Chapter 1: The Knight that was Left Behind.

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the next installment to the 'A Trail of Memories' series. Now we get to see Riku's perspective of Castle Oblivion. Will he find Hikari, or will the darkness overtake him once more?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Riku. I just own my OC's.

Enjoy!

/

Darkness was the only thing that Riku could see.

Even though he found himself floating in the endless abyss of nothingness, he still saw darkness.

It haunted his very dreams as he tried to recall everything that happened before he landed in this very place.

/

After Hikari freed his heart from Ansem's clutches, Riku found himself in the realm of darkness.

He didn't know why he had to end up here, but he knew he had to get away.

If he stayed too long, then he would be tempted by the darkness again, which he did not want.

After what he did to Hikari, he just couldn't bear to let that happen again.

He had met the King when he came here and now they were fighting the heartless.

"We have to get to the door!" King Mickey cried.

"We have to make sure Ansem doesn't get to it"

Riku was determined to stop Ansem before he made someone else his puppet.

He kept slashing at the heartless that were in his way.

"Get out of my way, heartless!" he cried.

No matter where he went, these pesky little creatures would always get in his way.

When he saw a glimmer of light in front of him, he noticed that they had reached the doors.

"The door!"

He turned to King Mickey.

"Your Majesty, what are we going to do?"

"Close the door" The King cried.

"Sora, Hikari and the others should be on the other side"

He ran towards the door, he couldn't let the heartless get through on the other side.

As he grew closer, he heard voices from the other side.

"Let's close the door!"

"Hurry!"

He knew those voices. They belonged to Sora and Hikari.

'Sora! Hikari!' He thought.

He was so glad to hear their voices.

He was afraid that they had turned into heartless after their last battle.

'If I can get through this door…I can go back to my world with them'

That was all that he wanted.

After everything that had happened to him, after everything he did to his closest friends, he just wanted to come back to them and fix everything up.

But that didn't seem like it was going to happen when he realized that they were having trouble closing the door.

"It won't budge!"

"It's too heavy!"

That put him in a dilemma. If he stood on this side, he could easily help them close the doors. But if he did that, he would be trapped here and never return to the islands.

He would never return to Hikari.

But when he heard Hikari scream at the sight of the heartless, he knew that he just had to stay.

"Don't give up!"

He grabbed the side of the door and peered from the other side.

"Come on you two! Together we can do it!"

Sora and Hikari were surprised to see him.

"Riku!" Hikari cried.

Riku smiled at her sadly.

'Hikari' he thought.

He was so worried about her.

After she lost her heart to Ansem's keyblade, he felt his heart drop. He was so scared that she would be gone for good, but here she was.

"Hikari, you're ok" he said.

"I'm so glad"

He saw tears pooling up in her eyes.

"You're back" she choked.

He nodded.

He didn't know why she would be so glad to see him, after everything that he did to her, but he was glad that she did.

"Thanks to you" he said.

"I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't mean it"

Hikari smiled weakly at him.

"I know" she said.

When he noticed that the heartless were getting close to the door, he started to pull while Sora pushed.

He didn't want these things anywhere near Hikari or Sora.

Hikari panicked when she saw what he was doing.

She held her hand out towards him.

"Hurry, Riku! Come on this side!"

He looked at her and shook his head.

As much as he wanted to be on the other side with her, he just couldn't.

Not when there were so many heartless on this side.

"The door needs to be closed on both sides" he said.

"I have to stay on this side"

The tears fell from her face.

"No!" she cried.

He bit his lip from saying anything.

It pained him for doing this, but he wanted to keep her safe.

He wanted to protect his princess at all cost.

Just then, two darksides appeared behind him.

This wasn't looking good.

"It's hopeless!" he heard Donald cry.

He was about to go attack the heartless, but King Mickey appeared on time and took care of them.

"Your Majesty!"

Mickey held up his keyblade.

"Now Sora and Hikari, let's close this door for good!" he said.

Riku didn't like the sound of that.

If this door was closed for good, then he might not see his friends again.

Hikari seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"But…"

King Mickey grinned at her.

"Don't worry; there will always be a door to the light!"

So that meant that they would see each other again.

