Okay. I'm going to combine chapters 3 and 4, and expand them a whole lot. Later this afternoon, I'll post the edited chapter one and two. Also, I'm going to be starting on chapter five soon. That will be broken down into several pieces, and much more description will be added. Comparing the original writing to this is kinda depressing. The first version really sucked. Meh. Enough of my rambling.
Warning: yaoi, angst, character death. Sounds cheery, eh?
Disclaimer (I'll put it in from now on): I don't own these characters. I own the original ones, but none of the others.
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Four days dragged by slowly. Four long days with only that hellish computer to talk to. Riku supposed that talking to an inanimate object made him a bit insane, but the computer wasn't doing anything to help that. He had decided that listening to something that cheerful for four days would drive anyone out of their minds. Although he did learn a lot about recent events, and the worlds.
"So Sora defeated Ansem," Riku mused, thinking of his cinnamon haired friend, "Hope he doesn't enter the tournament until I've trained some more. But still, that explains something."
Riku gazed out the view port, into the blue expanse outside, wondering where Sora was out there. Where home was. Deep aquamarine eyes probed the blue void, lingering on bright star after bright star. He was doing what he had always wanted; seeing other worlds, doing whatever he wanted. But now, all he wanted was to be home again, with his friends. The scars that Ansem had inflicted on him ran more than skin deep.
"We will be arriving in twenty minutes! It's been a pleasure to have you on board! I hope you'll ride on this ship again!" the computer chirped, interrupting Riku from his thoughts.
"Twenty minutes. I get the feeling that I should have never taken this ship from Leon. He might have at least known how to turn off the computer," Riku thought to himself.
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A heavy fog drifted across the darkened plaza, illuminated in a greenish light from several lamps scattered about the cobblestone paths. Shadows flitted across the ground, melting back into the imposing buildings and menacing alleyways. Halloween town. Full of monsters as always. Of course, that was one of the reasons that Sora loved the place; for once, the darkness was something normal and not horrible. It let him get away. With the appearance of new types of Heartless, even though Kingdom Hearts had been sealed, Halloween town had become the new attraction for thrill seeking warriors and experienced Heartless hunters. But none of them ever seemed to be around when they were needed.
Sora whipped about the mob of shadows, flicking his Keyblade left and right, falling Heartless everywhere. They dissolved into wisps of black smoke, more appearing to replace them. In the darkness, Sora's black clothing blended with the heavy fog, making it appear as though the Heartless were just rapidly disappearing on their own. Sora grew tired of fighting through them after a while, and retreated to his ship. Sleek and elegant, he had bought it with munny he had earned in the Coliseum, and had been headed for Hollow Bastion and Halloween Town every few weeks to hunt heartless ever since. The computer was flashing that he had a call coming in, and he punched a button on the dashboard.
"Sora, Leon still hasn't been back yet. They found his ship in Traverse Town thirty minutes ago. The computer says that he was last on a remote world tracking down what the scanners showed to be a Heartless," came Yuffie's cheerful voice, although the concern could be detected no matter how she tried to mask it.
"Don't worry Yuffie. Just give me the coordinates and I'll go and see if he's OK," he said, and copied down the coordinates that the ninja gave him.
An hour later, he was blasting towards the small world, which hadn't even been named. It was just a grassy field with a few trees, and no one lived there. From Halloween town, it would take him a few days to get there; he found himself wishing that he had brought more food with him, as his stomach was rumbling less than an hour after leaving.
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Traverse Town was an odd place, Riku decided. He had wandered the streets for thirty minutes, noticing many oddities about the place. It seemed as though it was always night in the town. Riku didn't mind the night though; in a way, the dark of night excited and thrilled him. Everything seemed so much more mysterious after the sun went down; it might have been what drew him into Maleficent and Ansem's trap. He turned his thoughts to other places. The last thing he needed was to break down now.
After more wandering, he finally went to the First District item's shop. The inside was warm and cozy, and reminded him much of the small shacks on Destiny Islands that he and his friends used to camp in. Staffs, shields, and potions lined the walls, but he didn't see any swords.
"Do you have any swords?" he asked what looked like a duck wearing a green cap and shirt, sitting on the counter. It appeared to run the store.
"Sure. We have five in stock, but we keep them on display in the back. Come this way," the duck replied in a high pitch, leading him into a backroom. There were five swords on display, as promised, all gleaming sharp and deadly. Riku had found several hundred munny on Leon's ship, so he pocketed it before heading for the shop. He reminded himself to pay the man back if he ever saw him again. But for now, it was time to spend a bit of cash. Out of the five swords, he soon found his favorite. It was light, and perfectly balanced. While he noticed that his spell casting ability seemed slightly impaired, he bought it anyway. After all, he didn't often cast spells. After leaving the shop, he headed for the back alleys. Time to test the new sword out on some Heartless.
