So I just wanted to say sorry for the late time again, I have to excuse for it being uploaded this late. But we have broken the 100 page mark in this story so yay for that? No...okay. Anyways onto the normal things.
Thank you to: SoraKairiRikuNamine for leaving a review! I'm glad you are loving this story! Makes me feel good to know that people are enjoying this as much as I am! And know that I will always compliment you no matter what! You are amazing!
Also thank you to: v.t.7. for always leaving me a review! I always love hearing what you have to say and what your theories are. And I will let you know that you are right about something...BUT I'm not going to tell you what part you are right about. Gotta keep ya in suspense!

And as always, thank you to everyone who is reading this, my first fic, you all gave me my confidence back in my writing! So thank you!

Enjoy!


After Riku's incident in the tower, his treatments were put on hold until his body became strong enough to deal with the treatments once again. Mickey, Minnie, Sora and Kairi had all agreed that it would be best for Riku to not be told the real reason why his treatments were put on hold.

He started to visit healers every other day to deal with his weight. They kept him on the special broth Minnie had made for him, yet they had to push him to eat solid food again. The first time he did eat something solid his stomach cramped up horribly and he was forced to throw it up. Slowly he got better with eat but Riku had yet to eat anything close to a full meal.

Since he eat so little during his treatment time his muscles had already began to show signs of atrophy. He also underwent forms of physical therapy to get his strength back. During that time Riku had to use a cane to help him walk. Which caused him to be teased to no end. Something about how his hair now finally made sense since he had a cane.

Yet, like with a Keyblade, he was deadly with it. It only took a few hits to the shins, on Sora's end, and a few threats, on Kairi's end, the jokes finally ended.

Even with going to all the healers and therapists not everything that happened to him in that time could be reversed. Riku had noticed during one of his strength building session he would always be out of breath. When he would be working to improve his Keyblade skills he could never do something longer than 10 minutes before getting very short of breath. He brought it up to one of his healers, who immediately checked his lungs. The news wasn't good. It seemed like the "fluid" that was in his chest had yet to fully disappear. And what had gone away had left scarring in his lungs. It seemed his breathing would be in a constant poor state.

During this once more challenging time Sora and Kairi had been with him. Helping him get through his therapy, and helping him around the castle when needed. With his friends by him he was happy to say that the voice had left him alone. The three of them kept track of how many days it had been since the last time he had heard the voice. And he was proud to say that he had gone two whole months without hearing anything. Sadly that was going to change.

When Mickey saw how well Riku was progressing through his therapy he felt that it was time for Sora and Kairi to set out into the worlds. Donald and Goofy needed help fighting the heartless and in investigating the source of the growing darkness. At first Riku understood why the King had sent them out and not have him go along. But as he progressed and got stronger he started to question the King. Yet he got the same answer. He just wasn't ready yet. Even when Riku was back to 100% he was still told that he wasn't ready yet.

Jealousy and anger burned hot within him. Jealous of the time Kairi was spending with Sora. Jealous of the stories that they would share over dinner. Jealous when they told stories of seeing old friends again. Angry that he wasn't there. Angry that everyone said that he was still too weak to do anything to help. Angry at the King for being the cause of this jealousy and anger.

For another three months this continued.

During dinner one night Kairi was talking about how she and Sora were fighting off a horde of Heartless in Traverse Town. And how she had gotten separated from Sora and the others.

Riku scoffed loudly at that, which made a few people glance his direction. She was always making stupid mistakes like that. In his mind she would always be the damsel in distress. Just because you could wield a keyblade doesn't mean you know how to fight.

Yet Kairi continued to tell her story. She was trying to fight her way back to the group when a Darkside dropped down in front of her. She went on to talk about how she was trying to fight it but knew that she wouldn't be able to handle it on her own. Even with her range of very strong light attacks.

Once more Riku scoffed. He didn't understand why she was even out in the field anyways. Out of all of them, he was the one with the most experience with the darkness.

Still Kairi continued.

When she thought she was done for, Sora came in and saved her. Like always.

"Hey I think you held up great against that Darkside Kairi." Sora added. "I don't think many of us could have held out that long."

Riku leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. He and Mickey took on three of them when they shut the door. He knew he could of taken down that Darkside by himself.

Kairi, finally having enough of Riku's attitude spoke up.

