Sora was in the World That Never Was, he just defeated Xigbar. He looked up on the balcony seeing Kairi and Ansem were still up there. He had to get to Kairi, to make sure she was okay. He fought his way up the ramp to get to them. Relief washed over him when Kairi seemed unharmed.

"Kairi, you were great!" Donald praised.

"Oh?" Kairi said with a giggle and turned around as Sora approached her.

"You are different Kairi, but I'm just glad you're here." Sora admitted.

"You and Riku never came home. So, I came looking for you."

"I'm sorry," Sora said, looking down ashamed. Kairi said nothing as she pulled Sora into a hug catching him off guard.

"This is real," Kairi whispered. Sora collected himself and wrapped his arms around Kairi. The sound of a portal opening pulled away Sora's attention. He released Kairi and faced Ansem.

"Wait Ansem," Sora called, causing Ansem to stop in his tracks. The man didn't turn around to face Sora, he just glanced back waiting for the boy to continue. "I mean. Xehanort's Heartless…I never thought for a second that I'd ever see YOU again. Just thinking about all the things, you did makes me really mad. But…but you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that…thanks."

Without a word Ansem starts to walk off, determined to leave without telling Sora the truth. Kairi ran after him and grabbed his arm. Pulling him back so he wouldn't leave. Ansem looked at Kairi with a blank expression. Seeming to be unsure why the girl was trying to stop him.

"Riku, don't go!" She begged.

Sora's eyes widened and Donald and Goofy gasped out of shock, "Kairi, what did you just say?" He must have misheard her. There is no way that Ansem was Riku, right?

"Riku," Kairi repeated firmly.

"I'm no one, just a castaway from the Darkness." Ansem denied.

"Sora, come here, Say something to him." Kairi pleaded.

Sora stared at Ansem for a moment, not believing Kairi's words. He looked at Kairi and saw that she was not lying to him. That Ansem was indeed Riku. Sora slowly walked over to Kairi and Ansem, unsure what would happen next. Kairi, still holding Ansem's hand, took Sora's with her free hand.

"Here, you'll understand." She said as she raised Sora's hand to meet Ansem's, "Close your eyes." she instructed.

Sora did so slowly, a little unsure of all this. Darkness surrounded his vision and for a moment there was nothing. Just the pitch blackness of his eyelids, but slowly an image appeared. It was Riku! Standing in front of him in the Organization Cloak Ansem was wearing. Ansem is Riku, he really is! His heart swelled with joy. He found him. He finally found him.

"Riku…" Sora breathed, finally after all that searching, he was here. Riku was here. He took his other hand and grabbed Riku's, as if worried he would disappear again. "It's Riku. Riku's here…" He repeated as he fell on his knees looking down at the ground. He was so overwhelmed by seeing his friend again, he couldn't hold himself up. "I looked for you!" Sora said as tears started running down his face.

"C'mon, Sora. You've got to pull it together." Riku's voice rang through Sora's ears. It was no longer Ansem's voice, it was Riku's. Sora was so happy that he squeezed Riku's hand in his and cried some more.

"I looked EVERYWHERE for you!" Sora cried as he looked up at Riku. Riku looked back at him with a cold expression.

"I didn't want you to find me." Riku said harshly.

Sora froze, not expecting Riku to say that in such a tone. Why wouldn't Riku want to be found? Why did he sound so angry about it? This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Sora hoped if they ever reunited again, they would both be happy, but Riku wasn't happy. If anything, Riku was mad that Sora discovered that Ansem was Riku. He didn't understand why was Riku being like this?

Riku ripped his hand away from Sora and glared down at him. He took a step back towards his portal as if he was going to leave. No, no he can't leave, not again. Sora got to his feet and reached out for Riku. It only made Riku step away again. Sora felt his heart ache. Riku was going to leave him. He was going to go back to the Darkness. Sora was never going to see his friend again.

"Riku, please don't go."

"I must, if I want to be strong enough. Without the Darkness I'm weak, weak like you."

"Riku…"

"Enough Sora!" Riku yelled. "Nothing you say will change my mind." He said and turned to head to the portal.

"No, Riku don't! I love you," The words spilled out of Sora's mouth like they weren't his own, but they were. And they were true. He did love Riku, and he couldn't let him leave. Sora raced after him, determined to get him to stay.

"You are truly pathetic," Riku scoffed, turning to face Sora causing the younger teen to stop in his tracks. He was no longer disguised as Ansem, he was Riku again.

Only this time he was wearing his normal clothes. The room they were in started to dissolve, the others along with it. It was just Sora and Riku now in Riku's apartment. "I could never love someone like you, you're weak. You can't even overcome your fear, fear of no longer being the hero. Deep down you know that's why you are struggling to adjust back to your old life. You miss being the one to come to everyone's rescue. Saving each world you go to, saving Kairi…trying to save me. You thrive on it, but now that it's gone you are starting to realize it, aren't you? Realize that you are a weak naïve loser you were before you were chosen.

