A Missing Friend

L.A.: Sorry for the delay. I was try to meet a ridiculous deadline for one of my classes. I decided to show Riku's side now. Enjoy!

The second district of Traverse Town was extremely quiet tonight. The only sounds were the buzz from the neon signs and the footsteps of the sole person on the streets. Riku listened to his footsteps ricocheting of the sides of the building. It was quiet, too quiet for his liking. And who could blame him for being this way after the week he had.

When he was swallowed by the darkness on Destiny Isles, Riku was thrown into a world of complete darkness. He wandered around for a couple of days until he finally found what ended up being a portal that led to this world. After talking to a couple of the locals and finding out that both Sora and Rin had indeed been sighted in this world, Riku decided to explore the rest of the town in hopes of finding them.

Riku let out sigh as he approached the fountain in the center of the district. "Still no sign of them." He knew that Sora and Kairi were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. Rin he didn't know that well but she had seemed the type who could take care of herself. still, he couldn't help but worry. The look on Sora's face when he was being swallowed by darkness still haunted his mind. "He just doesn't understand," Riku muttered as he sat on the edge of the fountain.

Darkness wasn't a bad thing. He wanted to escape his world and it had granted him his wish. The new sights, sounds, and smells were enough to cause sensory overload. The only consequence was that his friends weren't with him.

The image of his friends was painted in his mind. His shoulders slumped. "I hope they're okay."

The truth was he really missed them.

He missed Sora's goofy grin and Kairi's laugh. He let out another sigh as he looked up at the star filled sky. "Maybe coming here was a bad idea after all."

Even though he was in a different world he noticed that the sky was still the same as it was on Destiny Isles. It was kind of funny how even though a world could be so different, it still shared similarities. All worlds have life, death, light, darkness, and of course the immense star filled sky. One sky, one destiny I suppose he thought as he felt himself relax slightly. It was ironic, really. He wanted to go to other worlds to escape the humdrum life of Destiny Isles yet he felt happier when he found traits that were similar to the Destiny Isles in other worlds.

"Are you lost?" a growling, young male voice asked.

Riku turned quickly toward the speaker in surprise.

He had been so quiet that Riku hadn't notice his arrival. Sitting on his hind legs a few feet away from him was a black wolf. He had bright red eyes and a strange heart shaped insignia on his chest. Riku's eyes narrowed at the insignia. From what the townspeople had told him, Heartless, creatures who stole people's hearts, wore a sign similar to that insignia on their bodies. From what he gathered though, Heartless shouldn't be able to talk.

The wolf sensed the tension in Riku's body and smiled. "You're cautious. That's good. You'll need it around here if you don't want your heart to be stolen."

Riku continued to stare at him, his body completely tense.

The wolf rolled his eyes as he took a couple steps back. "Here I'll step back. That way if I lunge , you will have plenty of time to escape. Besides," he looked up and grinned. "You remind me of a trapped mouse right now and it will be a lot easier to talk to you if you act like a normal human…"

"I do not look like a trapped mouse!" Riku snapped.

The wolf grinned. "Ha, ha, so the boy can speak!"

Riku smiled slightly as he crossed his arms. "Alright, I'll admit that was a smart way to get me to talk. So, who are you anyway?"

The wolf made a slight bow. "My name is of no real importance. But, if you feel that you must call me something then call me Wolf. I am the servant of the witch known as Maleficent."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "A witch? Is she the good or bad kind?"

Wolf shrugged. "Good? Bad? Who knows. It all depends on who you ask. She knew you were coming here and asked for me to find you."

Riku smirked. "Wow, she sounds powerful but why is she looking for me?"

"She wanted your help with something. In return, she would help you find your friends." Wolf noticed the surprised expression on Riku's face. "Yes, she knows you are looking for your friends. Like you said, she is very powerful."

Riku frowned as he thought. Wolf seemed nice enough but he knew nothing about this Maleficent. All the fairytales he read when he was young always portrayed the witch as being evil. Of course he wanted to find his friends, but then what did she want him to do that she could not? "I don't know…" he said as he trailed off.

"I know what it's like" Wolf said softly, snapping Riku out of his thoughts. "To be alone."

"Are you looking for someone, too?" Riku asked.

Wolf nodded. "Yes, I am. I made a promise a long time ago which I intend to keep."

Riku grinned, "Well, I guess I can't say no after that." Besides, I can always get out of this if I don't like it, he thought to himself.

Wolf nodded as he touched his nose to the ground. "Good, then follow me." As he lifted his nose, a dark swirling vortex appeared in front of them. "This is a dark portal" Wolf said. "It will take us to Maleficent." Wolf took a step towards the portal before looking back at Riku. "You coming?"

Riku glanced one last time at the starry sky before looking at Wolf with fresh determination. "Yeah," he said, "I'm coming."

L.A.: Short, I know but this is a side chapter to the story. Anyway you know what to do. READ and REVIEW!