Thanks for the reviews, guys! I really appreciate it. And now, for you, the 'real' chapter one, since that first thing was more of a prelude than a real chapter.

Yay.

Things are no longer what they seem to be.

Balance is amiss.

Please,
Be on your guard.

Sora stared out at the ocean, letter still clutched in his right hand. His expression was a stiff one; perhaps the stiffest it had been since he'd gotten home. He almost reminded himself of Riku, feeling all solemn and serious like that. And yet, not even that comparison could bring a grin to his face.

It was that ... stupid letter.

Glancing down at his right hand again, Sora felt his chest tighten in discomfort. It would have been much better if the King had at least signed it or something. The only hint of him was the small insignia embedded into the ribbon around the letter, and now Sora wasn't even sure that was real. He'd been more trusting before everything had happened to him, before all the stuff with the different worlds and the Keyblades.

The experience had been awesome, but ... well, whereas before he would have immediately believed the letter's contents, now he wasn't feeling so sure.

Especially when it was the letter itself telling him not to believe what he was seeing.

"Stupid letter."

It hit the sand with a soft plop, the sound entirely ungratifying for the force that it had been thrown to the ground with. Not moving from his perch on the tree trunk, Sora stared down at it in accusation. "We already beat Xemnas and the Organization," he muttered at it, the now-empty fingers of his right hand tightening into a fist. Gesturing in a sudden angered swipe at the letter, Sora felt his voice raise despite himself. "What else do you want?"

It fluttered briefly in the breeze, but otherwise did nothing.

Breathing hard through his nose, Sora gave a sigh and turned his head the other way. His fisted hand relaxed, slowly falling back onto the trunk beside him as his eyes stared back in the direction of the town lights. Some of the stiffness left his expression then, heart warmed by the thought of just returning to town and getting back inside his house. Kairi and Riku could come, and they could curl up in the living room with blankets and pillows and popcorn, watch some movies, tell ghost stories, and just ... have fun.

But that wouldn't happen.

They'd read the letter, too. He'd go back, and he'd have to answer to their unnerve. Riku, with his moody silence, and Kairi, with her quiet worriment; they'd ask him where he'd gone, and then what was he supposed to tell them? That he'd went to their place on the beach, sat on their paopu tree, and just stared out at nothing while trying to figure out whether the letter was true or not?

They wouldn't like that. From what it seemed, they thought the letter was genuine. And really, what reason did Sora have to doubt it?

Besides his own frustration at just having beaten a great foe to only be called to do it again, that is.

He sighed, scuffing the backs of his shoes against the tree bark in a half-hearted kick. It wasn't fair. How could something have happened again so quickly? They'd just defeated Xemnas a short time ago!

"Sora?"

The gentle voice surprised him, making him start so badly he nearly fell off the tree trunk. Saving himself only by managing to desperately wrap his arms around it mid-fall, he ended up hanging half off its side as he craned his neck to look at the speaker. "Kairi?" he grunted, more than just a little winded from his start. She stepped forward, one hand tentatively at her mouth as Sora scrambled to pull himself upright on the trunk again.

"Are you okay?"

Heaving himself over the top of the tree trunk, Sora fell flat on it and let his arms dangle over the other side, panting. "Yeah." He heard the quiet scratch of Kairi's shoes against the bark as she climbed up onto the trunk, a soft 'oomph' coming from her next as she dropped down onto her stomach beside him. Her arms swung lazily in the air next to his own.

"Hey look," she whispered, pointing one finger in the direction of the sand below, "it's our shadows." The moon was at a perfect vantage point in the sky, both high above and just enough behind them to cast perfect outlines of their shadows onto the sand. She began moving her hands in odd patterns, probably in an attempt to make the shape of some kind of animal.

Sora noticed that she was pointedly making small talk and flushed slightly. He hadn't even told either her or Riku where he was going earlier; he'd just grabbed the letter and walked out, leaving them standing confusedly in his wake. Now that he thought back on it, he'd hadn't acted very polite.

He was surprised Kairi had even came to find him.

