Sora was good on his word when he said he was going to sleep. Riku was fairly certain the boy fell asleep on his back before they even got close to the ship. He couldn't tell since the brunette was dead weight from the moment he was lifted onto Riku's back. He would talk a little, then he'd fall silent. But he was so damn happy. He expressed how glad he was that Riku and Goofy were okay. He was grateful to be alive. He couldn't wait to tell Aqua her training had paid off.

In the ship, Riku hauled Sora onto a bunk under the cockpit. Sora gave him a smile, a cut on his face still bleeding.

"Thanks, Riku." He said, his voice hoarse and wavering. He let himself drop onto the pillow and Riku was pretty sure he was out before be even touched the mattress. Riku grabbed an Ether from the cabinet, guzzling it before casting another Cure on the boy. He watched more of his wounds heal, hoping he'd at least stopped bleeding.

"Goofy, clean him up, alright?" Riku asked. "We don't want to give him back to Master Aqua looking like that."

"Sure thing," Goofy agreed. The look he gave Riku was puzzling. He smirked, his eyes squinting knowingly. Kairi gave him that look a lot. It annoyed him when she made it. When Goofy made it, it was off-putting at best. "You're worried for him."

"He's alive, isn't he?" Riku snorted. "What is there to worry about?"

"He's your long-lost friend. You only just got him back, and look what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into." Goofy snickered.

Okay, now it was annoying. Goofy was starting to sound like Kairi. Riku grunted, turning from the royal guard. "We better get going." How the heck was he supposed to reply to something like that? He didn't care for this… stranger. Sora certainly wasn't his friend. He barely knew the guy.

Riku climbed into the cockpit, peeling off his blood-soaked over shirt. He rubbed his hands on a dry part of the shirt before taking a seat and starting the engine. That kid was a hassle. He was much more trouble than he was worth and Riku wondered why Kairi hung around him so much.

Riku felt their relationship was complicated at best. Sora was his best friend as a child. He remembered telling somebody once that he wanted the strength to protect him. It was a long ago memory, a secret he had been asked to keep. He wanted to tell Sora about meeting him, but believed the man when he said the magic would be broken if he told anybody.

Man, Riku hadn't thought about that in a long time. It was a foggy memory. The ones of Sora were just as clouded. He remembered so desperately waiting for that man to return, hoping he could provide some answers. He wanted him to come back to the island and take him away to find Sora.

Eventually, Sora found him. And, even though the man promised the Riku would find him one day, Riku never did. There were much more important tasks at hand. Maybe one day he would meet that stranger again. He believed their hearts had connected that day and a kinship had been created.

Riku didn't think Sora needed protection. Riku knew Kairi didn't really want it. She wanted to hold her own with Riku by her side. She wanted them to have each other's backs, to be each other's support system. Yet, Riku found himself watching over her like a big brother. Riku was very protective of her. When Jack Sparrow made in inappropriate pass at her, he punched him in the face. When a villain in one of their fights hurt her, he hit them back three times as hard. Nobody laid a hand on his friend.

Riku could see now Sora did need some protecting. He wasn't as almighty as they believed. He bled, like the rest of them. He wasn't an infinite source of energy. His stamina drained so effortlessly. He showed too much mercy to their enemies. For God's sake he healed Larxene! He used the last of his magic to heal the girl that was trying to kill him! That guy was an idiot!

When Aqua told Riku Sora did have weaknesses, he didn't believe her. He'd seen him fight. He was cocky, arrogant, and knew what he could do. He brandished his abilities with a flourish, eager to show anyone willing to watch. Riku saw today what she meant. It wasn't so much ability wise that he was weak. His heart was.

The whole fight, Riku could sense how unstable Sora's heart was. It struggled to keep itself in the light. Darkness was bursting through the seams, trying to claw its way past the unbearably bright light. Riku wondered if Sora was aware. Aqua seemed to be, but he came off as blissfully ignorant of his darkness. When quiet, the light shone brightly. When in the heat of battle, it struggled to keep the darkness at bay.

Maybe that was the effect all those Keyblades had on him. That shouldn't be possible without consequences.

When they arrived back in Traverse Town, Riku carried Sora back to their building. Goofy walked with them, using his large shield to block Sora from view. Riku didn't like the attention that usually followed when he or Kairi returned from a mission, battered and beaten nearly to death. Especially not with how crowded Traverse Town was becoming. It already had more inhabitants than Destiny Island, that much Riku could say for sure. It was nice that the town expanded with its occupants. Yet, knowing it was expanding was only a bad omen.

