Riku lowered his Keyblade as he stared out into the darkness. It wasn't as dark as he imagined it would be—especially not with that light that radiated from so far. It was so bright it almost blinded him. Riku jumped as a hand clapped on his left shoulder and a tuff of brown leaned over his right, a finger pointing out into the distance towards the light.

"There! Look!" Sora shouted, grinning. "Do you see that? Wow! Kingdom Hearts!"

"Sora?!" Riku exclaimed, pulling away from the boy that landed deftly on his toes. He must have been hovering in order to reach Riku's height. "What are you doing here?!" When did he come through the door that was already fading? Why was he even here? He should have stayed with Kairi and Aqua!

Sora folded his hands behind his head, his lips turning into a thoughtful frown as he tried to find his words. "I… Well, I didn't want to leave you guys alone to wander the darkness." He glanced back at the blonde man that seemed a little worse for wear. How long had he been here? "I was raised here. So… I guess I figured you might need help getting out."

Riku rubbed his temples over his armor, wishing it helped. "You got out by sheer luck." He reminded the boy. "That's what we're going to need to get back home."

"Well, uh," Sora glanced between Riku and Cloud. "From what I hear, by your track records, you guys don't have much of that."

"And you do?" Cloud asked, blowing a lock of hair from his face.

Riku turned to Cloud, hearing the exasperation touch his voice. "Let me put it like this: Sora, here, is from the same world I am. Except when he was a child, Maleficent thought he'd be better off in the Realm of Darkness."

Cloud snorted, crossing his arms. "Sounds like we're all a bit unlucky."

Sora shook his head. "No, but I was lucky." He clenched his hands, his grin spreading wide. "Because I wasn't alone. DiZ found me and took care of me. He made sure the monsters wouldn't get to me. And Aqua found us and she taught me how to fight and wield the Keyblade. I was very lucky! And, despite all odds, Kairi's letter found me when, by all accounts, it shouldn't have! It gave me hope and the door opened!"

"So, is that how we're going to get out of here?" Cloud chuckled. "Hope?"

"Uh," Sora's grin fell, but only for a moment. "Actually, I dunno. But… maybe we should take care of those first guys, huh?" Riku followed Sora's finger as he pointed out into the darkness. Pureblood Heartless rose, blocking out the light that illuminated their surroundings. Darksides… Neoshadows… Shadows and Darkballs. There were so many. Would they be able to take them all on?

Cloud pulled out his Buster Sword. "I hope you're a better fighter than the last time, kid."

Riku summoned Way to Dawn, smirking. "I hope you are. As I recall… you were taken out by a dog before a winner was declared."

"Still got that smart mouth, I see," Cloud shook his head. "Glad to see that much hasn't changed."

Sora stepped to the edge of the abyss, spreading out his hands. He glanced back at Riku, grinning. "Ready?"

"Let's go!"

Sora summoned his Keyblades. More than Riku had time to count. As Sora threw them at the Heartless, Riku ran, leaping off the edge to land on a Keyblade. He jumped from Keyblade to Keyblade, slashing at the monsters that they took him to. Cloud bypassed the blades, jumping right for the monsters and bouncing off of them as he destroyed them.

What Riku thought might have been infinite nothingness beneath them in fact wasn't. There was a bottom that was visible, which was comforting. It was just the light was unable to reach it. He leapt onto a blade that ran straight for a Darkside, riding it until it smashed into it's face, flipping back to shoot a dark aura attack behind the blade. He grabbed it, using it with his own to deal damage until the Heartless vanished.

Darkness was being thrown at them by the other Darksides. Sora seemed to have taken it upon himself to clean up the smaller Heartless and help Riku and Cloud get to where they needed to be, making sure they didn't fall away from the battle. There were raised chunks of land, where Neoshadows would clone themselves and sink into darkness to attack.

Sora did what he could with them, but it was difficult to keep track, especially when one would come out of the darkness and grab him from behind. When the Keyblade Riku was riding vanished, he used a burst of magic to throw himself at a Darkside and grab on to its hide. He looked to Sora to see what was up only to see the boy struggling to pull away from a Neoshadow that had grabbed onto him. He could handle it, Riku told himself. It was a Neoshadow and, even as annoying as they were, they weren't much trouble. In fact, the types of Heartless they were fighting weren't really that difficult. It was the sheer amount of them that was overwhelming.

Riku and Cloud took care of the Darksides, landing beside each other on the piece of earth that rose above the others. The light was bright enough to make Riku squint to view what was left. Sora easily cleared out the abundance of lessers with his multitude of Keyblades, falling back in exhaustion. He gave them a thumbs-up from his place by where the door was. Riku returned it, dismissing his armor.