"... Hey, Kairi? I'm --"

"It's okay, Sora." Her tone was warm, like always. Sora turned to look at her and saw her gentle smile, which only served to make him flush more. She took hold of his hand with her own next, giving it a squeeze of reassurance. "I know you're just stressed out. Riku and I feel the same way."

Feeling his cheeks grow uncomfortably hot from a mix of embarrassment and frustration, Sora forced himself to look away from her. He instead stared blankly at the sand, unable to concentrate on anything but the feel of her hand against his. "It's just ... we just got home," he said finally, tone holding far much more pout than he wanted to admit. He poked at the tree trunk with his other finger. "And now it's like we've got to run off again."

"I know." Her other hand ruffled his hair, making him wince and turn to make a face at her. She simply grinned back at him, eyes shining with laughter. "It's hard work, being a hero of worlds. But me and Riku will be behind you every step of the way, Sora. You know that, right?"

For the first time that night, Sora felt a real smile come to his lips. "Thanks, Kairi."

She grinned at him again. "No problem." Giving his hand another small squeeze, she then slowly let it go as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Sora watched her for a second, seeing her eyes glance downwards over in the direction of where he had thrown the letter. His expression tightened slightly again, and he slowly followed suit in pushing himself up. Swinging his legs back over the tree trunk, Sora rested his palms against the smooth wood and stared straight outwards again.

"Do you know what you want to do?"

Sora shrugged, an amused sound rising in his throat despite his indecision. "Not really," he said, raising one hand to rub the back of his neck in thought. He turned to look at Kairi again, the smallest of sheepish grins crossing his face. "But I think that what I want to do and what I should do are different."

"That's when you know you should always go with the latter." The new voice came from behind them, deeper and quieter than either of theirs. Sora turned his head to look over his shoulder, seeing Riku's face grinning out at him from the shadows. He made an offended sound of protest, scrambling around on the tree so that he could fully face his friend.

"How long were you standing there??"

Riku laughed, stepping out of the shadows of the other trees so that he was in proper view. "Long enough," he commented amusedly, only seeming to derive more mirth from the look of frustration that had crossed Sora's face. He walked over to the fallen letter and knelt down, picking it up from the sand as with surprising gentility. Sora watched as his taller friend then stood back up, making a face as the letter was held out to him.

"Sure this belongs down there?" Riku's expression had returned back to its usual impassiveness, but that little smile was still on his lips. It was hard to tell whether the older youth was being taunting or not; his white bangs fell across his eyes and all but curtained them, leaving Sora only to judge his meaning by the good-natured tone in his voice.

Deciding the question was inoffensive, Sora shook his head and shuffled backwards on the tree, pointedly moving his stare away from it. "I've already read it," he said lamely, at a loss of anything else better to say. He didn't want to look at it again, though he knew he should; it was his duty as a master of the Keyblade to answer a plea from King Mickey.

If only he could be sure that's what the letter actually was.

"But did you understand it?"

Sora gave Riku a look, slightly put off by the other's supposed doubt. "What's not to understand, Riku? The letter said to 'be on my guard'."

"And that things are not what they seem," offered Kairi from beside him. Her tone held a hint of her old enthusiasm now, and that was a fact that Sora didn't fail to miss. He turned to raise his eyebrow at her, stare tentative at her keenness. Riku luckily interjected before Kairi could say anything else, though his comment wasn't much better in the reassurance department.

"That could mean the letter itself too, couldn't it?"

"Oh, don't go there," groaned Sora, leaning over on the trunk and burying his face in his arms. That was the last thing he wanted to hear right now. As if it wasn't enough that a letter had been sent in the first place, but now it was telling them riddles? Lifting his head up to perch his chin on his arm, Sora furrowed his brow. "I mean, how can we even reach the King if he does need help? We don't have any Gummi pieces or anything. Why would he send us a letter and then not give us a way to get to him?"

"Maybe he's not the one who sent the letter." Riku's tone was mild, yet there was a darker meaning behind his suggestion that Sora caught on to right away. Maybe it was all his practice with the lies of Organization XIII that helped him, but for some reason, he could tell exactly what Riku was insinuating.

