Disclaimer: You know what I'm gonna say. Do I even have to say it?

A/N: Wow, this one didn't take very long at all. It's probably cause I finally get to write about Sora. I've realized I have a sort of unexplainable affection for the little idiot.

Read and review, people!

Chapter 13

Black and White

Kairi's heart was pounding on double-time. She couldn't explain it, but she knew this was—

"Riku!" she repeated, sprinting the last few feet to the cloaked man. He raised a hand, hesitantly brushing back his hood.

The sight that greeted Kairi underneath was like a slap to the face. She had been expecting one of her best friends; all silver hair and sea-green eyes. This man looked nothing like him. He was tanned and intense, his fiery eyes glowing like a furnace. There was only one word for him. Frightening.

Kairi stumbled back, careening right into Namine. The two of them fell to the floor in a tangle. No, no, no, this couldn't be right! It was Riku, it had to be Riku, it felt like Riku!

The man leaned down, hair spilling over his shoulders. He offered a gloved hand. "Let me help you, Kairi." He smiled. It was a very familiar smile.

"It is you!" Kairi yelped, jumping up and almost throwing herself into the man's arms. Riku buried his head in her hair, holding her to him with a ferocity that suggested he expected her to dissolve into thin air if he let go. Kairi could feel his arms shaking. Or maybe that was her arms shaking.

"I haven't seen you in over two years!" she gasped, looking up at him. "What happened to you? I don't think you can exactly call this puberty."

Riku laughed. "I'll tell you when we get the chance. First, we've got to find Sora."

"Yeah!" Kairi agreed. "Oh, Riku, this is—."

"Namine," Riku finished for her. "We've met." Namine smiled from where she was witnessing the happy reunion.

"Alright, let's go!" Kairi commanded, starting down the platform.

"Wait," Riku called, tugging on her shoulder. "I have something to give you." He was suddenly holding something. Something silver and pink and dangerous looking. A keyblade.

"Take it," Riku prompted.

What..? It was with great uncertainty that Kairi reached out and claimed the weapon from Riku's grasp, the whole time expecting it to vanish and reappear back into his hand. Not that silver, pink, and shiny suited him exactly…

But the keyblade rested in her palm like it had been made for her. A surge of power flew up her arm, sending tingles dancing across her skin. She spun it over her head, chopping down at an imaginary enemy, overbalancing and stumbling into Riku. He caught her by the shoulders.

"Hey, save it for the heartless."

She smiled. "Okay."

The little group continued on their way down the ramp. Kairi walked shoulder to shoulder with Namine, a pace or two behind Riku. A warm glow had appeared inside her and it was getting brighter by the minute. She was going to see Sora, she was going to have her life back! All they had to do was finish this.

The possibility of failure didn't even occur to her. She had her guys back. Who was going to stop them? No one. For just a fleeting moment, she wondered where Axel had gone. Was he alright? But then she shook the thought from her head. It wasn't the time for worries. Axel could take care of himself.

"Riku…"

"Yeah?" he called back.

"It's good to see you, even if it is in an old man's body."

"Hey, I'm not that old!" Riku protested indignantly. "Besides, it definitely beats having him in my body. That was just creepy."

Kairi grinned, realizing as she did that it was the first smile she'd cracked in a long time that was exactly as it seemed. It wasn't to cover up an awkward moment or meant to trick someone into giving her what she wanted. She was smiling because she was genuinely happy. There was only one thing that could improve this moment.

"Is Sora here?"

Riku nodded, those creepy eyes turning on her. "Yes, I can feel him, he…Is there something on my face?"

"No, why did you think—."

"You're smiling like a doofus."

Kairi dissolved into laughter. The sight of that intense, super-villain face speaking the word 'doofus' was a little too much for her to handle. Beside her, Namine was laughing too, though she was a little hesitant, like she wasn't sure if she was allowed to. Once again, Kairi was struck by the completely unquestioning trust she was putting in the little blond. She was a complete stranger, and in a place like this it would be safe to treat ever stranger as an enemy. But not with Namine. Kairi felt that if she couldn't depend on Namine…she couldn't depend on herself.