Riku climbed the stairs to the fifth floor, his legs aching. He was so glad his own apartment was only two floors below them. Once he dropped Sora off, he so needed to shower. Goofy knocked politely for him. Riku adjusted the sleeping boy, thinking how heavy he'd become on the way up here.

Ven opened the door. He grinned at Riku, but his smile quickly faded.

"He's fine," Riku told him before he had a chance to ask. Riku briskly moved past him to set Sora on the couch, which had become his new sleeping area. Sora vacated his room when Ven woke up, insisting the boy could have it. That was one thing Riku and Sora had in common, he supposed. They were both forced to sleep on the couch.

Sora grunted, blearily opening one blue eye. Oh, now he woke up?! After Riku carried him through two districts and up five flights of stairs?! Unbelievable!

"Hey," he breathed, reaching for Riku's wrist. He grinned as he grasped it. "Thanks."

"You already thanked me." Riku reminded him.

"I did?" Sora shook his head, letting him go. "Wasn't sure of that was a dream or not."

"It wasn't. You're home now."

"Oh," Sora glanced around, rubbing his eye. He still looked exhausted, ready to pass out any second.

Riku turned to Ven. "He might need some more doses of Cure and a couple potions. It was a pretty rough fight."

Ven nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll do what I can."

Sora tried to sit up to look at Ven, only to fall back into his place. Ven came around, leaning on the back of the couch to look over him. As Sora told him with all of his slurred speech what happened in Wonderland, Riku couldn't help but think how much they looked alike. They could have been brothers. Ven looked much more like Sora than Sora's little sister.

That's when he remembered. Sora's family. They'd disappeared with the islands. He hadn't even thought about them since he's last seen them in the marketplace so long ago. Their parents stopped to chat and Riku could only look at the little girl in the stroller. Riku wasn't a fan of children. He dealt with them, but not more than he had to. The girl barely looked related to him. She looked much more like her mother. Sora, his father. But even now that Sora was older, Riku could see much of the differences. Sora's father had a strong build, while his son was scrawny. He had years of training, but no muscle definition that Riku could see.

Riku wondered if Sora knew about his family. The little sister he never met. Had Kairi told him anything? Had he even asked? Riku wasn't going to bring it up. He didn't want to talk with him about it. Someone had to, though. They had to tell him eventually.

"You took on two Nobodies? All by yourself?" Ven was astonished. Like he never expected Sora to be able to take on anyone. Riku used to be pretty confident Sora could take on the whole Organization with his hands behind his back and his eyes closed. Now he wondered if Sora could even take one on. And if Sora didn't stand a chance, how would the rest of them fair?

"Yeah, they were actually trying to overthrow the Organization or something," Sora half laughed, half coughed. He rubbed his shoulder that Goofy had wrapped up. "They wanted to use me as a puppet in their scheme or something." He shrugged with his good shoulder. "I don't know what they were planning exactly, I wasn't about to listen to Marluxia monologue. I kind of hate monologueing."

"You didn't say anything about that," Goofy expressed in shock.

That certainly pulled Riku from his thoughts. "Wait, they were planning what?"

"They liked being Nobodies." Sora explained. "Larxene said she didn't like feeling or something. They didn't want their hearts. They couldn't leave or they'd risk becoming Dusks. So, I guess they were looking someone strong enough to do the dirty work for them."

"They knew about your, uh, 'gift?'" Goofy asked.

"Sort of." Sora explained how he had used two Keyblades fighting Marluxia in Castle Oblivion. When Sora was forced to reveal his true nature during the fight, Marluxia only became more driven, not threatened. "I don't think the Organization could have known what I did, though, right? Those two wouldn't have come after me if they thought they were being watched. They wouldn't have wanted to out themselves to the Organization."

"Well, there's that," Ven offered. "But, you know, what if there were more Nobodies on their side, y'know? Like, what if, like, half of them were actually planning to rebel against the other half?"

Sora raised his eyebrow at the blonde. "Is that what's happening?"

Ven laughed. "Nah, I don't think so."

They knew something. There was definitely something going on and these two had an in. …Then again, Riku could just be overly suspicious like he's been since the Organization showed up. Ansem was bad enough (well, the fact that they couldn't get to him to fight time was bad enough—the coward). Riku thought everyone was suspicious. He had to think about it. These dorks? Knowing something about the Organization? As if. Sora could barely name all twelve members. And Ven? He just woke up. Aqua would not let him off world. What could he know?

These two was just the weirdest people Riku had ever met—and he's been to Halloween Town.

