It takes Riku three days to figure out what Sora had done and two more to more to actually accomplish it himself. But it doesn't even matter when he has no idea where Sora went. Kairi, as hard as she's trying, can barely summon her Keyblade, let alone the armor and ride that Sora and, now, Riku could produce.

It was on Kairi's suggestion that he go on without her and come back to get her when he found Sora. Surely she'd get it by then and instead of running off after them and risk getting separated, she'd wait here.

Riku had been both reluctant and relieved when she'd voiced the idea. After a bit of debating about where he should go, Kairi suggested Traverse Town, as it was where people who lost their worlds and were lost themselves went.

It hadn't resulted in anything as the entire town was empty.

His next stop was Hallow Bastion. When he arrived, it was exactly how Sora had described it after their journey. With what had happened here last time with 'Ansem,' Riku hadn't been too inclined to return. But he's looking for Sora and no amount of bad experiences would deter him from finding the brunet.

While on the outside of the city limits, he finds himself fighting a few Heartless. Nothing he can't handle, but he feels more winded than he should and he resolves to train a bit more. Once he's in the city, however, all the heartless are taken out by the defense system Sora had told him so much about.

It's not hard at all to wander the streets looking for some kind of sign that Sora had been around. No one bats an eyelash at him. Most people don't even bother looking up when he walks by.

He's about halfway through the city and standing on a ledge overlooking the rest of the city when someone walks towards him. Actually walks towards him.

The man is tall and he honestly reminds Riku of an older, blonde Sora. Except he has a look of complete disinterest and he's wearing far too much black.

"So, this is going to sound like the weirdest question, but I have to ask…" The guy starts and Riku is a bit surprised that he's even talking to him. He looks like the kind of guy to say few words and never start conversations, "Is your name Riku?"

Riku really wasn't expecting that, "Uh, yeah. How'd…"

"I'm a friend of Sora's. We met when he was looking for you a few years ago."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you…"

"Cloud."

"Cloud. It's nice to meet you. Have you seen Sora recently?"

"No."

Riku sighs, feeling especially heavy.

"Guess I should try another world then."

"You're looking for him?"

"Yeah. He ran off and I'm trying to find him."

The blond man lets out a small chuckle.

"Looks like you've switched roles." Riku lets out a small laugh as well.

"Maybe Leon's seen him around. Follow me." He turns and leads Riku through the city like it's not a confusing maze.

When they'd entered the castle, Riku hadn't been expecting another maze but it was what greeted him so he stuck close to Cloud in the hopes that he wouldn't get lost. A few turns here and there and Riku finds himself in what looks like a planning room. Maybe a conference room?

There are a few people standing around, some look familiar and some don't but everyone looks up when Cloud clears his throat.

The first one to pipe up is the brunet man standing off in the far corner of the room, "Aren't you -"

"That's Riku!" A black haired girl jumps up from her seat and would have tackled Riku had Cloud not stopped her.

Riku wonders how all of these people know what he looks like.

"So you were the anomaly earlier?" The brunet asks instead.

"Uh, anomaly?" Riku asks.

He nods, looking him over, "Did you come here on a Gummi Ship?"

"No, it's hard to explain. I'm not quite sure how it works either."

A brunette woman walks over, looking hopeful, "Is Sora with you?"

"No." Cloud answers for him, "Looks like their roles have reversed."

"Sora's run off?" The black haired girl asks, worried.

"Yes, I'm looking for him."

"Well, that's not good."

"Why not?" Riku asks, worried.

"Well, because the heartless have been acting up lately," the brunette frets, picking at her nails, "They've been testing how far in they can get past the defense system."

"I noticed Heartless outside the city, but there weren't any inside."

"There haven't been any Heartless strong or fast enough to get past the Defense System, but the fact that they're trying is worrying enough." The black haired girl comments, crossing her arms and closing her eyes in a thoughtful gesture.

"If you're worried about Heartless I could do a sweep for you guys." Riku offers.

"Oh? You'd be willing to do that for us?" The brunette woman asks, sounding surprised.

"Well, yeah. You guys are Sora's friends and you helped him out a lot over the years. It's the least I could do."

The man with the scar makes a low, humming sound before nodding, "Alright. Then after that you can come back here and catch up on the rest you look like you're going to need."

Riku looks around at them in surprise, "You'd be willing to let me stay here for a bit?"

"Of course, silly." The black haired girl laughs, "Like you said, you're Sora's friend and any friend of Sora is a friend of ours!"

Riku is silent for a beat before he lets out a low chuckle, "Well, I guess I should formally introduce myself. I'm Riku, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Yuffie." The black haired girl waves to herself, "This is Aerith," she motions to the other woman in the room, "You already met Cloud and that's Squall."

"It's Leon." The man with the scar glares at Yuffie.

"Right. I'm going to head out and do that sweep."

Leon watches Riku leave a bit unsure. The teen had looked tired. Not ready to pass out any second, but tired none the less. He doesn't have long to fret before Cloud makes his way over to his side.

"Stop worrying. It'll work out."

"That's a bit hypocritical, coming from you." Leon smirks, chancing a look through his peripheral vision at the blond.

"It always works out one way or another." Cloud's monotone voice gives away nothing, but Leon can tell from experience and time that he's being sincere and believes what he's saying.

"Tifa teach you that?" Leon teases, poking fun.

"Sora, actually." With that, Cloud makes his way out of the room.

Leon only has a moments reprieve before Yuffie starts prattling on again about whatever it was she'd been talking about earlier.

Riku's little excursion really does nothing when it comes to finding out why Heartless are poking at the cities defenses but it does cement the idea of training in his mind. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to stay in shape but Kairi was leagues under him and Sora – though she could hold her own against Heartless, they just had more field experience – and he knew Sora too well for their sparring matches to actually benefit either of them. They usually gave up after making no headway in their matches.

Though…even those had stopped taking place once Sora had gone out of sorts. Riku curses himself and knows he should have brought it up sooner, but he'd always had to give Sora time. Maybe it's different now that his best friend had gone on those adventures of his.

Riku sighs and makes his way back to the castle, regretting that he couldn't find anything more solid for Cloud and the others here in Hallow Bastion. Sora probably would have found the source of the oddity and eradicated it.

Comparing yourself to Sora won't get you anywhere, he shakes his head to disperse the bad ideas.

After a bit of navigating through the castle, Riku finds Aerith who tells him that he's on the completely opposite side of the castle. The bunk rooms are this way, she smiles, not unlike Sora's mom always had, and leads the way to where Riku will spend a few hours catching up on rest. Just going through the portal twice had drained him of a lot of energy.

He wonders how many times Sora has gone through the portal since leaving Destiny Island almost six days ago.