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[Kairi]

Kairi calmed down once she heard Lightnings explanation. She just jumped the conclusions but Lightning hadn't given them any reason to doubt her. So for now Kairi decided to trust and believe her but also be careful at the same time.

Was Sora planning on leaving without her? Kairi knew that he was trying to protect her but did he think that she would sit there and wait. She knew this was dangerous and very well might be a trap but she was tired of waiting and being left out. "I am coming with you Sora" Kairi said hurrying to catch up with him. She knew Sora would disapprove but this time she wasn’t going to let him talk her out of it.

[Lightning]

Lightning smiled once she heard Sora agreeing to help. She was grateful seeing as she couldn't afford to waist anymore time. She needed to get back to her friends back to her home.

She started walking to the shack with Sora but soon stopped once Kairi followed them. "I'll wait for you inside" Lightning said to give the two some time to talk on their own. She just hoped that this wouldn't take long as she walked to the door and pushed it open to find a small gumi chip inside.

[s]

"I am coming with you Sora."

"Kairi, you know I can't j--"

"I'll wait for you inside."

"W--but--!"

The door clicked shut behind Lightning, though, and Sora turned back to Kairi a little hesitantly. Without a stranger around there wasn't anyone to impress, and so she could get as harsh as she wanted. "Kairi," he said a little more gently, "we've...had to go through a lot lately. It's been tough, y'know? And it'd absolutely kill me if something else happened to you or Riku. Besides," he added with a faint smile, "If you're not around, who's gonna bug him to come after us if something goes wrong?"

Unless Riku came with them. Sora would actually be okay with that, because while he knew he could protect Kairi if it came right down to it, he'd be happier if his best friend were at his side and there to pick up the slack where Sora failed.

Besides, Riku could do anything. If there was a trap, he wouldn't let them fall into it.

[Kairi]

Kairi shook her head again but waited till Lightning was in the shack before turning to Sora and listened. "Sora I know your worried but you can't go alone and I am not going to wait again. I know I am not good in combat thats why you and Riku always protected me but that doesn't mean that I can't help."

She sighed turning to face the sea. Kairi remembered all the times she stood there in the same spot waiting for her friends to return. She wanted to go with them the second time an adventure comes along despite the dangers. Besides she wasn't any safer in Destiny Islands. "Sora if I did stay here doesn't mean that I will be any safer. Remember an Organization member once kidnapped me from this island. At least if I come with you you know I am safe and I won't get in your way I promise."

[Lightning]

Lightning entered the shack and closed the door behind her. She stood there looking at the small gumi ship. That was the first time she saw one. Did Sora really know how to steer it? She was impressed very few knew how to control a gumi ship.

Lightning paced around before sitting in a corner to wait. Sora and Kairi were still arguing outside. It seemed they still didn't trust her and maybe thought that she was leading them into a trap. She couldn't blame them though being who they were they all had to be careful with who to trust.

[vexatious]

Sleeping in was the best. Ever.

Riku's bizarre sleeping schedule (or lack thereof) hadn't changed that much since coming home, but he seemed perfectly content with making up for all the sleep lost to countless days in darkness. It was never a peaceful rest, but it was rest, and he couldn't take that for granted. Still, waking up to see the sun already high in the sky was a little bit troublesome, if only because he figured Kairi and Sora would already be wide awake and waiting for him at the islands.

Well...maybe not Sora. Sora's already proved he can sleep through anything.

Despite his tardiness, Riku felt no obligation to rush. He took his time with his morning routine, paying little attention to the numbers on the clock until he had the distinct feeling that even Sora would have been up by then, and scarfed down a piece of toast before heading out the door. His leisurely pace slowed even more once he got outside, though; funny how even though nothing had changed, everything looked different to his eyes. The island plants seemed more lush, the colors more vibrant, and everything seemed so much more...fragile. Then again, things would look different after being blind for so long.

The short row to the island seemed shorter than before, and he wasn't sure if it was because he was stronger than he was a year ago, or if everything seemed smaller after finally seeing all those other worlds. A flicker of cheer sparked through him at the sight of Sora's boat (though he inwardly had to scold himself for being later than he thought he was), and he pulled up alongside it, wood clacking against wood as their boats bumped together in a misjudgement of distance. Giving the docks a quick scan, he resumed his unhurried pace, deciding to search all the usual spots in order.

They'll be here -- they will--

And they were.

Relief drew a slight smile on his expression, and he hastened his steps upon sighting his friends' familiar forms in the distance. Something seemed...off, though. Getting closer, he caught sight of a third person, and stopped abruptly in his tracks. Sora, Kairi, and...

.......?

Who was that?