"Everyone looks at you the same, they expect you to act the same. You can't stand it because you feel like you are entitled to some special treatment. You're entitled to act like the hero you are. The sad truth is…no one cares. Everything you did has been forgotten and they want you to move on. That's why Kairi left you. That's why I'm going to leave you. You'll be alone and you won't have anyone to blame but yourself." Riku spoke with little emotion in his voice. He didn't care that what he just said cut through Sora like a knife. Sora could see that Riku truly didn't care at all. He didn't care about Sora.

Sora swallowed thickly at the realization. Not only does Riku not care about Sora, but he was also right. Everything he said about him was completely true. He just never wanted to admit it to himself or anyone else. His heart ached as Riku continued to stare at him as if he was nothing. Sora started to feel like nothing.

Once again Sora's legs gave out on him. He was overwhelmed with the feeling of hollowness. Riku's words had stripped him of everything. Tears ran down his cheeks against his will. The last thing he wanted to do was cry in front of Riku again. Especially after what he said. Riku let out a bitter laugh drawing Sora's attention back to the older teen.

"Riku…I…"

"Don't bother," Riku snapped, "your words are meaningless. Everything about you is meaningless. So do us all a favor and why don't you leave." Riku ordered. His voice implying more than just leaving the apartment.

As he spoke Kairi, Wakka, Donald, Goofy and Mickey appeared behind him. They were all glaring at him, with their arms folded in disapproval. All the while the door to the balcony opened, a breeze spread across the room. The breeze left Sora with a feeling of peace, but it was gone as soon as it came. He wanted the peace back. To be with him forever.

Getting to his feet Sora made his way to the balcony. It was sunset and Sora could see the ocean reflecting the light so beautifully. The balcony was enclosed by a four-foot retaining wall. The top of the wall was wide enough to sit on without having to balance yourself too much. Sora stared at the wall for a long time not sure he could do what he needed to. What everyone wanted him to do.

"Go on," Kairi insisted.

"You know you want you," Riku said.

"It will make things easier for everyone." Mickey added.

"You'll be at peace," Goofy said.

"It will be a relief," Donald commented.

"Ya brotha, you'll feel betta." Wakka assured him.

The sound of Wakka's voice filled him with anger, snapping him out of his daze. The feeling of hollowness that once filled Sora was now rage and determination. He would not be fooled by their words. They were lies. They weren't real! Sora turned on his heels and faced his so-called friends. He glared at them as he summoned his Keyblade. He wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"No, I won't do it!" Sora yelled and charged towards them.

Riku was the first to react and summoned his Keyblade first, connecting it with Sora's. There was a satisfied smirk on Riku's face. Sora wasn't sure if that was because Riku liked what Sora was doing or thought it was pointless. It didn't matter either way. Sora was going to win this fight. He had to win.

It didn't take the others long to join in. Sora was fighting them off better than he thought. It was clear why when Sora's friends started to change. They turned into hundreds of Heartless. It was all a trick. It was all in Sora's head. With this new discovery Sora took them down with ease.

Though when one was destroyed another appeared to replace it. Sora was starting to become overwhelmed by them. They backed him up into a corner continuing their attack without mercy. Sora tried his best to keep them off, but he was growing tired. He needed help.

"Sora!"

He could hear his name being called. It sounded like Riku, he sounded different than before. Sora couldn't explain it, but he did. Sora frantically searched for him but couldn't see him. There were too many Heartless blocking his view. They were piling on top of each other starting to form into one large Heartless. Sora swung his Keyblade frantically to stop them from merging, but there were too many. They were replacing the defeated ones too quickly for Sora to keep up.

"Riku, help me!" Sora pleaded, hoping Riku could hear him.

"Sora, there's nothing here to fight. You won."

Riku's words caused the large Heartless to start falling apart. The smaller Heartless that were trying to merge into one, fell away and disappeared into the shadows. Sora stopped swinging his Keyblade and fell back against the wall, closing his eyes and sighing in relief. It was gone. It couldn't hurt Sora anymore.

Sora opened his eyes and found that he was back in the World That Never Was. In front of him was Ansem or rather Riku. It was all a horrible hallucination. Sora smiled and tears ran down his cheeks once again. It must have been from making physical contact with Riku in his Ansem state. It was because of the Darkness. Riku didn't think Sora was pathetic or weak. That was just the Darkness playing games with his mind.

"Riku…Riku is here." Sora sighed, a huge smile on his face. He reached out to Riku, hoping that this time he would take his hand. Riku grabbed Sora's hand and squeezed it letting Sora know he wasn't leaving. "I looked for you." He whispered. "I looked EVERYWHERE for you."

"I know Sora, I know." Riku pulled Sora towards him, wrapping his arms around the younger boy. Sora was stunned at first but reciprocated the hug after a few seconds. "You don't have to look for me anymore. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

"You promise?" Sora asked barely above a whisper as he tightened his hold on Riku.

"I promise."