be apprehended and restrained before he can aid the Organization any further. And really, Sora can't find it in his heart to blame him if he does; because at this point, if he can't stop himself… then someone else should.

After all, if he can't mend any of the bridges he's burned, then he might as well burn right along with them.


Riku doesn't cry. He wants to, oh stars does he want to after everything he's just seen and heard, but he doesn't. In truth, he hasn't really cried since the day his search began, when he'd parted ways with Kairi on such a scornful note, when he'd settled into his ship and truly thought about what's happening to Sora. As he realized yet again just how much he doesn't deserve either of them for how many times he's failed them both.

But since that day, he hasn't shed any proper tears; they've threatened to fall almost constantly throughout his travels, but he's always nipped them in the bud before they can. Even when he's completely alone, he refuses to let them come, refuses to fall too deep into that dark despair, refuses to let himself drown in it before he can do what needs to be done.

So he's been keeping those tears, that despair, that aching, crushing, unbearable grief buried far under the surface. Only now… after finally seeing Sora again, after hearing him say such horrible things, after being pushed away by the one person he's spent so long searching for… he essentially has to fight himself to stop it all from rushing out. To stop his sorrow, his anger, his fear from consuming him completely.

By the time he makes it out of the woods and back into town, he largely feels numb. The image of Sora's face, overtaken by raw terror the moment they locked eyes, remains fresh in his mind. So too does that smile, far too wide and far too unnatural, his voice, far too faint and far too unsteady, his words, far too formal and far too forced for any of it to come close to being Sora's. Riku isn't one to let himself be fooled that easily, especially not by someone like Ansem. Whatever he'd heard Sora say, whatever he'd seen him do… not a second of it had been sincere in the slightest save for that final, single tear. And while normally Riku would have found relief in that fact, instead, it only brings him even more dread. Because if the Organization can force him to speak and move in any way they want… what else can they force him to do?

"Riku!" He's broken out of his despondent thoughts as this stark call rings through the evening air. When he turns to see a surprising trio rushing toward him, he's caught off guard for more reasons than one.

"Donald? Goofy? Why are you still here?" he asks, much more crossly than he'd intended to. Even so, his annoyance is founded; after the direct order he gave them, he had hoped they would have actually listened and left. Clearly, their loyalty to Mickey as their king far outweighs their loyalty to him as a leader. But what baffles him even more than their stubbornness is who just so happens to be lumbering along behind them. "And what is Pete doing with you?" he asks warily, preparing to summon his Keyblade if need be.

"Hey!" Pete snaps, shaking his fits. "I'll have ya know that I'm one of you goodie-goods now! On the side of just-us or peace, or, uh… whatever! I'm just out here tryin' to stop Maleficent from makin' your palie her new pet!"

"Uh… what?" Riku raises an eyebrow.

"He wants to help us find Sora!" Goofy informs, grinning.

"Or at least he says he does…" Donald whispers, aside. "But I'm not so sure I buy that-"

"But the important part," Goofy hastily interjects before they can have this argument again. "Is that Sora is here! We saw 'im just a few hours ago!"

"...Yeah," Riku sighs, rubbing his arm. "I saw him too…"

"You did?!" Donald and Goofy exclaim in equal surprise.

"But let me guess," Donald huffs, frustrated. "He ran away from you just like he ran away from us, right?"

"No," Riku turns away from the others, largely for the sake of keeping them from seeing the woe filling his features. "Ansem made off with him before I could even get close."

"Ansem's here?" Goofy asks, aptly alarmed.

"As if Maleficent being here wasn't bad enough on its own!" Donald scowls disdainfully. "Now we gotta deal with him too?"

"You two aren't dealing with anyone," Riku glances over his shoulder, his manner turning authoritative once more. "You're going to do what I told you to: go back to the others and tell them we've found Sora. I'll take care of tracking him down from here."

"But didn't ya just say Ansem took him away?" Goofy scratches his head, confused.

"Away from me," Riku nods as he starts to walk away. "But not away from this world. There's a Key here; I doubt they'll let him leave until he finds it. Which means I have to find him before he does."

"Gawrsh, all by yourself?" Goofy frowns.

"Why are you so obsessed with doing this on your own!?" Donald exclaims hotly. "You're just like Sora! Why won't either of you ever just admit you need help already?!"

Riku stops short, his back still turned to the pair. His hands tense into tight fists at his sides, his voice coming out quiet, yet incredibly rigid all the same. "I don't need help. I need Sora. And I'm going to do whatever I have to to bring him back. Before it's too late." If it isn't too late already… he narrowly leaves out, unable to voice such a horrifying thought. A thought that he hates could actually be coming dangerously close to being true after what he's just seen.

He doesn't give Donald or Goofy a chance to get another word in edgewise as he heads off, not caring if they decide to follow him or not. At this point, he doesn't really expect them to do as he says, and sure enough, they don't. Instead, the pair lingers, both of them still every bit as much at a loss about what to do as they had been before.

"Yeesh," Pete pipes up behind them. "That friend o' yours must be real 'fun' at parties. So what's the plan now, eh? Since you two 'geniuses' seem to got all the answers."

Donald and Goofy cast a dubious, dry glance back at him before looking to each other, worry quickly filling in both of their faces instead. "I guess there's only one thing we can do…" the captain notes apprehensively.

Even so, the magician nods, both he and Goofy resolute in a mission that hasn't changed and won't until they finally see it all the way through. "We're gonna find Sora. And this time, we're gonna make sure he comes home."


Sora treads carefully as he slips through town, using the advantage of the cover of night to hide himself away from anyone who might want to get their hands on him, both foes and former friends alike. Unsure of where else to go, he gradually finds himself gravitating back to Lilo and Stitch's house, arriving sometime in the middle of the next morning. However, just as he's about to head up the stairs to the porch, the front door suddenly swings open, and a very determined Lilo emerges.

"Sora!" she exclaims, a wide smile spreading across her face as she runs down the stairs to meet him. She's clad in a grass skirt, toting a few large wooden masks, likely meant for her upcoming hula. "You're ok!"

Sora can't help but let out a small laugh as the girl crashes into him, hugging his leg tightly. "Hi, Lilo. Where's Stitch?"

"Ugh," Lilo groans, annoyed. "You mean the 'hula-wrecker'?"

"Hula-wrecker?" Sora frowns, confused. "Uh… did something happen?"

"Mm hm," Lilo pouts, crossing her arms. "Last night, when we were getting ready for our hula, I walked away for two seconds, and when I came back, he'd ruined all my props and costumes, so I had to stay up aaaaaaall night fixing them!"

"Oh," Sora winces, imagining another one of Stitch's unexpected, yet very violent episodes. And imagining just how awful he must have felt after one as damaging as that. "Well, I'm sure he didn't-"

"Then," Lilo continues, thoroughly incensed as she paces back and forth. "I tried to give him a second chance, but when we went to hula class earlier today for our dress rehearsal, he totally flipped out on everyone! He got me in so much trouble–I don't even know if I'll be allowed to dance in tonight's contest! And it's all Stitch's fault!"

"This is his fault, not ours," Sora can practically hear Riku's words, harsh and angry, ringing through his head. Words that remind him just how much danger he'd truly been in only a few hours before when he'd stood only a few feet away from him. "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."

Sora draws in a shuddering breath, shaking his head to clear it of such a sour memory. Instead, he focuses his attention back on Lilo, on Stitch, on trying to do what he can to solve their problems in lieu of being completely hopeless when it comes to solving his own. "Lilo," he begins, lowering himself to one knee to be on eye level with the girl. "I know you're upset, and you have every right to be after how hard you've worked, but… maybe you're not being as fair to Stitch as you should be."

"I think I'm being plenty fair after how he keeps messing things up," Lilo scowls, crossing her arms.

"Ok… but what if he's just… going through something rough right now, something that isn't even his fault?" Sora ventures, taking care to not to break the promise he'd made to Stitch. Not that he thinks he really can since he largely lacks too many details about what's really happening to the tiny blue creature. "He really does want to help you, but he might just be… scared of what you'll think if you knew something was wrong…" He sighs, knowing all too well what that's like, just as much as he knows how much burying it all under the surface had cost him.

"Is something wrong?" Lilo questions, not fully following this train of thought.

Sora swiftly shakes his head. "N-no! I'm just saying if something was wrong—which there isn't–then maybe all Stitch wants… is for you to meet him halfway."

"Uh… I don't know if I understand…" Lilo tilts her head, puzzled. "You want me to… go meet Stitch somewhere? Sora, I don't wanna sound mean, but… you're not really that great at giving good advice."

"I know," Sora laughs in spite of himself. "I used to be a whole lot better at it, trust me."

Lilo offers him a wavering smile in return, one that falters as her anger finally fully simmers out and remorse starts to settle in its place. "Um… Sora? Can you do me a big favor?"

"Sure," Sora grins as he rises to stand. "What do you need?"

"Can you go talk to Stitch for me?" she asks earnestly. "I've gotta go finish getting ready for the hula tonight, but I want him to be there–I still want us to do this together. I'm just… I kinda yelled at him earlier and… well…"

"Don't worry, I get it," Sora rubs the back of his neck. After all, if there's anyone who knows the feeling of saying something they didn't mean, it's him; especially after what he'd been forced to say to Riku. "I'll see what I can do to patch things up."

"Thanks!" Lilo beams warmly. "Last I saw Stitch, I think he was up in our treehouse." She points to the stream cutting close to the house, to a large tree with a wooden platform nestled into it. "I'll meet you both at the festival later, ok?"

"Ok," Sora nods, waving her off. As soon as she's gone, bounding off toward town, he turns to head for the tree, though he stops short at the base of it when a handful of papers fly over the edge of the treehouse. Sora catches a few of them as they fall, only to realize they're all rough, simple drawings of Stitch, causing harm and destruction in a number of concerning ways. He doesn't have to think long about who must have drawn them as he glances up to the treehouse, wondering what he can possibly do to support someone going through something so similar to what he's been powerless to stop for himself.