Sora got comfortable against his pillow. His eyes were drooping again. Riku took it as his cue for himself and Goofy to leave and report back to base. They said their goodbyes to the boys and headed down. There, Kairi was sleeping at the table, her red hair in a messy ponytail, dirt and sweat staining her face, and new bruises on her arms. Aqua must have really put her through the ringer. Or some high level Heartless must have squeezed in somewhere.

Tifa was draping a blanket on her when they came in. Riku wondered how much time had passed. Wonderland was especially disorienting since time worked in weird ways there. That was the one world they couldn't keep a clock for. Hung on the walls, there was a date and time for each world, like an airport terminal. Except for Wonderland… there was just a paper with a question mark tacked to the wall. It was Kairi's idea after being so frustrated with the concept. They couldn't be bothered to take it down.

Riku could have sworn they were in Wonderland for a few hours at most. Maybe an afternoon. The travel time was cut to about two hours to and from—four hours. Holy crap, what day was it even? Riku glanced to the clock for Traverse Town. They'd been gone for three days. This shouldn't surprise him, not after it's happened so many times. But the time difference always threw him for a loop.

Riku crossed over to Cid's computer. On one of the screens, it constantly changed between data pouring in from other worlds. Riku wasn't an expert and couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. He brought up the documents for the Organization, inputting the new information.

"Eleven and Twelve have been eliminated." Riku said in a quiet voice so not to disturb Kairi. He glanced to Tifa in time to see her eyebrows shoot up. "Sora took care of them."

"By himself?"

"Uh-huh," Goofy nodded.

"Almost got himself killed doing it, too." Riku added, saving the new information.

"Who almost got killed?" Riku turned to Kairi as she lifted her head, her words slurring with exhaustion.

"Why don't you go to the apartment?" Riku suggested. "We can tell you about it when you wake up."

"What time is it?" Kairi yawned, glancing to the clock. It read four in the afternoon. Did she even sleep the night before? "No, no. I've gotta practice in a little bit." She stretched her arms up. "Aqua wasn't kidding when she said 'intensive training.'"

"Do you feel stronger?"

"I know more, if that's what you mean. Ven's been helping, too." Kairi stood up, cracking her back. "He knows a lot of light-based attacks. It kind of helps when you don't have darkness in your heart, you know?"

How lucky she was. She didn't have to struggle with her darkness like everyone else. She never had to wonder if the darkness was going to pull her under to drown her light. That's all she was—pure light. She had no darkness to tempt her with strength and power. She could only rely on what she had and she never had to feel guilty about giving in to those temptations.

"Did Ven win his Flick Rush match?" Riku asked. He was genuinely curious. The guy was kind of all right. He hoped he won.

"Hm?" had she forgotten in the days they'd been gone? "Oh. Yeah, he cleaned up. He had to drop out, though. Since we're about to get serious, you know? He wants to do his part to help and Aqua's finding stuff for him to do." She arranged the papers in front of her, bags falling heavy under her eyes. "So, who almost got killed?" She looked between Goofy and Riku. "Sora?"

"He's fine." Riku insisted before she worried. She made a bad habit of jumping to conclusion and Riku knew she'd grown to care for him. Unlike Riku, she actually made friends with Sora rather easily. She thought he was charming and sweet and kind of an idiot. At least, those were the traits she'd used to describe him on three separate occasions.

"He took on two Nobodies." Goofy told her.

"He did what?"

Riku and Goofy quickly explained what happened and what they knew. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give them a jump on this project. It was good to know they weren't invincible. Kairi listened, though her concern was more for Sora than the Nobodies that were trying to rebel against Organization XIII. She wanted to know just how badly he'd been injured and if he would recover sooner rather than later. Sora was her friend and she showed as much concern for him as she had everyone else in this troupe.

When it was time for Kairi to head out to meet Aqua, Riku joined her. He figured the more training he could get in, the better. He was ready to get stronger and fight for the people that mattered and get their home back (though Riku wondered now, with this new information about Keyblade Gliders and armor, exactly how often would he stay in Destiny Island? This was what he wanted all along, right? To see other worlds and expand his skies? Their world was just too small for his big adventures). Aqua did well in teaching him, even if her methods were geared for pushing down the darkness. It wasn't Riku's style and he tried his best to follow hers, only to go back to his old ways.

Aqua was glad to see Riku back. Before they started, he disclosed Sora's condition. She knew he'd be all right and Ven was there to take care of him. She didn't seem as concerned as Kairi had been, then again, she knew Sora to be a fighter.

