Too close this time Chapter 1(Soriku)

Cool water lapped and licked at white sand kissing away the footprints of the day with its gentle caressing waves. A coconut fell from a unsettled tree who was whispering stories of two friends to the wind as it passed by. The sun closed her eyes and hurried off to bed to allow her pale-faced brother a glimpse of the world from up above as two boys- two friends thundered over the calm and sleepy shore. It was a race for home and dinner.

"Come on Sora I know you sit on your butt all day but I didn't think you would be this slow." The towhead of seventeen boy yelled out to the other. "Better hurry up or I'll just leave the island without you."

The spiteful tease hardened the shorter male trailing behind his friend; he kicked his legs faster and tried to catch up. The sun had disappeared leaving the land cold under the watchful eye of the moon. As the wind picked up Sora finally arrived at the dock, panting and donning a cheesy smile. '' Hey, don't blame me. You're just as lazy, Riku.'' He chuckled, slipping into his boat.

"True true maybe it's your hair it doesn't allow air to flow through like mine thus making you slower" Riku nudged at his friend as they started to row towards home.

''Nah-uh, my hair's just fine.'' Sora snorted, '' and stay in your own boat, you're gonna make me capsize, you jerk.'' The comment was met with a chuckle as the two pushed at the belly of each other's boat with a paddle.

As the couple rowed slowly toward the mainland, the sun began to slowly set along the horizon. Riku stopped rowing for a moment and stared at the warm sun's bright colors engulfing closer to the darkness. The warmth faded from the boy's skin and a chill came in its place. Riku remembered the hardships that he and Sora had gone through to fight against the darkness that hid deep within the boy's heart. The sound of water sloshing behind Riku's steer went unnoticed as Sora pulled up beside the other.

'' Whacha thinking about, Riku?'' He realized immediately that he'd disturbed the boy's thought process from the look he received. It was a lost and hopeless gaze that had darkened his features.

"Oh, not much I guess. I was thinking about our adventures and how badly we wanted to leave the island and travel to different worlds using our small raft." Riku smirked as he recalled all the time they took to prepare for that journey with him, Sora, and Kairi. A small smile played on Sora's lips at the memory but the stream of thoughts and recognition brought forth the troubling image of his struggle to find Riku and Karai.

''...Oh...'' It was the word he could think to utter in reply, his mind now being plagued with the whispering dreams of the past.

"Hey," a spray of sea water splashed on Sora's face thanks to the chuckling teen.

"We'd better kick it up to make it home on time or your mom's gonna kill us" riku said as he placed his ores back into the water.

Drenched and a bit shock-stricken, the brunette gawked at Riku as his mouth twisted into a scowl. ''Yeah, yeah.'' Sora sneered as they reached the shoreline and anchored their boat at the pier.

'' C'mon...'' The boy called as he raced ahead weaving through the quiet street of the town.

"Oh not even a warning" riku yelled out as he began to sprint toward his friend. The statement earned him a snickering snort as they reached Sora's doorstep and hurried inside.

"Mom, I'm home... and I brought Riku." There was only silence as the two filed into the kitchen.

"Hmm it looks like she's not home..." Riku said as he scanned the small house.

Sora shrugged and agreed softly, removing his shoes and placing by the doorway of kitchen and motioned for Riku to follow. Climbing the stairs that lead to his room, the boy couldn't help but worry about his parents' whereabouts. But he brushed the eerie feeling as he opened his bedroom and closed it behind Riku as he entered. Heading straight his bed, Sora stretched over the warm sheets before patting the free space to flag Riku's attention toward the bed.

Riku plopped beside sora and stared at the ceiling fan that rotated slowly. "You okay?" he asked while glancing at the brunet's bright blue eyes.

The question made Sora think for a moment before shrugging, " I'm fine just a little mentally preoccupied I guess." He offered with a dorky simper alongside to counter his pensive statement.