"Uh… Stitch? You up there?" he calls, smiling when he sees a familiar blue head peek out from over the edge.

"Sora!" Stitch exclaims, surprised. Despite his despondency mere moments ago, he gladly allows Sora to climb up and join him in the tree. "You okie-taka?" he asks, sending Sora a fretful glance as he settles in to sit alongside him.

"Yeah, I'm ok," Sora readily assures, even if he honestly isn't. But he's willing to put that aside in favor of helping his friends; in the hopes that help will somehow help him in turn when it comes to finding that elusive Key. "How are you doing? Lilo told me about… what happened. It's getting worse, isn't it?"

"Ih," Stitch nods, clinging tighter onto the only drawing he'd held onto: his "goodness chart". "Stitch good now! Stitch… want to be good… but…"

"You can't help it," Sora interjects morosely, staring down at his own scarlet claws. "You keep trying to be better, you keep trying to fix things and trying to be a good person but…" He closes his eyes, acutely aware that he's largely speaking much more for himself than he is for Stitch right now. Much more for his own faults and failures than anyone else's. "Sometimes you just… wonder if you were ever actually 'good' at all… or if you were just fooling yourself into thinking you were the whole time…"

Stitch frowns when he hears this, both out of concern for his own plight, as well as his friend's. "Sora good too," he assures, gently placing a hand on the boy's arm.

Even so, Sora simply sighs and shakes his head sadly. "No, I'm not," he mutters, thinking of the looks on Donald and Goofy's faces when he ran away from them again, the look on Riku's face when he'd told him he all but hated him. He tries his best to steer his mind away from such thoughts, however, as he abruptly shifts the conversation to focus back on his tiny friend again. "But you, Stitch, you are good! You just… have to prove that to Lilo that you are."

"Stitch… tried to show Lilo," Stitch holds up his goodness chart before tossing it aside, disappointment. "Aga no chiba…"

"It didn't turn out so good, huh?" Sora assumes sympathetically. "Well… you know, she did just tell me that she really wants you to be there for her hula."

"She did?" Stitch asks, surprised to hear this. Especially after how badly he'd fallen out with Lilo mere hours before.

Sora nods as he picks up a small, warm smile. "She said she wants you guys to do this together. You two are a team, aren't you? And teams… well… they stick together, no matter what…" His tone turns a touch sadder at this, as he pictures the team he'd abandoned all over again, as he futilely imagines standing by Donald and Goofy again, even though he knows he never can.

"But… what if Stitch go bad again?" Stitch frets, anxiously clenching and unclenching his claws.

"Don't worry," Sora places a consoling hand on the creature's back. "I'll be there to make sure that doesn't happen."

Stitch perks up at this, his ears lifting as he offers Sora a wide, grateful grin. "Sora help Stitch," he begins with rising enthusiasm. "So Stitch help Sora!"

Despite his resolved insistence, Sora's smile is quick to fade as he turns down this kind offer yet again. "I'm glad you want to help, Stitch, but…" he hesitates, unsure of how to tell him. Unsure of how to explain that he's doomed no matter what anyone does, that there's no hope for him, not like how there's certainly still some hope left for Stitch. But all the same, Sora decides to take the easier route, a route he's taken so many times before; he puts the truth off until later, dreading the moment that he'll eventually have to face it. "Why don't we focus on helping you first, ok?"

"Mm…" Stitch initially seems to be a bit on the fence, but in the end, he folds, much to Sora's relief. "Ok. But then Stitch help Sora."

Sora draws in a small, apprehensive breath, but he fakes a small smile all the same as he meets the hand Stitch offers to him in a tentative shake. "Ok," he nods, resigned, not to the aid Stitch wants to give him. But to the fact that aid will only prove to be wasted time and effort in the end. "Sounds like a plan."

And with that plan in mind, the pair ventures down from the treehouse, intent on reuniting with Lilo, determined to set things right. But as they depart, neither of them see a shadow looming in the nearby trees, scheming and waiting for just the right second to strike. Waiting for the second Sora lets his guard down, the moment he's at last entirely alone, the perfect chance she needs to take what she's lost far too many times now. What she refuses to give up on, no matter how long this infernal chase has to go on for, no matter how many times he foolishly thinks he can run and hide, no matter how many pitiful weaklings try to stand in her way. She won't stop, she won't rest, until he completely, undeniably belongs to her and her alone.


Lilo spends most of her day alone, practicing her hula until it reaches perfection. She tries to put her mind off of thoughts of Stitch and their fight, but in the end, she finds herself thinking of little else as she dances by the beach. All the while, she ponders what Sora had suggested to her, advice she still doesn't fully get, but she still makes the effort to as the notion of "meeting Stitch halfway" echoes through her thoughts over and over again. In fact, she's still partially pondering it as she meets up with Nani later, as they both head to the contest venue together. As she works up the nerve to approach the other girls in her hula class when she hears them gossiping about her from afar.

"Do you think Lilo will show up?" one of them whispers curiously.

"After that rehearsal? She wouldn't dare." Lilo bristles when she hears Mertle Edmonds' snide voice, but all the same, she keeps her cool. She has to if she ever hopes to win as her mother did before her.

She decides to prove them wrong as she wears a wide, proud smile on her face, her masks in hand and her costume fully ready for the show. She says nothing to the other girls, ignoring their surprised and dirty looks as she plucks a bright pink orchid from a nearby bush and places it in her hair. The finishing touch she needs to succeed.

The competition kicks off only a few minutes later. Lilo watches from the sidelines as a few of her classmates take the stage first, her nerves rising more and more with each passing minute prior to her own performance. Even so, she remains focused and steady… at least until her turn finally rolls around.

"Next, we have Lilo, who will be doing her hula on an ancient friendship," her teacher announces to the awaiting crowd.

Lilo perches her mask atop her head, putting away her mother's photo that she'd been holding onto for luck. "...This is it," she mutters to herself, determined to make her mother, to make herself proud.

But then…

"You'll be great."

"Stitch?" Lilo turns to see her friend emerging from the surrounding trees. Sora isn't far behind him, his expression hopeful in stark contrast to Stitch's far more nervous demeanor. All the same, Lilo heaves a relieved sigh the second she sees them both. "You guys made it."

"Hey, I told you I'd come through for you guys, didn't I?" Sora smirks, hanging his arms behind his head. He glances down at Stitch, who lingers close to him, hesitant to get any closer to Lilo out of fear of how she'll react. "Well? Don't you have something you wanna tell Lilo?" Sora coaxes him with a gentle nudge, his smile widening a bit as an unspoken reminder of the conversations they'd had, the apologies they'd formulated together throughout the day.

"I…" Stitch clears his throat, venturing a small step forward. "Just want to say I-"

"I can't talk now," Lilo interrupts, glancing back over to the stage. "I have to go on."

"I know…" Stitch rubs his arm, glancing down. It's now or never. "I-" Before he can even get another word out, his eyes flash green, his entire body twitching suddenly and dramatically. He groans, clutching his head as cold panic settles in his chest over what's about to happen. What's happened far too many times to count now. "Oh no… badness coming on…"

"What?" Lilo frowns, looking back over her shoulder at him.

"Stitch-" Sora reaches a hand out. Stitch pulls away from it, however, likewise stumbling back from Lilo as she hurries over to check on him.

"I… I have to–augh!" he cries as his body turns against him, his spikes and extra arms bursting out from below the surface.

"Are you ok?" Lilo presses closer, even as Stitch continues flailing erratically.

Sora gasps in apt alarm, knowing that she's too close, knowing that he won't have enough time to step in and stop what he can already see from a mile away. "Lilo!" he tries to call in warning anyway, even if it's a useless effort. "Wait-"

But it's already too late. Stitch brings one of his raised hands down sharply, his claws accidentally catching the side of Lilo's face in the process. The force of the brutal blow is easily enough to shove her to the ground, though even still, her focus is solely on Stitch as she sits up, as she places a ginger hand against the lightly bleeding cuts on her cheek, as she watches Sora do his best to restrain him, even as his claws similarly dig deep into the boy's lower arms.

"Stitch!" he shouts, holding the struggling creature as far away from him as he can. "You've gotta snap out of it!" Fortunately, Stitch seems to hear him as he finally starts to settle down just as Sora carefully sets him back on the ground. Only to look up to find the horrific sight of what he'd done to his very best friend.

"N-no…" he chokes in distraught disbelief. But sure enough, when he looks down at his claws, he sees just the faintest hints of blood staining them. Lilo's blood.

"Oh no…" Sora mutters, knowing all too well what Stitch must be feeling right now. After all, he'd felt that same kind of panic, that same kind of shame that day back in Twilight Town so many months ago now. When he'd lost control too, when his magic, violent and untamed, had slammed squarely into his closest companions. When his own hands had been the ones to hurt not just one, but two of the people he loves most.

He's so caught up in his own thoughts that he doesn't see Lilo hop to her feet, ignoring her cut as she tries to run back over to Stitch once more. Yet this time, when she reaches out to him, he's adamant about pulling himself away, adamant about keeping himself from ever doing something like this again. "No, Lilo," he backs up toward the woods, terrified that another rampage might befall him before he can fully get away. "Too dangerous."

"Stitch!" Both Lilo and Sora exclaim in startled unison when he suddenly turns and books it into the woods. They're both quick to take the initial steps after him, until a call from the nearby stage holds them up.

"Lilo! It's your turn!" the hula teacher beckons the girl along. "Everyone's waiting."

Lilo says nothing to him, instead turning back to Sora with large, nearly tearful pleading eyes. She doesn't even have to voice that plea aloud for him to completely understand what she's asking. "Go on," he nods back to the stage. "I'll find him. I promise."