"What is he?" Cloud asked, eyeing the Keyblades that were vanishing.

"Our best player," Riku admitted, dismissing Way to Dawn. He turned to face the blinding light, wondering if Sora was right. Was that really Kingdom Hearts? If it was, why was Xehanort after it? Didn't he want to plunge everything into darkness? How did he hope to do that with Kingdom Hearts?

Sora landed beside them, panting from exertion. He faced the light head on and unafraid. Wasn't it too bright for him? It certainly was for Cloud, who shielded his eyes to try and see.

"Who knew?" Sora laughed. "Ten years in the darkness, and the light was hiding in it the whole time. I've never seen anything like it."

"Are you going to it?" Cloud asked, turning away.

"I dunno," Sora shrugged. "I'm curious to see what Xehanort wants."

"Then, we part ways here." Sora and Riku turned to the man. There was no way the three of them would split up. Tifa would kill him if he didn't bring Cloud back with them. And Riku had no doubt in his mind that she could. "I shouldn't get any closer. The… darkness invading my heart is yearning for it."

Riku scowled. This just wasn't right. "Ansem still has a hold on you."

Sora gasped, looking between them helplessly. When Cloud didn't answer, Riku understood he was correct. The brunette huffed, clenching his fists. "But you guys… you beat him, right?"

"They weakened him," Cloud corrected. "I could feel it. So, I trapped him. Where he won't hurt anyone else ever again."

"Unless he gets out."

"I won't let that happen." Cloud insisted defensively, glaring at Riku. "Never again."

Riku believed him. He understood Cloud's need to repent for the wrongs he had done and somehow, it felt familiar. He understood in a way that was as if he had been in the same position. But Riku never was. Yes, he strived for the power to protect the ones dear to him. Yes, he allowed darkness into his heart for that purpose. But he had total control over it and always had. It made him wonder how anyone fell into it when it was so easy to command.

The three of them walked away from the light, moving deeper into the darkness. There wasn't much of anywhere to go, save for the single path that led to Kingdom Hearts and the Door. Where the path ended, Cloud wasn't sure. When he first arrived in the darkness, he was placed there, in the middle of this path. One way descended into endless darkness, the other led up to the light. He took the path to light, hoping to be able to return home. When he got there, he found the door wide open and Heartless escaping from it. He decided he couldn't leave just yet. He needed to protect the Realm of Light as best he could until the door was closed.

He had been there for over a year, waiting for someone to close it.

As the three walked, Sora was more than happy to fill in the silence. He spoke about what Cloud had missed, how Tifa was doing the last time he saw her, that Aerith, Tifa, Cid, Yuffie, and Leon were working hard to defend Traverse Town, and Aerith and Tifa would talk about him a lot. Sora genuinely didn't know any of these people very well, but he spoke like they were best friends.

It was strange how the friends Sora made were quick to become close to him. Riku couldn't believe how strong his magnetism was, despite not having very proper social skills. Every heart he touched, he left a little bit better than before. Riku could even see it with Cloud. The more Sora spoke, the more at ease Cloud became. He even smiled, which threw Riku off guard for a moment.

"Are you sure… we haven't met before?" Cloud asked, stopping for a moment. He met Sora's gaze, the boy tapping his chin inquisitively.

"Yeah, pretty sure." Sora concluded. "I've been here up until recently. And I know we haven't been this way." he laughed. "This realm is endless. It was super lucky DiZ, Aqua, and I found each other."

They kept going. And going. And going. Sora was right. This realm was endless and the path seemed to just keep going into darkness. But like the pressing darkness that they had been trapped in for the past—few days? Maybe a week?—however long it had been, time was difficult to tell. They begun to tire and Sora offered first watch. He explained the sleep cycles Aqua and DiZ set up to keep an eye out for Heartless, suggesting it may still be the best course of action.

Riku slept. His dreams were murky, vivid colors popping out through the haze. Red. Green. Yellow. For a moment, the haze cleared and before stood Sora—a different Sora. One wearing red clothes and giant yellow shoes who wore a necklace with a crown pendant. He was perhaps a bit younger than he was now. He faded and in his place stood Ventus… wearing an Organization cloak and wielding Sora's favorite Keyblade, Kingdom Key.