"Alright Riku, what is your problem? You've been shaking your head and scoffing the whole time I was talking. What is it."

Riku chuckled darkly. It was funny to see her this upset.

"You always need saving, Kairi. How can you even possibly think that you can be a keyblade master when you need someone to save you all the time?"

"Hey Riku that isn't true! She held her own out there!" Sora said, quickly stepping in to defend her.

He's defending her again.

Riku slightly twitched at the sound of the voice. It was back.

"How can she handle the Darkness when she has no experience with the Darkness?!" Riku pointed out. "If she is ever alone in a fight, she will die. Princess of Heart or not, she will die."

Sora glared at Riku.

"She won't die Riku. Because I will be there to protect her."

Only protect her, hmm. He only cares for the girl. When will you finally see that boy.

Sadly he was finally starting to see the truth.

"For now, you'll be there. Just wait until the fights get harder, longer. You both will have to be split up eventually. What is she going to do then?" Riku pointed out. "If she can't handle herself now, how can she even hope to last in a war?"

"What war Riku? We aren't fighting any war." Kairi said.

Riku grinned. "Not yet. But eventually we will be."

An ominous feeling settled heavy in the room. Somehow Riku's words had power behind them. Like he knew there was going to be war.

Mickey cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention.

"Riku, I believe it is time we start your treatments again."

Riku shook his head.
"No. Not until I get out in the field and show that I can handle myself better than she can. It's suicide for her and anyone fighting with her when she's out there."

"We are starting your treatments tomorrow morning. You have no say in it anymore." Mickey said.

"I never did!" Riku shouted. "All this time I've been kept here. Never aloud to go outside of this world and actually help. I know the darkness better than anyone here. I know what it can do…"

Suddenly it was all clear to him. It didn't matter how strong he was, or how strong he became, they didn't want him out fighting because of the darkness. They were afraid it would take him over. Somewhere deep in his mind he knew they were right to be afraid of that but he wasn't going to listen to reason.

"You all think I'll lose control." Riku spoke softly. "That's why you don't want me to fight. You are afraid that you will lose your control over me."

No one spoke.

"That what it is isn't it!" He paused. "Isn't it!"

"Riku, you don't understand…" Kairi began.

"For the love of all that is good Kairi, shut up! I don't care about what you have to say. I never have and probably never will!" Riku shouted. "So be a good Princess and do what you are told."

Kairi's eyes filled with tears and she stood up and ran from the room. But she had one last thing to say to him before she left.

"The reason why we don't want you to fight is because you died that day! Your darkness killed you!"

And with that confession she was gone.

The group sat stunned, Riku was never suppose to know what happened. Yet now it was out in the open. He knew.

Riku looked around the table, waiting for someone to speak up. The darkness that was growing inside Riku sank back, it had played it's part for now.

"Is it true, what she said. Is it true?" Riku asked. He tried to make eye contact with Sora, but Sora wouldn't look at him.

"Yes. It is true." Mickey said, breaking the silence. Minnie tried to stop him from saying more but he shook his head. Riku needed to know. It wasn't right for them to keep it from Riku.

"You were dead Riku. The healers couldn't bring you back. You were gone." Mickey continued. "Your darkness overpowered you, and with your body in a weakened state, it couldn't handle the stress. Your heart gave out and you passed away."

Riku suddenly felt very weak.

"W-why wasn't I told about this sooner?" He looked at Mickey. "I had a right to know!"

Mickey nodded.

"You are right, we should have told you. We were afraid that if you knew it would hinder your chances of getting better."

Riku shook his head. How could anyone process something like this calmly.

"We thought we were doing the right thing Riku." Sora said, finally meeting Riku's gaze.

Riku stared at Sora, "How did I come back? I-I mean if the healers couldn't do anything then how did I come back?"

Sora shook his head.

"We don't know, no one knows. But you made it back, that's all that matters to me." Sora said with a small, yet sad, smile.

Riku nodded and looked down at his full plate of food, suddenly he wasn't hungry. He stood slowly.

"Uh...if you guys see Kairi before I do, tell her I'm sorry. I don't know why I said any of that…"

"Of course, deary. But I'm sure that she already knows that you didn't mean any of it." Minnie said gently.

Riku offered one more nod before heading up to his room. It had been a long enough day. He was ready to sleep.