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The sun beat down from the clear blue sky, spots of shade cast about the arena, mostly on the stands. A group of black shadowy figures moved across the center stage area, dodging about a fighter. One by one, the dark Heartless fell as the figure dashed in between them, hacking and slashing left and right. Sweat plastered the combatants shoulder-length silver hair to his forehead, and he was panting heavily. The last of the Heartless dodged to the left of him, and Riku shot past it. The dark creature jumped, preparing to slash at Riku's exposed back. Using his momentum, he stopped, losing his balance immediately, and starting to fall to the ground. The Heartless flew over him, and Riku brought his blade up as it did, the silvery sword flashing in the sun, blinding the spectators for a moment. When they regained their senses, Riku was lying on the ground, dead still. There were no Heartless to be seen.
The crowd waited on baited breath, watching the prone figure intently. Very slowly, he pushed off the ground, standing up, dust from the ground falling from his clothing. He raised the blade above his head, grinning ear to ear. The crowd seemed to be shocked for a moment. But then it passed, and they jumped to their feet, screaming at the top of their lungs and cheering as loud as they could. It looked as though Riku would be going on to the next round.
The silver haired boy started for the arena exit to prepare for his next match. He glanced at the chart on the way out, showing his next opponent. He felt his heart leap into his mouth as he read out the names. 'Leon and Yuffie.'
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Leon had finished sharpening his Gunblade, and polishing it for the last time, a few minutes before the battle started. He heard footsteps, and looked up. A tall blonde man with spiky hair and bright blue eyes was standing there, his arms crossed. He wore a red cape, and a layer of padded leather battle armor. On his right hand, a glove with claws affixed to it gleamed, showing off it's deadly use, though his left hand didn't clutch his gigantic buster blade.
"Don't kill yourself out there, Squall," he said, smirking slightly, "You'd just hate to waste Sora's effort to track you down and pick you up off that rock in the middle of nowhere..."
"For the last time, the kid stole my ship! I didn't even catch his name. Rikay or something," the Gunblade master snapped back, "Its just a good thing that Cid got Sora that ship, or I would be stranded there for a while."
"No need to get upset, Leonheart," Cloud replied, almost breaking into a grin, "Just wishing you good luck. After all, if you lose, I don't get to fight you. And I'd love to see how all the training you did against that poor tree affected your fighting style. Must have been a tough fight."
"That so, Strife? Well at least I had a chance to clean my sword before this tournament. I don't know how Sora talked me into this," Leon growled in reply.
"He threatened to leave you on that little planet," Cloud stated, matter-of-factly. Leon glared at him. Leon glared at everyone for that matter, so it probably wasn't anger as much as amusement and embarrassment.
"Ready to go?" came Yuffie's excited voice from the Arena door, "Don't want to miss our big fight!"
"Yeah. What Heartless are we fighting today?" Leon asked, moving towards the ninja as Cloud entered the entrance to the stands.
"A real warrior apparently! Named... Riku," Yuffie said, scanning the name list.
"WHAT!?!?!?"
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Riku walked into the arena confidently. No one had been able to beat him so far, and this Leon guy probably couldn't either. He hoped. He had noticed that Leon would have backup this time. Best take her out first, than handle the swordsman. The sun slapped his face with warmth as he strode across the dusty field, and took his place in the center. He noticed a small tuft of brown hair in the stands, attempting to see over an enormously large man in front of him. He grinned slightly. Completely hopeless spectators. He saw the gate at the other end of the arena open, and Leon strode out, a girl, about fifteen it looked like, following him. The Gunblade master had his weapon over his shoulder, holding it in one hand. A good battle pose. The girl seemed unarmed, but Riku noticed a pouch with small points in it, guessing some type of Ninja stars or spiked balls. Riku faced Leon, and couldn't resist grinning. Leon glared back at him, and mouthed the words "I'm going to kill you, than poke holes in your body with your own sword."
A bell announced the start of the fight. Leon charged straight at Riku, yelling out a mighty roar and swinging his Gunblade upwards, ready to make a downslash at Riku. Riku quickly rolled to one side, dodging the attack easily. Just as he stopped, a sharp ninja star landed right in front of him, burying itself in the dirt an inch from his foot. He jumped backyards, deflecting another star with his sword. Leon charged at him again, leaping up in the air and slashing downwards. Riku jumped back, but was hit with the shockwave that the attack gave off. The Gunblade master rushed at him, and quickly slashed again at him. Riku blocked the attack with his own sword.
"I hope that you don't hope to win using these tactics," Riku said, smirking.
