Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Souls of the Heart! Woo! Ch15 is here and all that!

Also so many BIG thanks to all you readers out there for this story! I am glad you all enjoy what we got in store for you! Now let's get on with the chapter!

ALSO. We added a small scene back in ch8. It's just a small scene between Riku and Sora, but please check it out!

Ch.15

Sora slowly opened his eyes as he sat up. He blinked a few times to get his eyes in focus to find that he was back on the island, still resting on the beach.

'Well it's about time you woke up,' Vanitas said. 'Now don't go falling back asleep.'

"Hmhm... Sure," Sora thought as he let out a yawn and slowly started to lay back down. But as soon as he did he saw a familiar girl standing over him. With a startled gasped Sora sat back up and turned around to face Kairi. "Don't scare me like that Kairi!" Sora said. He swore he could hear Ventus and Vanitas chuckling slightly, but he let is slide for now.

Kairi laughed, "Sora you're so lazy. I knew that I would find you snoozing down here."

'You do tend to sleep here fairly often,' Ventus said in a light scolding tone.

'Yeah, if you didn't want the girl to discover you than you should find a new place to nap,' Vanitas recommended.

'He shouldn't be sleeping on the job at all.'

Sora shook his head, quickly trying to think of a excuse. "No I wasn't sleeping! I was… I was…" Sora suddenly recalled what he had just dreamt in his small snooze time. "There was this his huge, black thing! It swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe! I couldn't-" Before Sora could continue Kairi gently bopped his on the head.

Kairi giggled again as Sora rubbed his head, "Are still dreaming?"

"It didn't feel like a dream! Or was it? I don't know…" Sora trailed off.

'What do you mean a huge, black thing swallowed you up?' Ventus questioned.

"I don't know how to explain… It was the strangest thing. I'll try to tell you guys later." Sora thought.

Sora turned his attention back to Kair, who was now standing by the shoreline. "It was really bizarre though. I wonder what it was…"

Kairi gave a small shrug, "If you say so."

'Looks like the little princess doesn't believe you,' Vanitas grumbled.

'It does sound weird…' Ventus defended the petite redhead.

"Hey Kairi, I know I have asked before, but are you sure you don't remember what your home world was like?" Sora asked out of random curiosity. He wanted to change the subject away from his dream mostly because he felt a bit upset she didn't believe him.

"As I've said before… I just don't remember anything…" Kairi sighed. "I do wish I could though, so we could talk about it. Maybe if I remember Ven or Vani could tell you if they ever have been there."

'Of course we would!'

'Speak for yourself idiot.'

"Yeah that would be really nice, but I bet we will be able to find your world out there. I really would like to see where you grew up," Sora said with a grin.

"It would be great to visit it again," Kairi said as she turned around to face Sora. "We're so close, it's just so exciting!"

"Hey!" Riku's voice called out. Both Kairi and Sora turned to see Riku walking towards them, carrying a log under his arm. "Don't you guys go forgetting about me." Riku walked a little closer before casually tossing the log over to Sora. "I guess I'm the only one actually working on the raft then."

Sora tried to catch the log, but ended up falling back to the ground with it.

'Ouch. That must of hurt,' Ventus muttered.

'Mini-me is tougher than that a little fall like that is nothing,' Vanitas responded back to Ventus. 'Maybe you should have a bit more faith in our host.'

"Well I didn't expect Riku to just throw it at me like that!" Sora retorted.

'Exactly… the brat should have given you a warning, it's almost as if he was trying to embarass you…' Vanitas commented smoothly.

Sora pouted slightly at Vanitas comment. He was about to reply when he noticed Riku sitting down next to him. He finally brought his attention back to the other conversation.

"How about we have a race?" Kairi suggested as he jumped up and down excitedly.

"Huh?" Sora asked, trying to figure out if he missed anything else being said.

"What, are you kidding?"

Kairi giggled once more before shouting, "Ready? Go!"

Sora and Riku looked at each other for a single second before jumping to their feet. The two took off running along the shoreline, with Kairi just a little ways behind them.

'After all the training we did you can crush the brat in this race,' Vanitas encouraged in how own way.

'Woo! You can do it Sora!' Was Ventus's bubbly cheer.

Sora laughed as he managed to keep pace with Riku all the way to the other side of the island. Once all three of them made it there they stopped to catch their breaths and relaxed for a bit. After all of that the three went to various areas of the island to gather more supplies for their raft. After a brief discussion with Kairi on what items remained, Sora went about the island to get all of them. All he needed to get for today was two logs, some cloth, and rope. And he knew where all of the items where laying.