Not tall enough to be Goofy, not short enough to be Donald or King Mickey -- no, they were definitely human from what he could see, and he did not recognize them. What's more, they'd gone and entered the shack just as he approached -- their shack -- and that was just so not cool. Something was definitely up, and Riku already decided it wasn't anything good.

"...doesn't mean that I can't help..."

His eyes narrowed. Seriously? Was their peace already being threatened by strangers? And after they'd worked so hard t...no, no, maybe not. Maybe this was just some menial thing -- a favor asked by someone from the island that he didn't recognize. Kairi turned away just then, and he took the opportunity to step closer, footsteps muffled by the sound of the nearby waterfall. Eavesdropping wasn't really his thing, but he was curious -- and the fact that they were discussing outside the shack was disconcerting. Gummi Ship. Leaving this world. Absolutely not.

"Sora if I did stay here doesn't mean that I will be any safer."

Riku did not like what he was hearing.

"Remember an Organization member once kidnapped me from this island. At least if I come with you you know I am safe and I won't get in your way I promise."

His heart dropped to his stomach. Are they--?![/i]

They weren't seriously thinking of leaving him behind, were they?

"Kairi." His tone was full of admonishment, but he had to fight to strangle the fear that almost leaked out. What didn't manifest in his voice did show up in his expression, however, and it was pretty obvious he was ready to disapprove of this whole thing -- and he'd say it to that stranger's face. But he hesitated then; he really didn't know what this whole thing was about, but if it had anything to do with leaving the islands...

Had Kairi forgotten just how dangerous it was out there? His eyes flickered to Sora, seeking both an explanation and some sort of reassurance: Tell me you're not leaving.

"What's going on?"

[s]

Sora flinched a little when she mentioned Axel. Not a happy memory, showing up in Twilight Town...hoping, only to find out she was gone again. Pence could have at least just told him, instead of letting him think she was still there all the way to Station Heights.

He took a breath. She had a point, and he still didn't like it, but maybe they could get Selphie or someone to tell Riku...

"K--"

"Kairi."

He whirled, blue eyes wide, to spot Riku on the beach below them. "Riku?" he blurted, feeling a bit like he'd just been caught with his pants down. For a moment he just looked from Riku to Kairi like a dramatically caught cheater in a soap opera.

"What's going on?"

And then that look on Riku's face was enough to make Sora feel like the worst person in the world.

"No," he said to the thoughts that had to be hardening into beliefs in Riku's head. He leapt down from the ledge without hesitation, shoes making crunchy craters in the sand, but only took a careful step forward as though trying not to scare away a rabbit. "Listen, we're--there's this girl who just showed up, she kinda needs a ride home--we were just gonna--I didn't want Kairi to come, it might be dangerous I dunno if it's a trap or what, seriously--I--we--wouldn't have left without you," he got out finally. "Right, Kairi?"

The last thing he needed was to burn bridges with Riku right now. Not after what had already happened between them. Not after that moment on the black beach. Not after hitting the water with him and knowing, finally knowing, that they were home and safe and everything was right again. But Sora had never been good at consoling, especially when something made him panic.

[Kairi]

"Riku…" Kairi said once she heard his voice and immediately turned to see him walking up to her and Sora. She heard the tone of his voice and sighed was he against this too. But one thing she wasn’t going to stay there and wait thats was what she decided.

She just smiled at Sora with a nod once he turned to her "Right… we wouldn’t have left without you Riku. Just like you two won’t leave without me right? Lets all go together this time" She hoped that Sora and Riku would agree this time to let her come.

Kairi’s mind was already made up. Despite the danger she wanted to be with her two best friends. That for her was the safest place to be and with Riku around she could use the keyblade he gave her.

Although she would be only be able to take down the weakest of the Heartless. Still she was always willing to try and who knows maybe Riku and Sora can teach her a few things now.

[Lightning]

Lightning sighed as she sat there waiting for Sora and Kairi to come. What was taking them so long. Guess they really didn't trust her. She sighed again as she got up. Maybe she should try to open a portal again maybe this time she would be able to return home, but then again she might end up somewhere far worse than here.

"Maybe I should see whats taking them so long?" Lightning thought as she slowly got up and reached for the door but then stopped. "Five minutes more..." Lightning decided to give them just a few more minutes to discuss things and if they take longer she would have to find another way home.

[vexatious]

Relief surged through Riku the second he heard Sora's voice, and he seemed to relax, if only because it was Sora reassuring him. It didn't instantly win him over to the whole idea, but at least it was enough to quell his anxiety, and his remaining doubts were quickly smothered by the fact that it was Sora and Sora doesn't lie.

Heh. Trust Sora to say exactly the right thing to say at exactly the right time, yet still manage sound like a total goober when saying it.

