Sassy's Note: -snort- I apologize for the previous intermission… couldn't help myself. Anyway, let's push the plot along! 8D

The World's Heart

Riku could hardly sleep the rest of that night. He could hear Aerith and Cloud talking downstairs, and while he couldn't make out what they were saying, he could hear the tone of their voices. Cloud sounded thoroughly dejected, but his voice was steady and he talked more than Riku had ever heard him talk in one go. He got the feeling that Cloud was not quite as upset with breaking up with Leon as he was with the confrontation between the three men.

Finally, when day broke, the voices died away, and Riku couldn't stand lying in that bed any longer. Kairi had managed to drift off to sleep again, snuggled up tight to his side. For the second time in not many hours, he extracted himself from her. Being sure not to awaken her, he pulled his shoes on and quietly exited the room. He paused there and listened. When he heard nothing, he moved stealthily to the railing and peered over. Cloud and Aerith were nowhere to be seen.

He took the stairs three at a time, and in seconds he was out of the house. The warm morning sun beat down gently on him, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

First things first, he needed coffee. After digging around in his pockets to make sure he had munny, he headed off to the newly-built café he had taken a liking too.

A brief seven minutes later, the silver-haired teen was sipping coffee from an extra large sized cup and making his way to Ansem's study. Even with everything going on, they still had work to be done. He couldn't think of any other way to preoccupy his time with anyway.

As he made his way there leisurely, he thought about what the voice had told him last night. He knew he should tell King Mickey what had happened, but where the mouse was now was anyone's guess. He certainly had no idea. Like Kairi had said, the King had his own secrets.

Riku didn't even pretend to himself that it didn't bother him. Sora was his best friend. He had grown up with Sora. He thought he had the right to know everything the King did, but he trusted the King too much to confront him. Maybe there were some things he didn't want to know. After all, his reaction to seeing Sora in the tomb had… not been good at all.

Though, while he was thinking about it, he realized that last night had been the first time the voice had responded to him more than once. What did that mean? Riku found it eerie, thinking back. Even if he hadn't thought it disturbing at the time, now his mind was clear enough to think that a disembodied voice having a conversation with him was horribly unsettling. Had Sora not told him he could hear it too, Riku really would have thought he was going crazy.

It wasn't a very comforting idea.

He didn't dwell on it though. If Kairi trusted it, so did he. He had learned – the hard way – always to trust a Princess of Heart.

He reached Ansem's study with half his cup of coffee left. The place was exactly as it had been when he last saw it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he half expected it to be trashed, despite the fact that he hardly pinned Leon and Cloud to be the domestic violence type. Maybe it was the fact that there was no real evidence aside from Cloud's word that it was over that unnerved him so much.

He sighed and took a large gulp of his coffee. No time to think, now. It was time to get to work. He visited the computer room first.

"Any luck, Tron?"

"Not so much, User Riku," came Tron's voice. "All of the files are sealed shut. Only the passwords can help us out now."

"And still nothing on what the passwords could be?"

"Not in these files, but I'm sure Ansem the Wise must have written them down in his notes and reports somewhere. He wouldn't have left valuable information on the DTD inaccessible."

Riku nodded. "Okay. I'll just keep looking then."

"I have no doubts that you'll find it. Just remember that Ansem was a clever man. You may have to unlock a puzzle to find the passwords."

"I'll… remember that."

Well, that wasn't a comforting thought.

---

Riku decided that going through each and every one of the tomes was pointless, so he narrowed his search. He would now only go through volumes specifically labeled to be notes on the worlds specifically or notes on the DTD. Ansem had plenty of both; there was no way he could be disappointed.

The silver-haired teen poured over the books, but nothing jumped out at him. Nothing even seemed like it could be a code or puzzle Ansem devised.

He did, however, come across a few interesting passages.

It is my theory that there are an infinite number of worlds all coexisting in the same vast universe, and this infinite number never varies. Whenever a world comes to its end, another world comes to life and replaces it. This new world is only limited by the boundaries of one's own imagination and can be anything the original inhabitants wish it to be. After a period of formation, the world takes its permanent form and settles in the mind of his occupants as what it was meant to be.

