We decided to wait a bit until posting this next chapter, but I hope you all are doing good! Now right where we left of... the Riku reunion! Yay!

Ch.31

"Riku!" Sora shouted rushing over to his friend with a grin as he threw his arms around the other boy, "I missed you!"

Riku had to brace himself, making sure that Sora didn't tackle him to the ground. Once he found himself stable he smiled and placed his arms around Sora. "Hey careful there."

"Sorry," Sora apologized and raised a hand to his face to wipe away the tears that were quickly forming. He had missed Riku, and seeing the boy again made it feel as if some part of him that had been missing had returned at last. "I'm not dreaming am I?" He questioned nervous that this was just a dream, and he would wake up to find that Riku wasn't there.

"Course not, I'm right here. Sorry I couldn't find you sooner," Riku replied.

"I'm just glad you're here now, I was looking for you as well," Sora said grinning up at his friend who was still taller than him. "I really missed you Riku… I… I was really worried about you. When you just… disappeared."

Sora lowered his head as he tried to keep the tears from showing again. Yet, the memory came back to him from when the islands were being destroyed. How Riku casually stayed there as the darkness engulfed him, and then vanished the next moment. Sora had never felt so terrified as in that moment. Scared that he would never see Riku again or that something terrible had happened to him.

Sora felt Riku pull him back into another hug. Riku slowly ran his hand through Sora's hair before he spoke up again, "I'm really sorry that I did that. I was so intent on getting off the island I forgot what was more important."

"At least we both made it off safely… there were so many Heartless…" Sora said, letting a few of the tears run down his cheeks as the memories danced around in his mind again.

"I know," Riku whispered. "I shouldn't have left you there on your own."

"I wasn't alone," Sora whispered back with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes, though the twinkle disappeared quickly as the overwhelming guilt crushed him. "I should have been able to reach your hand…"

"It's all in the past now. We're here now, together again," Riku said before finally pulling away from the hug. "We finally made it to another world. Finally free from our little island."

"Yeah, we are… we did it."

"Now all we gotta do is find Kairi," Riku said before looking up to the star filled skies. "She may be out there somewhere if she isn't in this world."

Sora gave Riku a smile, "I think I know some brothers who know where she is," He told Riku, cautious about Donald and Goofy overhearing him. The two of them had stepped back a bit once they saw that Sora had found his friend and needed some time to reunite with him.

Riku turned back to look at him, blinking in surprise. "Really? How… do they know?"

"She's with them, but… sleeping," he answered with a whisper.

"You mean…" Riku trailed off as he casually moved his hand over his chest, as if to scratch an itch. But the indication was clear to Sora what he was trying to refer to.

He just nodded in response, "Yeah."

Riku started to look confused, but it was quickly brushed off. "That's good to know then. But now we would just have to find a way… you know…"

"Yeah… I know… I don't have any clue… but, I have so much to tell you, a lot has happened since that night."

They both turned as they heard a noise and saw a shadow Heartless emerge, Sora reacted on instinct and summoned his keyblade and destroyed the Heartless, before glancing back towards Riku with a grin. He wondered if Riku would be proud of him, he wanted his friend to see how strong he has become.

Riku stared at him with wide eyes, "What? How did you even… what is that you're using Sora?"

"It's a keyblade, I've been using it and magic to stop the Heartless from consuming worlds like they did ours… I can't let other worlds fall into darkness… not if I can stop it…"

"Wow, sounds like you've been pretty busy then," Riku smiled before going to ruffle Sora's hair.

"Yeah, but now that we're together we can fight Heartless together! Just like the good old days when we played on the island."

"Sounds like a good plan. We gotta stick together anyways. I gotta see you being the hero in action, stepping up and all."

"Yeah, we can go on the gummi ship, save worlds! I've been able to travel around via the help of these two," He nods his head a bit in Donald's and Goofy's direction.

"And… they are?" Riku asked. He raised an eyebrow at the other two, finding it a bit odd that Sora was actually working with others.

"My name is Donald!" his duck companion chimed into the conversation and stepped up.

"And I'm Goofy."

Sora gave a slightly exasperated look to Riku, Donald and Goofy were all right most of the time… but it was times like these that he felt especially annoyed. They had clearly been eavesdropping as they didn't wait for Sora to call them over to them.

"Nice to meet you," Riku said, at least trying to be polite. He then focused back on Sora. "So you've already been to other worlds then?"

"Yeah! I've been to this world called Olympus Coliseum, and Wonderland, and Deep Jungle," He informed Riku excitedly.

"Sora," Donald cut in, "You shouldn't be talking so loudly about other worlds. Gotta protect the world order and all."

"But Riku knows about other worlds. He made it here after all," Sora retorted with a slight scowl.

"I don't see a problem with it Donald," Goofy said. "After all, Riku is one of Sora's friends that he has been lookin' for. It should be fine to let Riku know about what Sora's been doin'."

Sora gave a small smile to Goofy, he was really starting to like the dog's easy going nature. "What have you been up to Riku?"

"Look for you and Kairi of course," Riku replied, "But it seems like you have been achieving far more than I have. Lucky you."

Sora gave a bit of a frown at the tone in Riku's voice, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the compliment sounded… off.

'Sora… the darkness around Riku has grown since we last saw him,' Vanitas informed hesitantly.

"Don't say things like that!" Sora replied quickly. "I don't want to think about any of that! Riku wouldn't do that…"

'It's not bad, he just has to keep balance, like you Sora.'

"I guess so… but don't worry me like that," Sora said before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

"We found each other Riku. That's what is more important. I don't know how much longer I could be without you, without someone who knows me..."

"Like I said before, I'm here for you now. That was my plan anyways to find you and Kairi. Looks like I'm half way there now," Riku smiled to Sora, hoping to cheer him up a bit.

"Let's go help," Sora said with a grin as he hugged Riku again.

"He can't come," Donald squaked before crossing his arms.

"What?"

"Forget it," Donald grumbled.

"Riku's my friend! He has to come with me!" Sora responded glaring a bit at Donald, still upset with him for the whole Deep Jungle incident. Riku placed a comforting hand on Sora's shoulder helping him to stay calm.

Goofy leaned closer to Donald. "If it's about the number of seats, surely we can ask Cid to help install another one."

"No," Donald shook his head. "We were told to find Sora and help him and that's it."

"Well I'm not leaving my friend!"

"I don't care!"

Sora flinched back at that, as if he had been physically struck. His emotions still raw from reuniting with Riku, he started to tear up, he couldn't help it. It was just that Donald reminded him of the kids when he had been younger, how they hadn't cared when he had been bullied, how they had just ignored him or made fun of him. He turned and fled.

A little short chapter, but hmmmm them angsty feels have come back. Poor Sora... what's going to happen now? Thanks for checking out the story! Let's us know what you thought!