"Thanks, Sora," Lilo smiles, relieved as she tightly embraces his legs once more. "For everything."

Sora finds himself at a loss for words at such a sincere show of gratitude, so he simply nods, wearing a smile that doesn't come close to meeting his eyes as their one-sided hug disbands. "Um… good luck," he tells Lilo just as she starts to head for the stage.

She glances back at him with untold fear in her eyes; Sora can tell it's not from stage fright, but for something, someone else entirely. "You too," she returns, her voice barely above a heavy whisper.

She watches as Sora disappears into the same woods Stitch had gone into mere moments ago. And the second he's gone, she slowly turns and makes her way onto the stage.

The crowd before her is quiet, small, composed mostly of the family and friends of her fellow students. She spots Nani sitting in one of the first few rows, though neither Jumba nor Pleakley seem to be present. But the one she wants to see among them most, the one she wants standing up here by her side… is nowhere to be found.

"M-my hula," she begins shakily, sparing a bout of relief that the cut on her cheek has stopped bleeding, that it probably isn't that visible from a distance. "Is about an ancient friendship… that proves love is stronger than death…" She spares another glance back at the forest, half expecting Sora to emerge with Stitch, expecting things to turn out alright. And yet…

"E ku'u lei e hele mai 'oe-"

The music begins, accompanied by the same pair of musicians that had inspired her before.

"A 'ike i na waiwai o ke kai 'uli iho-"

She starts her dance as planned, but her movements are far slower, more subdued than she'd practiced.

"Mai 'uwe 'oe e ku'u lei hiwa-"

Each time she sways to the left, her eyes drift back to the woods, her expression awash in worry and woe that even her sister can spot from the audience. Though from where Nani's sitting, the reasons for either of those things is a concerning mystery.

"E aloha wau ia 'oe na kau a kau-"

Her movements gradually start to stall, whispers starting to sound through the crowd as everyone wonders if this is part of the act. It isn't hard for most of them to tell that it's not.

"I will love you, I will love you…"

The musicians trail off into confused silence as Lilo removes her mask, unable to bear another second. Unable to waste one moment more of caring only about herself when she should be caring about someone else instead. Sora had told her to meet Stitch halfway; and only now does she finally understand what that means. Only now does she remember just how much her best friend, her 'ohana truly matters to her.

"...I'm sorry, Mom…" she whispers, hoping that if her mother is watching from somewhere beyond, she'll forgive her.

Without sparing a single word to the audience, Lilo sets her mask down and turns on her heel, rushing off the stage. Though the audience's bewilderment becomes more audible, Nani is on her feet almost just as quickly, knowing that something is wrong with her sister. Something that she'd determined to get to the bottom of.

"Stitch! Come back!" Lilo shouts, running into the woods. She only makes it a few steps in, however, before running into a familiar, equally worried pair. "Jumba! Pleakley!" she exclaims, nearly plowing into the alien duo. "Have you seen Stitch?"

"We thought he was with you!" Jumba exclaims, alarmed.

"Lilo!" Nani suddenly interjects as she rushes to her sister's side. "Baby, what happened?"

"Something's wrong with Stitch!" Lilo exclaims anxiously.

"He is malfunctioning," Jumba explains, finally providing some kind of answers to this distressing situation. "His molecules must be recharged, before it is too late! If we don't find him soon…" He trails off, unable to finish such a troubling thought. Even so, Lilo is all too quick to gather what he means.

And the thought of that happening, of losing her best friend, yet another precious member of her 'ohana… is enough to make her all but forget about what happened in the past and prompt her into action. To drive her to do whatever it takes to save Stitch from something he should have never had to suffer though on his own, something she should have seen, she should have noticed, she should have done something about it.

She should have met him halfway.


Sora's not even an hour into his own search for Stitch when he's startled by the sound of a roaring engine somewhere in the distance. It isn't long before he catches sight of the source of the nearly deafening din as a massive crimson spaceship claims the sunset-streaked skies overhead. He doesn't even need to think twice about whether or not Stitch is on it. Honestly, if Sora was in his place and didn't have access to dark corridors to make his typical quick, panic-driven getaways, he'd probably resort to the exact same drastic measures.

Even so, he'd made a promise to Lilo, one that he has no intention of breaking if he can help it. So he runs after that ship, despite the fact that it far outspeeds him as it glides into the mountain range resting across the back half of the island. Still, he doesn't let up, knowing that he has to do something, he has to help someone, he has to prove that somewhere deep down he's still good, just as Stitch had said. Just as he still stupidly wants to believe.

Fatigue and strain are already wearing on his still mostly malnourished body as he sprints across the grassy hills. So much of his time in this world has been spent running from foes and friends alike that there's some kind of strange irony to him running after someone else for a change. He's nearly tempted to laugh at such an odd change of fate…

If not for the burning hot strip of metal that slams straight into his bare ankle entirely out of nowhere.

Sora screams, frightened and injured as he's pulled brutally to the ground. Another agonizing manacle coils around his other leg, each attached to his longtime enemy, the source of so many of his ongoing nightmares: chains. Even more shoot out from somewhere behind him to grip his arms, to cover his back and lurch tight around his neck, restrain him further as the practically glowing red metal they're composed of pours something into his terror-stricken body. His head is pressed to the ground when he spots a familiar figure step into view. The first wave of agonizing darkness crashes over him when she slips the tip of her staff under cheek to guide his tearful gaze up to her.

"Cry all you want, you wretched little beast," Maleficent hisses, her voice so quiet he can barely hear it. She had already looked alarmingly unhinged when he saw her before, but now, with the addition of the deep series of scratches Stitch had left across her face, with the loss of one of the very tips of her treacherous horns, she looks even more like the madwoman he knows her to be. "This time, I'm taking you somewhere no one will ever be able to find you, to the only place your kind belongs: to the deepest depths of the Realm of Darkness itself!"

Sora barely hears her against the ringing pounding at his ears, so loud and painful that he feels like they might just burst. On instinct, he tries reaching his hands up to cover them, only to receive another reminder of the horrid chains keeping them bound. Darkness lances through him again, but he barely even pays the first hints of the painful transformation it brings to his body any mind. Instead, his mouth opens wide and though he hears nothing but the blood violently rushing through his slowly shifting ears as a raw, agonized, terrified shriek pours its way past his growing fangs.

A shriek that someone, somewhere not too far away, miraculously manages to hear.


Riku heaves a weary sigh as he comes to a brief halt near a small creek flowing between the island hills. He splashes a bit of its cool, refreshing water on his face before stretching his aching limbs out a bit. He swears he's walked across this entire island ten times over today alone, and yet he hasn't caught sight of a single sign of Sora since the previous night. A part of him starts to wonder if Ansem really did whisk him away to another world, just to get him out of the range of anyone who might seek to foil the Organization's plans, from anyone who might want to free Sora from their cruel, conniving clutches.

But then Riku remembers the Key, a prize far too valuable to the Organization to just let it slip through their fingers. True, he doesn't know if Sora's found it yet, if in doing so, if he's left on his own accord and that's why he's proving to be so impossibly hard to find. But he still clings onto that small shred of hope that he might see him here again somehow. To that end, he decides to hold out for just a few more hours; if he hasn't found Sora by the time the sun has fully set and the stars have taken their place in the sky… then he'll leave. And… he'll be right back to square one all over again.

"Come on, Sora…" he whispers to the pink and violet air above him. "Just give me some kind of sign that you're still-"

He stops short when a sudden sound rings out from somewhere ahead in the distance. It's shrill and loud enough to startle the birds out of the surrounding trees as it echoes across the foothills. While most would have thought it to be the call of some kind of distressed wild animal, Riku recognizes it instantly. The mere sound of it alone, so full of fear and anguish, is enough to nearly tear his heart to shreds. But he knows that scream, he'd know it anywhere; and he'd do just about anything he possibly could to make it stop.

"Here…" he finishes, almost immediately breaking out into a sprint. He follows the direction of those suffering screams, his heart racing with anticipation and fear at what he might find. But that fear swiftly, sharply turns to hatred when the one he spots first isn't Sora. It's Maleficent.

"Come along, my pet," she wears a haughty, triumphant grin on her newly-scarred face as she stares down at something, someone. She uses her scepter to begin conjuring a dark corridor, one that Riku knows he can't let her complete, not when he already has such a strong hunch about who she's addressing. "Your new life awaits…"

Riku's blood boils when he finally catches sight of who she's talking to. When he sees the chains tightly tethering Sora to the ground.

And at that moment, Riku doesn't think, he doesn't speak. He simply runs… and yells… and swings.

His Keyblade collides into Maleficent's side before she can even fully turn to face him. Though the unexpected blow easily knocks her staff out of her hand and throws her to the side, Riku doesn't stop there. He whips around, light already sparking at the tip of his Keyblade as he turns to face Sora. He feels tears start to burn at the edges of his eyes when he catches sight of the sorry state he's in, but like always, he doesn't let them fall. Instead, he simply lets Braveheart do its job, lets it unlock the searing chains surrounding his sobbing friend.

They disappear as they fall from his body, and as they do, their transformative effect fades. A small, pained groan escapes Sora as his body settles fully back into its usual form, but still he finds no relief. Not when he sees Riku slowly walking toward him, Keyblade still in hand.

"Sora-" Riku starts, but that's all Sora gives him time for. Because certainly, he's here to finish what Maleficent had started. Certainly he's here to capture him in her stead. Certainly… he's here to put him in a prison of an entirely different kind, a prison Sora finds himself dreading far more than any Maleficent might try to throw him into.

A prison built by his very own friends.

So instead of facing that prison, Sora scrambles to his feet, pushing himself into a brisk run despite the fact that almost every inch of his body still stings horribly. Riku calls after him as he books it down the nearest hill, but he doesn't get a chance to follow. Not through the wall of sickly green flames that suddenly bursts up all around him.