Riku looked at his friend scanning his expression with his piercing eyes; he softened his gaze and gently hugged his friend. This notion felt right to Riku but something else was bothering him deep inside. "Hey Sora?" Riku muffled next to his friend," did you see anyone while running home?" perhaps that's what made him tense up was the amount of silence on the mainland.

Sora took the embrace in silence, hesitant to return the thought as he slipped his arms under Riku's. The words slowly formulated in his fuzzy brain-still trying wrap his mind around Riku's solace. After a minute or so, the boy spoke up, "Not that I recall, why?" Sora's voice faded out as he pursed his lips in deep thought.

"I didn't see anyone either, it seems as though everyone has disappeared but I'm not going to jump to conclusions" Riku said as a small bit of nervousness pierced his gut. Sora's grip on the back of Riku's shirt tightened as the sentence registered in his head.

'' Don't say stupid stuff like that, Riku. I'm sure everything's fi-" the last few words were drowned out by the sound of thunder rolling in the distance as a flash of lightning danced dangerously close to his window sill.

Riku tightened his grasp on his friend as the bright flash illuminated the room. He could feel Sora's gloved hands grip on the back of his shirt. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Riku whispered into Sora's ear softly.

"...just- just shut up, okay." He murmured his message into the other's collarbone as he rested against Riku's shoulder and sniffled quietly to the darkness. The storm outside regaled the horribly painful memories that fateful they were separated. '' Don't leave me... Please don't...'' Sora absentmindedly muttered his inner thoughts to himself.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the couple while a beastly roar of thunder to follow. They could hear the pitter-patter of rain hitting the roof. "don't worry I'm not leaving you, not this time." Riku slowly stroked Sora's hair and closed his eyes. In his mind Riku could see the face of betrayal Sora had when the darkness engulfed Riku it made the towhead's heart ache to even think of how much pain he had caused his best friend.

Sora allowed the promise to soothe his quarreling fears of losing his friend again, the warm hand brushing back his spiked locks sent a static shock through Sora's very being. This wasn't the usual for Riku, but he wasn't really up for arguing with a good feeling at the moment.

The storm continued for what felt like hours but the two boys hardly moved positions .like a cocoon, Riku tried to protect Sora from not only the storm but also the discomfort that'll the silent island. Suddenly a huge lightning strike hit a power box and then pitch darkness covered the house. Chaos ensued throughout the boy's mind as he yelped at the sudden abysmal blackness, Sora swore softly against Riku's shirt and buried his face deeper into his collar. The power outage nearly had scared himself out his plain wits.

Riku tried to calm Sora as much as he could but even he wasn't expecting this much darkness peering outside, it seemed the entire town had a power surge. "Sora, we need to get some light" Riku said lightly as he slowly lightened his grasp on the shaken boy. Sora only nodded as he reluctantly loosen his grasp on Riku's shirt and let out a shaky sigh. After a moment he scooted back and slid off the bed, allowing the darkness of the room to swallow his figure as he stood up.

Riku lightly grabbed his friend's hand "I'm going to be right next to you okay? I don't know your house as well as you do so you can lead" Riku suggested as he tried to adjust his eyesight but no dust. The comment that he assumed was meant to comfort actually caused Sora to internally panic worse though he never allowed it show on the outside. The two descended the stairs and entered the living room.

Pausing for a moment, Sora tensed up as he felt a eerie and familiar cold sensation in the air. His hand held fast to Riku as he backed out of the room to confront the questioning look he was receiving from the other.

Seeing the fear in Sora's eyes, Riku knew something was wrong. A sharp pain surged in the boy's chest and he could have sworn he could hear a voice, a dark cruel voice. Riku swallowed hard as he looked around the corner. He scanned the area and then his eyes widened as he saw a black figure starting to form, Heartless. " Sora, can you still summon your key blade?" Riku whispered.