Now, whether or not to voice that thought aloud so that Kairi could hear it was another matter completely.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, given his insecurity about stating it himself), Kairi also seemed to have caught on to the double meaning. "Wait," she said slowly. Sora glanced up at her in apprehension, breath hesitating in his chest. Her expression was contemplative, fingers at her mouth as she nibbled on her nails. "Are you saying that maybe it wasn't King Mickey who wrote the letter?" The briefest flash of worriment crossed her face. "But then who wrote it?"

"Hey, that's not it," said Sora hastily, sitting up straight so that he could wave his hands in an unconcerned gesture at her. "I mean, it's got the King's seal on it so it's obviously got to be --"

"You never know," said Riku, somehow managing to overpower Sora's hasty tone with just those three words. Sora turned to give him a look, pouty exasperation written all through his face. Riku wasn't looking at him, instead facing in the direction of the ocean. His bangs drifted across his eyes in the breeze, and for the briefest moment Sora glimpsed their aquamarine color.

And he glimpsed the unease within them.

It was only for a second, and then the eyes were hidden from view again. But that second was all Sora needed to suddenly realize how seriously Riku was taking the situation. His friend had been wandering the darkness for almost the whole duration of their adventure, exposed to the worst kind of pressures and still pulling through for the light side at the end. He'd probably seen horrible things, and barely had even a shred of hope to cling on to while he was there.

He knew the lengths darkness would go to get the light.

Pouting pushed aside, Sora felt a twinge of guilt flash through him. He had no right to complain about the letter. At least he'd been with friends for the whole adventure, not stuck by himself in the shadows like Riku.

"But if it's warning us, then doesn't that mean it's from a friend?" asked Kairi next. Her tone was tentative, but the smallest hint of hope tinged her words. Sora secretly echoed that hope, not wanting it to be the other option.

Riku shrugged. "The writer could want us to think that."

A sigh rose in Sora's throat. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew his friend was probably right. If his adventures had taught him anything, it was to think of every possible aspect of an idea, not just to settle for what it first appeared to be. Heck, even the letter itself was telling him the same thing.

The thing was, he had no idea what those other aspects would be right now.

"You know, the letter is pretty much almost telling us to not even trust what it's saying either," he pointed out eventually, scratching the back of his neck in thought. He looked up at Riku next, raising his eyebrows in a kind of pseudo-hopefulness. "Maybe it doesn't actually mean anything?"

Riku's tone was not impressed. "Come on, Sora."

Sora sighed again and flopped himself over on his back, letting his arms hang above his head as he stretched himself over the tree trunk. The blood rushed to his head almost immediately, but the gentle strain his pose was putting on his muscles was distracting him from making a decision, so he continued to lay where he was. His eyes instead gazed out at the upside-down ocean behind him, staring at the dark waters as they flowed and ebbed against the sand. The moonlight above was rippling into the water, creating little flashes of silver here and there in the waves as they moved.

His eyes caught sight of one particularly close to shore, shining sharply against the rest of the shadowed waters around it. It was different, though, in a way ... somehow duller, and not as fluid as the other reflections of moonlight were. And it was too close to shore; the rest had all vanished into the darkness of the shallow waters, making it strange that this one was so close and still shining.

Raising his eyebrows, Sora pushed himself over and fell flat on the trunk with a 'humph' of expelled air. He squinted in an attempt to see whatever it was better, his curiosity sparked despite himself. It was only after a few seconds of such scrutinization that he suddenly realized what he was looking at, and his expression stiffened almost instantly.

That was a person.

A white-haired, very unconscious-looking person.

"Guys, there's someone in the water!" He scrambled off the tree trunk so fast he almost lost his balance, hitting the sand hard and unsteadily on both feet. The movement staggered him a bit, but it didn't stop him from taking off in a near-sprint in the person's direction as soon as he could get proper footing. Water splashed up around him as he charged through the shallows, dropping to his knees at the person's side just seconds later with a bigger splash.