Aqua had Riku and Kairi spar, throwing in certain move-sets that each should use. She wanted to see how well they defended and dodged. Riku had gotten pretty good with Reflect and teleporting and was more than confident in those skills. Kairi, on the other hand, attempted to fight more from a distance, using magic and flips to escape harm.

Aqua asked them to meet back in the lot in the Third District the next day. She wanted to get some exercises in that could improve their abilities. At home, Riku crashed on his couch harder than he'd expected. He was used to long days and extensive training and he found it was the only way he got to sleep. If he had a day where nothing happened, he'd end up wired the whole night, unable to fall asleep. Exhausting himself was the best way to ease the stress, and he knew Kairi felt the same. That was probably why she was sleeping at four in the afternoon—she had most likely been up all night due to a slow day in Traverse Town. The two usually found a means to exhaust themselves by the end of the day, but there were still those rare days when it was just… nothing.

The following day, the two met Aqua, Sora, and Ven in the lot. Sora was chewing a muffin, bright-eyed and healthy once again. It was as if the attack yesterday did nothing to him. Crumbs stuck to his mouth as he talked to Ven, both of their smiles lighting up the otherwise dim lot. Riku was almost tempted to smile, just by proximity. He pushed that urge down as hard as he possibly could, unlike Kairi.

"I heard about yesterday." Kairi said as she approached him to brush the crumbs off his face. "Good to see you're doing okay, Sora."

"Hm?" He rubbed his lips, as if surprised there had been something for her to brush off. "Oh, yeah. I'm good. I got some really cool scars now. Wanna see?" Without waiting for an answer, he shoved the rest of the muffin in his mouth, turning his back to them. He pulled up the back of his shirt, just to his shoulders to show off his new battle scars.

The first thing Riku noticed was four huge, jagged and discolored tracks, raked down his back. They were distorted and stretched, as if they were pulled across his skin with growth. It was clear they had been a decoration for years. There were a handful of tiny white scars that caught the light, eluding that there might be more in the shadows. There were three new identical marks dotted on his back, about the size of a large marble. They were dark and twisted like knots in a tree. From these tree knots, white frost spread out from them to about the size of a fist. One on his shoulder blade, another on his left ribs, and the last on his lower back, dangerously close to his spine.

"Cool, right?" he said, his voice muffled by the food and his shirt. Kairi touched them, tracing the fern-like marks that rose on his skin. "Aqua said that was from the lightning." Riku watched, a little shocked, as the muscles in his back rippled. He shivered at the effect as Kairi pulled away. "That, too, is from the lightning. It's been happening since yesterday."

"Muscle spasms. They should stop eventually." Aqua informed them.

"I hope they stop soon," Sora pulled his shirt down, turning back to Kairi and Riku, pulling the neck of his shirt down to show a fourth scar on the meat of his left shoulder just above his armpit, the fern-pattern creeping up onto his neck.

"Enough about your scars," Ven stuck out his tongue, turning to Aqua. Riku wasn't surprised to see him here. He usually sat and watched the training. But today seemed different with him. He seemed… kind of anxious to join them. "Aqua, tell them what we're doing."

He was joining them. This must be something good for Ven to be interested in participating.

"This is a team building exercise," Aqua started.

"I call Sora's team!" Kairi quickly linked arms with the brunette. Riku was fine teaming up with Ven. He'd been on Kairi's team since day one and he wasn't about to team up with Sora again. Not after Wonderland.

"Oh, uh, if Sora's okay with that," Aqua raised an eyebrow. "He was telling me he wanted to go solo this morning."

Sora shrugged. "It's fine. I suppose having one person on my team would make it fair."

Riku was confused. What was going on? Why did Sora want to go solo on a team building exercise? This made no sense.

"Alright, then." Aqua and Ven summoned their Keyblades. "Riku, you, Ven and I are against Sora and Kairi."

"Oh," Kairi's brows furrowed together quizzically. "Wait, what?"

"Sora has trouble fighting against multiple sentient enemies," Aqua explained. "Which was his biggest problem yesterday. He's used to the predictability of Heartless and Nobodies. We need to get to know each other to learn to work together. I know Riku and Kairi worked alongside Donald and Goofy for a long time. I'm not so concerned with the two of you. I'm sure you're more than compatible when it comes to fighting together. As for the rest of us," Aqua looked to Ven and Sora, "None of us really have had a chance to explore each other's fighting styles. I know Sora's and I know Ven's, but this is a chance to get to know each other and learn to work together."

Riku grinned, summoning his Keyblade. "Sounds fun."

You guys should look up what lightning scars look like. They look freaking rad. Also, a smidge painful.