I'm trying to catch up on some stories, so here's the next chapter. Sorry about the wait.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Kingdom Hearts series.

"Riku."

"Go away," Riku muttered, walking along the dark depths of his dream. He was able to move around unhindered this time, and all Ansem could do was follow him.

In the current dream, Ansem was unable to paralyze Riku. This seemed to irritate Ansem, so he pursued Riku around through the darkness, refusing to leave the teen alone, "Are you afraid, Riku?"

"…"

"…Then why do you avoid me? If you don't fear me, then turn and face me."

Riku paused in his walk, but didn't turn, "…I'm not afraid of you…I just don't want to see you, that's all. Now leave me alone." With that, Riku resumed walking. He really didn't like how long his dreams were turning out to be. It was already bad enough that Ansem was in it…and wouldn't leave.

Ansem continued to follow Riku, but had fallen silent. All he was doing now was eying Riku's back with an unreadable expression.

Riku got the chills all of a sudden, but ignored it. There had to be something other than the darkness in his dreams. There had to be.

A ripple seemed to go through the darkness. Something had changed.

Riku continued to walk, apparently not having noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Ansem, however, seemed to become uncomfortable and uneasy.

121

"Riku! We're here!"

"Come on, get up sleepy head!"

Riku's eyes flickered open, and he focused on Kairi and Sora, who were leaning over him and looking worried.

"What?" Riku wondered, as he sat up straighter in the chair he was on.

Sora shook his head, "It's nothing…let's go." Offering a smile, Sora turned and hurried out of the gummi ship.

"Are you all right?" Kairi asked, backing up to allow Riku to stand.

Riku was silent a moment, staring at Kairi, who stood waiting patiently. Riku shook his head, letting a small smile pass across his features, "I'm fine, really. Just haven't been getting a lot of sleep."

Kairi still looked concerned, but nodded and went out of the gummi ship after Sora, who could be heard from outside, talking excitedly.

Riku shook his head, before following after his friends. There was no use worrying about Ansem, as the man was only in his dreams. Not in reality, which was the way it would stay.

121

Hallow Bastion or Radiant Garden, depending on who you talked to, was on it's way to getting back to normal after it's run in with the Heartless. Though that didn't mean the town didn't have a few Heartless now and then to be dealt with.

"So, Sora, where are we meeting the others?" Kairi asked after a few minutes of walking past the town's shops.

"Merlin's house. Leon and the others should be there." Sora responded after a moment or so of thought.

"Where's that?" Kairi asked, glancing around.

"Oh! It's this way." Sora led the way past the shops and to the wizard's home.

Riku trailed after Sora and Kairi, feeling slightly nervous and uncomfortable. He knew King Mickey, but other than that, he didn't know anyone they were going to meet. Come to think of it, neither did Kairi, but why then, did he feel so nervous?

Sora finally found the house and knocked one the door. He stood back as he waited for someone to answer. Sora didn't have to wait long, as the door was quickly answered by a smiling Yuffie.

"Hey guys! Took you long enough to get here. Come on in!" Yuffie told Sora cheerfully, flashing a smile past him at Kairi and Riku.

Sora entered the house after returning Yuffie's smile, followed by Kairi and a somewhat apprehensive Riku. Was she always so cheerful?

Leon and Cid were next to the computer, while Yuffie, Aerith and Merlin were closer to the door.

Sora glanced around at those in the house, then asked, "Where's Cloud?"

"Who knows? Probably off fighting Sephiroth or something," Cid commented, briefly glancing up from the computer at Sora.

The statement started up an argument between Tifa and Cid, one which Riku decided he didn't want to get involved with. He backed away toward the house entryway to wait and see if the argument would die down soon.

"Hello, Riku."

Riku startled slightly as he turned around, relaxing slightly when he saw that it was only King Mickey, "Hi…" Riku responded, while mentally smacking himself for even thinking it could have been Ansem.

Mickey looked up at Riku, a concerned look on his face, "You okay, Riku?"

Riku smiled faintly, "Me? I'm fine…just a bit tired, that's all." Liar, a little voice in the back of Riku's mind said. Why didn't you just tell the truth? About how Ansem has been haunting your dreams?

"Your Majesty!" Came Sora's excited voice.

Hi!" Mickey said, turning his attention to Sora and Kairi, "How are you?"