"Well, well…" He only spares a brief glance back at Maleficent. She's back on her feet, regarding him with that same broad, predatory smirk he'd seen so many times back when they'd worked together. Back when he'd been stupid enough to believe her villainous, vicious lies. "How lucky am I that I get the opportunity to contend with not just one, but two traitors during my time in this world. You've certainly grown a great deal since the last time we met, boy. How unfortunate that your weakness is still very the same now as it was before."

Riku turns to face her fully, hating her even more than usual. Largely since she's the only thing that's keeping him from Sora, a mutual stalemate, it seems, since he's doing the very same for her. "You chained him…" he says, his voice low, shaking with emerging rage. "You tortured him!"

"I have," Maleficent evenly admits. Her twisted smile only grows with a smug sense of pride that nearly makes Riku sick. "On a number of occasions, actually. Oh, if only you could have heard how he screamed and cried and begged for mercy, begged for you to come save him. But regardless of how much time he spent hoping, dreaming, wishing in vain for you… you never did."

"Stop," Riku says rigidly, knowing exactly what she's trying to do. After all, getting a rise out of him had always been a favorite pastime of her's, just one of the many malicious methods she'd used to manipulate him, to keep him under her control.

"I've broken my dearest pet so beautifully, if I do say so myself," Maleficent continues all the same. "He'll make quite the magnificent monster once he's fully employed under my bidding. I'm so very close too; all I need to do now is get my hands on the evasive creature one final time. Why, here's a thought…" Her grin curls to a devious degree as she fixes her practically demented gaze on her former pawn. "Why don't you help me track him down, Riku? For old time's sake…"

Riku bristles at such a sadistic suggestion, one that he'd never dream of agreeing to. His time in this world has been filled with so many repugnant reflections of his past, so many reminders of every wrong turn he's ever taken. Maleficent and Ansem had been the driving forces behind most of his misdeeds, the very harbingers of his former fall to darkness. They'd both gotten the better of him before, when far less had been at stake; but now, when he has something so important, so precious to him to lose… he can't let either of them win this time. Not after how he so easily let them both win before.

"I am going to track him down," he begins, genuinely catching Maleficent off guard with his apparent acceptance. Only for him to turn it all on its head a mere second later. "But not for you. Never for you." His expression and tone are both as cold as ice as he lifts his Keyblade, aiming straight at his former ally's head. "Because when I find him, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you never get anywhere near him again!"

Despite this sound resolve, Maleficent simply laughs, mocking his fury, his passion, his bravery. His foolishness. "I'd simply love to see you try…" she coos wickedly, clearly relishing such a challenge.

Riku is more than prepared to do exactly that, but before he can make a single strike, before he can even really take another step forward, everything suddenly shifts. The wall of green fire surrounding them both is abruptly doused by a powerful water spell, and through the diminishing flames, a familiar metal shield flies in, slamming straight into Maleficent's shoulder at full speed. Riku turns, startled, to find Donald and Goofy rushing forward into the fray, Pete stumbling not too far behind.

"What-" Riku begins, though he's cut off before he can get another word out.

"Don't just stand there!" Donald snaps, brandishing his wand. "You've gotta go after Sora!"

"We just saw him runnin' down to the beach a few minutes ago," Goofy adds just as urgently. "Hurry, before he summons one of them dark corridor thingies and gets away!"

Riku stills upon hearing this, his eyes widening as he realizes exactly what they're doing. They're giving him the chance he needs, to break the stall Maleficent had tried to hold him up with, to hold her up instead, to somehow reach Sora before it's too late. And in light of that chance, suddenly he can't help but feel very guilty for how coldly he'd dismissed both of them before. After all, they merely want to find Sora and bring him home safely as much as he does, don't they?

"Donald, Goofy…" he sighs earnestly, wanting to apologize. And yet the stern looks on both of their faces are more than enough to tell him he doesn't have time for even that. So he does the next best thing instead: he takes that chance they're so bravely giving him. "Thanks," he smiles, turns on his heel and rushes off.

He only barely hears Maleficent shout a whole host of violent threats against the trio that's arrived to oppose her. He doesn't bother looking back, knowing that Donald and Goofy have this covered. Instead, he keeps his sights set forward, his focus locked on the shore ahead, every fiber of his being endlessly, achingly striving after the one thing he's been searching for since the moment his journey began.

For someone who he can't stand one single more second of separation from. For who's almost in sight, almost within reach.

For Sora.


"Hello, thank you for using the Uninhabited Planet Index, your guide to the galaxy's most isolated and lonely locations. If your selection is Planet Z-13, engage hyperdrive."

Stitch's ears droop, his hand resting on the ship's clutch, yet he hesitates in pushing it forward. He knows he should, he knows he needs to flee, to get as far away from his family, from Lilo as he possibly can before he can stand to hurt any of them any more than he already has. Even if that means he has to spend the rest of his days completely, entirely alone, a fitting fate for a savage, violent monster like him.

He forces himself to swallow that bout of hesitation so he can set the ship's final course. Only to be stopped again when he hears Lilo's voice ringing, desperate and distraught, over the ship's intercom.

"Stitch!" she calls, likely using Pleakley's communicator to speak to him from the ground. "Can you hear me? I need you! Please, come back…"

"...Stitch… can never come back…" he admits softly, sadly. Because how can he near her, how can he ever hope to even just face her again after everything he's done?

He reaches for the hyperdrive switch again, but before his claws can even skim it, he's once again overtaken by another brutal, downright painful outburst. As his body is thrown into inexplicable chaos, so too is the ship's cockpit, as it takes a sharp nosedive toward the mountains. On the ground, Nani abruptly slams her car to a stop when the vessel hits the ground with a resounding explosion, plumes of black smoke already rising in the distance.

Lilo hurries out of the car first, Jumba, Pleakley, and Nani quickly doing the same amidst their shared horror. "What do we do now?" Pleakley asks, knowing they'll never be able to reach Stitch by car or on foot.

At this, Nani suddenly hurries it to the trunk of her car, throwing it open to reveal a small, yet sturdy red hovercraft resting inside. Lilo gasps when she sees it, knowing it's been missing for days ever since the last time her sister had confiscated it from her and Stitch.

"It was my best hiding place," Nani shrugs, gently accepting the grateful hug Lilo gives her. As soon as it's over, the girl wastes no time hopping into the hovercraft and setting sail into the sky, making a rapid beeline to where the ship had crashed, to where she can only hope she'll still find Stitch lying in wait.

"Get him into fusion chamber before his energy runs out!" Jumba calls as she flies off. "Is only chance!"

Lilo heeds these instructions, pushing the hovercraft as fast as it can possibly go. As a result, it only takes her a few minutes to reach the crash site, though what she finds there makes her blood run cold. The ship is totaled, its wreckage strewn about all over the smoldering cliffside. Despite the grave damage, it doesn't take long for Lilo to spot the fusion chamber Jumba had told her about, which is fortunately undamaged from the crash. But her biggest concern is, of course, finding Stitch, which she does… lying limp and unmoving on a bluff just below the downed ship.

She runs down to his side, screaming his name as she scoops him up into her arms. Stitch lightly stirs, weak from the crash and from his own rapidly failing, but even then, his concern is solely focused on his best friend. "N-no, Lilo…" he breathes brokenly. "Too dangerous…"

"You're not dangerous," Lilo insists, glancing back up the hill. At the device that may very well just be Stitch's last hope. "C'mon, we've gotta get you into Jumba's machine."

It takes a bit of doing, but Lilo eventually manages to pull Stitch back up above the bluff; from there, she quickly lays him down inside of the fusion chamber, covering his still far too stiff, practically fragile body with its glass lid. She doesn't know much about how this strange machine operates, but she does know enough to pull on its switch, watching with anxious anticipation as the chamber floods with a dull green light.

"Stitch, you're gonna be ok now," she promises, pressing her hands against the glass. Inside, Stitch lies with his eyes closed, his chest terrifyingly still. "Please be ok…"

Lilo's heart leaps when he seems to awaken somewhat, slowly reaching a hand up to meet hers on the other side of the glass. "Stitch… sorry…" he whispers, his voice so quiet she can barely hear it.

His hand falls back down to his side, a small, shuddering breath escapes him, his eyes slip shut. And after that… he doesn't move again.

Once… there was a beautiful goddess named Hi'iaka, and a handsome mortal, Lohi'au…

Somewhere far below the mountains, Sora runs through the hills, his mind awash in panic, his heart thundering, his eyes watering. He can't let her catch him, he can't let anyone catch him. Because regardless of who might get their hands on him, be it Maleficent or Riku, the result will still be the same. He'll still end up in chains no matter what.

They were as close as two people could be…

Jumba, Nani, and Pleakley arrive seconds later. Lilo rushes over to them, begging for their help, begging for them to do something, anything to save Stitch. Jumba follows her over to the fusion chamber, briefly inspecting the machine he'd built before he inevitably hangs his head in shame. Before he slowly shuts the fusion chamber down, before he solemnly reports that there's nothing more that can be done. Before he tells Lilo that it's too late.

But one day, Pele, the volcano goddess, grew jealous of their friendship…

Sora throws his hand forward as he sees his first glimpse of the empty shore in the distance, the end of the line. His breath hitches in terror when nothing happens, when not even a spark of a dark corridor springs to life to grant him the escape he needs. "S-superior!" he shouts, hating that he has to call upon their help. But really, what other choice does he have? "Master! Please! Just let me leave!"

He knows they're listening, knows they can hear his every word, read his every thought. But of course, they don't come to his rescue when he truly needs them to, just like always. Instead, his "kind and devoted" Organization once again abandons him to fend for himself. It's something he knows he should be more than used to by now… but how little they care about him still strangely stings all the same.

