After much internal debate, I am continuing with this. I was hesitant due to an… issue that arose but I am hoping it has been resolved. I thank all of those who notified and assisted me with said problem.

It means a lot that there are people looking out for my work.

Now, we all understand that though I don't own Kingdom Hearts or their respective characters, the idea is mine, correct?

Good. Have fun, guys.

Sora remained uncharacteristically quiet the entire trip to the ice cream shop and back. Riku wanted to say something but he didn't know what. Actually, he doubted any words would actually help so he simply walked beside Sora.

At the house, Sora resumed his spot on the floor slowly licking at his cone still lost in thought.

Riku watched him a moment, debating if he wanted to say anything. There was a question he really wanted to ask, a few questions actually. He had no idea if Sora would answer at this point. In the end, he decided it was worth the try.

"Hey, Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you still feel Roxas?"

Sora continued with his ice cream. After a moment, he casually commented. "That's a really dumb question, Riku."

He didn't think so.

Sora sighed. "He's still here in me only now he is me. I can't explain it but I know there are things I say and do and feel that are him, not me. I told you I can't simply make him go away."

Riku nodded, not quite getting it.

"And he doesn't hate you." Sora smiled over his shoulder. "Actually, he rather admired you."

"He did?" Riku asked skeptically.

"Yep. He can't believe anyone would make themselves that ugly for little old me." Sora grinned, somehow dodging the pillow thrown at him. "So, back to the game?"

"If you want." Riku shrugged.

"Okay." He scooped up the controller and unpaused. "Why are we at the train station? Oh, it's that train. So that's when King Mickey got there."

Sora nodded to himself. Roxas called his name, followed by Donald and Goofy. "And now I wake up. You know, that egg thing was really weird. And man, was I stiff! It felt like I hadn't moved in like a year."

"Close to it." Riku commented.

Sora turned his head with a dumb look. "Oh, yeah it was, wasn't it? I'm such an idiot."

"And the prancing around in a circle there proves it." Riku smirked.

"Hey! I was really happy to see them!"

"Least you didn't cry. I'd feel pretty unimportant if you had."

Sora frowned in embarrassment. "Yeah, well… that was different."

He quickly turned back to the game. Jiminy Cricket was on his shoulder and the little group was discussing what had happened to them. Then they left to find out where they were. "I didn't realize just how bad I looked. No wonder Olette kept snickering at me. Those clothes really were small on me."

Hayner, Pence, and Olette introduced themselves and when the girl asked about homework, Sora dropped the controller. "Dude! That just totally reminded me I still have to do my chemistry."

"You can copy mine."

Sora threw his head back and smiled upside down at his best friend. "I love you. Really I do."

"Knock it off and watch the game."

Pence was talking about someone looking for them. "You know, I really thought he was talking about you until he mentioned the ears. I was hoping it was you. Not that seeing Mickey was a bad thing but you know…"

They headed for the train station and it's deceptively empty courtyard. The Dusks appeared and Sora actually jumped. "Whoa! I knew that was coming and they still freaked me out. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack the first time I saw those. They're just so creepy looking, all… dancey or whatever."

He hit a bunch of buttons, still talking. "And then they were so freakin' hard! And they just kept coming! See? I just couldn't keep up! I have never been as glad to see Mickey as I was then."

"You were just out of practice."

"I still had to remember everything. I was going on pure instinct." Mickey dropped down and told them to board the train. "You know the ears totally give him away."

Riku laughed. "I told him that! He just shrugged and jokingly said he'd start manufacturing hats with large ears and sell them throughout the kingdom. Then he'd blend in just fine."

"I want a pair of Mickey ears. Those would be cool."

"Dork."

"Emo."

"I'm not-"

"Hey! See, see?" Sora suddenly pointed at the screen. "The first thing I wanted to do was find you!"

"Yeah." Riku smiled a little. "You just got a bit sidetracked, what with the Organization and all that."

"Exactly." Sora confirmed, not catching the sarcasm in Riku's voice. "Finding you really was my number one goal."

"The three of you are so weird." Riku shook his head, watching Sora, Donald, and Goofy interact. "At least you amused each other."

"Wouldn't have made it without them."

The three headed toward the train, Hayner, Pence and Olette appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Sora watched all this with a slight frown on his face. It was a very awkward scene and Sora found he really didn't have anything to say at the moment.

"You can go straight to the train if you want." Riku spoke quietly.

"Huh?" Sora blinked, not realizing control had gone back to him. "Oh, yeah." He moved himself. "I'm still a bit confused. Am I in the real or fake Twilight Town here?"

"The real. When I gave you that stuff later, that took you to the fake." Riku explained. "It'll make sense when you get there."

"If you say so." He talked to Donald and moved to board the train. "I was really sad leaving those guys. Roxas really cared about them."

"I know. They weren't happy to see you go, either."

"And to think none of us consciously knew the other." Sora paused. "I still have that jewel."

Riku believed it. He had held on to a few things himself even though Mickey had told them to discard of every physical reminder. "But you freaked when things started disappearing behind you."

"Yeah." Sora laughed. "Especially when the train disappeared. I thought we were screwed then."

The train did just that and he began fighting some heartless scattered about the little island, opening a few chests in the process. Then he headed for the door.