'Thank goodness' he thought.

He looked at Hikari.

He was going to tell her everything was going to be alright, but what he saw caught him off guard.

He saw her look at her pendant before yanking it off and kissing it.

He knew that her pendant was her most treasured object, so why would she take it off?

She looked at him.

"Riku!"

She grabbed his hand and placed her pendant in it.

"It's like I said before. My heart belongs to you, it always has"

Riku looked stunned.

He knew how much her lucky charm meant to her, so why would she give it to him of all people?

"Hikari…" he said.

She smiled at him as tears fell from her eyes.

"It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me on the islands" she said.

"Promise?"

Riku grinned at her softly.

So she gave him her most sacred treasure to him just to make sure that he returned to her?

He couldn't help but feel happy that someone like her cared for him.

He leaned forward and softly kissed her on the lips.

She stole his first kiss back on Hallow Bastion, now it was his turn to steal hers.

"I promise" he said.

He turned to the King.

"Now! They're coming!"

The King nodded.

Riku looked at Sora.

He didn't want anything to happen to Hikari while he was away, so he trusted his best friend to look after her.

"Sora, take care of Kairi…and protect Hikari for me until I come back"

Sora nodded.

Just as the doors were about to close, Riku looked at Hikari one last time.

He felt that it would be a while until he saw her pretty face, so he wanted to say the thing that he always wanted to tell her.

"Hikari"

She looked at him.

He smiled at her and mouthed 'I love you' to her.

He didn't want Sora to hear, so this was the only way he could express his feelings to her.

It seemed that she heard him because he saw her gasp.

He smiled as the doors closed completely, never to be open again.

The last thing he heard before he blacked out was a woman's voice.

"To close the door of darkness from both sides, you need three keys and three hearts"

/

That was the last thing he remembered before he came to this realm of nothingness.

He simply floated in the abyss as he recalled that moment in his dreams.

He stirred slightly before opening his eyes.

He looked around to find himself in nothingness.

"Where am I…" he asked.

"Stay asleep" a voice said.

That startled Riku and made him quickly stand up.

"Who's there?" he called out.

He looked around to see if he could find someone, but found nothing.

"You should remain asleep" the voice said.

"Here, between light and dark"

Riku became confused.

"Between…what?"

He suddenly realized that the King was missing.

They were both sealed on the other side of the door, so where was he?

"The King! Where's the King?" he asked.

"Together we closed the door to darkness. After that-"

"You came drifting here by yourself" the voice said.

"You did not have the strength to overcome the darkness. Or…maybe you were too close to it"

Riku scoffed.

After what he let the darkness do to his heart, why would he be close to it?

"Hmph. As if I'm some kind of demon" he said.

"Turn from the light" the voice said.

"Shut your eyes. Here blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal. But…"

Just then, something glowed in front of Riku.

The light faded away and turned out to be a card.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It is a door to the truth" the voice said.

"Take it and your sleep ends, as you take the first step towards the truth. But know this: the truth will bring you pain. Will you still go? There is no return to the security of sleep"

Riku looked at the card as he thought of this.

Should he take it and face the truth that he knew he might not like? Or would he stay here and sleep peacefully?

He turned his hands into fists in a nervous manner.

When he did, he realized that he was holding onto something tightly.

He looked to see that he was holding Hikari's pendant in his hand.

He remembered the promise that they made before Kingdom Hearts was closed.

Just then, he heard a voice in his head.

This voice was different from the one that he heard moments ago.

This one seemed more feminine.

"You did promise her that you would come back to the islands with her" it said.

"How will you do that if you sleep?"

The voice did have a point.

He wanted to keep his promise to Hikari.

He wanted to see her again.

He grabbed the card and held it tightly in his hand.

"This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway" he said.

"That was very well said, Riku" the voice said.

The card glowed brightly and took him out of this realm of nothingness.

The last thing he heard before he left was that woman's voice.

"Don't worry, Riku. Even if the truth may behard to endure, you'll always have someone there to ease the pain"

/

A/N: So Riku's story begins! Will he endure the truth, or will it be too much for him?

I'm sure you can guess who that woman's voice was.

Please review and tell me what you think.

Ja ne