I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I was too tired . derp

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts *still sobbing miserably*

Sora:

I made my way towards where I had seen Riku. Seeing him was a huge relief. I tried to calm my nerves and not run, but pretty soon I was racing towards them.

I turned a corner and ran into someone. I hit the ground with a loud thud. I looked up to see who I'd run into.

"Watch where you're going, Sora!" Riku calm voice echoed in my ears. He extended his hand, which I accepted gratefully. I was so happy to see them. I silently wished we'd never get separated again.

"Good to see you too!" I exclaimed, brushing the dirt off my clothes, "Wow, you guys look amazing!"

I signalled to their attire. They looked down at their clothes, only now seeming to notice them.

"Oh yeah," they mumbled. Riku looked up from his clothes first.

"After that happy and unexpected reunion," he grumbled, "How do we go about getting out of here?"

I looked around, trying to get my bearings.

"We should be around Oogie Boogie's manor," I told myself, "We've got some distance to travel, but we should be back at the square within the hour."

Instead of the grand manor that was once Oogie's, there was literally nothing. There was just a big open, circular area with nothing in it. I looked up and sure enough, the broken bridge was still there.

"Sounds good," Kairi spoke up. She stood some distance behind Riku. I began to wonder if something had happened between them that made her uncomfortable. Whatever it was didn't seem to bother him, so I left it alone for now.

I turned around and made a gesture to follow. We started weaving through the maze of Halloween Town. I stayed on track, but it had been a while since I'd been to this world, so I got lost a couple times myself. Which reminded me…

"How'd you guys get lost anyways?" I spoke up.

"We wanted to explore the world, since we had a bit of time before you showed up," Riku stated, observing the world, "Guess we wandered too far."

"You should have had me," I pointed proudly to my chest with my thumb, "I make an amazing tour guide."

"I'm sure we'd be ten times more likely to get lost with you as our tour guide," Riku scoffed. I chuckled silently, but sent my best glare towards him for not taking me seriously.

I started humming a random song, I didn't even know what it was. Just some random notes and pitches I made up as I went along. I could tell Riku didn't appreciate it, he kept glaring at me, but then he'd ease up. It was like he didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed with it.

'Life's just as it should be,' I thought to myself. Walking side by side, like we always do, just the two of us. I closed my eyes, breathing in the scent of the chilly atmosphere. It was just me, Riku and Kai- wait. My eyes shot open.

I grabbed RIku's wrist, freezing him in his tracks. I knew there was something wrong with that thought.

"Where's Kairi?" He looked around, noticing too that she had gone missing.

"Oh no," he groaned.

"Kairi?!" I shouted, running back towards the manor. I didn't check to make sure Riku was following, but the sound of his footsteps confirmed that. I looked right and left as we passed dead ends.

"Sora!" I heard Riku's breathless voice behind me, "Sora, slow down!"

I obeyed and slid to a stop. My breathing was rapid. I bent over my knees, putting my hands on my legs, trying to catch my breath.

"What-" I breathed once Riky had caught up, "What did you tell Kairi?"

I looked up to meet his confused eyes. He looked like I had just accused him of some horrible crime. Yet, he didn't deny it.

"I didn't want her to hurt you," he continued after he saw how confused I looked, "She really likes you, Sora. I don't want her to fall in love with you and then sometime down the line you get hurt because she didn't truly love you."

I blinked. That was something I never expected out of Riku. I didn't know he cared so much about me.

"Riku…" I stood up to my full height, observing him, "You can't worry about me like that. I can take care of myself just fine."

He kicked at the ground, uncomfortable with this discussion.

"Then I guess I didn't want to lose a friend," he avoided my eyes, "If you fall in love with Kairi, you guys are going to leave me in the dark."

"I'm not going to replace Kairi's love for you, Riku," I inched closer to him.

"You say that now," he growled, finally looking at me. Anger flashed through his eyes.

I backed away. I've never seen Riku this angry before. Sure he was upset whenever he lost the races we had, but nothing like this.

Why did he think I would replace him with her? I had chased Riku during my first journey more than I did Kairi. A majority of the time, I cared about Riku more than Kairi, only because he was my best friend, of course.

He brushed past me, going to find Kairi. I closed my mouth, not aware that it was opened to begin with. I watched Riku stalk away, creating some distance between us to let him cool off for a while. When he was about twenty feet away, I sighed and walked after him.

Kairi:

"Let me go!" I screamed, trying to hit my attacker. My attempts were futile. I had some sort of cloth over my head, rendering me blind.

"Sorry, miss, but I've got plans for you," the deep voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't put a face or name with it.

"Where are we going?" I asked, my struggles weakened as I knew there was no hope. I was put in a chair and my arms were tied to it in a matter of seconds.

"Ta-da!" The cloth came off my head and I was met by a flood of lights. I tried to protect my eyes, but hands were tied. Instead, I squinted my eyes and blinked rapidly.

When my eyes had adjusted to the lights, I saw Oogie Boogie standing in a somewhat menacing stance in front of me. He was probably as threatening as a teddy bear. His hands — or at least an excuse for hands — were on his hips. He examined me, looking to see what he was going to do with me.