But then he was looking to Kairi to back him up, and that feeling of comfort faded. Sora's zeal tended to depend on the enthusiasm of his friends, and Riku really didn't want to put him in a situation where he had to choose between going along with him or Kairi -- and so he too looked to Kairi, not for reassurance but for some inkling of common sense. Because this so wasn't going to happen if he had any say about it.

"We wouldn't have left without you Riku."

Oh that just.

"Just like you two won't leave without me, right?"

Um, yes.

"Let's all go together this time."

"It's not[/i] that simple, Kairi!"[/color] The irritation that had already started seeping into his features was beginning to turn into straight out anger, and he had half a mind to climb up the ledge just to shake some sense into her. "Have you even thought about the dangers involved here? Sora's right -- it's probably a trap, and if anything happens to you..."

I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"We're[/i] not going."[/color]

There, now no one was being left out. All he had to do was take care of the stranger, and everything would be sorted. Gaze gravitating towards the shack, he nudged Sora aside in a sort of let me handle this way and stormed up to the door, eyes blazing with the intent to kick someone's ass. With a little more force than what was called for, he threw the door open, free hand curling in the indecision of whether or not to call his blade -- and stopped short upon sighting the stranger.

Well, Sora did mention it was a girl that just showed up, but he was expecting someone a little more...imposing, maybe. Still, looks were deceiving -- he knew that all too well -- and so he narrowed his eyes and regarded her with the same look he'd give any potential enemy, silently challenging her to just try and do something stupid.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

Direct, straight to the point, and very much a demand rather than a question. He just hoped he sounded as intimidating as he thought he did.

[s]

Riku's argument reminded Sora of all the things he shouldn't have forgotten. It had been a lot of fun traversing the worlds, but it had been extremely dangerous--in many cases it was only a Potion from Goofy or quick heal from Donald that kept him on his feet. He'd seen people die out there, and he knew Riku had, too. But Sora tended to not see the darker side to these things, in part because he'd had friends to rely on--whereas Riku spent the better part of the journey alone, or surrounded by people he couldn't trust.

"We're not going."

"R--!" iku...

Sora hesitated. In spite of that...in spite of the danger, was living in fear of it the only way? Even if the two of...the three of them had been thrust into this, wasn't there a place to start?

He gave chase, seizing the hand that threatened to curl around a blade. "Wait. Just...remember--remember back when we were working on the raft. Back when we wanted to get out of here, the three of us, and we had...we had no idea what we were getting into. None! But..." Blue eyes sought aquamarine. "We know what's out there now. And Kairi's seen it. We know what we're doing now and we can do this. We can take care of her, Riku." His hands tightened around his best friend's, as if he might drop to his knees right there like he had at the World That Never Was, but there was too much strength in his eyes for that. "Together."

[Kairi]

Was he still refusing to take her? Kairi knew that both Sora and Riku were worried about her safety and that was one reason why Riku said no. She sighed lowering her head Kairi thought that this time things would be different now that they were back. She remembered the promise they made not too long ago about going to other worlds together.

"Riku wait... I know I am not good when it comes to fighting but I don't see a reason why I shouldn't go. I know its dangerous but with you two by my side I know I will be safe..." She paused stretching her hand to let a keyblade appear the one Riku gave her when he came to save her.

"Didn't you give me this so I can fight with you two... Its not mine so I can only use it when your around. You can teach me how to wield this keyblade both of you can show me how to fight... please I am tired of waiting and being left behind..." She looked at Riku hoping he would agree. and took a step closer to both him and Sora before the keyblade disappeared from her hand.

[Lightning]

Lightning turned to the door thinking that it was Sora or Kairi but instead found herself facing someone else. He just stormed in ready for a fight. Lightning lifted an eyebrow as she looked at the boy in front of her.

"Who wants to know? wait Riku right?" She asked folding her hands as she rested her back against the wall of the shack.

"You want an answer go ask your friends." Soon those two rushed into the bar and Lightning stood there looking at all three. Things weren't looking good and it seemed as if it was all up to Riku and he didn't seem to want to help.

Lightning sighed heavily letting her hands fall to her side. "I will just find another way" She said taking a step out of the shack and glanced around the island.

[vexatious]

(sorry for the wait, gaiz! :V)

"Wait."

Riku froze in the doorway, reflexively grasping the hand that grasped his, and turned his head very slightly towards Sora to show that he was listening. He saw this inspiring, soulful, Sora-esque little peptalk coming from a mile away, but it still served to calm him -- just a bit -- and set him back on a more logical track. Even so, he was torn; those blue, blue eyes that pleaded with him and the hand he squeezed that squeezed back were trying so hard to get him to come around, but every doubt that Sora squashed was replaced by another. Every we can was met with a what if we can't, every we know met with what if we don't, and even when he tried to look at it positively there was still the fact that they could make a mistake.