So one day, Pele took Lohi'au and threw him into a volcano filled with molten lava…

Jumba carefully retrieves Stitch's lifeless form from the fusion chamber, but as soon as he does, Lilo begs for him. She holds him tight, even as Nani tries in vain to comfort her. The rest of her family can only stand by mournfully as Lilo pours her tears out freely, as she hugs Stitch close and whispers remorseful apologies that mean nothing now.

Hi'iaka discovered his body in a cavern by a sea cliff…

Though Maleficent had managed to stall him for a bit, it still doesn't take long for Riku to spot Sora amidst the wide open hills. He picks up his pace as soon as he sees him, his muscles burning, his footsteps fast and practically frantic as he keeps this chase going. A chase he's determined to end right here and now.

Because if he doesn't, if he can't convince Sora to finally come home… he has no idea what he'll do.

And she stayed with him…

A small sob slips out as Lilo takes the orchid from her hair, carefully placing it onto Stitch's unmoving chest. Even though she knows he's long gone, she can't bear to leave him, can't bear to lose him just as she lost her own parents years ago. She can't bear to watch any other member of her little, broken family fade away.

"You were my 'ohana, Stitch…" she weeps, holding him as tight as she can and dreading the moment she'll have to let him go. "And I'll always love you…"

Praying to the gods to bring Lohi'au's spirit back…

And…

Silence falls over the mountainside, a warm, waning wind blowing as the sun finally slips below the horizon. Nani, Jumba, and Pleakley all stand by to grieve in their own quiet way, to let Lilo have her final moments of privacy with her now fallen-friend. But in their shared despair, none of them notice the fusion chamber quietly chirping, none of them spot the small spark of energy alighting its screen.

No one sees when Stitch's eyes slowly begin to flutter open.

It worked….

Lilo draws in a shaky breath when she feels Stitch lightly place his hand against hers. She stares down at him, her eyes still tearful, but wide in disbelief when he speaks, his voice growing more stable and steady with each word. "Stitch not bad… Stitch fluffy!"

"Stitch!" Lilo cries, delighted as she pulls him in for a tight embrace, one that he joyfully returns. The others rush in right after, awestruck by such an impossible miracle, but welcoming it warmly all the same.

Her love brought him back to life…

"Stitch ok now?" he asks her earnestly, still harboring some small, hidden fear of hurting her again. Fear that Lilo doesn't share in the slightest.

"No more nightmares," she assures, smiling happily. She pulls him close once more, overwhelmed with relief that he's back, that they're together. That their 'ohana won't be torn apart after all, not now, or ever.

Proving that love is more powerful than death…

Sora has no choice but to stop when he reaches the shore, the vast blue ocean beyond it leaving him with nowhere else to go. The sea breeze blows his already loose hood down, but he hardly notices, not when he hears the sound of heavy footfalls approaching him from behind. He turns, a gasp caught in his throat when he sees Riku stepping out into the sand. For a brief moment, they both expect Ansem to appear, for Maleficent to come madly barging in, for something to come in between them and break them apart again. But this time, nothing does.

This time, they're alone.

Riku draws in a deep breath, steadying himself as he takes a small step forward. He finds himself staring, unable to ignore the shock that comes from seeing just how much of his hair has turned white, just how brightly his eyes glow golden in the emerging darkness. How absolutely terrified he is to see him, even more terrified than he'd been when faced with Maleficent or Ansem alike.

"S-stay away!" Sora chokes, holding a clawed hand up. He stands in the shallows now, unsure of where else he can go from there. He knows he can't outrun Riku, he's never been able to before, even as far back as when they were kids. By all accounts, he's stuck, cornered, trapped, by someone he'd once scoured the worlds to find himself. Someone who's just done the same exact thing for him, for entirely different reasons. "Please, I-I can't-"

"Sora," Riku interrupts him as he comes closer. He keeps his voice as steadfast and calm as he can manage, even when his own nerves are anything but. "It's ok. I need you to calm down and listen to me, alright?"

"Listen? To you?" Sora scoffs, an edge of rare bitterness on his tone as a flash of anger fills his features. "What, like how I almost listened to Terra when he tried to trick me into going back too?"

"Terra? What? When did-" Riku cuts himself off, shaking his head to clear it. Whatever encounters Sora might have had with the other lights don't matter now. Bringing him home was never any responsibility of theirs to begin with; it's his. "Never mind. Just… hear me out, please. These past few months, I've searched for you in every world I could possibly get to; I'm tired, I'm upset that this is happening to you, I wish you hadn't lied to me about it, but most of all… I… I missed you…" His voice softens to a noticeably vulnerable degree. It takes every ounce of energy he has left not to let those pressing tears fall, to keep it all inside, to be strong for Sora, if no one else. "Ever since you disappeared, you're the only thing I've been able to think about, day and night. I've spent so much time planning what I was going to tell you when I finally found you, but… now that I have, I… I have no idea what to say…"

Sora trembles, his mouth dry but his eyes wet as he lets a small, anxious laugh slip out. "I-I guess that's one thing we still have in common. I don't know what to say either…"

Riku can't help but smile when he hears that laugh, however insincere it might be. Because it's still Sora's laugh, something he's craved so much over the past several months. And that laugh alone is what gives him enough courage to take another small step forward. "I've heard about… some of what you've been through," his smile fades as he takes stock of how worryingly skinny Sora is now. How tired his eyes are, how the bags under them weigh so thick and heavy, betraying his exhaustion well. "You've… really been having a rough time out on your own, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I… guess you could say that," Sora winces, still watching Riku warily. There's nothing he can really do to stop his slow approach, unless he plans on diving into the ocean itself, something that he knows isn't very likely to work. Even so, he's not sure where this strange conversation is going, and admittedly, neither is Riku as he tries to continue it.

"You know, um… Kairi, she… she really misses you too," he shifts uncomfortably, never able to speak to his own feelings for very long. "I haven't talked to her in a while, but… when we found out, she… she tried to come with me to look for you." He sighs, regretting that day, regretting the words he'd said, regretting how he'd shattered so much of what had stood between the two of them. Regretting what he longs to get back every bit as much as he longs for Sora. "I wouldn't let her."

"Why not?" Sora asks. The conversation Young Xehanort had shown him springs to mind, of the two of them in mutual agreement over what they thought needed to be done to him. Both of them vowing to imprison him, to break any and all ties of friendship and love and devotion that had once stood between the three of them. So if they were so intent on doing that, why wouldn't Riku let Kairi come along? Why wouldn't he want both of them to be together to capture their former friend who's so brutally betrayed them?

"Because, this… is something I had to do on my own," Riku looks away. If Sora didn't know any better, he'd almost think there was an edge of shame in his tone. "I knew I owed you that much after… everything. I owe it to you to bring you home, to help you. So please… just let me…"

Weariness hangs over Riku's expression as he extends a hand out. By now, he's standing only a few short feet away, but it feels like mere inches to Sora. Far too close for comfort. "T-that's what all of you keep saying…" he mutters morosely. "But… I know what you really want to do with me… The master told me everything."

A sharp burst of fury explodes in Riku when he hears Sora say that word, when he hears him call the despicable, treacherous, piece of human scum that is Xehanort his 'master'. He drops his outstretched hand, trying and failing to keep his tone from sounding too sharp when he speaks. "Don't call him that," he hisses, though his anger isn't meant for Sora in the slightest. If only Sora understood that. "He is not your master."

"I-I… I can't help it…" Sora says, his own bitterness fading into remorse as he rubs his arm. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know how to tell Riku how much he hates his master, how much he wishes he could break his strangling hold over his heart. He doesn't know how to ask for help he knows he hasn't deserved it in such a long time.

"This is even worse than I thought…" Riku shakes his head. Far too much time has been wasted, time that could have been spent stopping things from getting this far. But because Sora ran, because he took so long to find him, here they are, facing a problem that's just about as bad as it could possibly be. "I've heard enough. You're coming back to the tower with me so we can find a way to finally fix this-"

"You can't fix this, Riku…" Sora quietly cuts him off, turning to face the evening horizon. "You can't fix me…"

Riku huffs, refusing to give up that easily. "Who told you that? Your master?" he says, largely without thinking. He immediately regrets it when he catches the look Sora shoots back at him, his eyes shining with lingering tears as another wave of hopeless despair overtakes him. It's not a good look on him, not something Riku is used to seeing on him. He's used to Sora's smiles, to his laughter, his light, not the veil of dreary, depressed darkness that's come to settle over him in such a short amount of time.

"Look," he decides to try again. He fights back the urge to touch him, to place a consoling hand on his shoulder, since he knows that would almost certainly set him off even more. "I… I know you must be scared right now, I would be too if I were in your shoes…" He winces when he glances down, remembering that Sora is still half-barefoot for some reason. How long has he had to travel like that anyway? "Er… shoe. But whatever he told you, whatever they told you… it was a lie, Sora."

"A-and how do I know you're not lying too?" Sora challenges, spinning around to face him again. "I heard what you and Kairi said about me; you said I was dangerous, that I needed to be stopped, just like the rest of the Organization. Y-you said…" His voice breaks with a small, sorrowful sob. "I was one of them…"

"What?" Riku raises a confused eyebrow. "Sora, I never said any of that."

"Yes, you did!" Sora protests adamantly. "Why won't you just admit it already!? Why do all of you keep trying to make me think that you still care when I know you don't!?"

Riku can't take it any longer. His hand moves forward faster than Sora can anticipate it, landing solidly on his shoulder. Riku gives it a small squeeze, as if to tell him that it's ok, that he doesn't need to be shaking as much as he is, that he doesn't need to be afraid. But even despite that unspoken reassurance, he's clearly afraid anyway. "...Because I do care," Riku says with a small, exhausted sigh. "Do you really think I'd be here, that I would have come all this way, spent so much time looking for you if I didn't?" "

Sora falters, unable to come up with any counter arguments this time. The master had told him that the lights were trying tirelessly to apprehend him, but after months of failing to track him down, wouldn't they have eventually just given up? Wouldn't they have much more important things to do with their time than search for the one rogue runaway that had once been among their number? "I-I…"

"Sora," Riku's other hand comes to rest on his shoulder and Sora finds himself savoring it. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed the steadiness of his touch, the smooth tone of his voice, the way his stern teal eyes soften whenever he looks at him. After months apart, Sora realizes that even though he's changed so much, Riku hasn't changed at all. And he can't help but be oddly comforted by that constant, by the way Riku has always been able to stand strong amidst the storms that have so easily swept him away. "I wanted to find you. I want to help you. That's all I've wanted since any of this began. Why don't you believe that?"

