The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 2: Morning Light

Chapter 2 is here! By the way, if anyone is interested, I could use a beta reader. I'm not entirely pleased with this chapter, and I think it'd help to get some feedback on the next before I post it. Just drop me a PM or mention it in a review if you're interested. Chapter 3 should be forthcoming shortly...I finally got an idea for the direction the story might take, so I'll probably write that up sometime in the next couple days.

Standard disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix and Disney, not me.

Everything was dark. The darkness closed in on Riku, almost tangibly oppressive. He found it difficult to breathe. Huddled in on himself, he wrapped his arms around his shoulders and shivered. He listened carefully, but there was no sound, only his own ragged breathing.

After a while, a distant glimmer of light appeared, slowly growing as it became clearer. It was a beach - a sunlit beach of golden-white sand, lined with palm trees. Along that beach ran several familiar figures, laughing - Tidus and Wakka tossed a ball back and forth, and Selphie ran circles around them, trying to distract them from their game. As Riku watched, Kairi approached them, waving. They stopped their game and waved back eagerly, running to join her.

"They look happy, don't they?"

Riku looked up, seeing Sora standing next to him. "Sora! Where did you -"

Sora waved a hand dismissively. "Doesn't matter. I'm not staying, anyway." He took a few steps towards the distant vision, waving over his shoulder casually. "Bye, Riku. Too bad you can't come."

"Wait!" Riku stood, stretching out a hand for his friend, but he found his feet rooted to the spot. Looking down, he saw tendrils of darkness wrapping around his ankles like chains. He struggled against them, but Sora continued to walk, his feet finally stepping from the misty darkness onto golden sand. Laughing, he ran to join the others, who waved excitedly to greet him. The vision began to fade, its light fading with it, as Riku struggled. "Don't go! Wait, I'll be there as soon as I get free!" But the vision continued to fade until it vanished entirely.

Riku sank into a crouch, his eyes stinging. Folding his arms over his knees, he buried his face in them. He was alone again, alone in a darkness so complete he wondered if he might ever find the light again. Sora was gone, Kairi was gone, his other friends from the island, his parents - he'd lost everyone and everything. What was left to him?

The darkness was bad enough, but the cold that began to spread through Riku was something else. His loneliness was a sharp pain in his heart, and he could not stop shivering. Somehow the darkness was more terrifying - could he face it alone? He had insisted on doing everything alone before, on trying to save Kairi by himself, and to do so he had used the darkness - which had, of course, led to his downfall. He wasn't sure he could stand being alone again.

"No!" he yelled suddenly, throwing his head back.

Riku awoke slowly, as if swimming up out of his dreams. He blinked blearily, looking around at the meadow and wondering just where he was. For a while there was only confusion, but presently he took a deep breath and burrowed his head deeper into his hood. "It was just a dream," he whispered. He shivered, but not with cold. After a moment, he raised his head to look over and reassure himself that Mickey was still there.

He was. In fact, he was sitting up and looking at Riku, a concerned expression on his face. "You okay, pal?"

"Oh, uh…" Riku flushed, embarrassed. "I'm all right. Just a bad dream."

The king smiled. "Not too surprisin'. Some of the stuff ya see in the realm of darkness - well, it'd give you enough nightmares to last a lifetime, I'll bet. You've only been asleep maybe an hour. See, it's getting lighter - I think the sun'll be rising any time now. Better get some more sleep, though - I think we both need it."

Riku nodded. "You're probably right."

"Think you can sleep now?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I think so. Just had to remind myself I'm not alone. It…helps, a bit."

Mickey grinned. "Yeah, I'm right here, pal." He covered a huge yawn with a gloved hand. "Not that I'll be awake…I was just about to fall asleep myself. Well, g'night, then! Or good morning, as the case may be."

Riku nodded, then rolled over and pulled the coat more tightly around himself. He was facing east now, and he could see the golden-pink glow on the horizon that promised sunrise was only moments away. Suppressing a yawn, Riku watched it in silence.

The sun rose slowly, gently spilling its light across the meadows and tingeing everything in rosy gold. The sharp chill of the early morning air softened a little as Riku felt the tiniest bit of warmth touch his face. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply and settling back with a soft sigh.

The light felt good.

A loud snore emitted from behind him. Riku couldn't help but grin at that. He didn't have long to worry about the snoring though, because exhaustion washed over him again, and sleep took him before long. He lapsed back into unconsciousness as the sun's light spread across the fields. This time, he did not dream.

When Riku awoke the second time, the sun was high in the sky. A small stand of bushes nearby shaded him from the full strength of the light, but nevertheless, his coat felt very warm, the black leather having soaked up the heat of the sun. Riku yawned and sat up, unzipping the coat and flapping it a little to fan himself.

"Morning! How ya feeling?" Mickey sat a little ways off, scribbling in a small notebook.

Riku grinned. "A lot better, actually. I still feel kind of tired, but…I really needed that sleep."

"I'm not surprised! If you think about it, what have you been up to recently? First, running around the universe using dark powers and trying to do everything single-handedly, then being controlled by Ansem, then getting locked up in Kingdom Hearts with me, where time just doesn't work much like it does in other worlds. On top of that, you got pulled to Castle Oblivion, where we know time plays tricks on you along with everything else, and when was the last time you got a decent sleep? You earned it, if you ask me!"

