End of Eternity

Chapter 2

The old forest beyond the castle gates was a natural maze. Overgrown trees covered the sky, blocking out most of the sunlight. If it weren't for the single road that connected the castle to the village, it would be impossible to find a way through without getting lost. In the hope of finding the suspicious figure before the castle people alert him or her of their presence, Riku rushed out ahead of the others. Riku melted into the forest as soon as he went past the gates. The days he spent as "Ansem" made him used to avoiding being seen. He picked a tall tree and started climbing up on it skilfully. Doing so brought back a chain of memories. When they were little, he and Sora used to climb up the coconut trees in Destiny Islands. They had tried stealing seagull eggs without getting pecked by the parent seagulls, hitting each other with coconuts, and all sorts of other childhood silliness.

The sound of the castle people drawing near snapped Riku out of his thoughts. He climbed until he was overlooking the other trees. It was a clear day with not a cloud in the sky. Standing on a firm branch, Riku scanned the surrounding. The height gave him an advantage to see further than he otherwise would if he stood on the ground. Though the trees hide it well, Riku was able to see with his keen eyes the gummi ship at where they left it. He looked back to the source of the noises. A group of maids and servants were coming out from the castle, armed with garden spades and shovels.

A tiny movement caught Riku's eyes. It was a fair distance away but it looked like a person. Jumping from tree to tree, he hurried towards that direction. As he gained on that person, it became more apparent whom he was chasing after. Riku thought he might well have used up all the luck he had in his life. "Sora!" he called out. Sora halted and turned around. When he looked up and found Riku, Sora broke into a run.

"Wait, Sora!" Riku called and began chasing after him. Sora continued running as if he didn't hear.

Hastening his speed, Riku jumped off a tree and landed directly in front of Sora. "Sora, you've never beaten me in a race and you're not going to today," Riku remarked, smirking like he used to whenever he beat Sora in any sort of competition.

Sora didn't appear to be in the same mood as he. He attempted to get pass but Riku blocked his way. "What are you doing, Sora? Why are you here?"

"Riku," Sora's cerulean gaze met his. It was hard and determined. "Let me through."

Not intending to back down, Riku returned the glare. "Do you have any idea what is going on? The princess of light in this world had her heart stolen. We don't know who did it."

"Belle?" Sora took a step back, appeared quite shocked. "Maintainers…?" he said under his breath.

Riku's eyes widened. "What did you say?"

The noise of the people from the castle grew louder. "Sorry Riku!" Riku heard Sora say. Following it was a bolt of lightning struck way too close to his liking. It missed him narrowly. Though it was only brief moment, his reflexes instinctively told him to jump away, allowing Sora through.

Giving himself a mental kick for his own carelessness, Riku went after Sora. It was much more difficult to follow Sora on the ground, but Riku couldn't risk loosing sight of him by taking time to climb up high again. They ducked down branches, jumped over larger plants and scared away small animals as they roam through the forest.

"Don't come after me, Riku!" Sora yelled when he noticed Riku was following.

"Then tell me what is going on," Riku answered. Soon he caught the glimpse of Yen Sid's gummi ship parked on a small clearing ahead of them.

With the hatch already opened, Sora jumped into the Magus Hat lightly. Riku could see the hatch lowering as he was getting closer. It shut completely just when he reached the ship. The ship slowly rose into the air. Out of desperation, Riku grabbed hold onto the edge of the ship. The ship lifted him off the ground, carrying him into the open sky.

Horrified to see Riku dangling from the gummi ship, Sora opened up the hatch. "RIKU YOU'RE CRAZY!" he yelled, reaching out to his best friend. Riku clasped his hand tightly on Sora's, allowing himself to be pulled into the small vessel.

People and trees grew smaller as the gummi ship took them high into the sky. Ascending at full speed, the Magus Hat soon carried them away from Beast Castle and back into soundless space. Riku watched as Sora input sequential commands into the control panel to enable automatic piloting. "You coming wasn't part of the plan," Sora grumbled as he hit the panel keys. Sora keyboarding skills didn't seem to have improved much since visiting the Space Paranoid world. He was still slow and clumsy.

Riku took a glance behind. The old gummi ship was tailing behind them. It meant Donald and Goofy were following along. "What was part of the plan, Sora? Why did you have to run away from us?"

"There is something I have to do," Sora looked into the space ahead. "I can't let anyone stop me."

Knowing he wouldn't be able to ask anything more from Sora, Riku sank back into his "seat", which was really a tight storage space behind the pilot's seat. Oddly, he had a feeling that he forgot something important but he couldn't figure out what it was. It didn't take long before the next world was within view. The world they have come to was a huge garden. Its surface was covered in dark green grass. Riku remembered this particular world was called Wonderland. It was one he wasn't familiar with.

The Magus Hat landed lightly on levelled ground cleared of trees. The old gummi ship was preparing for landing. Riku took a good look at their current location. They were surrounded by many strangely shaped hedges.

A white rabbit carrying a pocket watch came out of nowhere. "Oh no! I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late!" the rabbit said breathlessly, sweat pouring from its furry forehead. It ran off as quickly as it came. A moment later, a blond haired girl in blue dress came running from where the rabbit appeared.

"Alice!" Sora called her.

"Sora?" Alice said in surprise. She looked genuinely happy to see him. "Wow, Sora you have grown so tall," she exclaimed as she measured herself against him.

"Hey listen Alice," Sora's smile changed into a serious face. "Has anything strange happened to this world? Like, have you seen any strangers around?"

"No, Sora. Why?" Alice asked, her face filled with curiosity.