"Hey," he said, taking hold of the other's shoulders and shaking him gently. "Hey, are you okay? Can you hear me?" It was only in the silence of the lack of response that Sora managed to get a good look at the person. Shoulder-length white hair and bangs that fell to the eyes, and a youthful facial expression that didn't look any older than either him or even Riku. Sora drew back in surprise, a bewildered frown coming to his lips. He glanced up as he heard approaching splashes, seeing Kairi and Riku jogging towards him.

When Kairi caught sight of the boy in Sora's arms, a gasp left her lips. "Oh my gosh," she whispered, hurrying towards him and dropping down to her knees at his side. She reached tentatively for the boy, expression twisted with her worriment. "Is he ...?"

Sora smiled faintly, finding Kairi's trailed off question oddly funny in the uncomfortable silence. "He's alive," he reassured her, putting a hand inconspicuously on the other's chest just to assure himself of his words. It rose and fell gently under his touch, signifying that the other was indeed breathing. "He's just unconscious."

"... He looks a lot like you, Riku," said Kairi from beside him, her tone hesitantly interested. Sora didn't look up at his best friend, instead watching the ripples in the water as the older youth slowly stepped closer. His steps stopped just at the edge of Sora's vision, blue pants shifting slightly in the night breeze.

"Who is he?"

Sora shook his head, shrugging his shoulders in emphasis of his lack of answer. The small movement jarred the hand that was on the youth's chest slightly, and he felt his fingers scrape against something sharp. He raised both his eyebrows, pausing for a moment before slowly running his fingers back over the area he had just felt. Again, the small prick of sharpness.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Sora traced his fingers along the indentation and followed it to a more gentle one that seemed to lead up to the boy's neck. Brushing the wet strands of hair back from the boy's skin, Sora saw the slightest hint of something brown there. He touched it with his finger, raising his eyebrow when he found it to be a line of tough string.

"Huh?" He gave a gentle tug on the string, and raised his other eyebrow in surprise when the motion jarred something beneath the boy's shirt. After a few seconds of deliberation, he brought his other hand up and carefully pulled on the thread, coaxing the rest of the item up out of the T-shirt.

"... Sora?" whispered Kairi as he held the item up a few seconds later, her apprehensive tone echoing the unease that had suddenly sparked inside him. It was an item made of what looked like pure gold, circular in shape with six pointer-like appendages hanging from it. Their bottoms looked dangerously sharp, and Sora realized suddenly what his hand had brushed against earlier. "What ... what is that?"

"I don't know," he muttered, staring at it confusedly. "I've never seen anything like it before." Turning it over in his hand, his eyes caught sight of something that had been embedded into its other side. His cheeks grew warm as he realized he'd been examining it backwards, and hastily turned the whole ring over so he could see the front properly. When he saw the insignia displayed on the ring's face, his confusion only deepened. "What the heck is that?"

Inside the center of the ring was a triangle, and embedded into that triangle was the strange design of an eye.

He stared at it for a few seconds longer, barely aware of the fact that Riku was kneeling down across from him. The only thing that made him look up was the shifting of the unconscious boy's striped T-shirt against his other hand. He looked up with raised eyebrows at Riku as his friend pulled the bottom of the T-shirt up.

"Umm ... Riku?" he said hesitantly. "What are you doing?"

Riku said nothing, his hand instead reaching into the boy's pants pocket. Sora watched as Riku searched for a few seconds, only realizing his intentions when Riku withdrew soon after that with a small wallet held in his hand. Meeting Sora's stare briefly, Riku still didn't say anything as he flipped the wallet open, calmly thumbing through the item's contents. The silence between the three of them as Riku worked was an understanding one; none of them felt the need to say anything, the younger two instead watching as their older friend continued to browse through the stranger's wallet.

It was only when Riku finally held up an I.D. card with a quiet 'aha!' that both their expressions lit up.

"So?" Sora pressed after a second, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Who is he?"

"... Ryou," said Riku after a long moment, staring intently at the card. He glanced at Sora once, then lightly tossed the I.D. card towards him. His stare moved back down to the unconscious boy as Sora caught it, tone dropping to a quiet and more contemplative level as he said the rest of the name:

"... Ryou Bakura."

Sorry, couldn't resist. His name is such a swell chapter-ender. Anyways, read and review, right?

Whoot.