When he woke up, he couldn't understand what he had seen. The bits of dream and the haze hadn't quite been cleared, leaving him dazed as the Sora before him yawned. This Sora wasn't quite a stark contrast to the Sora from his dream. They still wore that stupid grin all of time. But he was different. His clothes were darker, made up of mostly black with reds, blues, and yellows splashed in and he refused to wear shoes when he didn't have to. He wondered why the Sora he pictured wore such large shoes when Sora's own feet weren't that large. And were did that necklace come from?

Sora fell asleep way too quickly. Cloud still slept as Riku took watch, growing bored already. At first, he was on edge, waiting for the Heartless to show up. After a while, he understood why Sora was already on the verge of passing out when he finally had the chance to sleep: The Heartless didn't seem to be coming. At all. It wasn't all that dangerous. In fact, it was so boring that Riku counted their inventory four times (one potion, three elixirs, two ethers, and a pack of trail mix Sora pocketed and hadn't had the chance to eat—when did he think he'd have the chance to eat it?).

Riku tried to remember the dream. So strange. Yes, dreams were usually strange and sometimes so vividly weird that you'd think about them for days (panaceas had that effect on him for some reason). But these were different. The images didn't feel like dreams at all.

Maybe he was just over thinking it due to boredom. Yeah, that was it. He was glad when Cloud finally woke up, seeming to have been relieved to finally get a decent rest. He and Riku walked a little further down in order to speak without waking Sora.

Cloud wasn't as open as Sora. It was hard to really keep a conversation with him. He was a bit reserved, even more so than Riku, which Riku considered a feat in-and-of itself. Even if the two didn't talk much, it was still nice to have someone present. Cloud asked how they finally defeated Ansem, and Riku told him. He had to explain who Organization XIII was and about Nobodies and Riku hoped he was preparing him well enough for their return (if they returned to the light at all—Sora seemed to believe so).

"So there are two of them." Cloud concluded, sounding absolutely thrilled by the news. "Great."

"That's what I said," Riku shook his head. Maybe he and Cloud weren't that different. Still, he looked at the man and hoped he wouldn't grow up to be like him. He hoped to perhaps outgrow his own self-doubt and lust for more strength. He kind of… Meeting Sora, he kind of hoped the other might rub off on him as strange as it sounded. Maybe it should have been him off saving the worlds instead of Riku. He wondered of the other might have done a better job at it.

After Sora finally woke up (seeming to have been used to short sleeps—he must have slept for no more than four hours and certainly acted like it, taking forever to be coherent enough to move), the three of them set off again.

He and Sora told Cloud about Xehanort, Sora having more knowledge than Riku. Maybe perhaps not more knowledge, but more understanding since he had grown up with Aqua who knew everything. They talked. They didn't. They walked. They slept. The forever descending path finally opened up, growing wider and wider until it created a whole world before them.

There wasn't much to see. Sora told them the sights never really changed. Most of the exciting places they'd been were fragments of worlds that fell to the darkness, so those would be gone now that they had been restored. This was the extent of their existence until a door opened for them.

After clearing the path, they lingered longer in the area they chose to sleep. One person would sleep at a time, helping to keep each other sane, according to Sora. Constant stimulation was important for keeping the mind sharp.

To help, Sora would teach Riku secrets of the Keyblade, even if he didn't believe he was qualified for it. He knew more than the self-taught wielder, and that was enough for Riku to believe he was qualified. He trained under Master Aqua, so… who better to guide him in the absence of their master?

Sora was great at keeping their spirits up without even trying. His infectious smile and uncontested belief that they would return to the Realm of Light kept them moving. Before all of this, the idea of being trapped alone with Sora seemed… overwhelming. He felt like his light and energy would swallow him up. Now… he was glad Sora gave up the light to help them. As much as he wished they were all on the other side, he was glad he was trapped with him.

The longer they spent in the darkness, the stranger these dreams became. Many of them were memories with Kairi. Ones he had known had happened that became replaced with another, parallel scene. Their meeting with Cloud after defeating Maleficent played vividly as if he were actually reliving it.

Cloud had clearly been possessed. He felt more powerful, a green aura engulfing him. The large sword that resembled a Keyblade made from the Princesses of Heart was gripped tightly in his hand and a great, leathery black wing stretching out behind him. The darkness within him was overpowering as Kairi dropped to her knees, clutching her chest as her heart reacted to the Keyhole.

For a moment, Kairi flickered, a red blur replacing her.

Riku charged for the possessed Cloud, only to be easily cast beyond the barrier Donald and Goofy were trapped behind. The three of them were helpless, forced to watch the scene unfold before them. Riku needed to be there. He needed to protect her. If she really was a Princess of Heart, he couldn't let Ansem have her heart!