A single mistake could cost them. And that was a cost Riku couldn't afford.

"Sora," he half-whispered, then bit his lip. It was so difficult to tell him no when he was pulling all the stops, but...No, no, no, no, damnit -- that wasn't the point..! And he didn't even get a chance to tell him that before Kairi spoke up next, finally drawing Riku's eyes away from Sora. He was still keeping Lightning in his peripheral vision, but the woman seemed to be fine with waiting around, and if she was made aware of just how much of a problem she was causing, all the better.

"...with you two by my side I know I will be safe."

Riku resisted the urge to groan. It was so cheesy, and it followed in the same vein as Sora's words, both encouraging and annoying; her faith in the two of them was something he treasured, though, and as she continued her attempt at convincing him, his expression relaxed into one of contemplation. Just why were they so eager to go, though? Sure, the whole plan from the very beginning was to go out and see other worlds together -- together being the key word, but after everything they'd gone through...

Were they seriously sick of peace and quiet already?

"Who wants to know?"

Whirling, he snapped his attention back to Lightning, slipping on his Mr. Tough Guy expression once more. She was giving him this look -- and he didn't like that look, not one bit -- this look that just said I'm not impressed, and that, that, he'd seen somewhere else. He couldn't quite place it, but he bristled all the same, suspicions arising once more.

"Riku, right?"

And then confusion. "Wh--how did--?"

"You want an answer go ask your friends."

Oh, that--!

"What, you got something to hide?" he growled, releasing Sora's hand and taking a few steps further into the shack to approach her. Sora and Kairi's appearance must've agitated her somehow, or maybe it was his advancing, he couldn't tell -- but in the next moment she'd turned her back on him, exiting through the upper door of the shack. He hesitated.

"I will just find another way."

You do that, Riku almost said aloud, but he held his tongue -- not so much out of a sense of propriety so much as the fact that the stranger had just exited his line of sight, and he was not pleased. He tore up the stairs after her, taking two steps at a time, and paused on the upper platform just behind the doorway, still keeping his distance.

"You managed to get here without our help just fine, didn't you?" he asked after a moment, dropping the threatening tone of voice in favor of something a little colder. "So you can get out without our help. What's preventing you?"

[s]

Kairi was agreeing, and the way Riku's eyes were softening around the corners meant that he was crumbling--he was at least considering it. And while Sora didn't necessarily want this to turn into as big an ordeal as last time, he'd occasionally caught himself staring up at the stars, wondering what else might be out there that he hadn't seen yet. He was happy at home, sure--being back together with Riku and Kairi was like nothing else after wandering the worlds in search of them--but at the same time he also wondered how things might have gone...differently. If Kairi had come with him instead of waited at the islands. If he and Riku had joined forces back when Maleficent was trying to manipulate them. If the three of them had gotten off the island and confronted everything together, as friends, the way Sora had with Donald and Goofy.

That...would have made. Everything. So much easier.

But Sora wasn't one to linger on the past. It was a nice thought, that was all, and taking a spin on the Gummi ship was generally too dangerous. He hadn't really thought of it with this expedition, considering it was only one passenger and they had a duty to keep the world order anyway, but at the same time there was always the possibility of a trap. The Organization had been disorganized, but smart--too smart--and if there was a more synchronized group out there, Sora could very well be walking into their arms.

And then Lightning ruined all chance of Riku cooperating anyway when she turned rude. Sora saw him bristle.

"Riku, right?"

"Wh--how did--?"

The Keymaster stared.

She comes onto our islands through a portal talking about a mission. She knows who Kairi and I are. Now she recognizes Riku by name. I don't trust this person.

He was taking a step to the side before he fully realized it, shielding Kairi, but the movement was unnecessary as Lighting headed up out of the shack and Riku followed.

For a moment Sora hesitated. His job was to protect Kairi, and Lightning probably wasn't something Riku couldn't handle on his own if things got ugly. Sora could jump in then. And yet...

His eyes narrowed.

This is the kind of person I don't want on my islands.

"Kairi," he said once, colder than usual. "Don't get too close to that person. If we leave, you're staying here and that's final. Don't argue." With that, he followed Riku up the stairs and took a position not far behind him, hand twitching once with the desire to call the Keyblade. "Lightning, I don't know who you are and I don't care, but I think it'd be best for everyone if you left. If you can do it on your own, please go. If not, we'll try to help. But we have to protect our world, and I know someone from outside it like you understands why."