Day 91
He had several 'homes' scattered throughout the city now, places from which he would try to map sections of the city. Over 90 days and he still hadn't completely memorised the streets. He'd been through hundreds of buildings by now, what felt like hundreds of parks, sports fields, and places he assumed were schools. And there was nothing.
On the evening of the 91st day, he found himself walking beside one of the rivers that snaked through the city. They all looked man-made, with their concrete sides and conveniently planted grass and pathways, but these rivers were the closest thing to a beach he could find. He couldn't remember how he got there tonight. The days were starting to blur together.
Some mornings he would wake full of determination, positive that today would be the day he would find something, find someone. He would search all day, rain or shine, marking down which streets he had fully searched, or new alleyways he had discovered, his enthusiasm making him uncharacteristically methodical.
Other days would slip by as he simply wandered, as though he were walking through a fog. He often found himself in a park standing at the edge of a pond or lake, or walking beside these rivers. He missed the waves.
He sat down at the edge of the water and took the charm he always carried out of his pocket. He turned it over and over in his hands, seeing it through wet and clouded eyes. The one connection he still had. Sometimes it felt like the only thing that was keeping him going.
When he'd lost everyone in the Keyblade Graveyard, the friends who gave him his power... he'd thought without them he was worthless. But Riku had told him that he believed in him. That he wasn't worthless, and that he knew he wouldn't give up. When he said it he had believed him as well. But he'd been alone so long now that holding on to those words was becoming difficult.
He found himself thinking more and more of Riku, and how he had never said goodbye. He'd needed that time at the end with Kairi, it felt like he had barely been able to see her over the two years since their island was destroyed and he'd missed her so much. He and Riku had been able to spend much more time together but now... he wished he'd spent that time a little differently. He wished he'd been able to bring himself to say goodbye. He didn't think he'd ever forgive himself for that.
He wished dearly that he had something of Riku's as well. If he still had his phone then at least he would have had photos, but aside from his clothes, the only thing that seemed to have travelled with him to this world was the charm. The shells were from their island and he felt them connect him to Riku as well as Kairi, but it wasn't the same. He still wished he had something more. He wished for a lot of things.
He didn't want to be alone anymore. He wanted to go home. With the charm gripped tightly in his hand he curled in on himself, arms wrapped around his legs and shells digging into his palm. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.
Day 147
He was almost glad to see them the first night the Heartless came.
He woke to the sound of scrabbling across the roof of the top-floor apartment he had chosen to stay in that night. He ran for the balcony and scaled the final few metres of building between it and the roof, hoping desperately that he was about to find someone else, anything else alive in this place.
Instead, he was faced with Shadows. They scuttled beneath his feet, flattened into the roof, then rose from the ground, encircling him and leaping forwards. He dodged, swung his blade, and finished them in seconds.
They were gone as quickly as they had come, there must have only been half a dozen or so. He spun around, searching the roof for more but it seemed empty again. What was going on? Nearly 150 days in this place and now they show up? He cupped a hand to his mouth and yelled out across the rooftops.
"Helloooooooo! Any more of you out there?" He waited for the sound of claws, or wings, or maybe armoured feet. But there was only silence.
Great, now I'm trying to talk to Heartless...
Maybe he really was going crazy.
He spent the rest of the night hunting for them, an interesting change from his usual goal, but he didn't find a single one. Not in the apartment building, not on the streets, not anywhere. As the sun began to rise he yawned and realised he had been up for most of the night. He returned to the same apartment he had woken up in and tried to get some rest, before starting his usual search.
Day 153
Scrabbling again, claws clattering along wooden floors. He leapt from his bed and burst out of the apartment, into the hallway. They weren't on the roof this time, he could hear the twitching of dark antenna and scratching at the other end of the hall where the stairs were. As he ran they swarmed out of the stairwell towards him. There were around ten Shadows this time, some larger, but still only Shadows. Child's play. He cast Blizzaga and watched as they all froze in their tracks, and quickly dissolved into smoke as the ice cracked around them. The hallway was silent again.
He ran up the remaining flights of stairs to the roof to search for more, in case they had appeared there again. But it was empty. This building was much taller than the one he had been staying in last time, but from this higher vantage point, he still saw no sign of other Heartless in the city.
Another sleepless night of hunting, and still he found no more.