"I'll teach you the meaning of the word 'win' you little--" but his words were cut off as the crowds cheered. A pain shot through Riku's arm. He looked down and saw blood trickling out of a cut in his arm. The ninja star had scraped his skin, barely missing, but leaving a large gash in the side of his arm near the shoulder. Leon quickly took advantage of this distraction, pressing the flat of the Gunblade hard against the cut. Riku screamed in pain, but ducked to the side, and hit the next ninja star as hard as he could at the Gunblade master. The ninja star hit Leon's thick glove, causing him to drop his weapon, cradling his hand.
Riku charged at Yuffie, hitting her with the flat of his blade once. She fell to the ground, but jumped back up and somersaulted over Riku's head. Riku quickly hit the ground, as a ninja star came from behind. He rolled to the side, and threw his sword at Yuffie. It buried itself in a pillar, and she ran into it, knocking her out. Leon was back on his feet though. He ran at Riku again, but Riku had one surprise that Leon didn't expect. Riku pulled a small dagger from a sheath on his leg, and blocked Leon's attack. The dagger went flying, but Riku managed to stay upright. He ran to his sword and plucked it out of the pillar just in time to block Leon's attack. Leon slashed downwards at him, but Riku ducked to the side and raised his sword to Leon's neck.
"Not even magic could heal this. Drop your blade and admit I won," Riku said, panting. Sweat trickled down Leon's face, mingled with a small bit of blood from a few of the blows he had taken. He obeyed, still glaring at Riku. As the sword clattered to the ground, a great cheer rose from the stands. Everyone stood up, except the fat man, who passed out, giving the small tuft of brown hair a chance to see. Sora leapt to his feet to see the winner. Riku saw him at the same time, and nearly dropped his sword.
Leon and Yuffie left, in care of medics, and the crowd filed out to see the losers of the mighty battle. Riku stood in the middle of the arena, looking up at the blue eyes that had stayed in the stands.
Blue eyes met Riku's bright aquamarine, betraying shock, wonder, confusion, and several other emotions that Riku couldn't comprehend.
"Come on. I'll tell you about it outside," Riku said back, pointing towards the privacy exit for tired warriors who wanted some peace. Sora nodded numbly, and followed Riku through to door.
"Riku! It thought that I would never see you again!" Sora said as soon as they were both within earshot of eat other. He ran forward, hugging his best friend fondly. Riku grinned, looking down at the slightly shorter Sora. Sora looked up into his best friends sea green eyes, and returned the grin. There was no awkwardness, and both sets of eyes silently agreed to not ask the questions they were dying to know the answers to until they were in a more private place.
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"How did you get out? I thought that King Mickey had locked the door!" Sora said, still excited from seeing his best friend. There was a twenty minute break in the fighting, until Leon and Yuffie were both capable of getting to the stands again.
"I don't know. My memory is patchy after the first fight we had at Hollow Bastion... I remember a door, but after that, all I remember is darkness. A while later, I woke up on that small world," Riku said, brow furrowing trying to remember what had happened.
"Leon told me the rest. How you took his ship and all," said Sora, grinning, "That took some guts. You'd think that he'd kill you with the glare. I didn't think he'd try in an arena fight!" Riku laughed. He seemed to have been grinning and laughing for the past ten minutes, since he had seen his brown haired friend again. Sora had been the same way, but Sora was always like that. He was Sora.
"You know Leon?" Riku asked, than remembered the small house in Traverse Town, "I had forgotten about that!"
"Wow. Must have been through a lot to forget that. I thought that was the reason for-" Sora began, but Riku cut him off.
"Yeah... Well. What have you been doing lately?" Riku asked, trying to shift the conversation.
"Not much. I make a steady income off tournaments. Keyblade's handy that way," Sora said, sensing that Riku didn't want to talk about recent events in his own life. And so they talked, for the entire twenty minutes. Talking about Heartless, Traverse Town, Riku's new sword, Leon, Yuffie, Aeris, Cid, and what had been happening in the different worlds. They even talked about Kairi for a while, but the conversation was short - Sora hadn't seen her yet, and Riku had nothing to say really. And the horn blew for the next battle to begin.
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The Keyhole...Locked!... We can fix this... the Neo-Heartless... They will fix it! They will fix it! Call the Neo-Heartless... the Keyhole! We will take it... the masters... both at the same time... the Keyhole! The Keyhole!
