~-------Sora’s POV-------~

Tears formed at Sora’s eyes as he rubbed his much-abused head.  First the wall, now the incredibly hard floor behind the door.  It definitely wasn’t the plush carpet princess room Kairi had always believed it was.  And Riku wondered how Sora could manage to forget things within minutes.  At the tender age of eight his head had already banged into just about everything.

He reached out, expecting to find a wall or maybe some furniture but instead garbed a handful silk cloth.  Looking up he saw the material’s owner, a dark witch-like women who was glaring down at him.  Her icy stare seemed to pin him down and he was even too frightened to scream.

“So this is our new keyblade master…” she whispered coldly.  Sora immediately released her dress and scooted back as far away from the witch as he could get.  The chorus of maniacal laughter that erupted around him made Sora want to be back in the pitch-black, echo-y cave were he knew his fears where unreal.

The witch-lady advanced to him in long strides, not unlike Riku when he was really angry.  Wide-eyed, Sora whimpered as she reached and roughly grabbed his shirt, hauling him into the air.  Lifting him up until he was looking straight into her cold, heartless eyes (a/n: Haha, I made a pun!  The witch lady is Maleficent and she controls the Heartless… ok, I’ll be quiet now…).

“Too bad it’s not your time to play hero, boy.”  She pulled open the door and threw Sora back into the cave and back into the darkness.

~-------Riku’s POV-------~

Riku was sure that he had sent Sora to the Secret Place.  There was no mistake by the look on Sora’s face when Riku sent him out that he knew where he was going.  How could he be so stupid?!  Caught up in the hype of the party surrounded by his friends he had stupidly, disgracefully, forgotten how much Sora hated scary stories.  Scary things in general, actually.

Walking back out into the moonlight, Riku looked around desperately for a sign that Sora had run that way.  He wasn’t in the cave which meant that he was probably wandering around the island, in the middle of the night, trying to think of excuses to tell Riku.

He hadn’t meant to force Sora to be afraid.  Riku had also forgotten how much Sora trusted him and how he’d do almost anything Riku said to.

He randomly picked a side of the island and began searching for his best friend.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!”  (a/n: this is Riku talking to himself…)

~-------Sora’s POV-------~

His head was throbbing, he was back in the dark cave with no idea of how to get out and he was probably really late for meeting up with the others.

Sora had seriously screwed things up.  Like always.

He was half hoping that his friends would have stopped the party to go look for him but he knew better.  They were familiar with his more cowardly side and they would think he was just sulking back at his own house.  No one would miss him until the next morning.

Thoughts of any house, warm and safe with a good supply of light made Sora even more aware of his current situation.  He tried to stay strong.  It was only one night, right?  He glanced at the door behind him warily.  It didn’t seem to want to open again but he couldn’t be too sure.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.  He sat down abruptly and broke out crying.

~-------Riku’s POV-------~

Riku was passing by the cave on his way home from searching, nearly in hysterics over worry for Sora.  He hadn’t been able to find even a trace of Sora after practically searching the whole Island.  It was time to get the parents involved.  

Tidus would argue because they would obviously get in a lot of trouble for sneaking around the island at night and then for losing Sora.  Riku didn’t care as long as Sora was safe.

Passing by the Secret Place at a quick pace he almost missed hearing the faint sobbing sounds coming from the cave.  He didn’t even give it a second thought before plunging in, tripping over rocks, scrapping up his knees and eventually stumbling over a tear-soaked Sora huddled up on the floor.

Sora jumped back at the larger black form coming towards him but Riku was quicker.  He grabbed his best friend’s wrist and pulled Sora into a tight embrace.

Releasing Sora from the hug, Riku then gently pulled the younger boy to his feet.  “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here”, Riku whispered so that his voice wouldn’t echo loudly and scare Sora more than he already was.  Taking his hand Riku deftly led Sora out of the cave with no mishaps and together they walked back to Riku’s house, never letting go of the other’s hand.

~-------Sora’s POV-------~

“You FORGOT?!” Tidus practically yelled after Sora had told them that he had forgotten his entire scary story in fear.  The group was sitting in Riku’s room questioning Sora on the night’s activities but Tidus just wanted to hear what Sora had come up with.  He had thought about using the witch-lady as his story but thinking about made him shudder and besides, they would want to know where he came up with that story and they wouldn’t believe him when he told them.

Beside him on the bed, Riku turned and glared at Tidus and seem mildly delighted when Tidus looked away.  “How could you forget?  Now what are we suppose to do?  It’s too late to tell all of our stories and we’d fight over who would get to go so you’d better think of something.”  Tidus looked up at Sora.

Tears formed again just as Sora’s eyes were finally dry from the cave.  It was his fault.  He had ruined the party because everyone had been out looking for him…

Frowning at Tidus, Riku looked over at Sora.  “It’s ok.”  He smiled.  “I remember what your story was.  You told me in the cave, remember?”  He raised his eye brows at the question.

Sora stared at Riku in disbelief.  Then he nodded slowly, having no idea what Riku with his “I-know-everything-there-is-to-know” knowledge was going to say next.

But Riku surprised Sora even more by recounting the whole night (without the witch-lady scene of course) only he exaggerated it so much that only he and Sora would recognize the events to be partly true.  Sora was out-running giant snakes and resisting temptations from little sprites while Riku was fighting off ferocious monsters in an attempt to save Sora.

Sora was a little disappointed that Riku didn’t think to mention the mysterious door but he was so relieved that Riku had stood up for him that he didn’t really care.

Soon the story was over with fictional Riku and Sora triumphantly returning home and the real kids were off to bed (a/n: Geez, by now it must be like 3am!  These 8-year-olds are quite hyper if their still awake huh?).  Although back at home surrounded by friends Sora could not seem to shake the feeling that the witch-lady was still watching him.  For at least an hour he tossed about in his sleeping bag, unable to fall asleep.

Sora had thought that everyone else was asleep but Riku was awake enough to kick him hard as he continued to fidget.  “Go to sleep,” Riku’s half-asleep voice gave away how tired running around looking for Sora had made him.

Wiggling out of the sleeping bag, Sora moved close enough to poke Riku’s head.  “Can I tell you a secret, Riku?” he asked innocently, knowing that Riku most certainly did not want to stay up and hear it but prepared to tell him anyway.

“I was really in that cave all along but I got pulled through that door –yeah, the weird one that never opened before- and I met this really scary witch-lady and she said some weird things and her evil friends laughed and me and it was really scary and-“

“Wait, what?”  Riku looked up at Sora with what seemed to be a growing concern for his friend’s mental health.

“I said that the door-“

“Never mind, I get it!” Riku replied hastily before Sora started ranting all over again.  He grumpily rolled over so his back was to Sora.  “It’s fine.  If anything bad happens, I’ll just come get you like I did last time.  Now Go To Sleep!”

Sora glared accusingly at Riku.  “You don’t believe me!”

“Yes, I do.  Good-night Sora!” Riku patience had come to an end.

Even though he wasn’t convinced Riku had believed him, Sora was content with Riku’s promise to always come and save him.  For the next six years Riku upheld that late-night promise without knowing what it really meant to Sora.

~-------Riku’s POV-------~
~-------SIX YEARS LATER-------~
(After the start of Kingdom Hearts)

The witch-lady walked slowly up behind Riku as he watched Sora talk animatedly with his new “friends”.  “Think no more of him and come with me,” she said and he turned and walked away from Sora, not know how much his younger friend missed him.

That was the first time Riku ever left Sora behind.  The first time he broke his promise.


~-------End of Part 2-------~
~-------End Emptied Promises-------~