Tai set the last of the controls and input their destination; while Leon sat in his seat buckling up. The Gummi ship sat on a platform inside the garage, the platform lifted the ship up high as the roof of the garage opened up to reveal the bright morning sun. The platform tilted as it came upward putting the ship in a slight diagonal angle.

Tai walked leisurely over to the pilot seat and sat down; he looked at Sora with an amused smile. The young brunette was staring at the bright sky in awe, not even bothering to take a hint and sit down like the other two had.

Tai heard the engine rev up to fire it's booster realizing he should probably say something, seeing as Sora obviously didn't know what would happen if he stood there a few moments longer.

"You should probably sit down Sora." He warned him, the boy turned to him a confused expression on his face.

"Why?" He asked innocently.

The young Keyblader soon got his answer when the booster fired launching the ship into the air at an incredible speed, the force of the launch knocked him off his feet and he was sent flying toward the rear of the ship.

Luckily Leon grabbed the boy in time before he hit the wall, he sat Sora down in his lap instructing him not to move till he said so.

Sora blushed red as a tomato at how silly he'd been and managed to mutter a 'yes sir' in response.

Once the ship left the atmosphere of the planet it slowed down somewhat, still going at a speed Sora wasn't too comfortable with; Something Tai took notice of.

"Sorry about that, my ship's not exactly as good as Donald's but it's pretty fast. It'll get us there before you know it, you just have to get used to it that's all." The blond reassured him.

Sora nodded and smiled.

"Up." Leon said sternly.

Sora complied and stood up, Leon walked over to the medical case to check on Riku Sora followed closely behind.

Riku lay still unconscious inside a medical containment cocoon, Leon had constructed it. It looked much like a metal coffin, attached to a large table.

"What's this thing he's in again?" Sora asked curiously.

"It's a medical cocoon. Supposed to keep him safe, it checks his breathing, body temperature, blood pressure, and heart every 3 minutes."

Leon pushed in a few buttons, and the metal coffin sprung to life; small robotic hands stuck pads the size of a walnut to Riku's left arm, and neck. Another robotic arm placed a breathing mask over his mouth, a hose was attached to the mask leading into one of the walls of the coffin and out down into the floor of the ship.

Small lights inside that were embedded on each side turned on illuminating each and every corner of the coffin.

Finally a glass shield came over the coffin sealing it shut with a hiss of air, what Sora thought to be water rushed into it from each side filling it quickly.

Sora panicked not understanding what the machine was doing.

"It's okay Sora, this is healing water it'll help Riku recover from his injuries." Leon explained.

"Oh, Hey Leon is Riku going to wake up soon?" Sora asked him.

Leon sighed heavily turning away from the coffin to look out one of the rear windows.

"I really don't know Sora."

Sora felt saddened by his answer, the thought of Riku not waking up again was terrifying.

It's not fair, I just got him back. He can't leave me again.

"Hey Sora." Sad blue eyes looked up at Leon. "Why don't you go sit in your chair and rest for a while, I'll watch over Riku, Okay?" Sora nodded.

He walked over to his chair and sat down, he'd just closed his eyes when he felt the seat start to lean back.

"Whoa!"

He jumped out of the seat and saw Leon standing beside the chair, his finger holding down a button on the armrest making the chair continue to recline till it was as far as it could go.

He released the button and folded his arms, chuckling softly at Sora's alarmed response.

"It's a recliner Sora, you should feel more comfortable sleeping in it this way." Leon said to him.

"Ohh, hey you should warn me next time I thought there was something wrong with it." He said pouting slightly.

He walked up to the seat examining the buttons on the side, which were only two, one with a down arrow and another with an up arrow shown in green.

"So these are the up and down buttons?" Leon nodded.

Sora laid down in the chair shifting a little to get comfortable, once he was in a position he liked he pushed the up button on the armrest making him go up an inch.

He pushed it again going up higher this time, a silly grin plastered on his face. He started to push the up and down buttons randomly, reclining to different positions and not really settling on just one. Finally Leon got tired of his silliness.

"Sora?" He said, the young boy paused for a second in his button pushing to look at him.

"Yes Leon?" He answered innocently.

"Stop it." He said firmly.

"Yes Leon." Sora replied.

He returned the chair to the position Leon had put it in and closed his eyes, he relaxed soon enough and fell into a light doze, Sora could remember feeling someone lay a cover over him before he fell asleep completely.

Leon walked over to the right side of the coffin, bending down he pushed a silver button that flipped out a monitor screen just below it. The screen showed that Riku's vitals were all normal, Leon let out a sigh of relief but deep in the pit of his stomach he felt worry.