Riku's eyebrows rose after reading that. He didn't fully understand, but the thought process was certainly intriguing. There were several more articles such as that. Some sounded farfetched; some were believable; and some Riku knew to be proven fact. It almost made him want to continue Ansem's research where it was left off.

The teen snorted. When and if that ever happened, it would be after he had Sora back. Of course, from the way things were looking, that could take a while.

For a good few hours the teen poured over the books, considering what could or could not be a hidden message. It would really help if he even had the faintest idea of what he was looking for.

Riku was so preoccupied with studying a rather detailed description of the workings of Gummi Space that he did not hear Kairi enter the study. She stood in the doorway for a minute, arms crossed, looking thoroughly amused. Demented silver bunny rabbit indeed.

"Any luck?" she asked, making him jump. She giggled.

"Ah, no. None at all."

She sighed. "Looks like we'll be here awhile longer, huh?"

"Yeah."

She sat down beside him and pulled a stack of books toward her. She paused for a moment, before taking one off of the top and opening it.

"It looks like… Cloud will be staying with Aerith for a while."

"Did you see him this morning?" Riku asked, looking up from his book.

Kairi nodded. "He looks okay, but he's really quiet."

"He's all depressed, then."

"Well… maybe. I gave him a hug, and he smiled. God, he has a gorgeous smile!" Riku rolled his eyes at that, but Kairi carried on. "Anyway, he looks more thoughtful than upset."

"I think he's relieved the relationship was over," said Riku. "Cloud and Leon make better friends than lovers."

"I kinda got that vibe from him too," the girl agreed. "I didn't stick around though. Tifa got there just as I was leaving."

"Good. She and Aerith can make him feel better."

"Heh. Cloud's just one of the girls."

Riku chuckled. He couldn't deny that that was true. They dropped the subject soon after, and Riku got the distinct impression both of them would rather not think about it. They already had enough to worry about with going through all of these notes.

"Hey guys," said Demyx sheepishly from the doorway, and they both looked up at him.

"Hey, Demyx," Kairi chirped with a grin.

"Came to help. Haven't got anything better to do."

"The more the merrier," said Riku, gesturing to all the stacks of books he had piled on the floor. Demyx grinned and sat down.

"Have you heard from Kioshi?" Kairi asked him.

The Nocturne nodded. "Yeah. He got there okay, and he's with Vale."

"How is she?" Riku asked.

"Really upset," Demyx said, biting his lip. "You know, Sora actually called her the night before you guys couldn't find him."

Riku paused halfway through turning a page of his book. He stared hard at Demyx, hardly daring to believe what had just come out of his mouth. The night before… that would be the night he had been acting so strange. Sora had to have called her after he had retired to his room. God, what did this mean?

"Sora called Valeria the night he went missing?" Riku asked. At a nod from Demyx, he began cursing, which he did for a few therapeutic moments. "Do you know what was said when he called her?" he asked finally.

"She told Kioshi about it," said Demyx. "And he told me. It was pretty late when he called her, and she asked him if something was wrong. She could tell something wasn't exactly right because he said he just wanted to hear her voice. They talked for a bit, and then before he hung up he said he really liked her and that he really wanted to see her again soon, but he wasn't sure if he would."

Kairi covered her mouth with her hand. Riku shook his head. So that was it, wasn't it? Sora couldn't forget about that door and the voice. He had gone to the island on his own and of his own volition. He knew he might not come back. He opened the door. He faced the Heartless alone, and he had been overwhelmed.

Riku's stomach churned unpleasantly. He had suspected this all along, but he hadn't wanted to believe it. This was proof, though, but he couldn't understand why Sora would march off on his own. Sora never acted on his own. He always worked with a team. It made no sense at all.

Then again… Riku knew more than anyone the lengths someone will go to with someone else's voice whispering in their ear.

---

They let the subject of Sora drop. Kairi and Demyx discussed a bit about the Restoration, but that just brought up the subject of Cloud and Leon, which they quickly dropped as well. Riku remained quiet, and in the end Demyx and Kairi did as well. They all three concentrated on what they were reading. A few passages of interest caught their eyes, but even with the three of them studying over them, they came up with nothing. They just marked the sections and set them aside to look over it later.