Sora studies his face, sees the tiredness, the pain, the unspoken fear hiding within it. He can relate to all of those emotions and then some, and in doing so, he feels a small, strange spark of solidarity that he hadn't known before. And yet, no matter how much he wants to hold onto that solidarity, onto Riku like the lifeline he so clearly is… "B-because I just… don't…" he whispers weakly. After all, his trust has been broken far too many times now to believe in much of anything anymore.

"Then tell me what I need to do to show you that I mean it," Riku insists. His tears continue to keep pressing against him, viciously threatening to fall each time he so much as looks Sora's way. But he holds it together, albeit narrowly; he holds it together because he knows he has no other choice. "Because I'll do it. I'll do anything for even just a chance at saving you from this. But I can't do that unless…"

Riku trails off, unsure of how to finish. He's surprised when Sora does that for him. "Unless I… meet you halfway…" he glances down, recalling what he'd told Lilo only hours ago. Funny, how he's ended up being the one who needs to take his own advice the most.

"Exactly," Riku manages a wavering smile. He releases his hold on Sora's shoulders to once again extend a hand out toward him. A hand that's filled with the unspoken offering of so much Sora hasn't had in such a long time: of food and friends, of sleep and shelter. Of light and love. "So…?"

He wants it all, each and every thing that hand will take him to. He wants to go back, he wants to see his friends, he wants to go home. He wants to not have to worry about where his next meal is coming from, to sleep soundly through the night, to be surrounded by people who care for him every bit as much as he cares for them. He wants safety, he wants hope, he wants freedom and a future. He wants Kairi, and he wants Riku. And one of those things, miraculously enough, is standing right here in front of him, ready to give him everything he's desired for so very long. All he needs to do… is reach out and take it.

And he almost, almost does, he almost takes that hand and everything that will come along with it. Until…

"Riku!" A call suddenly echoes through the surrounding hills, one that reaches the beach and the pair on it. A call that both of them recognize instantly.

"D-Donald and Goofy…" Sora tenses, drawing his hand away from Riku's ever so slightly.

"They're still here?" Riku frowns, glancing in the direction of their distant voices. "I thought there would still be dealing with-"

"They came here with you?" Sora asks in newfound alarm. "But… I thought you said you'd been looking for me on your own…"

"I was–I-I am," Riku asserts, not understanding Sora's apparent dread. "But Mickey told them to follow me, so they've been-"

"If you wanted to do this on your own… then why… would you need them?" Sora asks, taking a small step back further into the ocean. "Why would they need to be here with you…? Unless… you wanted them with you as backup."

"...What are you talking about?" Riku shakes his head, confused. "Backup for what?"

"I can't believe I didn't put it all together until now," Sora ignores him, his tone incredulous and angry. He's stunned at how easily he'd nearly lost himself to his own nostalgia, to his own yearning, to his own pointless, pitiful hope. Ashamed at how he'd been so easily swayed by a few soft-spoken words and fond smiles. He feels foolish, downright stupid for even stopping to listen to a single word Riku had to say. Words that have only served to lure him into a trap he should have seen coming from a mile away. "When the superior told me all three of you were here, I should have known!"

"Known what, Sora?" Riku presses. He steals the smallest glance to the evening sky ahead, noticing that dark clouds are starting to billow. A storm is coming on, both literally and figuratively, it seems. A storm he doesn't know how to stop in the slightest. "You're not making any sense!"

"Quit lying to me already!" Sora snaps fiercely. Riku gasps when he sees a few shimmering dark spikes burst out of the shallow water behind him, spikes that Sora had clearly been the one to conjure, intentionally or not. "How dumb do you think I am?! I know the only reason they're here with you, the only reason you're here at all is so you can capture me, drag me back to the tower, and lock me up in some room or dungeon or whatever so you won't have to deal with me anymore!"

Riku takes pause at this, shocked by the very implication of what he's just heard. At the horrible, unfounded lies the Organization has been feeding Sora, lies he has every intention of shattering right here and right now. "Is that what you think we want to do to you?" he asks with a harsh scoff. "That's why you keep running from us? Because they told you we plan on locking you up?"

"No," Sora counters rigidly, his claws curled into tight fists. "That's what you plan on doing to me, Riku. I watched you come up with the plan yourself. You told Kairi it was the only way to keep everyone safe from me and she agreed with you!" A disgruntled sigh escapes Riku when he hears this, his frustration flaring for this apparent farce of a conversation he and Kairi had never once had, a conversation the Organization had no doubt forged in some way to scare Sora. And unfortunately, that forgery has done its job all too well. "Neither of you care about me!" he accuses hotly, tearfully. "And why would you now that I'm… I'm like this!?"

He flares his claws out, bares his sharp teeth. A low roar of thunder rumbles overhead, a burst of lightning illuminating his already glowing amber eyes. In many ways, Sora does look admittedly monstrous. But Riku knows–or at least he hopes–that monstrosity only runs skin deep. "We don't want to lock you up," he says evenly. "And if you come back with me, we won't. I promise."

"Oh, you 'promise'? Sora echoes almost tauntingly. Something is shifting in him, Riku can sense it; the aura of almost dangerous energy filling the air around him, the tension that's rapidly rising with each passing second, with each word they exchange. He doesn't like it; if anything, he loathes it for just how unlike Sora it all is. "You promise?!" he asks again, his voice rising to a furious shout. "Like how you promised me you'd protect me from Maleficent? Well where were you when she threw a net over me and hauled me off to her castle?! Where were you when she had me chained to a wall, when I was starving, and scared and cursed for two weeks?! Where were you when she forced me to kill innocent people just because she thought it'd be 'fun'?! Where were you, Riku?! Why didn't you keep your promise?! Why don't you EVER keep your promises?!"

Riku hasn't even noticed that Sora's forced him to back up this time. His breath catches in his throat, his eyes sting from the tears he's still foolishly fighting back. The grief, the sheer anguish in Sora's voice over the untold torment he'd been through is nearly enough to break him altogether. Because he's right, he didn't keep his promise, he never does. He'd been all but oblivious to the unspeakable suffering his best friend had endured; and in not knowing about any of it, not doing anything to stop it, is, in his eyes, he might as well have been the one to inflict that suffering himself.

An apology is on the tip of his tongue, and yet it doesn't come out. Instead, some small, defensive, irrational part of his mind lashes out against Sora's claims. And unfortunately, that part is what prompts him to speak. "Well maybe none of that would have happened if you hadn't ran away…" he mutters, his voice low, dark, guilty.

Sora merely laughs in response, an unpleasant, unhappy chuckle that almost comes across as a growl. "Oh, so it's all my fault, huh?!" he throws his arms out wide. His face is only a few inches from Riku's, the tension between them as electric as the air itself currently is. And the worst part is, there's no telling when it'll burst. "You really think I don't already know that?! I just can't help but be everyone's target; you, the Organization, my master, Maleficent, they all want me for something I can't even control! But you know what, maybe you're right, Riku, maybe I shouldn't have ran away. If I'd stayed, at least you would have gotten to keep reminding me how much stronger, how much better you are than me! I bet you've really missed that since I've been gone, huh?"

"None of that's true, Sora," Riku counters quietly as he fixes the other boy with a warning glare. "You know it's not."

"It's not?" Sora shoots back. He knows he's treading deadly ground here, that he should stop and give up before this gets any worse than it already is. But he doesn't. Because after spending so long keeping all of this anger, all of this rage, all of this hatred over the horrible mess his life has become buried so deeply by fear and remorse, he relishes the opportunity to let it all come flooding up to the surface. He craves the chance to unleash it all on someone, anyone. Even if that someone is Riku.

"No, it's not," Riku returns, setting his jaw, affirming his stance. He can sense the violence rising in Sora's tone, in his posture, in the wild, frenzied look in his eyes. He hopes against hope that he doesn't act upon it, hopes that are instantly dashed the moment the Kingdom Key, cracked and splintered to a nearly devastating degree, finally flashes into his hand.

"Then prove it," Sora challenges, picking up a fighting stance.

Riku sneers, practically rolling his eyes at such an inane proposal. "I'm not going to fight you, Sora."

"Yes, you are!" Sora shouts, throwing his free hand high. A wall of thick, towering spikes rises up from the sandy ground, creating a tight arena of sorts to entrap them both within. Because if he can't escape from one of his assailants, the least he can do is keep one of those assailants from escaping too. "If you really want to lock me away forever, that's fine," he says, and it is. Really, at this point, what else does a runaway, a thief, a murderer like him deserve? "But I'm not going down without a fight. So if I win, then you let me leave and you stop chasing me down. If you win…" He swallows hard, knowing there's a high risk to this bargain. A risk he has no choice but to take. "Then I'll go with you. Sound fair?"

"No, it doesn't," Riku staunchly refuses. "I already told you, I don't want to lock you away, and I don't want to fight you."

"Too bad," Sora snarls, holding his Keyblade aloft. "You don't have a choice."

Sora runs at him, a furious shot tearing from his throat as he makes his first swing. Riku doesn't dare summon his own weapon, knowing that's likely exactly what Sora wants as he swiftly moves out of his way. Rain finally begins to fall from the pitch black skies above, only the dull glow from the surrounding spikes illuminating this one-sided battle. It quickly soaks them both, but neither of them really care as engrossed in a storm of their own as they are.

