A/N: Hello all! I'm so happy that you've decided to check out my KH fanfiction! I hope I live up to your expectations, except for those of you who expect this to be crappy. This is my first published fanfiction, but it sure isn't the first I've worked on! I'm going to tell you right now that I probably won't be someone who updates regularly. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but I sure wish I did! This story is a Sora/Riku, Ansem/Eclipse (not OC and not from Demon Diary!), Yuffie/Vincent, and maybe a little Leon/Cloud/Aeris triangle, leaning more to present Leon/Cloud and past Cloud/Aeris. Yes! You can expect both gay and straight pairings in this fanfiction!

THIS HAS YAOI/SHOUNEN AI, WHICH MEANS IT CONTAINS MALE/MALE RELATIONSIPS! IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS THEN DON'T READ IT, CAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU TO FLAME ME IF YOU'RE TOO BLIND TO READ THIS WARNING!

BTW: This story takes place as if Chain of Memories, and KH2 don't happen. BTW I have no idea what I'm doing, so if this looks all funky, I'm sorry!

Riku sat on the roof of the accessory shop in Traverse Town, staring longingly at the stars with his sky-blue eyes. The tiny spots of light dotted the otherwise empty sky, but even if they weren't there, the void would still be outmatched by the one in Riku's heart. Had someone known the young man before he faced a trial by darkness and the torture of being locked in Kingdom Hearts, they would have been shocked at the drastic change in him. Where once stood an overconfident teenager, was now replaced with a mature young man, who was haunted by memories and the absence of the one he cared for most. Sometimes, Riku would compare himself to the Heartless menaces that the universe once faced, however, instead of being completely devoid of a heart, he'd just given it away to someone dear, long ago.

"Two years." Riku whispered. "Two years, six months, three weeks, and five days exactly." This had become an unwavering ritual for the silver-haired youth. Every night he would sit on the roof of Cid's shop, whether there were clear skies or it was pouring rain, and whisper out the amount of time it had been. The amount of time it had been since he'd first been shut in Kingdom Hearts. Since he'd last seen him, since he'd last seen the boy he'd loved in secret since he'd learned the simplest meaning of the concept.

"Sora…" He whispered and stood up, throwing his head back to face the sky. "SORA!" He yelled, letting out all of the anguish that had built up within him. He fell to his knees and hugged himself, silent tears running down his cheeks. "Why did you have to go?" he murmured. "Why did you have to leave me?"

Riku wasn't sure how long he was like that, however, a voice from behind eventually caught his attention. "Riku? Are you still up here?" The silver-haired young man turned to see Cloud standing by the ladder Riku had set up to get on the roof. The blond man scratched his head.

"So, I take it Sora didn't return today either." He stated bluntly. Riku only responded by turning away. "Hey, he'll come back, I'm sure of it!" Cloud said positively. "In fact, I'll bet he shows up in another few days!"

"Yeah…" Riku replied "he'll be here soon…"

"That's right! In fact I even bet he'll be here tomorrow!" Cloud retorted enthusiastically. "Come inside now though, it's freezing cold and almost midnight. You should get some sleep." Riku nodded and trudged to the house in the third district. It had used to be vacant, but after some renovating and enlarging it had become sort of apartment where Riku, Cloud, and the others that had been involved with the Heartless now lived. The house was quiet; indicating that everyone else was asleep. Riku reached his room and collapsed on his bed, soon falling into a slumber with troubled dreams.

After Riku had left, Cloud stayed where he was for a little while, contemplating the troubled young man. Even though no one spoke of it, it was no secret that Riku was in love with absent Keyblade master. In the two and a half years Sora had been missing, Riku had become increasingly reclusive, and antisocial; everyone was worried that he might soon do something far too drastic to rid himself of the pain of loss.

"What are we going to do with him?" A stoic voiced questioned. Cloud turned to see Leon approaching him, the wielder of the Gunblade stopped when he was side by side with the blond swordsman.

"I'm not sure my friend. I hope for his sake at least, that Sora returns soon. We're all worried as to what might have caused his sudden disappearance, though none of us are as affected as Riku is." He told the dark haired man.

"That boy has been through so much for one his age, and that certainly doesn't help the situation any." Leon responded. "He's been used as a tool by the darkness, acted as a vessel for Ansem, was locked in Kingdom Hearts and tortured in who-knows-what-ways, and he now must face the world without the one he cares for the most."

"I'm confident that Sora will return though." Cloud said and turned towards Leon. "But if it's in time to stop a tragedy remains to be seen."

Riku woke in the morning, groggy and irritable from the few hours of troubled sleep he did have. His alarm clock was screaming itself hoarse in its daily atempt to get him to wake up. The silver-haired youth sleepily grabbed the wooden sword that was sitting next to the alarm on his bedside table, and whacked the clock, effectively silencing it.

Riku went about his morning routine without really paying attention to anything. After he'd taken his shower, brushed his teeth, got dressed, etc. he tromped into the kitchen and collapsed in a seat at the table. He wasn't the only one there; Yuffie sat at the table as well, semi-consciously sipping a cup of coffee. Cloud was asleep with his head on the table and a trickle of drool coming out of his mouth, Donald and Goofy were arguing about something trivial, and Aeris (A/N: I know in the game she was called Aerith, but I like Aeris better) was cooking something in the kitchen and humming softly. Cid had probably already left to open up shop, and Leon was no where to be found.

