Author's Note: This is an alternate ending for Kingdom Hearts II, as I thought the original was slightly lacking and felt incomplete. Of course, the ending to KH2 is indeed much happier than this story is, but ah well—I just thought this would be interesting.

I originally intended for this to only be a one-shot, but I was then inspired to create a much longer story. It was hard for me to decide whether I wanted to condense it all within one chapter, or break it up, but in the end this won out, as I thought one 12,000-word chapter might be slightly overwhelming to read within one sitting ;)

Anyway, this is my interesting twist to the ending of KH2; I hope the rest of you will enjoy!

I'm currently working back through this story to change around some wording and to remove prior grammatical errors. Hopefully I'll complete the edit sooner rather than later, yet given my writing schedule and beta reading I'm not altogether which it'll be of the two, hehe.

I love reviews, and if anyone would be so kind as to leave me one it would be greatly appreciated :D I always love constructive criticism and to hear any pros or cons that you found within the story so that I can make my future writings better. Thanks so much for reading, and enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. All rights belong to its respective owners – Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix to name a few – and I'm only writing this purely for my entertainment, so no profit for me! ;)

-Part I-

Cool waves hit the darkened beach as Sora awoke in a place beyond his wildest imaginings. Only moments before he'd engaged in combat with Xemnas and had won, yet he couldn't remember entering this strange, unfamiliar place; he could only assume that he'd been brought here after their battle.

Slowly the brunet stood up, brushing damp sand from his capris before slowly taking in the scene around him.

"Riku, where are we?" he voice echoed, turning his head at the remembrance of his best friend.

A low groan sounded only a short distance behind him, causing Sora crane his neck in that direction. There he could see Riku lying facedown in the sand, Keyblade still clutched in hand, and a great deal of blood soaking the back of his shirt. Realization suddenly hit Sora, his thoughts fleeing to their fight with Xemnas; Riku had indeed suffered injury by the blade of Xemnas's Ethereal Blade, but it only just now occurred to Sora that Riku had truly been "hurt."

Sora's feet pounded against the dark beach, his heels stirring up sand as he rushed over towards his friend. Upon reaching his side the brunet instantly dropped to his knees.

"Riku!" He quickly shifted his friend so that his face was no longer buried within the sand. "Riku, are you alright? Say something!"

Sora pulled his friend's upper body onto his lap, not caring if his blood started to saturate his clothing as well. Riku moaned again, yet slowly opened his turquoise eyes to look at him.

"He's–he's gone…right?" he asked weakly, struggling to pull himself up from Sora using his arms, yet failing and falling back onto his lap.

"Yeah…yeah he is," Sora replied distraughtly. He tenderly brushed aside Riku's long, silver bangs from his face, searching his expression for something, yet it was rather unknown what that something could've been. "Riku, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have been so vulnerable in that fight. I should've–"

"No, Sora," murmured Riku, shaking his head weakly. "I am the one that should be apologizing. I shouldn't have been so vulnerable…vulnerable to the darkness."

Sora barely caught Riku's words amidst frantically shifting him onto his side so that he could examine the injury made by Xemnas's blade.

"If I hadn't–given in to the darkness, none of this would've happened… Sora… I'm sorry–"

"Shut up, Riku," Sora muttered, panic rising in his tone as his eyes traced the deep puncture wound that the blades had caused. The blood from his wound proceeded to flow freely, so much so that Sora found it difficult to determine the depth of the puncture, yet its location concerned him. "You know this wasn't your fault–none of it."

"It was, and I'm s—"

"Stop!"

Riku's eyes moved onto Sora's face, running his tongue over his lower lip while carefully studying his friend's expression.

"It's alright, it was worth it; he's gone now, and that's all that matters."

Sora's azure-blue eyes widened in surprise. His gaze turned to his friend once more.

"What do you mean 'that's all that matters'? Riku, what are you talking about? You're gonna be okay! First we've just gotta figure out where we are, and then we need to get you back home–"

Riku shook his head, his bangs falling back into his pallid face. "Sora…it's too late for me. My back–I can't feel anything below my wound –" His eyes fluttered shut momentarily, and Sora's heart was temporarily seized with fear. This couldn't be happening…it just couldn't. Not after everything they all had been through; just when the three of them were going to be together again, exactly how it used to be….

Sora had lost Riku once, and he wasn't about to lose him again. Tears threatened to well in his eyes as he firmly grasped his friend's hand.

"Look; we're going to get out of here, and you're going to be okay. I – I don't know what happened to you exactly, but I know everything's gonna be fine. Trust me!" Sora offered one of his wide, cheesy signature-smiles upon this, causing Riku to grin back solemnly.

"Sora, this isn't a temporary fix–this…this is bad. I'm not sure I'd be okay even if you brought me home."

Sora began to shut his ears off from his friend's words with the inability to accept them. He needed to get home, he needed to get Riku home, but why was home so far unattainable always? Especially when he desperately needed it.

"Which, actually, I doubt neither of us are ever going to see 'home' again," Riku muttered, shifting his shoulders slightly so that he was flat on his back once more. "Do you know where we are, Sora?"

Sora turned to face him. "I don't know what you mean. Of course we're going to get home–we just need to–"

"We're in the Realm of Darkness, Sora, and I don't think there's any way to get out."