"Sora, stop!" Riku orders as he evades another one of Sora's sloppy, frenzied swings.

"What's the matter, Riku," Sora taunts, his eyes gleaming a crazed shade of gold as he comes in for another failed blow. "Don't you wanna punish me like you did before? Don't you wanna show everyone just how 'great' of a leader you are by dragging a traitor like me home?!"

"Y-you're not a traitor," Riku argues. But Sora still catches the slight hint of doubt in his tone all the same. "You just-"

"I'm just helping the Organization look for Keys," Sora admits, a fact he knows Riku is already well aware of. "What do you call that, Riku? Because that sure sounds like something a traitor would do to me."

Riku doesn't bother offering him a direct response, instead focusing his attention on swerving out of the path of the Kingdom Key once more. He has no idea how long this will go on for; his best hope is that Sora will eventually tire himself out and this baffling brawl will come to an end. But with how angry he is, with how much raw, nearly rabid energy he clearly has flowing through him, it's clear that end won't happen any time soon.

So the most Riku can do is hold out; hold out and try to stop this storm that's been brewing for quite some time now. A storm that might be far beyond his, or anyone else's control.

"Why won't you fight back?!" Sora yells after another futile swing.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Sora? I don't want to fight you!" Riku repeats once more, beyond annoyed by his persistence. "All I want to do is help you! You might think there's nothing that can be done, you might think it's too late for you, but I know it's not!"

"Oh yeah?" Sora scoffs, spinning around with his weapon tight in his grip as Riku outmaneuvers him once more. "And why's that?"

"B-because I know what it's like!" Riku professes, suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable all over again. But he knows that vulnerability is something he has to face, especially when he sees Sora slow to a stop. He realizes that he's gotten his attention, that he's listening. So he takes that new momentum, and he runs with it. "I… I know how you're feeling. I understand what you're going through, maybe more than anyone else ever could."

Sora draws in a terse breath, his knuckles turning white around his Keyblade's handle. "Y-you don't," he replies, his voice much softer, much more shaken than it had been mere seconds ago. "You don't know anything about what I've been through. You have no clue how bad things have been for me since this mess started. You have no idea how awful, how miserable I feel each and every day!"

"I think I have some idea…" Riku counters, venturing a tiny step forward. "I fell into darkness too, remember? I lost myself to it, just like you have. And when I did, I felt the same way you're feeling now: scared, angry… alone. But… then you showed me that I didn't have to feel that way anymore. You showed me that I can still stand in the light. And now… I'll do whatever it takes to show you that you can too…"

Riku pauses, blinking between the pouring rain to gauge Sora's expression. His former fury has been replaced with a far away look, as if he's reliving a long-forgotten memory. A memory that he quietly, tremulously recounts. "Y-you chose darkness…"

"What?" Riku asks, barely hearing him above the din of the raging storm.

"You CHOSE darkness!" Sora's voice rapidly raises, even more spikes splitting out of the ground as his rage returns in full force. "You wanted it! I never chose darkness, I never wanted it! Why would I ever want THIS?!"

Another stripe of lightning streaks across the sky, once again illuminating the horrendous effect that very darkness has had on Sora physically. But there's far more to it than that; the darkness has ruined him from the outside in, it's torn his heart apart, shattered his mind to pieces, transformed him into someone Riku barely even recognizes anymore. Someone who's been so deeply corrupted by pain, by fear, by guilt, by sorrow that even trying to fix him would essentially be an impossible feat. But it's a feat that Riku stubbornly, perhaps even foolishly still strives to accomplish all the same.

"Sora," he tries to interject, but the other boy is far too incensed to back down now as he walks forward, his Keyblade dragging across the soaked sand below him.

"But unlike you, I never had a choice," he continues, his voice turning low, resentful. Envious. "It's been forced into me every step of the way. I can't just… get out of it to 'stand in the light' or whatever. Just because it was so easy for you doesn't mean it's easy for me! We're not the same! "

"I know we're not," Riku counters, suddenly seeing the fatal cracks in his own approach. He should have figured Sora wouldn't react well to such a direct comparison, he should have been more careful, more methodical in his approach to this encounter overall. As overwhelmed by emotions and exhaustion as he is, he's already dug himself far too deep into the wrong hole. Which means the only thing he can do now is try to dig himself out of it. "If anything, Sora, you've always been the one who's better between us. You always used to be able to find light even when you're surrounded by darkness; what makes things any different now?"

"Everything is different now!" Sora shouts, still immensely appalled by Riku's audacity, by how downright condescending his claims come across. "Ever since that stupid exam, ever since I lost my strength, ever since I started looking for Keys, things have just been getting worse and worse! I've tried to stop this, Riku. I tried to come up with some way to save myself from this, to find any trace of light that might still be in my heart, but I can't. Because there's none left."

"Yes, there is-"

"No, there isn't!" Sora pushes back. He's so, so tired of hearing such empty claims, so tired of listening to others trying in vain to raise his lost hopes. They're merely words, they always have been; they don't mean anything. They'll accomplish nothing. They can't do a thing to prove what he knows to be true wrong. They can't fix what's already been so badly broken. "Don't you get it, Riku? I'm stuck like this, forever! And nothing you do, nothing anyone does is ever going to change that!"

With another outraged shout, Sora raises his Keyblade high and brings it down in a heavy, wild swing. It's only stopped when Braveheart abruptly appears in Riku's hand on instinct alone. He'd wanted to get through this fight without his Keyblade, without having to play this twisted game. But in the end, he has no choice; Sora forces him to play along with him all the same.

And for a brief second, when their Keyblades collide, it's like their kids again, like they're slamming wooden swords together instead of dangerous, deadly weapons. Riku can almost picture it in his mind, the sun in the sky of a shore just like this one, their laughter ringing loud and clear across the beach. Such a peaceful scene only exists in memories now, a world they'd once inhabited together a lifetime ago. A world both of them long to go back to, to live in just as blissfully as they once did before… If only either of them were brave enough to take the first step.

With his strength on his side, Riku easily manages to shove Sora back. He stumbles, but catches himself before he can fall, and on the rebound, he lashes his free hand out, allowing his dangerous magic to unfurl. Riku does his best to fend off the blackened shards that shoot his way, but the spikes are what prove to be much harder to evade. Sora sends them his way wave after wave at a rapid, practically non-stop pace, nearly skewering Riku straight through at several points. Whether or not that's actually his intention, Riku has no idea.

Yet even still, he doesn't make a single move against Sora. On principle alone, he refuses to, knowing that doing so would bring far too many unpleasant memories to the forefront of his mind. But even beyond that, he knows that a full-fledged fight is exactly what Sora wants, a way to enforce the false foundation the Organization has forced him to stand on, a way to prove the lies they've told him, the lies he keeps telling himself. Lies that Riku can't let him fall victim to any more than he already has.

The crashing thunder and pounding rain largely drowns out their intense conversation. Sora continues his ceaseless pursuit, his attacks coming from both his cracked Keyblade and his peculiar powers. Riku stays on the defensive all the while, remaining vigilant against any low blows or side swings Sora might try to come in for. Despite all that's changed about him, his fighting style is still mostly the same, with only really the addition of dark magic that he clearly doesn't have much control over. His spikes are erratic, his shards frequently misaimed. For the most part, Riku finds it isn't too much of a challenge to block or dodge them… at least until he suddenly finds his back bumping against the inescapable wall Sora had set up at the start of this scuffle.

The second Sora realizes he has him cornered, he takes his chance. He abandons the Kingdom Key, letting it disappear as he pushes both of his hands forward. His magic follows his command, a collection of deadly-sharp spikes bursting forward at an angle, their tips stopping only mere inches away from touching Riku. Sora essentially has him cornered, with nowhere left to go, nothing left to do, nothing left to say that he'll actually listen to.

And yet… Sora doesn't finish the job. He could, he easily could, and that thought alone honestly terrifies Riku. While Sora clearly isn't in the best state physically (or mentally for that matter), his magic is strong and strange, unlike anything he's ever wielded, anything he's ever seen before. He doesn't know where it came from, if it's a side effect of what Xehanort is doing to him or something else entirely. But what he does know is that it adds an entirely new, incredibly frightening layer onto a situation that already has so many.

Sora lets out a tired huff as he drops his hands to his sides. He keeps an icy, golden glare set on Riku, distrust and disdain written across practically every inch of his face. "Whatever 'help' you think you can give me, it won't work," he says crossly, yet strangely calmly. "So stop trying, Stop following me, stop lying to me… stop acting like you care. Please…" he sighs again, a hint of despair settling over his tone and his expression alike. "Just leave me alone…"

And with that… Sora turns… and walks away.

Of course, that's nowhere near good enough for Riku. After traveling so far and worrying for so long, he's not about to leave empty-handed. He's not about to let Sora slip away from him that easily, not again. Not ever again.

"No," he speaks up. The heavy, hardened tone of his voice is enough to stop Sora in his tracks, but he doesn't turn to face him. Not even as Riku begins to slip his way past the spikes, past the darkness, past everything else that Sora has tried so hard to push him away with. "It's not my fault you kept this hidden from all of us," he begins steadily, determined to set the record straight. "It's not my fault you tried to fix this on your own when you knew you couldn't. It's not my fault that you ran away instead of actually facing this problem like you should have. But it is my fault that any of this started in the first place." He doesn't elaborate on this, not even when Sora shoots a confused glance back at him. Even admitting it to him is almost too much on it's own. "That's why I'm here; to bring you back, to bring you home, to get you help… And that's what I'm going to do, whether you want it or not!"

Sora isn't able to step away before Riku grabs him by the wrist. His grip, sudden and suppressive, is more than enough to send a resounding burst of panic through Sora's entire body, panic that prompts him into frantic, frightened action. "L-let go of me!" he yells, pulling hard against Riku's hold. It's as tight as the shackles that have bound his wrists so many times now, the same kind of shackles he'll be thrown into if Riku really does drag him away.