About noon, Demyx ran to grab them some lunch. They had heard from no one, but Riku wasn't surprised. Leon was probably held up in house angsting. Cloud was probably held up at Aerith's house with said brunette and Tifa angsting. Reno was probably somewhere drinking heavily with Rude and angsting. Kioshi was worlds away, and Yuffie never got any work done anyway. Riku resigned himself to the fact that it would just be the three of them until at least part of this whole mess was resolved.

He exhaled a deep breath and shut his book. He let his head fall back to rest on the desk behind him. Kairi looked over at him, concern etched into her face.

"You okay?"

Strange question, he thought. "Okay" could refer to many things that were not necessarily "okay." However, it wasn't her fault that all of this happened, and the recent news did not give him the right to be a jackass.

"Yeah. I'm okay," he said after a minute. "Just a bit…"

"Confused?" she prompted. At his reluctant nod, she sighed sadly. "Yeah. This all seems so strange, and just when I think I understand, it turns out I don't. I just wish we knew for sure what happened to him."

She looked so upset, and Riku wanted to hug her and comfort her, but he just couldn't bring himself to move. Instead, he held his hand out to her. She looked from it to his face then slowly reached out and took it. He interlocked their fingers and brushed his thumb over her soft skin. A rosy blush spread over her cheeks, but Riku had closed his eyes again and hadn't noticed. He hadn't forgotten just how nice human contact felt.

"I return triumphant with sandwiches!" came a cheerful voice from the doorway of the study. Demyx came bouncing in carrying a huge paper sack. "Yeah, so I don't know what you guys like so I panicked and got two of everything."

Kairi giggled, and Riku's lips quirked upward just a bit.

---

It was a few hours after they had eaten. Nothing of great interest had happened, and Riku could tell all three of them were more than willing to give up for the day.

He was about to call it quits when a passage in the book he'd been perusing caught his eyes. This particular tome contained notes on the relationships between all of the worlds, but even as he read, the topic changed. Ansem began detailing his theories of each individual world's rulers. He stated that he was close to proving the fact that each world had a Prince or Princess or even a King or Queen to rule over it.

It was the very last part of the passage that really caught his attention, though.

When all else fails, we – the royalty, the Princes and Princesses and Kings and Queens – are the Key.

Riku read this statement over several times. He could not deny that this one sentence contained several points of interest.

First of all, could Ansem the Wise have been a King like King Mickey. Riku could see that. After all, he was the closest thing Radiant Garden ever had for a King anyway. Secondly, why would the word 'key' be capitalized? Maybe…

"Kairi, Demyx," he said slowly. They looked over to him. "Come here."

"What is it?" Kairi asked as they shuffled over and peered down at the book Riku was holding.

"I think I found something." He pointed out the passage, and the others quickly read over it.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Demyx asked, looking back up at Riku.

"It means that the rulers of the worlds are the key to something," said Riku.

"And he's used the Princesses of Heart as passwords before," said Kairi.

The three of them exchanged brief glances before they were all on their feet and all but running to the computer room.

"Tron!" Riku barked as they reached the terminal. "Pull up the coded file for Radiant Garden. I think we found the passwords."

"Of course, User Riku!" Tron replied most happily and in seconds he had the grid pulled up, complete with Radiant Garden's block and hex code of a name.

"Okay, shoot."

"Ansem the Wise."

A few seconds of absolutely nothing.

ACCESS GRANTED.

The box began to whir and labeled documents popped up on the screen left and right and Riku could barely keep up with them all. He saw pictures and words and more coding than he ever believed could possibly be in one single file.

"Guys," the silver-haired teen said quietly. "We did it."

He couldn't stop the smile creeping upon his face as Kairi and Demyx both began to laugh loudly. If Ansem the Wise was the password to Radiant Garden's file, then he was sure he knew the password to Destiny Islands.

Then, his cell phone began to ring madly in his pocket.

To be continued…

Sassy: Dun dun DUNNN!!! So we're finally getting somewhere but GASP! Who could possibly want to talk to Riku NOW!?

Leave a review or Riku will never answer his cell phone so the plot with never go anywhere.