Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts 1 or 2.

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Riku lay awake with his hands under his head, the cool darkness of night pressing gently on his eyes. He stared at the ceiling, thinking, as he did so many nights these days. He sighed softly and rolled over, facing the wall, his back to the center of his bed. He gripped his pillow with one hand and closed his eyes, trying not to think of his friends.

It was true that Riku was happier than he ever really remembered being, even with his memories of his childhood on Destiny Islands. He had everything he wanted. Except his friends.

Riku sighed again. He could leave, really, any time he wanted and go back to them, even if it was just for a little while. A few days, or even just a few minutes. But…

The girl lying beside him muttered something softly in her sleep and shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable. Riku sat up and turned to look at her, the dark moon's gentle glow falling on her pale face. He smiled and gently brushed a stray hair from her face, his fingers lingering on her cheek. His eyes traveled down her form, stopping when they reached her swollen belly. He gently, very carefully rested his warm palm again the skin beneath her nightdress, his eyes softening.

The girl opened her eyes and smiled when she saw what Riku was doing. "You look happy," she murmured.

Riku jumped slightly but recovered himself rather quickly. "I thought you were asleep Rena."

"I was, but now I'm not." She tried to sit up but found it difficult. Riku tried to help her but she ended up just reclining in his arms. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "This baby…he'll change things, Riku…"

"He?" Riku looked down at her, one eyebrow quirked slightly.

Rena smiled and placed her hand on her belly. "I can feel it. It just seems like he'll be a boy…"

Riku placed his hand over hers. "Mm. I feel like he'll be just like me. Incredibly handsome and insanely quick witted."

Rena snorted. "Oh yes, well. I don't know if I could survive living with two of you."

Riku chuckled. "That's probably true." Silence fell and Riku silently debated with himself whether or not to say anything to her about his lingering thoughts, but he didn't get the chance to decide.

"You miss them…" she said softly.

"What makes you think that?" he responded, automatically on the defensive.

Rena turned to look at him. "I can see it in your eyes, Riku. You want to see them."

Riku looked away. "Well, yes, but…"

Rena placed her hand beneath his chin and lifted his head so their eyes met. "Then go," she said softly.

"I can't," he told her, sounding sad. "I have to stay here with you and the baby…don't I?"

Rena smiled up at him. "You've been with me for seven months now, Riku. Your friends don't have much more time for summer vacation. You should go see them while you still can."

"But…don't you want to see them? They're your friends too…"

"True…they are, but…" She tucked his hair behind his ear so she could see his face better. He leaned into her touch and kissed her palm. "You know I can't leave here. Not only is our Kingdom still unstable but I…well…You know I can never leave…Especially now…I might survive another trip out, but the baby…"

"I know." His voice sounded sad. "And I don't think I could survive losing you again." Without warning he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, holding her to his chest. He buried his face in her hair. "I couldn't stand…to lose you again…"

Rena lifted her head and kissed his cheek, her lips lingering longer than was necessary. "Never again. I promise," she murmured. After a long time she sat back but stayed in his hold. "But just because I can't go…"

Riku leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled back his eyes were shining with happiness. "Thank you."

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The next morning, Riku set out, leaving the World that Never Was for the first time in over half a year. He looked back only once and that was to take one last long, lingering look at Rena, who was waving merrily from her place on the steps of the castle. He smiled, turned, and left, entering the Door to Light for the second time in his life.

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Just as he had the first time, Riku fell from the sky and dropped into the ocean around Destiny Islands. Though this time when he emerged from the water there was no one waiting for him. He was completely alone.

Riku swam to shore in what felt like seconds, pulled himself out of the water and shook off droplets of liquid from himself. He looked around and smiled. Not much had changed in his absence.

He walked up the beach and stopped first at Sora's house. He knocked on the door and a few moments later Sora's mother appeared.

"Yes, may I help you?" she asked, looking him up and down as though he were a stranger, not her son's best friend.

"I…uh…I was looking for Sora…is he around?"

She started to shake her head, then did a double take. "Wait…Riku?! Is that really you?" He nodded sheepishly before she embraced him, though now he was much taller than she. "My God how you've grown!" She inspected him with a much more critical eye. "You haven't been eating enough have you?" She clucked her tongue. "Would you like to come in? I can make you some tea, if you like." She smiled at him now like she used to do, as though he were her second son.

Riku smiled at this. "No, thank you Mrs. Hikaru. But Sora…?"

"Oh, goodness, I'd forgotten! No, dear, he's gone for the summer. Went to Twilight Town to stay with those new friends of his…Roxas, I think, was the one he was staying with."

Riku felt slightly crestfallen but his smile stayed the same. "Oh cool. Yeah. I know Roxas. Good kid." He paused, unsure of what to say. "Oh, do you know if Kairi's around?"

"She went with him dear," she said gently as if she knew how much that knowledge would disappoint him. "Are you sure you won't come in?"

Riku smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure, but thank you for the offer." He turned and walked off, waving over his shoulder at her before he heard the door close with a gentle click.

Riku slowly wound his way around the island, took a boat back to the mainland and walked aimlessly until he got back to his own home before he even really had the chance to realize where he was.