"We're through arguing about this, Sora," Riku says, resolute as he tries to walk away with Sora in tow. "No more running, no more fighting. It's time to finally put an end to this."

An end… to this brawl, to his time on the run, to his freedom, whatever he has left of it. The second he's back in front of the other lights, he knows all too well what will happen to him. They'll look upon him with betrayal in their eyes, speak to him with disgust in their voices. They'll shove him into a cold, lonely room, bind his wrists, his legs, maybe even his neck with chains that he'll never be able to break. They'll leave him there to sob, to starve, to rot. They'll abandon him behind a heavy door while their lives go on in the light that he can no longer be a part of, filled with laughter he can no longer share. It's one thing to face such a cruel fate from his enemies, at the hands of someone like Maleficent; but at the hands of the people he once loved more than anything, even more than himself… it's unthinkable, unbearable, unstoppable

Unless…

"P-please!" he chokes as Riku begins dragging him across the sand. Tears return to his eyes, but his tight, anguished cry isn't meant for his current "captor". It's meant for who he hopes will be his savior, who he hopes will finally come through for him when he needs him most. "Help me! Master!"

"Sora!" Riku sharply, fiercely shoots back. He's livid, horrified to hear that word come out of his mouth again, outraged in knowing all too well who it's for. Knowing all too well about the monster Sora has been forced to become a slave to. "For the last time, Xehanort is not, and never will be your master-"

"Yes, he IS!" Sora practically screams. He throws his free hand up without thinking, intending to create a new set of spikes to separate them. But what happens instead…

What happens instead is lightning rips across the atmosphere, hot and shrill and blinding. What happens instead is that his hand swings a few inches too far to the left. What happens instead is that his claws don't cut through thin air like he thought they would. What happens… is that those claws slice straight into the side of Riku's face. What happens is they tear deep, so very deep across his temple, down his eyebrow, through his eye, and over his cheek. What happens… is something that slows time to a crawl, that draws a scream out of Riku and Sora alike.

What happens is something neither of them could have ever seen coming. Something neither of them can ever hope to take back.

Sora pulls his hand away as quickly as he can, but even then he can see the blood already blanketing his trembling claws. There's so much of it, so much of it, dripping over his fingers, into the sand, down Riku's face. Even the rain can't wash it away as it engulfs everything in a sickening shade of scarlet. Riku's screams, ongoing and agonized, sound distant as Sora watches him fall to his knees, clutching his new injury tightly with both hands. For what feels like an eternity, all he can do is stand there, barely breathing, barely thinking, barely doing anything at all other than staring… and staring… and staring.

And then, like a relentless hurricane, it all starts to hit him at once.

He did this. He did this. He did this, not with his Keyblade, not with his magic, but with his very own hand. He did it on his own, without needing to be controlled or told to do any of it. He did this, the one thing he'd always feared above all else, the one thing that's featured in his nightmares far more than anything else. He hurt not just one of his friends, but his best friend.

He hurt Riku. And even after everything else, after everything he's been through and everything he's been forced to suffer… he can't think of anything worse than that.

A strangled sob finally slips out when the world slowly shifts to gold around him. It's been awhile since this happened, and if not for the circumstances, he would have been startled by it. Yet right now, he couldn't care less about this, he couldn't care about anything other than the atrocity he's just committed.

But even so, the Key calmly questions him anyway, just as all of the others have done before it.

"Does your heart know sorrow?"

It does, oh stars, it does. In fact, sorrow is just about all his heart has known for ages now. Every last single shred of happiness and peace he used to know have all been stolen for him. All that remains in their place is exactly the kind of emotion the Key wants him to feel. An emotion that's amplified far more than he ever thought possible after what he's just done.

He doesn't feel himself nod, doesn't feel the Key flash into his hand, doesn't notice as the stormy world returns until he catches sight of Riku once more. He hasn't moved, still hunched over at his feet as he continues covering the left side of his now-ruined face. His breathing comes out in short, shocked gasps, his untouched eye wide as it darts around wildly. Sora feels like he might faint when it inevitably falls upon him.

"S-Sora…" Riku groans, struggling to even get that much out. One of his hands slips away from his face as he extends it out to him, shaking and covered in slick crimson. Sora stumbles back, the Key slipping out of his own trembling hand before it falls unceremoniously onto the sand. At the same time, his other hand reaches back into the space behind him, calling a dark corridor into existence. One that he's finally allowed to enter now; he's finally allowed to leave.

He shouldn't leave. He should stay, he should try to fix this, he should at the very least apologize. If only the words he needs to even try could come to him anywhere as easily as the tears pouring down his face do.

"Sora!" Riku shouts the second he sees the portal. He tries to rise to his feet, to stop Sora from getting away from him again. But with his face as flooded in unspeakable pain as it is, he ends up stumbling back to his knees and in the process, giving Sora his first full glimpse at exactly what he's done. Three wide, ghastly marks cover the entire left half of Riku's formerly handsome face, each of them drenched in blood that's spread to stain much of his body beyond it. And yet, as if that wasn't nightmarish enough, one of Sora's claws had indeed cut clean through his eye, to the point that it won't even open in its current mutilated state. That eye is the epicenter of the pain, a well of endless agony that Riku doesn't have anywhere near enough strength to drive away. Instead, he focuses what waning energy he does have solely on Sora, not sparing a single thought for himself or his injuries or even his likely ruined eye amidst the far greater necessity he still stands to lose.

"S-stop!" he begs, he cries, he finally tears the long-closed floodgates open. Though his bleeding eye isn't capable of doing much of anything at all right now, tears burst from his other one, the first he's truly let himself shed in so very long. Tears of remorse, tears of anger, tears brought on by a kind of agony that's far worse than what his face is going through, agony that's far more than skin deep. "Please…"

Sora hasn't turned away from him, hasn't torn his gaze off of him this entire time. He doesn't speak, he can't speak. He can't do anything other than step back into the darkness awaiting him…

And disappear.

"N-no!" Riku cries, distraught as he watches the corridor collapse into nothingness right in front of him. As he watches Sora walk away from him once more. As he leaves nothing behind other than a glimmering Key resting on the shore… and a savage scar strewn across his closest friend's face.

The storm ends almost as soon as Sora leaves. The spikes also fall, disappearing back into the earth he'd pulled them from. Riku remains frozen, still sitting on his knees, one hand absently pressed against his face, the other slowly reaching for the Key. He grips its warm, glowing handle, hating the sacred weapon as much as he wants to hold it close. The last piece of Sora he has left now that he's drifted so very far away, not only from this world, but from the light, from his friends, from him.

It's all too much to take.

His tearful scream echoes across the shore, his fingers digging into the blood-tainted sand below him. His sobs, painful and mournful, come out uncontrollably, his heart crumbling more and more under the massive weight of each one. He cries not for himself, not for his now-mangled face, not even for the pain still shooting powerfully through it; instead he cries for Sora. Only for Sora. Only for the boy he's spent so long searching for… only to end up losing him in nearly every way imaginable.

He doesn't hear Donald and Goofy shouting to him from afar, finally able to get to him now that Sora's spikes are gone. He doesn't even realize they're here until he feels Goofy's hand grip his shoulder, until he briefly spots Donald take stunned stock of his injury before he tries casting a powerful healing spell over it. The magic succeeds in taking a good bit of the immediate sting away, stems the tide of blood trickling from it, but it can't do much to clear such a poignant, heavy wound. It can't even begin to heal what's really hurting him far more than a simple scar ever could.

He doesn't respond to the flood of concerned, curious questions they send his way. He doesn't take either of the hands they offer to him to help him back onto his feet. He doesn't move, doesn't do anything but keep his now singular eye set on the Key resting in his lap, the other one essentially blind from the grave damage done to it. He stares down at the Key, tears streaking down only one side of his face, unable to speak, unable to move, unable to even think. Until he hears a familiar call from the side of the beach.

"Oh, hey! It's you!" he turns only slightly to see Lilo and Stitch running down the shore. It's a bit late for them to still be out, but considering what had happened only a few hours before, Nani had allowed them to set out together on a search for Sora. A search that's, expectantly, turned up completely empty. "Ooh! Cool scar!" Lilo grins obliviously, innocently when she catches sight of his face. "Is it new? How'd you get it?"

"Er… Lilo?" Stitch interjects, shaking his head. Surprisingly, he's able to read the beach a bit better, able to sense the sheer grief hovering over Riku like a shroud.

"Oh, right," Lilo rushes to get back on topic. "You were looking for Sora, right? So are we! Did you ever find him?"

Riku still doesn't answer, instead looking past the pair, to the roaring, nighttime sea beyond them. A sea that's so much like the one back home, a sea he'll likely never get to see with Sora again.

Stitch steps forward, his expression awash in genuine concern at the glaring lack of a reply. "Stitch… have to help Sora," he begins, determined to keep up his end of the promise they'd made. A promise that Sora no longer has to keep now that his own glitches are gone, but even so, Stitch still strives to do what he can to solve Sora's all the same. "Where… is Sora?"

Donald and Goofy exchange a nervous glance, trying to come up with a way to answer such a question in Riku's stead. And yet, Riku does end up finally giving a response, his voice quiet, dejected, utterly heartbroken as he admits something he'd never hoped he'd have to say. As he says something he deeply, despairingly, desperately wishes wasn't true. Even though he knows that it is.

"...He's gone."

Gone… in just about every way someone can be. Far too gone for Riku, for anyone else really, to ever reach again.


WELL THAT SURE WAS A LOT HUH? Honestly though, I'm SORRY to keep this crazy train going like this, but I gotta, especially since we're getting pretty dang close to the end! So next time around we'll have some of the fall out from... all this and it'll be a lot and I'm really looking forward to it. But until then, don't forget to leave me a REVIEW to let me know what you think. Until next time!