Sora smiled, "Great!" Sora's smile faded a bit as he asked, "But what's going on? I thought the Heartless had been taken care of."

"Well…the Heartless seem to have found a way to get into other worlds. There have been calls for help from lots of people!" Mickey explained.

"Hmm…oh, hey! Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora asked, realizing that he hadn't seen either of them.

"They're taking care of the Heartless back at the castle. I cam here to tell you guys to break up into two groups, and to be ready to leave when we receive the next distress call." Mickey turned, and left Merlin's house, "I'm in a bit of a hurry. Good luck!"

There was a moment of silence, then…

"Sora, you and your friends can be one group. Myself, Yuffie and Tifa can be the other," Leon informed Sora.

"Right!"

"Hey! Here's a call...Sora! Take the gummi ship and head to Twilight Town," Cid said suddenly, "We'll contact you when you're done there."

"Let's go!" Kairi exclaimed, rushing out of the house with Sora and Riku chasing after her.

"Hey! Wait for us!"

121

Upon arriving at Twilight Town, the three had their hands full with fending off Heartless. The good thing was that the bystanders either fled or hid themselves, which made dealing with the Heartless much easier.

Riku was distracted, however, as he couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen, even though he shouldn't be worrying, since the Heartless number were so few.

Night time…

Sora bounced up and down on a bed in one of the Twilight Town inns. He stopped and grinned across the room at Riku, who was lying prone on another bed.

Riku wondered why Sora had so much energy after all of the Heartless they fought that day. It made him even more tired watching the other, so he decided to go to bed. "Sora…go to bed already. It's late." Riku rolled over and under the bed covers, almost able to see the pout that had appeared on Sora's face.

"…Fine." Sora said in a dejected voice, flopping down onto the bed again after turning out the room's lights.

There was some silence, before footsteps could be heard.

"Sora, could you come out here for a minute?"

It was Kairi. Sora rolled out of bed and exited the room.

Riku heard their quiet voice, before Sora poked his head back into the room, "Kairi said I need to patrol the streets for a few hours. We'll come wake you up in the morning. Kairi thought that you should get some sleep." With that, Sora exited the room, shutting the door after him.

Riku rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He was tired, but he didn't want to to go to sleep. What if he couldn't escape from his dreams? Riku fought a short battle to stay awake, but soon drifted off, unable to deny sleep anymore. He really did need it.

It just turned out that it was a bad idea.

121

Darkness once more, although it seemed to be getting darker…more oppressive. The crushing weight seemed to be trying to pound Riku into submission.

Riku looked around, gritting his teeth. The feeling he had right now was unnerving and unwanted. What was Ansem up to? This was nothing like he had experienced in his previous dreams. "Show yourself, Ansem! What are you doing?"

"I'm in a bad mood," Ansem answered smoothly as he appeared a few feet in front of Riku.

Riku gazed coolly at him, but didn't say anything.

Ansem smiled faintly, as he shrugged, "It's getting rather boring in here." Ansem reached out a hand and watched some tendrils of darkness pass over it, "It's like this because I tire of being here, waiting."

Riku did not like the odd gleam in Ansem's eyes. He summoned forth The Way to Dawn once he realized what Ansem was hinting at, "There's no way you're taking control of my body again!"

Ansem approached Riku with a laugh as he spoke, "You don't have any choice."

The fight that happened was short and pathetic, owing to the fact that the darkness hindered Riku. He lay on the ground he couldn't see, not knowing where Ansem had gone.

"This is only temporary, unfortunately. We'll have to fight every night until one of us gives up." Then, there was silence.

Riku, too weary to figure out what had just happened, fell unconscious, even though it was a dream…it was, wasn't it?

121

Sora knocked on the inn's bedroom door early in the morning, "Hey Riku! You awake?" Sora peered into the room and saw Riku giving him a groggy, annoyed look, "Oh, I woke you up." Seeing Riku nod, Sora exited the room, "Well, get dressed and come down for breakfast."

Riku waited until Soar was out of earshot, before laughing softly in a way that wasn't normal, "Didn't even notice." Then he thought, 'See? I told you that he wouldn't notice. This will be entertaining.'

Ansem was in control, and exited the room, keeping Riku's appearance, while in his mind; Riku could only curse angrily at Ansem.

This was not good.

I had an idea of where this was going, but it'll take some time to write more. So, it'll be awhile for the next chapter to be put up. I would like to finish this story sometime.