"Pete's such an idiot." Sora complained, waiting for the conversation with the giant dog-cat thing to end.

"More like a tool."

"Though it was fun telling him about Maleficent."

"Tells you just how highly she regarded him that she sent him as far away as possible and then never bothered to contact him again." Riku noted with amusement. "She used to refer to him as the sniveling idiot."

"Did she really?" Sora grinned.

"Oh she couldn't stand him. Hated him more than Captain Hook and she despised him." Riku laughed. "Course everyone hated Hook. I loved being able to order him around."

"Did they all have to listen to you?"

"Toward the end they did."

Sora made a noise that Riku couldn't decipher. The conversation on screen finally ended and a short battle ensued before there was another conversation introducing Yen Sid as occupant of the tower. Donald ran off, followed by Sora and Goofy after Goofy explained who Yen Sid was.

They ran up a winding staircase, fighting Heartless before becoming sealed in a room where they had to fight more. The second time this happened, Sora frowned. "You know, I really was upset that after everything we had done, the Heartless were still running around. All I wanted was to go home."

"I know."

The little group approached the old magician and he began explaining things to Sora before telling him to read an old book. As Sora ran through the pages, he slowly straightened. Some thought was obviously forming in his mind.

"That book," he said slowly. "It was totally talking about you!"

"What?" Riku scrunched his face.

"Yeah." He went back to the first page. "Okay, read all of it carefully. It's talking about you!"

Riku did as instructed. "Well, I guess it could be…"

"There's no could be! It's you!" Sora spoke firmly. "If I had realized that before I might have saved myself some heartache."

He left the book and moved to have Yen Sid again start talking, explaining the continued presence of the Heartless and the newly arrived Nobodies. He went on to detail the Organization. "You know maybe it's just me but a lot of that was rather redundant. He didn't talk nearly this much then."

"This is all for the benefit of people who didn't play the first game and I know he did go into the Nobodies and the Organization because those were his instructions."

"You've met Yen Sid?" Sora looked at Riku in disbelief.

"No but he was one of the subjects of my last conversation with the King."

"Oh." Sora returned to the screen. "Oh, man, that was totally embarrassing! This creepy old guy commenting on my clothes being too small. For a minute I was worried he was a pervert or something."

"It was kinda hard not to notice Sora."

Sora ignored the comment. "Whoa wait." He paused the game. Holding up a hand he ticked off his fingers, "Me, you, the King, Donald, and Goofy. That's five. Where the heck did I get six from?"

"That's what I wondered when I was playing this. I was like did he forget how to count?" Riku shook his head. "I think you're supposed to be subconsciously including Roxas but I don't know."

Sora pursed his lips. "Yeah, I guess." He shook his off. "Whatever. Let's get some new clothes."

He walked up to the three good fairies, talked for a bit then okayed the new clothing. A cutscene started and he literally tossed the controller up. "They were just talking to me! Why are they now all like 'oh look who's here'?"

"I love how all they do is change the colors repeatedly until you yell at them." Riku snorted. "And pink really is your color."

"Oh shut up! Hey, that's Maleficent's bird!" Sora pointed. "That's how she knew!"

The fairies finally got it together and transformed Sora's clothed, followed by giving him a glowing ball which enabled his drive forms. "Those are so freakin' sweet. I'm using them like all the time!"

"You have to be careful cause later on if you've been using them too much, you'll go into Anti-form if you try." The older one advised.

"What?" Sora whirled on him. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope."

"That has got to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard." He grumbled going back to the game. "So, now back to Yen Sid?"

He didn't wait for Riku's answer. He found the old wizard and approached him, the gummi ship appearing through the outside window. As he spoke, Sora looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Riku, you ever been on a gummi ship?"

"Oh hell no! Those things scare me." Silver hair fell into his eyes and he flicked it back. "I'll stick to my corridors, thank you."

"Those scare me." The brunette muttered. He sighed and returned to his position. "Though opening all those gates was a pain in the butt."

"I believe it."

"And he simply disappears." Sora stated unnecessarily. "Off we go and, huh? It's a big black… oh! That stupid crow brought Maleficent's robe. Why?"

"There's power in memories."

"Huh?" The fairies were panicking about returning memories and as they left to talk to Yen Sid, the robes began filling out. "That's how she came back? I don't get it."

"As long as the memory of her survived, she survived." Riku casually explained. "Sephiroth tries to do the same thing in Advent Children."

"I still haven't seen that." Sora almost sang in a mocking tone.

"You will." Riku shot back.

"If you say so." He clearly still didn't believe the movie existed. "So we're on the gummi ship and Twilight Town disappears. You know, it helps a little when you already have an idea where things are going."

"Yep." Riku glanced outside. "It's starting to get dark."

"Huh?" Sora looked out." Wow. We've been doing this all day."

"And you're maybe a third of the way through."

"Wow. I can't save here, can I?"

"Nope."

"Damn. If I'm not home for dinner, Mom will kill me."

"Just leave it on. Can you come over after dinner?"

"Probably but only for a little while. I can tell I need help with my homework."

"Fine. Then we'll play though to the next save point."

"Got it." Sora set the controller beside the console. "Hey, you wanna come over for dinner?"

Riku shrugged. "Mom and Dad won't be home till late."

"So let's go then."