Riku sent a quick glare over to Donald and Goofy. They didn't live here with the rest of them, but rather back at Kingdom Castle; however, they were currently stationed here for a few days at the king's orders. Everyone had been very surprised when they showed up without Sora, but according to them, they hadn't seen him in about two and a half years as well. Donald had said that they had intended to stick with Sora and find King Mickey and Riku, but then Pluto had come with a letter saying that both the King and the silver-haired youth had escaped Kingdom Hearts, but were separated and the King wasn't sure what had become of the teenage boy.

He had also wanted Donald and Goofy to return to the castle at once and recount what had happened. He said Sora was welcome to come along, but as Donald said, the Keyblade master had declined, opting to continue his search for Riku alone. Needless to say, the duck and the dog were also very surprised to find Riku and Traverse Town and learn that he hadn't met with Sora since Kingdom Hearts. Riku hadn't ever really forgiven them for leaving his best friend.

However, any more reminiscing was delayed as Aeris set plates of breakfast in front of everyone. Cloud woke up for about three minutes before falling asleep again, his head in his eggs. Yuffie, thanks to the coffee, was a bundle of energy and wolfed the food down as fast as she could. Donald and Goofy stopped fighting and started eating as well. Riku however, only picked at his food.

Not that he would have had much time to eat anyway even if he did have an appetite as Leon suddenly burst through the front door, a very serious expression on his face. "Everyone! Get you weapons and come with me immediately!" He demanded.

"What's going on Squall?" Yuffie asked alarmed pulling out her conformer, as Riku pulled out his sword. "Why do we need our weapons?"

"It's Leon." He corrected automatically. "And you need them because there's two unidentified Gummi ships headed for traverse town. One's some distance behind the other."

"That still doesn't explain anything!" The ninja said irritably as she shook Cloud awake.

Leon sighed. "We have no idea who the second Gummi ship could possibly belong to, though it does seem to be well used to travel from what we can tell."

"And the first?" Aeris asked quietly, clutching her staff.

"It's one of the those that belong to the Heartless." He said quietly. Everyone gasped at this and held varying degrees of shock on their face. "Come on, we don't have time to waste. Let's go." Leon said simply drawing his own gunblade. Riku looked down at his sword; it was a fine blade, made of steel and was long and thin, but unyieldingly strong. The hilt was black, and ornamented with blue and red enamel; the blade itself had a very intricate and elegant design of an old fashion key on both sides. Riku had dubbed it 'Lock Smith,' and it was his own subtle tribute to the Keyblade Sora wielded.

If the Heartless have truly returned, then hopefully so will Sora. Was the only though running through Riku's mind. Though the thought of another Heartless invasion frightened him more then he would ever let on, the hope of Sora returning was a far more driving thought.

The silver-haired teen followed Cloud, who was gripping his immense Buster Sword, out the door and to the front of Cid's shop. The aged pilot was waiting for them. "Are they any closer?" Leon asked as he stopped.

"They're right on top of us!" Cid yelled. "The damn ship's going to land in a matter of minutes!" Any further conversation was stopped as the noise of the Heartless ship drowned out any other sound. It was right above the main square in the first district, looming like the destructive figure it was.

"Get ready." Cloud and Leon whispered together. Everyone fell into stance; Yuffie held her Conformer ready, Aeris gripped her staff, Cid had withdrawn his spear, Leon and Cloud stood next to one another, their blades gleaming in the artificial light of the street lamps. Riku's sword pulsed in reaction to the boost in his will, waiting to taste battle.

Pools of darkness appeared around the already evacuated square, bubbling with evil intent. Bright, empty, yellow eyes appeared and the creatures that owned them began to emerge. "So it begins." Leon snarled and tightened his grip on his blade. Heartless of every imaginable kind filled area waiting for the imminent battle. There was a drawn out pause, in which neither side moved.

"Liraga!" A tenor voice called out as the square was suddenly filled with a blinding light. Riku, Leon, Cloud, and the rest were forced to block their eyes to keep from being blinded. However, the targets of the attack, the Heartless were not so fortunate. All of them were completely obliterated, including the dark ship overhead.

"What the Hell!" Cid swore voicing just about everyone's thoughts.

"I suppose that was a little much." A new voice commented. "However, when faced with a host of Heartless like that and not given much time act does tend to narrow one's options, eh?" Riku blinked the colored spots from his eyes to better focus on the figure standing in the middle of the square. When he did see whom it was that had saved them, he wondered if he was still seeing things.

There's no way… It couldn't be… "Sora?"

A/N: Okay, you're probably thinking that it sucked right? Oh well, I thought it was a good start at least. Please review and tell me what you think! Oh, and by the way, the spell that was used in this chapter: Liraga, is just something that I made up. It, as is described, is an attack of light, like Firaga is an attack of fire. I know that there should Light, Ligha, Lighaga, but Liraga sounds better to me.