He pulled the key out from its old hiding place and unlocked the door, pushing it open and stepping inside. He was relieved to see that someone had been kind enough to clean for him in his absence and realized with a jolt that it had probably been Mrs. Hikaru. With Sora, Riku, and Kairi gone she must have worried so much…Perhaps she'd cleaned this for him hoping he'd come back to it someday.

He heard his stomach rumble but at the same time didn't feel very hungry. He trudged his way back to his room and stumbled inside, falling onto his old bed with a soft thud.

After fifteen minutes of feeling sorry for himself he decided that the following day he would travel to Twilight Town to see what he could find there. Soon after making this decision he fell asleep, a small smile playing at his lips.

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"Sora! Hit it over here!" Tidus yelled, waving at his teammate to pass him the blitzball.

Sora grinned and used his foot to kick it in the air, then he used his head to hit it to Tidus.

"Yeah Sora!" Kairi cheered from the sidelines. "Go team!"

Sora grinned his cheesy smile at her and received a blitzball to the head.

"Sora!" Hayner, who was also on his team, yelled. "Keep your head in the game! Come on!"

Sora turned back to the game but almost as soon as he had the ball in his hands he dropped it. He froze, staring at something rather far off.

"Sora!" Tidus shouted in frustration. "What is with you today?"

Instead of answering, Sora took a fewsteps forward, eyes glued on something none of the others were looking at.

Kairi stood up when he stopped again. "Sora?" she called. "Are you okay?"

"I…uh…yeah…" he replied, almost in a daze. "I just…I thought I saw…" Then he shook his head. "Never mind. Must have imagined…" He glanced around at all the people staring at him and placed his hands behind his head, wide grin back in place. "Sorry. I spaced. Where were we?"

The others shook their heads and muttered something that sounded awfully like "Sora…" before beginning the game again as though nothing had interrupted them in the first place.

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After the game was over, they all decided to go to the beach. They changed clothes and ran to the train, barely making it in time. Sora and the others threw themselves down into their seats, panting slightly from the run but smiling all the same.

"This'll be great!" Olette cried, bouncing excitedly in her seat. "We haven't gone all summer. I really missed the beach." The others nodded in agreement.

"Shame Roxas isn't here with us…" Sora said softly.

The others quieted for a moment, watching him with eyes that had dimmed suddenly.

Sora looked up and smiled at them all. "Oh, don't worry. I'm alright. It's just…he really loves the beach is all."

After a few minutes of subdued silence the others picked up their own conversations again, smiles returning rather quickly.

Sora, completely uninterested for once, looked around at the other people on the train. Most of them were unfamiliar to him but there were some he knew. Like, for instance, there was the woman who owned the candy shop, and there was the Struggle competition's announcer, and there…

Suddenly, Sora stood up. The others turned to look at him but he wasn't paying attention. He strode forward, pushing gently past the others people in their compartment and approached the man.

He sat alone by the door, facing the wall. His jeans were ripped but his short-sleeved, black jacket looked alright. The red insignia on the back was fading slightly but there was no mistaking the symbol from Organization XIII, even from a distance. His bright red hair was as spiky as ever. He seemed distracted, though. He was staring at something in his hands, turning it over and over with his fingers. He didn't even look up when Sora stood directly beside him.

"Axel?" Sora offered tentatively.

Axel looked up, startled, and smiled. "Oh, it's you, Sora. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be back on the islands? Or did you and Kairi have a fight or something? You're not running from her are you? Cause lemme tell ya, women love it when guys fight for um and-"

"She's here with me," Sora interrupted hastily.

Axel stopped, seeming flustered, then smiled. "Oh sorry. I was rambling, wasn't I?" He scratched his head with one hand, the other closing indiscreetly around the object he still held.

"What've you got there?" Sora asked with interest, trying to get a good look at what the older man held.

Axel, however, shoved it in his pocket with a fluid movement. "Just an old keepsake," he said dismissively. "Nothing you'd be interested in" He glanced out the window for a moment. "Ah, my stop's coming up, so if you'll excuse me…" He rose and turned away from Sora, taking a few steps toward the door.

"Wait!" Sora called after him. "Axel…have you seen Roxas? Is that why you're here?"

Axel stopped, closed his eyes, and breathed out heavily through his nose. When he opened his eyes again they stared straight ahead. As the train slowed to a stop, Axel stepped down the stairs. Just before he left, he called, "Enjoy your summer Sora!" He disappeared a few moments later into the crowd.

"Axel! Wait a sec!" Sora tried to go after him but before he could the door slid shut and the train began to move again. Sora sighed and returned to his seat. His friends barely even looked up. Apparently they had not seen Axel or heard their short conversation. Sora smiled when Kairi looked at him with concern in her eyes but it faded as soon as she turned away. The summer wasn't turning out to be so great after all…

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Axel stopped a few blocks away and leaned back against a rough stone building. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, black metal crown he'd concealed from Sora. He looked down at it, sighed, and stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket.

Axel pushed himself away from the wall and walked down the street again. As he passed a thin alleyway, he tossed the crown to the cloaked figure standing in it.

"You can't hide forever you know," he called softly, not pausing before passing the man by like he hadn't seen him.

The figure looked down at the keychain in his hand and sighed. "Yeah…I know…" He hesitated, then turned away, fading a few moments later into the darkness.