It made no sense, but Kairi had long since given up trusting to sense.

"Where are we going?" Kairi asked Riku. It was beginning to seem like this goddamn platform would never end.

"To The Proof of Existence," Riku answered. "We've gotta hurry. I have a feeling Sora needs us."

"Come on, when has he not needed us?" Kairi laughed. "I mean, if it wasn't for us, he wouldn't…oh shit!"

The walkway had ended. Suddenly it just wasn't there anymore, and they were standing on a balcony, overlooking a battlefield.

Heartless. That was the only way to describe it. They were everywhere; clustered together in teeming pools of darkness, clinging to the walls and ceiling like barnacles. But that wasn't all; there was something new.

"White heartless?" Kairi shouted, "What the fuck next?" The things were vaguely humanoid—skeletal and strangely nauseating—and they moved differently than the shadows. They moved with purpose.

Namine touched Kairi's shoulder tentatively. "Those are nobodies, not heartless."

"Nobodies? What the hell are nobodies?"

"Worse," Riku said, by way of an explanation. "Much worse. Faster, stronger."

And the nobodies weren't the end of it. The room before them was as vast as a cathedral, its ceilings hundreds of feet above Kairi's head. The balcony she was standing on was relatively close to the floor, a floor that was marked out like an arena. In the very center was a sight that filled Kairi both with barely suppressible joy and unfathomable horror.

There was a boy down in the arena squaring off against a black-coated Organization member. He was different than she remembered. Not physically (there'd be no way to tell from up on the balcony), it was more like a presence. He had become the single beacon of light in a world full of darkness. There was only one word Kairi could come up with (you recall that Kairi's vocabulary tends to fail her at moments of great excitement).

Beautiful.

"You're beautiful, Sora!" she yelled, punching a fist into the air, "Kick the bastard back to hell!"

Sora didn't appear to hear her, which was probably a good thing. He didn't need any distractions. The man he was fighting seemed to be…warping through thin air. Literally He would appear above Sora, fire a burst of energy from his unnecessarily massive gun (maybe he was compensating for something?) then disappear before his opponent had the chance to retaliate.

It worked in theory, at least.

In practice, however, the man hadn't counted on Sora's annoying tendency to jump, flip, or cartwheel to the side, effectively evading the bullets. He would then deliver a smashing blow to the man's chest, knocking him back a few feet. Their fight was actually unconsciously bringing them closer to the trio on the balcony, which was exactly what Kairi was hoping for.

Sora flipped the keyblade over his head, catching it blind and swinging it up into the member's face.

"You like that?" he quipped. Despite the sweat running over his body in streams and the many marks the energy bullets had left, he gave his enemy a winning smile. The man was getting frustrated. He seemed to have forgotten his gun and was now just desperately trying to get Sora in his grasp. The keyblade master flipped backwards, sending himself into a one-handed handspring.

"You out of bullets?" he called teasingly. "What a shame."

The man snarled, catching Sora on the side of the face with the barrel of his useless gun.

Kairi drew in her breath sharply. Beside her, Riku just rolled his eyes.

"Stop taunting the idiot and finish him," he muttered.

"Come on Riku," Kairi said, nudging him breathlessly. Sora had just blocked the second blow, muscles straining under his sweat-slicked skin. "It's kind of an awesome thing to watch."

Riku laughed. "Why Kairi, I do believe watching Sora kill things is getting you hot."

"Well duh," Kairi answered, turning and giving him a vixen grin.

"You've changed, Kairi."

"You're telling me."

"Yes!"

Sora's cry of victory echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls and making the nobodies squirm in agitation. One of their Generals had just been soundly schooled by a sixteen year old boy.

Kairi swore. "Gaaa! I missed it!" She was just about to call down to Sora, when another man in an Organization coat appeared on the scene. He had silver hair and a rather orangey tan. He approached Sora with long, meaningful strides. The two of them seemed to be conversing, but Kairi couldn't hear a thing.

She turned back to Riku. "What now?"

"Now we do what we're meant to do. Help Sora."