Paralyzed by the familiar creature's appearance, Sora's thoughts were elsewhere. In his daze, he felt a persistent nagging voice screaming at him to wake up. Snapping back, the boy reflexively summoned his keyblade to arms and released Riku's hand. Narrowing crystal blue eyes and grasped his blade, Sora steadied himself and launched at the shadowy figure with a vicious swipe only to fall short as a Heartless snatched up his ankle. Growling at the sneaky move the boy sliced through the creature and continued to forward, slashing Heartless after another to reach the silhouetted Ansem.

The dark figure's cruel smile began to stretch into a villainous grin as the figure dropped into the shadows before Sora could get to him. Riku summoned his weapon and raced toward the darkness surrounding Sora. Before he could get to the boy's side, Riku stopped with a surging pain in his heart as the surrounding shadows popped out a barricade of figures. A wall of shaded clones of the same person who have made the boys' lives hell. Ansem. Each one of him selves stared at Sora and Riku and began to chuckle. "Ah so we meet again just the three of us." The figures said in unison. Sora frowned and crossed his arms, " Don't you mean two? The way I see it you're not even a person! You may have a body but it's not yours." The brunet huffed and took his side by Riku, who looked to be struggling with his heart.

"That may be true for now, but I'm certain that it will change in the near future, I assure you." The shadows stared intensely at the boy. "You may think of me as just a memory, or a mere shadow, but believe me when I say that I'm very much still alive and your journeys have only just begun." The shadowed Ansems' voices rang as the barricade of shadows stretched higher then released a slew of heartless onto the boys. Completely engulfed by the monsters, Riku struggled to try to get away from them. All he could see was Ansem with determined golden orange eyes staring right back at the silver haired boy. The figure then stretched out his hand and grabbed wistfully at Riku's chest. His heart was burning with intense pain as if he was having his life squeezed out of him. Then the pain stopped and Ansem was nowhere to be seen.

Sora was off in the corner of the family room finishing off the last few Shadows and cursing as one lunged at the dazed towhead. With a clean upper cut he was vanquished the beastie in a single slash. Holding his hand out, Sora helped up Riku to his feet and steadied him. "You okay? I don't nedda drag your limp butt down to the clinic do I?" He joked, though internally he was having absolute internal melt-down about the events prior to Ansem's little 'reunion'.

"Heh, I'll be alright." Riku spoke through staggering breaths. He could still feel Ansem's cold grasp but hid his discomfort from the concerned boy. "Come on we'd better check outside to see if there are any more Heartless lurking around."

Sora pulled back and frowned, watching as the towhead's stance was slowly being crippled by something he couldn't see but he said only nodded. He summoned the keyblade to him and hurried ahead to scan the hallway and opened the front. Although he paused for a moment noticing Riku's agility and motivation had slowed to a near steely stop.

Something was fighting Riku internally, just like the first time in Hallow Bastion. The boy became frustrated, why was it so hard to suppress the darkness, he had done it multiple times before with ease, now, he was barely holding on. Riku could see the worried look in Sora's eyes. "Don't focus on the darkness; focus on the light, Sora's light." He thought to himself clenching his jaw. As his mind flowed with memories of Sora from when they were young to when they fought against Xemnas, the pain began to cease until it became only sore. In relief of the fighting within himself, Riku strode toward Sora and gave him a pat on the back before reaching for the doorknob.

Sora pursed his lips and glanced at the other as if trying to figure him out. He relaxed his gaze and stood back, preparing himself physically as well as mentally for the troubling sight of their island once again covered in darkness. Holding his key at ease, Sora nodded once and looked to Riku for the signal. Riku returned the nod and opened the door but what he saw he couldn't believe.

Outside of the house there was only the surrounding green of the lawn and after that was pure darkness. Destiny Island, their home was gone and here they were swallowed in pitch darkness. "What the?"

"Huh?'' Sora stepped forward and nearly fell out the opened door. Standing and rubbing his eyes, he blinked and looked to Riku as if he could comprehend as to what had happened to their home, their, their world! They had lost everything to the darkness... friends, family, everything! Sora growled and went to step outside when he felt a hand snatch him back up and slam the door before a pair of startling ice blue eyes stood in front of him with crossed arms.