But Kairi did it all on her own. As powerful as Cloud had become with the power of darkness and the Heartless within him, she fought bravely and valiantly. The grueling battle wasn't a quick one, as much as any of them would have liked to have hoped. It only made watching more painful.

As blades clashed, the image changed and Riku saw himself. Cloud had become his fifteen year old self, the Keyblade of Princesses Hearts having transformed to fit him comfortably. He was wrapped in organic material, much like the ones the possessed Cloud wore. He grinned manically as he pushed against Kairi… no, not Kairi. Kairi shifted, transforming into Sora.

Maybe it was this realm. Maybe it was messing with his head, making him believe he could very well have been in Cloud's position. His own insecurities that Kairi tried so hard to help him through, even when he didn't have to tell her about them ate away at him.

He asked Sora about it one day.

"Hey… does this realm… usually induce weird dreams?" Riku asked as Cloud slept on the other side of the cave they took shelter in. How long had they been here? A week? A month? It felt like years already. Sora said they couldn't think that way. DiZ had and it nearly drove him mad when he tried to keep track.

"No," Sora replied slowly. "Not usually… Why?" Sora asked, studying a stalactite… or stalagmite. Riku couldn't remember which was which, but it was on the ceiling and dripping water into a tiny pool on the floor. "Have you been having weird dreams?"

"No," Riku replied, perhaps a little too defensively.

Sora only smiled, perhaps a little sadly. "I have."

Riku furrowed his brows. "You have?" he inquired. Sora nodded. "What about?"

"Things I've forgotten…" Sora placed a hand over his chest. "Promises I said I'd keep. A sunny place that's warm and reminds me of Kairi." He laughed. Riku was shocked to notice his eyes glistening. "A bed and a woman telling me stories. A man… in the darkness." Sora's fist clenched over his shirt, bundling it. "Hurting me and claiming me."

"What… what are you talking about?" Riku adjusted himself to face Sora better. He'd never seen him like this. He was… he was truly terrified.

"I was… I was little." Sora started, keeping his eye on the stone above them. "It was… maybe when we met Aqua. Maybe a little before. I know I didn't have a Keyblade yet. I don't think I knew what it was, so it must have been before we met her. I was off on my own. Not far from DiZ. I think he was sleeping and… this man in a black coat showed up.

"I tried calling for DiZ, maybe hoping we'd make a new friend and we'd have another person with us in the darkness. But he covered my mouth. He was fast. Really fast. He pushed me to the ground, and traced an X," Sora motioned with a finger, creating the letter. "It was red and glowing and it hurt. It burned so badly. And then he said, 'You've been chosen for a grander purpose.' Like he had this path set out for me. Like I was going to serve him.

"I don't know how I forgot about that. But maybe it was just a dream. I would have told DiZ. He would have reminded me. He would have kept that memory for me to remind me not to trust every stranger I meet. He tried to tell me sometimes, but, you know, we didn't really have anything to base it off of. The only other stranger we met was Aqua and she was awesome and amazing and never tried to hurt me."

Sora shook his head. "And then I think about how I got this." He pulled his shirt down to reveal an X shaped scar over his heart. It was too clean to have come from anything less than a brand. "And I can't remember how I got it. And it matches up to what the guy did perfectly. And… then what Ansem said…"

Riku got to his knees, anxious to hear more. This was becoming more and more confusing. "What did he say, Sora?"

Sora hesitated. Now, it was so clear that Sora had been struggling. His bubbly nature hid it so well, but his internal battle was just now coming at him with full force. Sora repeated Ansem's words slowly. "'You should have remained in the security of darkness. There, you were lost to us. The seed had been sown long ago. And now, this heart belongs to us.'" Sora grit his teeth as he floated to his feet, storming away from Riku to pace. Riku stood up, his frown deepening. "I think… I think Xehanort's looking for another vessel." Sora finally hissed, trying to hard to keep his voice low. "And I'm the one they chose."

Riku huffed a laugh in disbelief. It made sense. Most of it, anyway. "No… They hardly groomed you into a worthy vessel."

"Do you see what I can do?" Sora breathed, trying to keep his voice steady. Sarcasm was clearly still not something Sora had mastered understanding. Still, the boy took several deep breaths to calm down. It didn't take much, surprisingly, after how worked up he got. Sora shook himself out, giving Riku crooked smile. "Well, I guess I've been lost to them again."

"They better hope you stay that way," Riku smirked, giving him a playful shove. "When we get out, they're in for a world of hurt."

Oh my god! We're coming up to the convoluted and fun stuff that's finally going to help move this forward. Yay!