Little did the group know that those three months was what the darkness needed to finally mature into the monster it had become. All it needed was a little longer and it would be free.

Riku spent his morning walking around the ground of the castle. He didn't feel like it would be a good idea for him to be around anyone after his outburst last night. Maybe being alone for sometime would be good for him. But he was never alone. That voice kept talking to him, saying that it was almost over. What was almost over? Riku had an unshakable feeling of dread, what was going to happen to him? To the others?

He felt sick to his stomach, nothing good was going to happen soon. He knew it.

"Hey Riku!" Sora called out to him. He had been looking for him all morning.

Riku offered Sora a hint of a smile, but he couldn't muster up anymore more than that.

"Look Riku...about last night." Sora began as he caught up to Riku.

"Look Sora it's okay. We don't have to talk about it." Riku said. His heart was aching for some reason.

Sora shook his head, no he wanted to talk about it.

"Riku, I wanted to tell you what happened but I didn't know how, or how to do it the right way…"

Riku nodded.

"Really Sora I understand. I mean how can you tell someone that they died? There is no right way to say that."

"I know, but I'm sorry Riku. You are my best friend, and I didn't want to hurt you. You know that right?" Sora asked.

"Of course I know that." Riku said.

Sora suddenly smiled brightly.
"Good, but I have a way to really make it up to you!"

Riku groaned inwardly. Whenever Sora got like this, it never ended good for them.

"Hey now, don't get like that. You'll like it I promise." Sora said, grabbing Riku's hand and pulled him to a distant shed.

"Sora what are you doing?" Riku asked as Sora opened the large doors. There sat the Gummi Ship. Oh he really didn't like where this was going now.

"You are going to visit some worlds with me today Riku!" Sora said proudly. He pulled Riku over to the Gummi Ship before Riku could protest. He was already climbing in before Sora let him get a word in.

"Sora I really don't think this is a good idea. You don't know what could happen if we get into a fight." Riku protested.

Sora sat in the pilot seat.

"And neither do you know sit down and buckle up because we are ready to travel!"

Riku sighed and did what he was told, protesting the whole time.

"Sora you know my breathing isn't good. If we have to run I don't know how far I'll make it before I have to stop."

Sora shrugged.

"We will deal with that if we have to, now just relax because we are going to Traverse Town. Everyone's been waiting to see you."

Riku couldn't say anything else because they were already flying and traveling between the worlds.

Sora wasn't the smoothest pilot but at least Riku didn't throw up. So that was a good thing, right?

Riku stumbled out of the ship grumbling complaints under his breath.

"Come on it wasn't that bad Riku!" Sora said, jumping out of the ship and practically skipping as he walked.

"I told you to not barrel roll through those asteroids! And what did you do?"

"I had fun, unlike you Mr. Grumpy." Sora teased, before pulling Riku along with him.

They traveled down the seemingly deserted street, he really hoped Sora knew where he was going. It's been so long since he was through here that he had forgotten where everything was. As they walked Riku could have sworn that he saw something moving around them. He asked Sora but he said he didn't see anything. Riku shook his head. Great he was starting to see things again.

Sora was talking as they turned down an alley. Riku saw scorch marks along the building, along with chunks of the building was missing.

"Is this where you guys fought the Darkside?" Riku asked, pausing to look around.

Sora turned back and nodded. "Yeah, it came down right where you are standing. I was two streets over when I saw it come down. It's strange though...I thought we fixed all of this area before we left."

Riku gave Sora a worried look, that didn't sound good for them.

"Let's keep moving Sora. I don't think we want to stay in one place for too long."

Sora nodded, his Keyblade bursted into life. They could never be too care these days. Riku would summon his Keyblade, but he feared which one would come forth. His Soul Eater, or the Keyblade of Hearts.

They didn't travel too far before the ground trembled under them. Flashing a look at Sora, they ran. He thought it was too quiet. Soon mounds of Heartless where behind them. Riku could already feel his lung burning but they couldn't stop running. They would be overwhelmed in seconds if they did.

Another quake rocked them off their feet. Something big had landed near them.

Riku looked back and saw the Heartless catching up to them. He scrambled to his feet and tried to pull Sora up. They had to move. But the quakes kept them off balance, the Heartless where on them.