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Riku felled the last of the next group of Heartless, gigantic fat things that breathed fire, and smaller ones who shot fire. 'Bunch of pyros…' Riku thought to himself. The last Heartless's smoky remains disintegrated into the air, but the world seemed to be shacking still... Than Riku realized that it was shacking. And the shacking was getting heavier and heavier by the second. Brown clouds formed in the sky, splashing fat raindrops down on the arena spectators, as though the sky itself was bleeding. Lightning streaked across the sickened air. Then, they started to appear. Taller than shadows, but with the same appearance. They had longer claws, and seemed to dance as they moved, glaring at Riku with amber eyes. Spectators screamed, and scrambled to their feet, tearing out of the stadium. Riku called his Dark Keyblade, and Sora called his Keyblade, and ran down into the arena floor, ready to fight with his friend. Riku and Sora began letting into them, hacking and slashing, but there seemed to be no end to them. Leon and Cloud ran in, their weapons in hand. They started attacking the nearby Heartless, working their way towards the two younger boys.
"Sora! The Keyhole! It's been unlocked and shattered! The Heartless are taking this world," Leon shouted, bringing the blade down on one of the strange new creatures.
"Hurry! We need to get out of here before they overwhelm us!" Cloud yelled, slashing a nearby Heartless.
"Riku, we have to go!" Sora shouted above the thunder, pulling Riku towards the exit. These shadows were surrounding them now, however, and trying to cut off their escape route. A grim determination set over Riku.
"Sora... run!" He said, pulling away from Sora and whacking a few Heartless away, "Run before it's too late! I'll hold them and be right behind you guys in a second!"
"...Riku..." Sora began.
"Sora! He's right! Their cutting us off! We need to get out of here! He can still make it in time!" Leon told Sora, he and Cloud moving towards the arena exit.
"Sora..." Riku began, defending the doorway. Sora turned, looking at him quizzically.
"Riku?" Sora asked.
"I... I love you..." Riku said, brushing his lips against Sora's. Just as he finished the brief kiss, a huge bolt of lightning rent the sky, hitting the Coliseum entrance above Riku. Large chunks of stone fell, as the doorway collapsed. Riku pushed Sora through the door, and yelled, "Run!" still fighting off the Heartless.
"I love you too, Riku!" Sora shouted as the doorway collapsed completely, sealing him off from his friend. Leon dashed in, grabbing Sora.
"Sora, we have to go NOW! This place is going to become a big speck of nothing in a few seconds!" Leon yelled, pulling Sora towards the ship. Sora struggled, trying to get back to the door.
"Riku! He's still inside!" Sora shouted, pulling against the older man's grip.
"It's too late! We have to go!" Leon replied, "Sora... We have to go now... please!" Sora seemed to give in. He ran up the ship ramp with Leon, and the ship quickly blasted out of the world's atmosphere. Sora looked back through the window, to see Riku still fighting under the dome of magic that sealed the coliseum. He quickly headed for his small cabin, locking the door behind him. Cloud stood up, heading for the door to comfort him.
"Let him be Cloud. He needs the time right now," Leon said, pulling the swordsman back to his seat.
"Think he'll be alright?" Cloud asked
"I honestly don't know," Leon replied.
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Riku continued to fight for a while. The storm got increasingly worse, and finally, the world seemed to start to fall apart. Slowly, he was pushed into a corner of the arena, overwhelmed by the Heartless. Suddenly, the Heartless all gave a shriek and vanished. The Dark Keyblade vanished out of Riku's exhausted grip, and Riku ran for the other door. He got through, and out to the ship pad, but found that there were no ships left. He ran back inside, into the lobby, trying to find a way out. The Keyhole was broken... that meant he couldn't lock it. He looked over at the Keyhole, which was seeping dark energy.
A flash of blinding pain screamed through his head. It felt as though something had ripped deep inside of him. Riku dropped to one knee, clutching his heart. He could barely hear a voice speaking to him through his mind, the words echoing through his consciousness, but the pain was so intense that he couldn't make out anything but a hostile meaning. His vision blurred, and he felt another flash of pain and words run through his mind.
angerhatebetrayaldeathhurtharm
Slowly, his world went black. The last thing he saw was darkness spreading from the Keyhole, up the walls and onto the floor. It was taking over the room. As Riku lost consciousness, he became aware of the familiar feeling of darkness beginning to cover his body. Then there was nothing.
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WOW!!!! My longest chapter yet! Almost five pages! Lots of stuff happening in this one. The next chapter will deal a lot with Deep Dive, the secret video in Kingdom Hearts, which you can see at http://www.geocities.com/jevonderrick/ by clicking the picture next to the Deep Dive info. It will also deal with Another Side, Another Story, but I don't know where you can see this one. I may end up breaking it into three parts, just because of the length that this may take. Anyway, there will be lots to do, but after the next chapter (which may be up to three parts) there will be my little RikuXSora lemon. I didn't think it right to put it in this chapter, cause it would ruin my ideas for the story. Anyway, R&R all! I hope to start getting more people reviewing with a chapter this long! : ( All the other KH fics with more than one chapter have more review than my poor Misery here. Aw well.