Those injuries he'd found when he examined Riku's body the other night were puzzling, according to Tai, Riku had only been hit once by the heartless.

But when he looked at him he'd found various bruises on his body, including one injury that was the most disturbing. Riku had a black mark on his back where Tai had told Leon the attack hit him. The mark was a symbol of infinity with an 'M' over it, the reason he felt concern for this one in particular was because he'd seen it before.

He stood, reaching in his pocket he fished out a book, a journal, made by two scientists that had lived very long ago. The book looked old, very old; he opened it silver, writing shone from off the pages illuminating every word.

Flipping through it he found the page he was looking for, a drawing of the symbol he'd found on Riku's body was depicted written below it was a passage describing the mark.

"The symbol of eternity, his mark. Those cursed with it are forever bound to the creature, and if they are not strong enough are susceptible to him. He is fear, hatred, anger, and death; the ever consuming darkness that rests within."

He closed the book returning it to his pocket and turned to the young keyblader resting soundly in his chair.

Leon felt guilty for keeping something so important from him but it was probably best he not know the extent of the situation.

If he did, he wouldn't be able to continue with this. Leon said inwardly.

Something strange still bothered Leon, why had this mark appeared on Riku's body after he'd been attacked by a heartless. According to the book the only one who could give such a mark didn't even exist anymore.

Unless... Leon shuddered at the thought that such a creature might still be alive.

Such a thing was impossible, but still why? None of this made any sense.

'Maybe Mickey can make sense of it.'

Leon hoped he could, if they didn't figure out what was going on soon who knows what might happen?

Leon walked over to Tai's seat, the blond appeared to be dozing off which was why Leon was surprised to hear him speak.

"What is it?" He asked not opening his eyes, he already knew who it was.

"I wanted to ask you if anything weird happened last night, anything out of the ordinary that stuck in your head that you wanted to tell me?" Tai slowly opened his eyes and looked at the brunette.

"Seeing as how getting attacked by heartless isn't exactly what I would call ordinary not really." Leon sighed. "Save for one thing though but it's probably nothing." He said closing his eyes.

"Don't tease me Tai. What was it?" The blond smiled.

"After I knocked Sora out I used the spell to hide us under the bridge, you know the one the train station goes under. There was an instant where they almost caught me, but another one came along a woman. I didn't see her face she was wearing one of those cloaks, she told them that they didn't have time to search for me that someone named Tomoko was waiting for them. And then..." Leon furrowed his brows thoroughly intrigued by Tai's story.

"And then what?" He asked him.

"Then they walked away, but one guy stayed just for a second. He unsheathed his kitana and said 'Troublesome sword.' Then he threw it into the air, it went a long way I'm not sure where it landed." Leon nodded saying thanks to him before letting the blonde fall back to sleep.

He walked over to Riku, the young boy looked so serene as he lay asleep. His silver hair floating around him in the water and sometimes brushing against his face.

He mulled over what Tai had told him, he wasn't sure if he should be glad for the information since he was now more confused than before. If the heartless hadn't meant to attack Riku, then why did they?

And who was this strange person named Tomoko? Perhaps he was their leader?

None of it made seemed to make sense to him.

————————————————————————————

Sora opened his eyes to find himself on his back; arms at his side staring up at a multicolored stained glass ceiling.

His clothing had changed to silk white pajamas, a drastic contrast to the room around him.

The walls around him were painted a rich red color and the carpet the same hue but lighter. A large staircase winded down from the ceiling to the bottom, white silk sheets hanging from the banister.

A grand chandelier hovered high above him, casting a dim light around the room.

He stood up and looked around to take in his surroundings. There were no doorways or windows just a long dark hallway, one that didn't look too inviting.

He turned around again to the back of the room and there stood four paintings resting each on an individual easel, each covered by a thin veil of red silk.

"Strange, I could've sworn that wasn't there before." He walked up to the paintings.

After examining each one he decided to uncover the one second to the left, he tugged on the veil and it came loose easily revealing the portrait behind.

There stood a painting of Riku standing with one leg behind the other, his head cocked slightly to the side with his eyes down in a submissive gesture.

His silver hair pulled into a ponytail, small tendrils hung in front of his face. His normal jeans and sleeveless shirt were replaced by a dark gray V necked shirt with a long black jacket, black pants and laced up dark blue boots that went up to his knees covering the bottom portion of his pants, each bore a small buckle at the top of them.

