I've done it again. Though this idea I had stored for a long while and only now just decided to write it. This is based off how Riku looked directly after he takes off the blindfold in KH2. So yeah that cover image is that, though photoshopped slightly.

Ch.1

Ansem the Wise's machine had sparked and then explode in a brilliant light . It grew larger as it approached the group. Sora had tried to run forward but Riku stopped him and held him back, only glancing slightly back to see the bright light flooding towards the entire group. The light became too bright for all of them to keep on trying to look and they blacked out seconds after.

Sora groaned slightly as he opened his eyes. He saw that everyone was laying on the floor as well, but no one looked hurt. He then shifted his eyes to the side and gasped. There was Riku laying just a few feet away from him, and he looked just like himself again. Sora got up and ran over to his Riku.

"Riku?" he asked, hoping that Riku was all right. Now that he was closer, he could see that not only did Riku have the Organization cloak still on, but he now had a blindfold tied around his head, covering his eyes.

Riku groaned slightly as he tried to push himself up. He staggered slightly, but soon was standing up in the next second. Sora couldn't help but smile seeing his friend back to his old self.

"Riku!" Sora replied with a mix of excitement and surprise.

Donald and Goofy stood up and looked over to see Riku. Neither of them expected to see him back to normal either. "Wow," they both commented at the same time.

Kairi was the next to react as she smiled happily. "Riku!"

"Ansem did say 'anything could happen'..." Mickey added, sounding just a surprised as everyone else.

Riku turned his head to the side, not knowing exactly what to think. He knew he was thankful that the light returned him back to normal, but it just was a big surprise for him. He didn't end up saying anything back, so Sora decided to go ask something else.

"Riku, you going to take that off?"

Riku paused for a moment, trying to figure out what Sora was talking about, but then it understood. The blindfold. Now that he was back to normally, it was back to covering his eyes. He had nearly forgotten about it, since he had spent so long wearing it bad placing himself further in the darkness. He had gotten so use to hiding his eyes from everything and using the darkness to sense out everything that he sometimes forgot it was even on his face.

"Oh…" Riku finally murmured before unting the blindfold and pulling it off.

Though as soon as he pulled away the fabric, his entire body froze up.

Something wasn't right.

He knew he had pulled off the blindfold… so why could he still not see anything?

Riku slowly blinked a few times, hoping that his eyes were just playing tricks on him. But no matter how long he waited, nothing showed in his vision. Only blackness.

Riku started to feel sick as hundred of thoughts filled his mind. Though many of the thoughts were all shouting the same thing in his head.

He was blind.

Somehow… someway he was blinded and could no longer see. Riku tried to think of the most logical reasoning for it, thinking back over everything that happened to him. The only idea he could think of was that flash of light. He had been using Ansem Seeker of Darkness's power before that had happened. He had been like that for a while, using that darkness to help and fight. And then that bright flash of light came at him.

A fuzzy memory came to him just as the light came towards him. The light from Ansem the Wise's machine. It was so bright. When it consumed all of them, It stung his eyes.

The light had hurt him because he was using the darkness and powers of Ansem Seeker of Darkness. He though he had paid the price of using those powers when he had to basically 'become' Ansem. But now… in order to return back to normal there was a different price. One that was a bit steeper. And Riku never even had a choice or say in it happening.

"Riku! Hellooo? Riku are you there?" a voice shouted, snapping Riku away from his thoughts.

It's was Sora's voice. He could tell that Sora was standing right next to him. He could tell where Sora was standing based on where his voice was coming from, but also there was one other factor. While it seemed that he was no longer able to use Ansem's dark powers, he still had a bit of his own. He could still sense things out using that darkness, just like he had with the blindfold on.

But he was still blind.

Feeling even more sick than before Riku dropped down to his knees, started to breath heavily. He felt an arm clasp on to his. He knew it had to be Sora of course.

"Riku! Are you okay?" he asked Riku.

Riku tried to calm himself down, but he was still struggling with the fact he couldn't see anymore. He tried to slow down his breaths, but the overwhelming feeling in his chest wasn't leaving.

"I… I…c-can't…" Riku tried to say between his breaths, but it felt like there was a pit in his throat.

"Can't what? What's wrong?" Sora asked, feeling more concerned.

Hesitantly Riku turned his head towards where Sora was kneeling. He only could hope that he looked like he was attempting to look at Sora. "I can't see…"

Sora was about to reply back when he took a good look at Riku's eyes. Upon first glance they looked exactly the same. But now that he was looking directly at them… he noticed there was a different. For one, Riku wasn't event properly looking at him. His eyes seemed to be looking more off to the side and they looked unfocused. Secondly it was the color….it was still his teal color… but it looked duller, and slightly more greyed.

Sora bit his lip as he tried to think what he could say. "A-Are you sure? Maybe it's just-"

"No! I really can't see anything," Riku wanted to go on. But he knew now was not the time for any of that. Despite how afraid he felt without being able to see, there was far more important things to take care of. "Doesn't matter we need to move on and-"

"But Riku!" Sora interjected. "Are you hurt or something? What happened?"

Riku then heard footsteps come closer to him. It was a lighter presence; Kairi. "Yeah Riku, we want to make sure you're all right."

"But…" Riku started to said, but his words got caught in his throat.

He felt the arms of both Sora and Kairi wrapped around him. He started to struggle to hold back his emotions. He wanted to stay strong, but the overwhelming knowledge of never being able to see his friends again was weighed down heavily on him.

"We're here for you Riku," Sora whispered calmly.

"Just take the time you need," Kairi added.

"We can't… just stand around though…" Riku managed to say as he took in deep breaths. "We have to keep moving."

At that moment Donald spoke up, "There's Heartless climbing up the castle!"

"There's hundreds of them!" Goofy added.

"What are we going to do though?" Sora said.

"We need to go after Xemnas. He's the Organization's last survivor," Riku stated as he slowly tried to stand up.

"Wait Riku, are you sure you'll be okay?" Sora asked as he still held onto Riku's arm.

Riku tried to look at Sora, but again he had no idea whether or not he was close. "I'll be fine… I'll… I'll manage."

"Are you sure though Riku?" Kairi asked. "How are you going to be… um… you know…"

"I can't see anything… but I can still sense everything around me," Riku stated. "It's not as strong as it was before, but I'm still able to do it."

"Well… if you are sure," Sora said hesitantly as he let go of Riku's arm, and Kairi let go in the next second.

Riku stood up and took a few steps forward, to try and prove his point. He could still sense everything around him so he knew where the floor was behind him. It was still just like when he wore the blindfold. He could sense, but not see.

With a heavy sigh he took off the Organization cloak, seeing as he didn't need it anymore, and turned around to face everything. Or at least as best as he could. Everything looked at him, in his new outfit, with worried and concerned looks. Riku seemed to be able to walk around on his own, but they still worried how he was feeling on the inside. But they knew now was not the time for that.

"Let's go," Riku said with a nod, trying his hardest to push his mind out of this one little minor setback.

So this won't be a super long story, probably will just cover till the end of Kh2. Maybe I'll go farther if I feel like it, but here is the start.

Thanks for read!