Until Next Time (which may be a while),
The Dark Winged One
Warning: yaoi, angst, character death. Sounds cheery, eh?
Disclaimer (I'll put it in from now on): I don't own these characters. I own the original ones, but none of the others.
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Four days dragged by slowly. Four long days with only that hellish computer to talk to. Riku supposed that talking to an inanimate object made him a bit insane, but the computer wasn't doing anything to help that. He had decided that listening to something that cheerful for four days would drive anyone out of their minds. Although he did learn a lot about recent events, and the worlds.
"So Sora defeated Ansem," Riku mused, thinking of his cinnamon haired friend, "Hope he doesn't enter the tournament until I've trained some more. But still, that explains something."
Riku gazed out the view port, into the blue expanse outside, wondering where Sora was out there. Where home was. Deep aquamarine eyes probed the blue void, lingering on bright star after bright star. He was doing what he had always wanted; seeing other worlds, doing whatever he wanted. But now, all he wanted was to be home again, with his friends. The scars that Ansem had inflicted on him ran more than skin deep.
"We will be arriving in twenty minutes! It's been a pleasure to have you on board! I hope you'll ride on this ship again!" the computer chirped, interrupting Riku from his thoughts.
"Twenty minutes. I get the feeling that I should have never taken this ship from Leon. He might have at least known how to turn off the computer," Riku thought to himself.
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A heavy fog drifted across the darkened plaza, illuminated in a greenish light from several lamps scattered about the cobblestone paths. Shadows flitted across the ground, melting back into the imposing buildings and menacing alleyways. Halloween town. Full of monsters as always. Of course, that was one of the reasons that Sora loved the place; for once, the darkness was something normal and not horrible. It let him get away. With the appearance of new types of Heartless, even though Kingdom Hearts had been sealed, Halloween town had become the new attraction for thrill seeking warriors and experienced Heartless hunters. But none of them ever seemed to be around when they were needed.
Sora whipped about the mob of shadows, flicking his Keyblade left and right, falling Heartless everywhere. They dissolved into wisps of black smoke, more appearing to replace them. In the darkness, Sora's black clothing blended with the heavy fog, making it appear as though the Heartless were just rapidly disappearing on their own. Sora grew tired of fighting through them after a while, and retreated to his ship. Sleek and elegant, he had bought it with munny he had earned in the Coliseum, and had been headed for Hollow Bastion and Halloween Town every few weeks to hunt heartless ever since. The computer was flashing that he had a call coming in, and he punched a button on the dashboard.
"Sora, Leon still hasn't been back yet. They found his ship in Traverse Town thirty minutes ago. The computer says that he was last on a remote world tracking down what the scanners showed to be a Heartless," came Yuffie's cheerful voice, although the concern could be detected no matter how she tried to mask it.
"Don't worry Yuffie. Just give me the coordinates and I'll go and see if he's OK," he said, and copied down the coordinates that the ninja gave him.
An hour later, he was blasting towards the small world, which hadn't even been named. It was just a grassy field with a few trees, and no one lived there. From Halloween town, it would take him a few days to get there; he found himself wishing that he had brought more food with him, as his stomach was rumbling less than an hour after leaving.
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Traverse Town was an odd place, Riku decided. He had wandered the streets for thirty minutes, noticing many oddities about the place. It seemed as though it was always night in the town. Riku didn't mind the night though; in a way, the dark of night excited and thrilled him. Everything seemed so much more mysterious after the sun went down; it might have been what drew him into Maleficent and Ansem's trap. He turned his thoughts to other places. The last thing he needed was to break down now.
After more wandering, he finally went to the First District item's shop. The inside was warm and cozy, and reminded him much of the small shacks on Destiny Islands that he and his friends used to camp in. Staffs, shields, and potions lined the walls, but he didn't see any swords.
"Do you have any swords?" he asked what looked like a duck wearing a green cap and shirt, sitting on the counter. It appeared to run the store.
"Sure. We have five in stock, but we keep them on display in the back. Come this way," the duck replied in a high pitch, leading him into a backroom. There were five swords on display, as promised, all gleaming sharp and deadly. Riku had found several hundred munny on Leon's ship, so he pocketed it before heading for the shop. He reminded himself to pay the man back if he ever saw him again. But for now, it was time to spend a bit of cash. Out of the five swords, he soon found his favorite. It was light, and perfectly balanced. While he noticed that his spell casting ability seemed slightly impaired, he bought it anyway. After all, he didn't often cast spells. After leaving the shop, he headed for the back alleys. Time to test the new sword out on some Heartless.