Riku face bore such a great expression of pain and sorrow, he'd never seen those jade eyes filled with such sadness.

What Sora noticed most different about Riku was the small jade pendant hanging around his neck.

Sora traced a finger over the pendant, it looked so beautiful but he'd never seen Riku wear it and he was certain he would've.

He withdrew his hand, turning to look at the other paintings. His hand grasped the silk sheet of the painting next to Riku's but paused when he heard the sound of a piano playing.

He let go of the veil, whirling around towards the hallway but there was nothing behind him. There was nothing in the hallway but darkness. The soft playing of the instrument called him, yet he was afraid to go into the hallway knowing the consequences of satisfying his curiosity would most likely lead to trouble.

But despite his fear he crossed the marble floor to the threshold that kept the room and the hallway separate.

'One last chance to turn back.'

Sora took a deep breath, burying his fear and kept walking, the alluring sound of the piano drawing him closer.

He walked down the hallway for what felt like hours following the music aimlessly down the path till finally he came to a balcony.

The entrance was covered with sheer red drapes, which went up and down like a wave of water every time the wind blew. A grand piano sat near the window of the balcony, a young boy sat at the piano his back facing Sora, strumming the piano softly.

His hands moved over the piano gracefully playing every keystroke in tune.

Long blonde hair fell behind him draping down his back like a waterfall, he wore a red and black silk kimono that went down to his knees and black boots with red silk trimming.

Sora stood behind him listening to the young boy play entranced by the beautiful music.

All too soon the song ended with one final key stroke.

"Beethoven's moonlight sonata, do you like it?" Sora opened his mouth to speak but shut it now knowing exactly what to say. "It used to be a favorite of all the people of Symphony."

"It sounds nice." Sora replied shyly. "I really don't listen to that kind of music so I wouldn't know."

The boy closed the piano, stood and turned around to face Sora. When he looked at his face Sora realized he recognized this boy, that blonde hair, that pale face; those red eyes. He found himself staring into those crimson depths, unable to look away.

The memories of his last dream came rushing back with force, making him feel dizzy.

He vaguely noticed the boy coming closer to him, till he was not a scarce few inches away from him.

He felt a stab of fear come into his heart, but pushed it away.

"Why do you come here if you fear me?" He asked him.

"I'm not scared of you." He tried to say firmly, but with little conviction.

The boy laughed at him. "And I don't come here by choice."

"Well you followed the music didn't you?" Sora opened his mouth to retort but closed it when he realized the boy was right. "Ah, so you see. You wish to know more about me, but fear what you will find."

Sora looked down to the marble floor, and the young boy smirked.

He put a hand on Sora's chin pushing it up slightly to look at him.

"I would like to show you something."

————————————————————————————

"Don't leave me Seiya!"

Random images flashed before Riku's eyes, voices he'd never heard before sounded all around him making it difficult to think.

Then suddenly all he could feel was pain, an unbearable sting all over his body; he tried to scream in pain but no sound came out. The pain intensified drowning out the voices, he writhed in agony as the pain attacked his body in waves every one stronger than the other. He thought he might go insane.

"Seiya." A gentle voice called out.

He looked and above him was a young boy, one that looked no older than him, clad in white floating in the darkness, his entire body was bathed in an ethereal glow illuminating the darkness around them. Raven hair framed his lightly tanned skin, blue eyes shone with such concern and caring it made Riku forget the immense pain that racked his body.

The boy descended upon Riku like an angel from heaven, he was only inches from him when he placed a warm hand on his cheek; the soothing caress dulling the pain that filled him.

He bent his head down to Riku's ear.

"Seiya don't leave me, Come back to me Seiya." He whispered softly.

Riku felt the pain slowly melt away till nothing but a feeling of warmth resided within him.

He turned his head to the boy, the boy lifted his head to look Riku in the eye.

"Why--- why do you-- " He tried to ask, the boy put a finger over his lips to silence him.

"You needn't understand that right away. But you must remember if you are to stop him, if you are to keep history from repeating itself but this time with much worser consequences. Remember your promise to him." His hand trailed down Riku's mouth to his neck where the jade pendant lay.

"But why me?" Riku asked.

"Because long ago mankind tried to do something they were not meant to do and failed. Now we must correct that mistake before it's too late." The boy began to ascend the same way he'd come, Riku grabbed his hand in an effort to stop him but the hand slipped from his grip.

"Wait! Don't leave." He cried.

The boy smiled down at him. "I won't leave you, I never could."

"But what if I don't find out what I'm supposed to do in time!?" The boy was slowly starting to fade away but Riku could still see some remnant of him still hovering above.