My heartbeat raced as I remembered the last time I was in this situation. The last time I had been taken away, my heart was seized. I had hoped and hoped that Sora would come in and save the day, but he never came. Once again, I was hopeless to save myself. But I didn't give up hope.

"Don't tell me you're trying to open Kingdom Hearts again," I spat out, "Because you'll lose again."

I always considered this an option. Riku had a hold on the darkness trapped inside him, but I could tell that Ansem was still haunting him. If Oogie knew that, or anybody from the enemies knew, we'd have another war heading our way.

Oogie looked shocked, but gave out a hearty laugh, "Of course not! That's ridiculous."

Oh, sure. When I put it that way, it sounds like such a far-fetched idea, but I'm sure the entire idea of darkness and everything you can do with hearts sounded ridiculous to begin with too.

"I just wanted to wish you a happy Halloween!" he stepped out my view. I was greeted by a combination of food, party items, and pumpkins; everything Halloween. It wasn't anything like what Jack put on, but I applaud Oogie for trying.

"Nobody invited me to the party in the square, so I'd thought I'd have my own," he sounded so sad, my heart broke.

How rude of me to accuse him of something so childish. I mentally hit my head for being unobservant. I doubted Oogie could recreate the war all by himself. He wouldn't have executed his plans here. He would have been smart enough to take me out of Halloween Town. Someone could easily wander by and see a kidnapped, innocent girl, ruining any plans he would have had.

"I'm sorry Oogie. I shouldn't have accused you of something so absurd."

He shrugged it off, "No worries! I've been blamed for worse."

I wasn't about to question him on that subject. I tried to get a closer look at all the things that were out, but my hands were tied up. Right.

"Hey, Oogie, I'd love to join the party, by I can't if I'm tied up," I motioned to my hands.

Oogie looked shocked and slightly embarrassed. He bounced over, quickly untying me. I mumbled a thanks and began to explore the party.

Riku:

My Keyblade summoned itself as I ran behind Sora. He had taken the lead, and I hadn't objected. I wouldn't know where to begin looking for Kairi.

'This isn't my fault,' I kept telling myself. If Kairi was upset about anything I said, she would have told me or I would have seen it.

We turned down another road. I hoped Sora knew where he was going because I obviously didn't. I kept a close eye on him, our argument still fresh in my mind. He screamed for Kairi over and over, hoping she would respond. He never looked over his shoulder to make sure I was following. I wonder if he ever acted this way when he tried to find me.

"Sora!" Both of us froze at the sound of the high-pitched voice.

"Kairi?" We shouted simultaneously.

"Over here guys!" What did she sound so cheerful? Nonetheless, I let out a small breath, Kairi was alright.

Without missing a beat, Sora hustled over to where Kairi's voice had come from.

"Kairi!" Sora tackled her with a hug. Guilt tugged at my heart. This was completely my fault.

"What happened to you?" he asked, eyeing me carefully. I responded by glaring at him, daring him to ask Kairi what I told her.

"Oogie captured me. He wanted to throw his own Halloween party since he wasn't invited to the one we're throwing in the square," Kairi replied.

I blinked, surprised by Kairi's response.

"What? What about what Riku said," I shot daggers toward Sora with my eyes, but he was too focused on Kairi to notice. His hands gripped her shoulders tightly, constricting her movements.

"What about what he said?" Kairi looked confused.

"Well, didn't he offend you?" Sora cocked his head. Kairi laughed playfully.

"Of course not! He was just looking out for his best friend is all," Kairi landed a soft fist on Sora's arm, "And that's none of your concern."

"Oh."

Sora looked over towards me with a guilty expression. A sort of "Oops, sorry for accusing you of making her run away because you were a jerk to her". He released his grip on Kairi.

"Wait - you mentioned Oogie Boogie?" Kairi nodder her head, "Then let's get out of here before he gets back."

He began to walk away, taking Kairi's wrist with him, but she forced him to stop, tugging on her wrist.

"No," she said firmly.

"Look, Kairi, I know you feel bad for the guy and all, but he did side with Maleficent. He tried to kill me!" Sora reasoned.

"And that's all in the past," Kairi argued, "Have you ever thought that maybe's he's evil because nobody pays attention to him? That nobody cares about him?"

Sora went quiet, dropping her wrist. I looked between the two of them. Sora didn't want to stay any longer. He was looking around - for Oogie no doubt - yet Kairi wouldn't budge.

See, this is why there's a good third person to resolve the fights.

"How about a compromise?" I attracted their attention, "We take Oogie with us back to the square and if he doesn't behave, we'll send him back here. Until then, he can enjoy the party."

Sora didn't look too happy with the arrangement, but he reluctantly agreed.

"Fine," he grumbled. Kairi clapped her hands together, pleased.

"We'll head off as soon as he gets back!"

It's a weird twist of events, I have to admit. I'm a little disappointed with how it's going. Idk, it wasn't really supposed to go this way, but eh, what are you gonna go? I'll try again next Halloween ;)

Please review~

~Project 66