At the last moment Riku managed to put up a dark shield. He knew it wouldn't hold long as the Heartless slammed into it. Riku looked down at Sora.

"You okay?"

Sora nodded.

"We'll be trapped if we don't move. I think it's another Darkside."

Riku groaned, his heart was killing him. His lungs burned, running was not an option for him anymore. Fighting would be pushing it. But that's the only way he could think of how they could get out of this mess.

His shield was beginning to crack. The Heartless were hitting it as hard as they could.

"Alright...let's try and run. I take the shield down then you need to send them back so we can-" Riku looked up and saw not one Darksides, but two Darksides staring down at them.

Running wasn't an option anymore. Both exits were blocked. They would have to fight.

"Riku." Sora said very seriously.

Riku looked down at Sora, who was starting to stand.

"You can do this. We will get out of this."

Riku nodded, he didn't know how true that was. His lungs burned, so did his heart. All he could do was buy Sora enough time to get out of here and back to the ship. That would be good enough for him. He could handle going out like that. He already died once, he knew what it was like.

Riku made the dark shield explode, pushing the heartless away from them. They were ready for the fight.

And a fight it was. Trying to dodge thousands of Heartless and two Darksides in such a small area, was nothing short of impossible. Sora had already gone into Valor form to stop himself from going down. But they fight had already gone on too long, Sora couldn't risk going into Master form incase it wasn't enough.

Riku could go much longer, his reactions were getting slow. He was knocked to the ground by a Darkside and a number of Heartless were going to attack Sora from behind. He couldn't move, the Darkside was keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Sora!" Riku shouted. He saw Sora turn but it was too late. The Heartless were on him. Riku's mind flashed back to his nightmares. They were coming true.

"No!" Riku shouted, then a dark fog covered everything. He couldn't see anything. But he felt great. He looked down and he saw that his Dark Mode had taken over once more. Wait, wasn't the Darkside pinning him down a second ago. Riku glance up and saw the Ansem's Guardian holding up the hand. His stomach turned over. Ansem's Guardian had sprouted out of his back. He knew he should be freaking out but he was going to use this power to his advantage. The Guardian twisted the Darksides hand around, before tearing it off of it's arm and threw it at a bunch of Heartless, killing them.

The Darkside roared out in pain. Riku flew up to the injured Darkside and swiftly decapitated it. It headless body crumbled, taking a few buildings with it before it disappeared.

Riku looked down at Sora who was still under the Heartless and darted to him. He was stopped by the second Darkside. Riku snarled. It was in his way. He was tired of things getting in his way. Like the one before it, it went down quickly, with it's head cut cleanly off. By the time he got to Sora the Heartless had start to disappear. Oh they weren't getting away that easily. He commanded them to stop. The Guardian took care of them swiftly.

By the time Sora was on his feet the Heartless were gone. Chest heaving Sora grinned.

"It would have been nice if you would have done that sooner Ri-"

Sora froze when he saw just how Riku took care of everything. Not only was Riku in his Dark Form, Ansem's Guardian was floating behind him.

"Look Sora, I know this looks really bad, but I am in full control. The guardian only listens to me."

Sora still couldn't move. Here he thought Riku dieing was the scariest thing he could see, but seeing Riku now, scared him the most.

"Sora?"

He shook his head.

"Y-yeah...okay I think it's time we head back to the castle." Sora said, brushing by Riku.

Anger flared in Riku, he heard the Guardian growl behind him. "You know I did just save your life Sora! I took down both of the Darksides and the Heartless that were on you!"

Sora nodded. He was still scared, but who could blame him.

"I'm sorry Riku...thank you for saving me. But could you please go back to normal. It's scary seeing you like this…"

Riku really didn't want to. But seeing Sora scared hurt him even more, so reluctantly the Guardian faded as well as his Dark Form. Sora visibly relaxed when Riku was back to normal. The walk back to the Gummi ship was awkwardly quiet as was the trip back home.

Before Sora could leave the shed that held the ship he stopped Sora and hugged him tight.

"I really am sorry for scaring you Sora." Riku said softly. "I only wanted to protect you."

It took a few moments but Sora hugged him back. Maybe tighter than Riku was holding him.

"I know...just don't scare me like that again. Okay?"

Riku nodded, he could feel Sora shaking as he held him. He pressed a kiss on the top of Sora's head.

"I promise."