"It's nothing," Sora shook his head. "But, can you do something for me? See there?" he pointed to a large hollow in a nearby mushroom. "Can you hide yourself there until I come back?"

Putting a finger under her chin, the blonde hair girl considered the request for a moment. "Well I suppose I can," she shrugged. "But you have to tell me the reason when you return. And come back soon ok?"

"Thanks Alice, I will," Sora nodded gratefully. He turned around, heading deep into the garden.

Riku went after Sora after asking Goofy and Donald to stay behind with Alice. As they were shrunk all to the size of ants when they entered this world, the plants were humongous to them. There were flowers as tall as streetlights and mushrooms the size of trees. Sora had taken out his keyblade. He walked in a steady pace whilst keeping a constant eye on Ultima Weapon. Suddenly, Sora stopped in his tracks, staring at his keyblade. Riku, too, stopped to look. But he couldn't find anything different about it. It wasn't shining, shaking or anything. Riku watched as the keyblade revealed a new keyhole in the air. To his surprise, the keyhole did not reveal a door. Instead, it expanded. Straight lines shot out symmetrically, joining together and formed into a black diamond-shaped gem. Two separate rings span around the gem. Looking at it closely, Riku realised one ring was the symbol of heartless and the other was they symbol of nobody. Gold words emerged on the surfaced of the gem, shining brilliantly. Just when Riku was about to ask what it was, Sora went up to the floating gem and sliced it diagonally across with his keyblade. As soon as he did so, he jumped back to put distance between himself and it. Being cut in halves, the rings fell down and dissolved in the air before they hit the ground. A large crack ran on the surface of the gem along where Sora cut it. A strong scent of darkness poured out from it. It was none like the darkness Riku had previously come across. It was denser and more daunting than the darkness that surrounded Maleficent and Xemnas.

"Get back, Riku!" Sora warned. Riku quickly launched himself backwards, moving away from the shattering gem.

Starting from the bottom, the gem shattered. The fragments dissolved in the air before they could touch the ground. In moment, the gem completely vanished just like it had never been there. "What was that thing?" Riku asked Sora, who didn't answer. The remaining dark scent lingered around Riku but for some reason, he knew it wouldn't harm him.

All of a sudden, they heard a loud explosion coming from where they left their gummi ship. It was also where they left their friends. "Donald, Goofy, Alice!" Sora gasped in shock. Together, Riku and Sora backtracked as fast as they could go.

Though they half expected it, Riku and Sora were still shaken to find the entire area in ruins. The huge flowers fell limp and lifeless on the ground as though a tornado came past. Mushrooms and grass were reduced to ashes, leaving a burning smell in the air. The only things that seemed to withstand the fire were the gummi ships.

Alice was lying on the ground, appearing unconscious. Donald and Goofy were partially buried under the fallen plants. Sora rushed to Alice's side. "Alice!" She wouldn't respond no matter how many times he called her name.

"Stop it, Sora!" Sora froze at Riku's words. He didn't realise how hard he was shaking her.

"Poor, poor Alice, having her heart taken away," Riku heard a lenient voice speak. A pink and purple striped cat appeared out of nowhere, sitting on a good tree. "Poor plants."

"Cheshire Cat!" Sora exclaimed as he placed Alice down carefully. Just as he stood up, he swayed forward.

"Sora?!" Riku called out.

Sora dropped down on one knee, using the keyblade for support. It looked to Riku that if he weren't holding the keyblade, he would've fallen on all fours.

Sora put a hand on his forehead. "I'm fine," he told Riku, turning to the Cheshire Cat. "What happened?" Sora asked the feline. Donald and Goofy stirred awake. They sprung up and looked around frantically. Their hopeful faces diminished in dismay when they saw Alice's condition.

"Pretty blue-hair girl came along and took Alice's heart. Your friends only lasted seconds against her before they were knocked out," said the Cheshire Cat, a huge grin was plastered on its diamond-shaped face.

"We were taken by surprise!" Donald defended angrily. "Riku, Sora…" he and Goofy dropped their heads shamefully.

Then it came to Riku. "Sora, Kairi's in danger!" That was what had been nagging him at the back of his mind. He made the connection when he was at Beast Castle but didn't have time to think clearly about it.

Sora stared at Riku with his mouth agape in realisation. He looked at the ruins of the garden and then at Alice.

"Sora, I don't know what you're doing, but this is Kairi we're talking about. You didn't use to think twice when it came to Kairi. Don't you care about her anymore?" Riku asked, his voice stiff and cold.

Sora turned away, avoiding what he knew would be Riku's piercing aqua glance. "There is…something I have to do."

Hearing his response, Riku went to the old gummi ship.

"Riku! Where are you going?" Goofy ran after the silver haired youth.

Riku sat himself on the pilot seat. "I'm going back to Destiny Island," he answered simply.

"What about Sora?" Donald asked with a big frown, watching Riku as he checked on the condition of each part of the ship via the control panel.

"That's not the Sora I knew," said Riku, looking only at the display on the large monitor in front of him.

Donald looked back and forth at Riku and Sora, unsure about whom to follow.

"Come on, Donald," Goofy beckoned, boarding the ship as he did so. Donald took a last glance at Sora before doing the same. Riku pressed on the button to close the hatch, preparing the ship for takeoff.

"Wait!" yelled Sora before it shut completely. The hatch lowered.

"I'm going too," said Sora, stepping on board. "Back to Destiny Islands."

Author's notes: Many questions are posed in this chapter. What is Sora doing? What does he know? What is the intention behind the stolen hearts? What is a maintainer? What awaits them back on Destiny Islands?

Reviews will be very much appreciated. For those who reviewed the last chapter, thank you!