While he did he saw Riku brining his items over to the other side of the island. As soon as Sora had gathered up a few items he then saw Riku was now sitting down on the paopu tree. Sora paused as he looked over at Riku, "You think after I get the rest of my supplied I should challenge Riku again? Or should I fight again Tidus, Wakka, or Selphie first?" Sora asked in his thoughts.

'Those weaklings? They won't provide much in the way of practice,' Vanitas grumbled.

'You could warm up against them, but if you wear yourself out, than the fight against Riku will be a lot harder.'

"I'll be able to handle it," Sora thoughtfully chuckled. "Plus...the other three...they are friends too. I don't wanna leave them out of having fun."

'You say they are friends, but I don't think you trust them that much since you didn't tell them about us…' Vanitas spoke reasonably.

Sora tensed up slightly, "It's not that I don't trust them… I just...I don't think a lot of people should know about you guys. I do see them as friends though…"

'That is true, I would rather if no one knew about us. Still you have to admit to yourself that if you truly trusted them they would be aware of us. Besides… why do you want to be friends with the weak trio?'

Sora frowned, "They are still nice people. They were never the ones who bullied me. They aren't that weak though! I still have trouble beating all three of them at once."

'That it takes all three of them at once to try and have a chance of beating you means they are weak. Besides they may never have actively bullied you, but they never did anything for you either. They left you at the mercy of the psychopath brat. They stood off to the side and did nothing while everyone else laughed at you. That is just as bad as the actual bullying.'

'They apologize though! They were just kids after all at the time!' Ventus came in.

'So? From what I have learned, parents should teach their kids bullying is wrong, before they even start at this school of theirs.'

"Guys...just drop it. Main point is I see them as some friends. While they may not be as close as Riku or Kairi.. I am still glad to have them as friends," Sora sighed heavily.

'Are you? After all your planning to leave them behind aren't you?' Vanitas asked with a bit of a sneer in his voice.

Sora frowned, "The raft plan is only between me, Kairi and Riku. It would be too hard if they also knew about it. Let's just forget about it...I'll just challenge Riku for the day…" Sora sighed once more and continued gathering the rest of his items. Once Sora had brought over his items for the raft he ran to the smaller islands.

"Hey Riku, ready for another fight?" Sora said as he picked up his wooden sword.

Riku smiled as he jumped off the tree and picked up his own sword. "Alright, you're on."

The two collided with their swords for a moment before both of them jump back from one another. Riku was still far stronger than Sora, but over the years of getting training help from Ventus and Vanitas, he was able to dodge most of Riku's attacks. Most. Sora had just jumped out of the way of one of Riku's attacks and was regaining his composure when he felt the side of the sword collided with his side. He felt back to the ground and saw Riku standing next to him with the sword pointed at him.

"You were close, but I win again." Riku said before helping Sora back up.

"Yeah, but I still got more wins than you right now," Sora boosted cheerfully. "Though the score is 49 to 46 now, but I still am in the lead." Within the last few years the boys had started keeping track of their wins and loses against one another. Just as a fun competition thing. Though at the start of each year they would restart their count, as if they had kept track of every single win in total, they would have lost track by this point.

Riku chuckled, "Well we will see about that."

'Just because he is a year old doesn't mean he will always be stronger. With more training you can crush him in every single battle.'

'If Sora won every battle though, it would get boring after a while.' Ventus said.

'You would rather he be pathetic and weak? Oh… wait I guess you would since that's what you are.' Vanitas commented snidely.

'Hey….' Ventus started, but he didn't continue.

"Vanitas, lay off!" Sora scolded as he scrunched up his nose. It didn't happen often, but there were times where Vanitas seemed crueler and ruder than normal. It was rather hard to deal with him when he was like that, and today seemed like it was going to be one of those days.

"Did Vanitas say something?" Riku asked, figuring out something must have been up by Sora's expression.

"Yeah, he is just being moody today," Sora replied. "He just said some rude things to Ven is all. So I told him to stop."

"I wonder what's got him like that today?" Riku wondered.

Sora shrugged, "You never know with Vani. He never tells how he really feels."

'It's having to deal with you incompetent idiots each day every day,' Vanitas snarked.

'Well you are stuck with us, so too bad for you," Ventus replied with a chuckle.

"Just try to lighten up Vani, we are all having fun here," Sora said. "Ven is right, not everything needs to be about winning."

'When your dying because you lost a fight, and all those precious to you are dying, bleeding out… don't come whining to me. Because if you take life seriously than yes winning is everything. If your not winning you're losing, and that leads to the people you care about being hurt.'