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The sun beat down from the clear blue sky, spots of shade cast about the arena, mostly on the stands. A group of black shadowy figures moved across the center stage area, dodging about a fighter. One by one, the dark Heartless fell as the figure dashed in between them, hacking and slashing left and right. Sweat plastered the combatants shoulder-length silver hair to his forehead, and he was panting heavily. The last of the Heartless dodged to the left of him, and Riku shot past it. The dark creature jumped, preparing to slash at Riku's exposed back. Using his momentum, he stopped, losing his balance immediately, and starting to fall to the ground. The Heartless flew over him, and Riku brought his blade up as it did, the silvery sword flashing in the sun, blinding the spectators for a moment. When they regained their senses, Riku was lying on the ground, dead still. There were no Heartless to be seen.
The crowd waited on baited breath, watching the prone figure intently. Very slowly, he pushed off the ground, standing up, dust from the ground falling from his clothing. He raised the blade above his head, grinning ear to ear. The crowd seemed to be shocked for a moment. But then it passed, and they jumped to their feet, screaming at the top of their lungs and cheering as loud as they could. It looked as though Riku would be going on to the next round.
The silver haired boy started for the arena exit to prepare for his next match. He glanced at the chart on the way out, showing his next opponent. He felt his heart leap into his mouth as he read out the names. 'Leon and Yuffie.'
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Leon had finished sharpening his Gunblade, and polishing it for the last time, a few minutes before the battle started. He heard footsteps, and looked up. A tall blonde man with spiky hair and bright blue eyes was standing there, his arms crossed. He wore a red cape, and a layer of padded leather battle armor. On his right hand, a glove with claws affixed to it gleamed, showing off it's deadly use, though his left hand didn't clutch his gigantic buster blade.
"Don't kill yourself out there, Squall," he said, smirking slightly, "You'd just hate to waste Sora's effort to track you down and pick you up off that rock in the middle of nowhere..."
"For the last time, the kid stole my ship! I didn't even catch his name. Rikay or something," the Gunblade master snapped back, "Its just a good thing that Cid got Sora that ship, or I would be stranded there for a while."
"No need to get upset, Leonheart," Cloud replied, almost breaking into a grin, "Just wishing you good luck. After all, if you lose, I don't get to fight you. And I'd love to see how all the training you did against that poor tree affected your fighting style. Must have been a tough fight."
"That so, Strife? Well at least I had a chance to clean my sword before this tournament. I don't know how Sora talked me into this," Leon growled in reply.
"He threatened to leave you on that little planet," Cloud stated, matter-of-factly. Leon glared at him. Leon glared at everyone for that matter, so it probably wasn't anger as much as amusement and embarrassment.
"Ready to go?" came Yuffie's excited voice from the Arena door, "Don't want to miss our big fight!"
"Yeah. What Heartless are we fighting today?" Leon asked, moving towards the ninja as Cloud entered the entrance to the stands.
"A real warrior apparently! Named... Riku," Yuffie said, scanning the name list.
"WHAT!?!?!?"
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Riku walked into the arena confidently. No one had been able to beat him so far, and this Leon guy probably couldn't either. He hoped. He had noticed that Leon would have backup this time. Best take her out first, than handle the swordsman. The sun slapped his face with warmth as he strode across the dusty field, and took his place in the center. He noticed a small tuft of brown hair in the stands, attempting to see over an enormously large man in front of him. He grinned slightly. Completely hopeless spectators. He saw the gate at the other end of the arena open, and Leon strode out, a girl, about fifteen it looked like, following him. The Gunblade master had his weapon over his shoulder, holding it in one hand. A good battle pose. The girl seemed unarmed, but Riku noticed a pouch with small points in it, guessing some type of Ninja stars or spiked balls. Riku faced Leon, and couldn't resist grinning. Leon glared back at him, and mouthed the words "I'm going to kill you, than poke holes in your body with your own sword."
A bell announced the start of the fight. Leon charged straight at Riku, yelling out a mighty roar and swinging his Gunblade upwards, ready to make a downslash at Riku. Riku quickly rolled to one side, dodging the attack easily. Just as he stopped, a sharp ninja star landed right in front of him, burying itself in the dirt an inch from his foot. He jumped backyards, deflecting another star with his sword. Leon charged at him again, leaping up in the air and slashing downwards. Riku jumped back, but was hit with the shockwave that the attack gave off. The Gunblade master rushed at him, and quickly slashed again at him. Riku blocked the attack with his own sword.
"I hope that you don't hope to win using these tactics," Riku said, smirking.