With glassy eyes and a heavy heart, he scanned the shoreline. They were on a similar beach to that of their own islands, yet something was 'different' and out of place. No warmth surrounded them, nor did the sunshine manage to penetrate the eternal darkened sky, and–as Sora slowly began to further take in his surroundings–he came to the painful realization that they indeed were in the Realm of Darkness. A realm which was believed to have no possible way out of.

Pain seized Sora's chest, a pain that he'd never felt before or could truly begin to explain. He slid out from under Riku and stood up, turning around to face the waters advance and recede on the shoreline. His mind raced as he began to increasingly become dizzy; there was no way that they could be trapped there forever. There was no way…

Unfortunately, even if Sora were to be trapped there forever he would be alone, all alone. He couldn't deny it any longer; Riku was dying, and if he didn't get him help—and soon—there would indeed be no way to save him.

The brunet walked over to the coastline, cold water running past his feet and splashing onto his exposed ankles as it advanced onto the shore. The salty, sea-water air reminded him of so many days ago, back when the three of them were practically worry-free. Back when they used to spend their days playing on their little island of their own, with their grandest worry being if the weather would hold up so that they could go sailing the next day. For one brief moment Sora thought those days were so near; just within his grasp. That soon, the three of them would be able to go back to their old lives where they could waste their days away playing on the islands and attempt scoring good enough grades to pass yet another year in school. That was, of course, until this happened. Now all of that hope was gone, and Sora felt it were only wistful thinking that things could ever go back to the way they once were. Besides, even if they did succeed in getting back, would their lives really be able to return to normal?

Hot tears began to fill Sora's eyes, and he desperately fought them from rolling down his cheeks. He didn't want to face an eternity in the Realm of Darkness and, especially, not alone.

It wasn't long before his vision had been blurred with tears, and he'd noticed something glint within the ocean's waves. Sora squinted to make it out before wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. He blinked, continuing to watch the glinting object float above water, bobbling between the waves, as it made its way towards the coast. Upon drawing closer, Sora could finally discern this object to be a glass bottle, in it seemed to be some kind of paper.

A message in a bottle!

Because Sora had nothing else going for him–or rather nothing else to lose–he charged towards the bottle, deeper and deeper into the freezing water until he was waist-deep within it. Standing there in the cold, darkened water that only chilled him to the bone, he popped out the cork and began to uncurl the water-stained message before attempting to read it. He read the first line and paused, stopping upon recognizing the slanted handwriting. It seemed all too familiar to Sora, yet for the life of him he could not recognize from where.

"Thinking of you, wherever you are.

We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend.

Now I will step forward to realize this wish.

And who knows:

starting a new journey may not be so hard,

or maybe it has already begun.

There are many worlds, but they share the same sky —

one sky, one destiny."

-Kairi

Kairi…

While Sora mused over the meaning of Kairi's message, a blinding light sprang before him. Reflexively, Sora threw an arm out to shield his eyes, attempting to squint through the blinding light to make out what was before him. Slowly his pupils adjusted to the light and, of course, once the light began to fade down he could make out what seemed to be—

"No, wait, it couldn't be—a door?"

A gentle wind rustled Sora's brunet locks as he stared in amazement at the opening within the light. It indeed 'was' a door, and before he could ask himself where it led to or where it came from he already decided that he was going through it—no matter what.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, turning around and running back over to his best friend. The bottle remained clenched in one hand while the message was in the other. "Riku! The door! The door to the light! I think it's our way home!"

Riku didn't respond or move in the least as Sora approached him and once again dropped hard onto his knees. They protested terribly, reawakening old injuries and bruises that Sora had obtained during their vicious battle, yet he ignored this and began to observe his friend more carefully.

"Riku, it's our way out! Don't you see?" Upon this, Sora grasped the collar of Riku's vest and began shaking it gently, enough so that it shook his upper body slightly. "Riku, come on! Wake up, we've got to go home now!"

Sora's eyes traveled over the wounded body of his friend, reassuring himself that the rise and fall of his chest indicated that he wasn't yet dead.

"Only unconscious," Sora told himself, setting the bottle aside before swinging one of Riku's arms over his shoulder. "He's unconscious, but he's okay. He's still with me."

Sora slid his arm underneath his friend's knees and began to stand up. The additional weight threatened Sora's knees to buckle, and it was then that Sora first realized how weak he really was. His vision darkened as he began to feel increasingly light-headed, yet he chose to fight on; he was this close to getting home, and he wasn't going to give up just yet. Riku needed him, and he was going to be there for him. Always.

Sora's eyes bored into the door of light as he forced himself along the darkened beach, each step becoming more and more difficult for the poor boy to handle. Once he reached the shoreline he lost his footing and fell to his knees, his head spinning at a furious pace. He fought to hold onto Riku, and instead fell slightly overtop of him.

For a moment Sora could only sit there stunned, regaining his thoughts as he fought for breath. His mind wanted to shut down, his limbs no longer wanted to support him, yet he forced himself on. He began to scoot through the dampened sand whilst kicking off with his feet and pulling himself with an arm, his eyes still fixated on the door of light; refusing to take his eyes off of it for even a millisecond. He had to make it there, he had to…

At last he was fully submerged into the water, and he began to slowly paddle his way towards the door, radiating ever brighter as he inched his way closer. His grasp tightened around Riku, now holding his body close to his while swimming frantically.

"I'm almost there…almost there…"

Sora eventually met the light's zenith and slowly the warmth managed to penetrate through the chilling cold of the water, into Sora's very heart. It slowly began to grow larger and larger, until it consumed the boys entirely.