Sora looked down at the ground and let out a long sigh. He felt conflicted by Vantias's words. He did want to protect those dear to him, but he didn't really believe that he had to win everything in order to do so. He was taught that life had its ups and downs. Not everyone could have the perfect life and be great at everything. Sure he had won plenty of fights against Riku, but Riku also won some as well. Sora knew that Riku also cared and wanted to protect everyone… So shouldn't he also win at everything if Vanitas was right? But that would mean Sora would have to lose in order for Riku to win. It was all just too confusing.

"Sora? You alright? What happened now?" Riku asked.

Sora looked back up and shook his head, "Nothing. It's nothing. Vanitas just being himself…" Without a word more Sora walked off the small island and headed back down to the shoreline. As soon as he was down there he sat down and sighed again. He ran his fingers along the sand as he thought over everything again.

'Ignore Vanitas, he's just being mean. Why don't you work on that raft of yours.'

Later on the sun had begun to set, glisting over the ocean. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie had already headed home for the day, but the other three still remained on the island. They always did so they could watch the sunset together on the smaller island. Sora and Kairi sat on the base of the paopu tree while Riku leaned against it.

"So out there really is Kairi's home?" Sora asked.

"Yeah probably. But we'll never know by just staying here."

"But can I raft really take us that far? To other worlds?" Sora asked, recalling how Vanitas was the only one to comment on it being bad idea.

Riku shrugged a little, "Who knows… maybe it can. I we have to, we'll think of something else."

'Yes, because a raft will actually get you to another world, what sort of logic does that come from?'

'You never know Vani,' Ventus said. 'Anything could happen.'

"Now suppose we do get to another world. What would you do when you got there?" Kairi asked with a giggle.

"Well…" Riku paused for a moment, "I haven't really thought about that part. It's just… I've always wondered why we're here on this island. From what Ven and Vani have said there are a lot of other worlds out there. So out of all those worlds, why did we end up on this one? But even with that...with all those other worlds out there, that makes ours just a little piece of something so much greater. It's possible we could have ended up somewhere else, right?"

Sora nodded as he laid back against the tree, "Yeah makes sense, Ven and Vani are from a different world, and same for Kairi. Yet all of you are here now."

'I kinda remember something… being in this place before… before I was to have some kind of fight,' Ventus muttered out loud.

Sora's eyes widened as he sat back up, "Wait! You've been here before Ven?"

Both Riku and Kairi looked over at Sora. "What?" Riku asked.

"Ven said that he was here once before," Sora stated.

'I don't remember much… I think I met someone here… I think… Vanitas… did we meet here, before we ended up in Sora's heart?'

Vanitas remained quiet for a moment a soft hum the only response to let them know he was thinking, 'I think we might have,' He finally stated.

"Ven and Vani say that they once were here and ran into each other," Sora said, relaying it to Riku and Kairi.

"Really when?" Kairi asked.

"They were here before they joined with my heart," Sora answered.

"Do they remember why they were here?" Riku then asked.

'No...I don't remember that much.'

'Neither do I.'

Sora sighed and shook his head, "Sadly they still don't remember all that much."

"Well I bet if we go out there, into other worlds they may remember. Just sitting here isn't going to change a thing. It's the same old stuff. That's why we have to go," Riku said as he looked out at the sunset again.

"You've been thinking a lot about this lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked as she smiled.

Riku nodded, "Thanks to Ven, Vani, and you. If Ven and Vani hadn't joined within Sora's heart and if you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. So thanks, all of you."

Kairi smiled sweetly, "You're welcome."

'Ugh, how pathetically sappy.' Vanitas grumbled.

'Oh shut up Vani, I know you think its cute as well.'

'No I don't.'

Sora chuckled, "I know Vani won't ever say 'you're welcome' but I can tell means it probably."

Vanitas groaned, 'You have infected mini-me with your stupid sappy-ness…'

Both Ventus and Sora laughed while Vanitas just grumbled in annoyance. Sora of course then informed Riku and Kairi what Vanitas had said, much to Vanitas's displeasure. The group chatting a little bit more before the sun had almost completely set. Kairi started to make her way back to the boats first, with Riku and Sora a bit behind.

Sora was halfway across the bridge when he heard Riku call out his name. Sora turned around and quickly reacted as something was thrown at him. A paopu fruit.

"You wanted one, didn't you?" Riku asked with a slight grin on his face.

"A paopu fruit…" Sora muttered as he stared down at it.

"You know the stories. If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what." Riku said as he walked passed Sora, the grin not leaving his face. "C'mon, I know you wanna try it." Riku laughed as he walked away, There was a strong teasing tone in his voice.