"We gotta be careful about this Sora. We don't know what's out there right now." Riku looked into the boy's panicky eyes. Riku began to pace, running his fingers back and forth in his silver hair trying to make any sense of this. He tried his best to hide his surprise but his guise wasn't at all convincing. He gave up the pace and sat on the arm of the couch nearby and began to rub his temples with his fingers. He looked at Sora who he could tell was just as freaked out as he was and beckoned him to come closer. "Sorry sora, this is intense, I guess for the both of us."

Sora walked over and sat in front of the arm, propping up his elbows on his kneecaps and sighed. All of this chaotic goose hunting was making his stomach hurt and he feel sick. Crawling up on the couch cushions, Sora leaned over and hugged Riku to bury his face in the towhead and sighed once more. "Yeah me too."

Riku wrapped his arms around the boy. He tried to find an understanding as to how these events occurred but it was too soon to tell. Maybe it had something to do with Ansem, or something else.

"Hey Sora, do you think that this might be connected to why we didn't see anyone while heading toward the house?"

"'guess so..." Sora replied in a defeated whisper, "I mean it makes sense." the boy pursed his lips and closed his eyes trying to gather the strength to let go of Riku and not breakdown. This was almost easy the first time around but Sora felt his heart muddling in the doubt Ansem's message had left him with.

Seeing the discomfort on Sora's face, Riku knelt by the boy and pushed his cheeks up to make a smile. "Hey come on, where's that optimistic boy that I love?" He asked trying to lighten the mood. Pulling Riku's hand down and settling them in his lap, Sora shook his head and sighed.

"It's no use, Rikuu... I can't do it this time. I don't have the heart." He looked up at the towhead and smiled a broken simper before the edges started to crack and a grimace finally overwhelmed his facade. " He's right we can't win..."

"Woah there, Sora now that is my line. Come on, we've fought Ansem in the past and won, I'm sure we can do it again." Riku tried to lift sora's spirit but he could tell it wasn't working as well as he thought. He looked toward the door once more and got up. He walked toward the door and opened it with the darkness swirling around the area.

The brunet sat up and hunched over his knees, his face still set in that grimace as he glared at the wooden floor.

"Riku, that's just what he wants... You to be the little hero... He'll take your heart too. And you might not come-" Sora paused and stood up, trying to shake off the very thought of that demonic old geezer ripping Riku away from him again. Not again.

Riku frowned; he turned back to Sora and looked at him straight in the eye. " Sora, I know that I have a history of having issues with the darkness. Even now I can tell that I can still feel him residing. But I'm telling you now that there's nothing we can't accomplish. Like you said once there is always light it may be small in the deepest of darkness but it's still there."

At first the brunette's expression didn't change but then he softened and allowed a gentle smile to form on his lips. Stepping forward to join Riku's side, the teen stole a glance up at him and a faint quirk of his lips was the only indication that he was willing to fight this one last round. " But after this you own me. I've always wanted to try a paopu fruit so you're getting me one once this is all over, got it?"

"Heh however many you want." Riku smirked. He looked at the dark space before looking back to Sora. "What do you say about figuring out what exactly is out there?"

" I say," He paused and grinned smugly at the question before commanding his keyblade to his hand and seized the heavy sword in both hands. He sent a quick eye in Riku's direction before stepping forward and donning a challenging smirk,

" You're. On. "He laughed and raced out the door.

Riku followed Sora and stopped with the boy at the edge of the house. Looking down, all he could see was darkness. He carefully stretched his arm into the haze and pulled it back being covered with black smoke. "Hmm." Riku pondered for a moment then released a fireball into the distance which was swallowed instantaneously. The sight disheartened the boy almost as quickly as the darkness had imbibed that fireball in a single gulp.

"I'm sorry Riku... " Sora breathed before disappearing in the unknown depths of the unseen barrier in front of them to pass through a level of unimaginable cold and dismay.

"Sora!" Riku shouted trying to stop the boy but it was too late, he was swallowed up and nowhere to be seen.