"You will don't worry, trust in yourself and you can do it." He said before he was finally gone.

Riku closed his eyes for a second and opened them again, he was now staring up at a ceiling fan that was slowly whirling round and round. He sat up looking around to find himself in a room sitting on a bed, realizing that it had just been a dream.

Or had it? He reached up his hand to fiddle with the pendant on his neck as he pondered what the boy had said to him.

'Seiya don't leave me, Come back to me Seiya.'

The other boy had not given him a direct answer as to why he called him by that name. It was strange how it felt normal to hear that name come from the raven-haired boy's lips almost as if it really were his own name.

But he knew that wasn't true, his name was Riku not Seiya.

He pulled the orange sheets that covered his lower body away getting out of the bed. He grabbed the jacket he'd taken off before he went to sleep and slipped it back on, after straightened it a little he walked out the door of the room. Once he entered the hallway he realized that he had no idea where he should go so he decided finding Dr. Virgil was probably the best idea.

As he walked his thoughts drifted back to the dream. Just who was that boy?

He'd just rounded a corner when he looked up and saw Dr. Virgil flying straight towards him! Riku ducked and thankfully managed to avoid a collision with the doctor; he stood up and turned around. And there was the doctor hanging from the ceiling on a thin wire harness that was tied around his waist, he wore regular orange pj's and matching slippers.

"Oh dear me where did the silver boy go?" Riku stifled his laughter at the young doctor's bewilderment.

"Over here Doctor." The Dr. looked around but didn't see where he was.

"Where? I can't seem to find you." He said.

Riku grabbed the doctor by the waist, much to his surprise, and turned him around to face him.

"Oh! There you are so sorry I didn't see you there. I was just testing out my newest invention; it allows me to roam around the entire house without having to walk and it's attached to the ceiling as you can see," He pointed upward and Riku's eyes followed.

"The house is made of a special kind of mixture of metal and wood. The metal melds the wood to any shape I wish by fusing with it and then changing it to a different mold before returning to its original state. So the rope is able to make new pathways whenever I want it to. Impressive yes?"

"Oh yes very impressive. It must've taken you a long time to make this place." Riku said.

"A very long time in fact." Riku almost jumped when he realized that Dr. Velshdein had been behind him. "But time is no longer of any importance to us."

The elder doctor looked even more fatigued than before, black circles adorned his eyes, his skin looking even more pale than before.

"Doctor I do believe you left something unattended in your room." The younger one furrowed his eyebrows together in thought.

His eyes widening when he realized that his colleague was right. "Oh No!! I'm very sorry Riku but if you'll excuse me."

The young doctor tugged on the string that his harness was attached to, the string automatically went forward down the same way the doctor had come, pulling the doctor along with it.

Once the doctor was out of sight it was only him and Dr. Velshdein.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked him.

That dream. "Yes."

"Hmm, Come with me." The doctor walked down the hallway, the same one the other had.

Riku, not wanting to be left alone in the house, followed.

The doctor led him to a large dining room full with small round tables and chairs. Every table was set for three, the doctor walked to the one centered in the middle of the room and sat down. Riku sat down as well, the table had three mugs tea, from the smell Riku could tell it was green tea.

A small sugar dish filled with sugar cubes, next to it was a teapot, and to the right of that was a milk pitcher.

And three small platters with slices of chocolate iced red velvet cake on it, with slices of strawberries for garnish.

They both sat in silence not looking at each other nor saying a word to each other. However the silence was broken by a loud, but distant, boom one that sent a slight tremor through the entire house.

A few minutes later a small white and silver robot came totting out of the entrance to the dining room, it looked like a robot toddler from the way it walked moving side to side with each step. His head was bigger than his body, and his small arms could barely reach the table as he slid a half burnt letter onto it.

"Doctor Muchnut will not be joining you today for lunch, and he sends this letter as an apology." The robot's voice was a deep baritone that didn't sound like it fit his small body.

The doctor gave the robot a wry smile. "Thank you Gear, you may leave now."

The robot walked away going back the same way he came.

"Is there another doctor in this house?" Riku asked him confused. He thought the other doctor's name was Virgil.

"Oh no, Virgil's full name is Dr. Virgil Love Muchnut."

Riku's eyes widened in surprise at this sudden realization trying his best not to laugh, he covered his mouth with his hand to disguise his grin.

"Is it? Well that's a very interesting name." He said nearly losing his composure.

"No it's not, it's utterly ridiculous." the doctor said scornfully.