"Wh-What?..." Sora said, though knew exactly why Riku had said that. He knew for a fact that Riku was teasing him. He wanted to say some witty comeback, but he couldn't think of anything.

'I bet that brat wants it more… I've seen the way he ogles the little princess.'

'Of course Sora ogles Kairi as well…' Ventus said slyly.

Sora could feel his cheeks redden, "Come on guys...cut it out…" He spoke aloud seeing as he was the only one left on the island now.

'If you weren't so easy to tease they wouldn't do it so often,' Vanitas advised him with snort.

'Sora and Kairi sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!' Ventus started singing causing Sora to blush more.

Vanitas gave a snort as he replied back, 'Then comes blame, then comes despair, two hearts damaged beyond repair. Kairi leaves Sora and takes the children. D-I-V-O-R-C-E.' He responds his voice completely flat.

Sora's eyes widened as he gasped. He then sighed as his face formed into a scowl, "That wasn't very funny Vani…"

'Where did you even hear that?' Ventus demanded.

Vanitas gave a scoff, 'What it's true… typically most marriages end in divorce.'

'Still… that was uncalled for,' Ventus replied.

'I thought you wanted me to complete the riddle since you left off the second half,' Vanitas said a hint of puzzlement in his voice.

'I just wanted to tease Sora, not make him feel bad.'

'Did I make you feel bad mini-me?' Vanitas questioned, his voice still holding confusion in it as if he didn't realize what he said was rude.

There was a pause before Sora responded, his eyes shifted down to the paopu fruit and then off to the sea, "Let's just… forget about it. Okay?" Sora then tossed the paopu fruit off into the water and started heading for the boat to take back home. As he walked he placed a hand over his heart momentarily. It was hard to sense, but there was the slightest stinging feeling in Sora's heart.

Vani was quiet before he muttered, 'I apologize… for my insensitivity.'

Sora didn't say a word until he was sitting down in his boat, rowing back towards the mainland. "Are you really…?" There was a slight bit of uncertainty in his voice.

Vanitas sighed, 'Yes I am, I was… unaware how that might come across… I truly thought that Ventus was leaving the second part to me… will you forgive me, Sora?'

There was again another pause before Sora slowly nodded his head, "Yeah…" Though he forgave Vanitas, there was still the slight hint of sadness in his voice.

'I am sure that whoever you end up with, whether it be Kairi or some other girl… I'm sure you will have a happy ever after,' Vanitas scowled as he felt Ventus's amusement at him.

A small smiled formed across Sora's face, "Thanks Vani."

Vanitas didn't respond, but Sora knew it was because the dark haired boy was embarrassed.

'I bet if we could see Vani right now, he would be blushing like crazy,' Ventus said smugly.

Sora laughed, now feeling a bit better. "Yeah! It's really fun to tease Vani. He has some great reactions to being teased sometimes."

'Hey! You're being mean right after I apologized. That is not very nice.'

'Always trying to defend yourself when you're embarrassed. It's a little cute.' Ventus laughed.

'Oh shut up Ventus, you always get too flustered to even speak!' Vanitas retorted.

"No that's usually you Vani," Sora added in with a chuckle.

Vanitas growled, 'Fine I guess you don't want my help for training then.'

"Hey we are just teasing a little is all. Don't get all 'Mr. Grumpy' on us," Sora replied, having dealt with a grumpy Vanitas many times before. "We'll stop okay?"

'Hmpf,' was the only answer they got.

Ventus couldn't but chuckle again. After ten years of being with Vanitas like this, within Sora's heart, he still couldn't believe how much Vanitas had changed. He could still recall the memories from before, back before he joined Sora. He remembered how cruel and rude Vanitas was. Causing trouble everywhere and fighting against him. But now… things felt different. Vanitas had changed over the years. He was still a bit cruel or rude at times, but not at all like before. Being with Sora had changed him. Living with Sora had changed both of them, but Ventus didn't mind. He once saw Vanitas as his enemy, but now he actually saw him… like a brother. Both of them, two brothers together, watching over their little brother Sora.

And that ends another chapter of this story. So yes we will be going through the KH1 story but with this version of Sora with Ventus and Vanitas. So different interactions and such!

But it will take more time before we get there. As of right now this was the last prewritten chapter TheDeadGirlRisen and I had. And now that summer is over and we both got college, our time is a little more limited. So the next chapter may not happen for a little while. But please bear with us as we get to it when we can.

I know I say it a lot, but thank you all so much for reading this story!