Riku chuckled a little, trying not to tense as Mickey chronicled his recent experiences. It was all true, that was what had happened, and he'd better get used to it. There was absolutely no blame in the king's voice, and for that Riku was infinitely grateful.

Riku went to go sit beside the mouse. "So…what do we do now?"

"Hmm." Mickey tapped his nose with his pen. "Well, seems t'me the first order of business is breakfast!"

At the mere mention of the word, Riku's stomach growled loudly. He flushed a little. Mickey laughed. "Thought so. Just as we both needed some sleep, it's been a long time since the last decent meal, hasn't it?"

"But where are we going to find food around here? Unless you've got some with you, I don't see a lot - just grass and trees."

"It's a problem, that's for sure. But I've got a feelin' that if we just keep walkin', we'll come across something soon enough. This road can't go on forever, right?"

Riku would have made a cynical comment that for all they knew, it might, but the king's grin was far too cheerful. He couldn't help but smile back a little bit. "I guess you're right. Well, since we haven't got much else to do, let's keep walking."

"Right." The king closed his notebook, stuck the pen in its spiral binding, and secured both in one of his coat pockets. The two of them stood and began walking eastward along the path.

"So, can I ask what you're writing?" Riku gestured at Mickey's pocket.

"Oh, that? A habit I picked up while traveling by myself. After all, I left home to try to figure out a mystery. When ya haven't got anyone to talk to about it, it helps to write down your thoughts."

"So what thoughts have you had? You could tell me, now that we're traveling together." Riku laced his fingers behind his head as they walked, enjoying the late morning sun.

"All right, then. Well - I was wondering this morning, just what happened when we closed the door to darkness?"

Riku pondered that for a moment. "Well, what was supposed to happen? The darkness was sealed, and the Heartless stopped overrunning the worlds, right? And the worlds that had been destroyed were restored, weren't they? Like…my island." He glanced sidelong at the king. "It…was restored, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sure it was. All the vanished worlds would've returned. But everyone was supposed to return to their own worlds, too, and we didn't," Mickey pointed out. "Sora didn't, and neither did Goofy or Donald. There's a reason for that, of course - I'm thinkin' it's mostly because we all have unfinished business. But it makes me wonder - are the barriers between the worlds really restored? They can't be entirely, or we couldn't have gotten to this place from the realm of darkness."

"I suppose that makes sense. But how did you get here, anyway? I still don't quite get that. For that matter, I don't know how I got here!"

"Oh, I've been thinkin' 'bout that, too. I think you came here because Sora was here."

Riku blinked. "But…if it were that easy, how come we didn't find each other right away after our island was destroyed? Why couldn't I find Kairi? You can't just think about your friends and appear next to them!"

"Nope! But you two've been through a lot. You're both Keyblade masters - even though you're just a potential one. You have a part to play, a purpose for the light, I'm sure."

"So, what, is this some sort of destiny crap?" Riku grinned.

"Call it what you like! But I'll just betcha that you and Sora will end up working together again before long. He's your friend, and he's stuck by you, right?"

"Well, yeah. Even when…well, after all I did, I sure wouldn't have blamed him if he'd abandoned me. But he didn't."

Mickey grinned. "That's right! And maybe because of that, the two of you have a bond that brought you here. The Keyblade might have something to do with it, too, but I'm not sure. Still, that's how I got here - at least partly. I focused on the Keyblade when I was trying to get to you from the realm of darkness." A silver handle appeared in Mickey's hand, and the Keyblade glinted golden in the sunlight before it vanished again.

"Oh yeah, your Keyblade!" Riku blinked. "I'd almost forgotten about that. So much was happening, and then my memory goes blank shortly after we closed the door - but I do remember you using your Keyblade to seal it. But…how many Keyblades are there? I thought there was supposed to be just one."

"You've seen another too, though, right?" Mickey pointed out. "In fact, you - or I should say, Ansem made it."

"…Yeah. The black Keyblade." Riku thought for a moment. "I don't actually remember a whole lot of that. I mean, I remember what it was, and what it was supposed to be for, but not…how, or why. Was it…well, real, or just a dark imitation?"

Mickey shrugged. "There's two Keyblades - mine, and Sora's. What Ansem made was something else, though it worked kinda the same in some ways. I don't really get it myself, yet. It's one of the things I've been tryin' to figure out. Believe it or not, I still have just as many questions about the Keyblades as you or Sora, I bet!"

"Heh. Nothing but more questions, huh?" Riku sighed. "Well, hopefully we'll find at least a few answers on this journey." He eyed the path ahead of them, which wound slowly up a tall hill. "Wonder if there's anything beyond that hill, or just more fields."

"Well, we won't find out unless we keep goin', right?" Mickey grinned again.

Riku smiled back. "I guess you're right."

They continued to walk, in no particular hurry, but not dawdling, either. Whether there was anything ahead or not, they certainly weren't going to get answers or fill their stomachs by waiting around.

After a few minutes, they crested the top of the hill. Riku smiled as a bit of breeze ruffled his hair - it felt good. He looked down, then whistled low as his aqua-green eyes widened. "Well, would you look at that…"

Aaaaand there you go. Chapter 2. When I wrote it, I cheated - I actually didn't know what they saw over the hill. But I waited on uploading the chapter until I could reread it and decide whether to keep it or not, and I think it isn't bad - and now I know what's going to happen next. :P Good plan generally, when you're writing. So, next chapter up soon.

Also, reviews make me feel warm and squishy inside.