"I'll teach you the meaning of the word 'win' you little--" but his words were cut off as the crowds cheered. A pain shot through Riku's arm. He looked down and saw blood trickling out of a cut in his arm. The ninja star had scraped his skin, barely missing, but leaving a large gash in the side of his arm near the shoulder. Leon quickly took advantage of this distraction, pressing the flat of the Gunblade hard against the cut. Riku screamed in pain, but ducked to the side, and hit the next ninja star as hard as he could at the Gunblade master. The ninja star hit Leon's thick glove, causing him to drop his weapon, cradling his hand.
Riku charged at Yuffie, hitting her with the flat of his blade once. She fell to the ground, but jumped back up and somersaulted over Riku's head. Riku quickly hit the ground, as a ninja star came from behind. He rolled to the side, and threw his sword at Yuffie. It buried itself in a pillar, and she ran into it, knocking her out. Leon was back on his feet though. He ran at Riku again, but Riku had one surprise that Leon didn't expect. Riku pulled a small dagger from a sheath on his leg, and blocked Leon's attack. The dagger went flying, but Riku managed to stay upright. He ran to his sword and plucked it out of the pillar just in time to block Leon's attack. Leon slashed downwards at him, but Riku ducked to the side and raised his sword to Leon's neck.
"Not even magic could heal this. Drop your blade and admit I won," Riku said, panting. Sweat trickled down Leon's face, mingled with a small bit of blood from a few of the blows he had taken. He obeyed, still glaring at Riku. As the sword clattered to the ground, a great cheer rose from the stands. Everyone stood up, except the fat man, who passed out, giving the small tuft of brown hair a chance to see. Sora leapt to his feet to see the winner. Riku saw him at the same time, and nearly dropped his sword.
Leon and Yuffie left, in care of medics, and the crowd filed out to see the losers of the mighty battle. Riku stood in the middle of the arena, looking up at the blue eyes that had stayed in the stands.
Blue eyes met Riku's bright aquamarine, betraying shock, wonder, confusion, and several other emotions that Riku couldn't comprehend.
"Come on. I'll tell you about it outside," Riku said back, pointing towards the privacy exit for tired warriors who wanted some peace. Sora nodded numbly, and followed Riku through to door.
"Riku! It thought that I would never see you again!" Sora said as soon as they were both within earshot of eat other. He ran forward, hugging his best friend fondly. Riku grinned, looking down at the slightly shorter Sora. Sora looked up into his best friends sea green eyes, and returned the grin. There was no awkwardness, and both sets of eyes silently agreed to not ask the questions they were dying to know the answers to until they were in a more private place.
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"How did you get out? I thought that King Mickey had locked the door!" Sora said, still excited from seeing his best friend. There was a twenty minute break in the fighting, until Leon and Yuffie were both capable of getting to the stands again.
"I don't know. My memory is patchy after the first fight we had at Hollow Bastion... I remember a door, but after that, all I remember is darkness. A while later, I woke up on that small world," Riku said, brow furrowing trying to remember what had happened.
"Leon told me the rest. How you took his ship and all," said Sora, grinning, "That took some guts. You'd think that he'd kill you with the glare. I didn't think he'd try in an arena fight!" Riku laughed. He seemed to have been grinning and laughing for the past ten minutes, since he had seen his brown haired friend again. Sora had been the same way, but Sora was always like that. He was Sora.
"You know Leon?" Riku asked, than remembered the small house in Traverse Town, "I had forgotten about that!"
"Wow. Must have been through a lot to forget that. I thought that was the reason for-" Sora began, but Riku cut him off.
"Yeah... Well. What have you been doing lately?" Riku asked, trying to shift the conversation.
"Not much. I make a steady income off tournaments. Keyblade's handy that way," Sora said, sensing that Riku didn't want to talk about recent events in his own life. And so they talked, for the entire twenty minutes. Talking about Heartless, Traverse Town, Riku's new sword, Leon, Yuffie, Aeris, Cid, and what had been happening in the different worlds. They even talked about Kairi for a while, but the conversation was short - Sora hadn't seen her yet, and Riku had nothing to say really. And the horn blew for the next battle to begin.
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The Keyhole...Locked!... We can fix this... the Neo-Heartless... They will fix it! They will fix it! Call the Neo-Heartless... the Keyhole! We will take it... the masters... both at the same time... the Keyhole! The Keyhole!
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Riku felled the last of the next group of Heartless, gigantic fat things that breathed fire, and smaller ones who shot fire. 'Bunch of pyros…' Riku thought to himself. The last Heartless's smoky remains disintegrated into the air, but the world seemed to be shacking still... Than Riku realized that it was shacking. And the shacking was getting heavier and heavier by the second. Brown clouds formed in the sky, splashing fat raindrops down on the arena spectators, as though the sky itself was bleeding. Lightning streaked across the sickened air. Then, they started to appear. Taller than shadows, but with the same appearance. They had longer claws, and seemed to dance as they moved, glaring at Riku with amber eyes. Spectators screamed, and scrambled to their feet, tearing out of the stadium. Riku called his Dark Keyblade, and Sora called his Keyblade, and ran down into the arena floor, ready to fight with his friend. Riku and Sora began letting into them, hacking and slashing, but there seemed to be no end to them. Leon and Cloud ran in, their weapons in hand. They started attacking the nearby Heartless, working their way towards the two younger boys.