"So um, is that his birth name?"

"No he changed it."

"He changed it to Dr. Virgil Love Muchnut, wow that's umm-- I'm sorry but what was it before he changed?" Riku asked him.

"You don't want to know. It was so unpronounceable it should've been illegal." He said taking a sip of his tea.

Riku shakily lifted his mug taking a sip of his tea as well, trying hard not to laugh but the thought of the younger doctor's name kept taunting him.

Keep it together Riku you don't wanna be rude. Riku told himself, the doctor however saw his predicament.

"It's okay you know, you can laugh. When I first heard it I spent five whole minutes laughing about it and in his face too." The doctor told him.

Riku had first begun snickering, but that then escalated to full out laughing. Riku had to put his mug down, as it was shaking from the vibrations of laughter.

"Wasn't he offended?" Riku asked through bouts of laughter.

A small smile came across the doctor's face. "No he actually had no idea what I thought was so funny. And to this very day I never told why I was laughing so much when we first met, he hasn't figured out either."

Riku laughed harder, after a few minutes he managed to calm down panting from laughing so much.

"I'm glad I found something to amuse you, its very depressing when you don't smile." the doctor said sincerely.

Riku found it odd he said such a thing, and after all, the doctor had never before seen him smile or heard him laugh. Had he?

"Thank you." He said with a small smile, starting to eat his cake.

The doctor took on a more serious tone. "So tell me something how exactly did you come to be here?"

Riku took a small bite of his cake before answering.

"Well, the last thing I remember is running away from heartless." That night played so clearly in his head. "And when I stopped to rest for a second something hit me from behind."

He remembered very well that terrible pain, that eerie voice and awful laugh. "And then I passed out, and woke up here."

"Hmm." He ran his finger over the rim of his mug, thinking.

"What is this place exactly?" The doctor looked at Riku, his eyes shone with an emotion that could only be described as sadness.

"A place for sinners to atone. Which is why I find it strange that you came here."

"And just what great sin have you committed doctor?" He asked not expecting an answer.

The doctor stared at the liquid in his cup, not being able to look the boy in the eyes.

"I once condemned two innocent souls to death, and another soul I sentenced to an eternity in hell. I fear that because you are here that maybe I haven't as of yet atoned for my sins."

"What do you mean by--" Riku gasped as a familiar feeling of dread filled him, he unconsciously grasped the jade pendant wrapped around his neck.

The sky darkened frighteningly fast, Riku stood, the doctor as well looking out the window at the night.

"What's going on? There are no stars; no moon there's nothing out there." He said bewildered.

"Oh there's something out there alright." the doctor said gravely.

The younger doctor yet again came through the entrance, literally, nearly hitting Riku yet again. He swung to his side in the air, his feet hitting the wall pressing a hidden button within it.

"It's Him!" He bellowed.

Riku turned to Velshdein. "Who?" He asked.

"Maldeo." He spat, his blue eyes blazed with anger.

————————————————————————————

Sora looked out from a balcony, toward the sky. Sora, like Riku, was shocked to see that there was not a star to be seen, or a moon to shine on the ground.

Sora looked at Maldeo, the boy pointed toward the ground. He looked, there on the ground lay many lights shining in the darkness, it was if the very sky had fallen. The light was not great enough to reach but a few feet from the ground, the dim light only illuminating the small area around them.

"Oh dear." Sora looked to the boy.

"What is it?" Sora asked him.

"I'm afraid I'll have to cut our time short Sora, I have some very unwelcome guests to take care of." Maldeo grabbed the blue-eyed boy by his shoulders. "But don't worry I'll see you very soon."

He pushed Sora back with an inhuman force that made the brunette lose his balance, Sora fell. But instead of hitting the hard marble floor, he fell deeper into a large hole; the hole engulfed him sucking him downward into nothingness.

Sora saw the boy smile down at him before the hole closed.

The blonde turned his gaze toward the balcony, he looked out seeing the mansion coming from the outer-edge of the darkness into the light.

"Well it looks like I'm going to get to see you after all these years."

————————————————————————————

A:N (1) Understand that Riku was trying to ask why the boy kept calling him Seiya. I know this was probably longer than my other chapters, it'll probably take a while before the next one is out so I can't make any promises as to when. By the way the cake was the only thing I could think of at the moment I know very well that velvet chocolate cake with strawberries is an aphrodisiac, so don't think it means anything cause it doesn't I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to put shonenai in this story, but if you guys really want me to you got to review so don't be shy push that little blue button!

Check ya later!

Kingdom Hearts Rules!