"Sora! The Keyhole! It's been unlocked and shattered! The Heartless are taking this world," Leon shouted, bringing the blade down on one of the strange new creatures.
"Hurry! We need to get out of here before they overwhelm us!" Cloud yelled, slashing a nearby Heartless.
"Riku, we have to go!" Sora shouted above the thunder, pulling Riku towards the exit. These shadows were surrounding them now, however, and trying to cut off their escape route. A grim determination set over Riku.
"Sora... run!" He said, pulling away from Sora and whacking a few Heartless away, "Run before it's too late! I'll hold them and be right behind you guys in a second!"
"...Riku..." Sora began.
"Sora! He's right! Their cutting us off! We need to get out of here! He can still make it in time!" Leon told Sora, he and Cloud moving towards the arena exit.
"Sora..." Riku began, defending the doorway. Sora turned, looking at him quizzically.
"Riku?" Sora asked.
"I... I love you..." Riku said, brushing his lips against Sora's. Just as he finished the brief kiss, a huge bolt of lightning rent the sky, hitting the Coliseum entrance above Riku. Large chunks of stone fell, as the doorway collapsed. Riku pushed Sora through the door, and yelled, "Run!" still fighting off the Heartless.
"I love you too, Riku!" Sora shouted as the doorway collapsed completely, sealing him off from his friend. Leon dashed in, grabbing Sora.
"Sora, we have to go NOW! This place is going to become a big speck of nothing in a few seconds!" Leon yelled, pulling Sora towards the ship. Sora struggled, trying to get back to the door.
"Riku! He's still inside!" Sora shouted, pulling against the older man's grip.
"It's too late! We have to go!" Leon replied, "Sora... We have to go now... please!" Sora seemed to give in. He ran up the ship ramp with Leon, and the ship quickly blasted out of the world's atmosphere. Sora looked back through the window, to see Riku still fighting under the dome of magic that sealed the coliseum. He quickly headed for his small cabin, locking the door behind him. Cloud stood up, heading for the door to comfort him.
"Let him be Cloud. He needs the time right now," Leon said, pulling the swordsman back to his seat.
"Think he'll be alright?" Cloud asked
"I honestly don't know," Leon replied.
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Riku continued to fight for a while. The storm got increasingly worse, and finally, the world seemed to start to fall apart. Slowly, he was pushed into a corner of the arena, overwhelmed by the Heartless. Suddenly, the Heartless all gave a shriek and vanished. The Dark Keyblade vanished out of Riku's exhausted grip, and Riku ran for the other door. He got through, and out to the ship pad, but found that there were no ships left. He ran back inside, into the lobby, trying to find a way out. The Keyhole was broken... that meant he couldn't lock it. He looked over at the Keyhole, which was seeping dark energy.
A flash of blinding pain screamed through his head. It felt as though something had ripped deep inside of him. Riku dropped to one knee, clutching his heart. He could barely hear a voice speaking to him through his mind, the words echoing through his consciousness, but the pain was so intense that he couldn't make out anything but a hostile meaning. His vision blurred, and he felt another flash of pain and words run through his mind.
angerhatebetrayaldeathhurtharm
Slowly, his world went black. The last thing he saw was darkness spreading from the Keyhole, up the walls and onto the floor. It was taking over the room. As Riku lost consciousness, he became aware of the familiar feeling of darkness beginning to cover his body. Then there was nothing.
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WOW!!!! My longest chapter yet! Almost five pages! Lots of stuff happening in this one. The next chapter will deal a lot with Deep Dive, the secret video in Kingdom Hearts, which you can see at http://www.geocities.com/jevonderrick/ by clicking the picture next to the Deep Dive info. It will also deal with Another Side, Another Story, but I don't know where you can see this one. I may end up breaking it into three parts, just because of the length that this may take. Anyway, there will be lots to do, but after the next chapter (which may be up to three parts) there will be my little RikuXSora lemon. I didn't think it right to put it in this chapter, cause it would ruin my ideas for the story. Anyway, R&R all! I hope to start getting more people reviewing with a chapter this long! : ( All the other KH fics with more than one chapter have more review than my poor Misery here. Aw well.
Until Next Time (which may be a while),
The Dark Winged One