A Heart of Twilight

Chapter One--Darkness

A/N: Yay! A new thing I've got going! We all know what this means! Less time for other things! sigh Oh well. I'm almost done chapter 2 for A Tale of the Ages, I swear! I just need to polish up the ending a bit, and then I'll post it. I'll probably get around to some editing this month, too. That is, if my mom doesn't ban me from the computer. I didn't go to school until fifth period today and we haven't talked about it yet. Probably because I didn't get home from work until 10:30 tonight and she was already asleep! Score! That means I have at least one more night on the computer. Well, inspiration for this fic goes to Jess, who's become quite the little fangirl.

Jess: I am not a fangirl!

BFD: Oh please, only the thought of Sesshomaru makes you "squee".

Jess: Squee! Hey, no fair!

Would you two stop your bickering? It's been a non-stop quarrel in my head ever since Jess came up with the idea so I decided to put it down. Anyway.

Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to any of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, and I wouldn't dare to claim anything Disney. They would attack me with their cute, furry squirrels, and talking, house-cleaning animals. (shudders)

Sora felt the wind gently lift up his brunette fringes, as he drifted slowly down to land on a multi-colored disc platform. He couldn't escape the dream-like quality of the feelings that rushed over him. He'd never felt this at peace, since...well, ever. Having a reputation of being the happy-go-lucky kid with the most energy and the hundred-watt smile didn't didn't leave much room for inner harmony. He was far too busy loudly challenging Riku to a race or battle to concern himself about trivial matters like that, but...these feelings, if truth be told, weren't that bad, and he found himself wishing to hold onto them.

He grunted softly, despite the fact that he hardly felt any impact when he touched ground. This was all very confusing for him, despite the peace. The last thing he remembered was taking a rare moment to lounge in the sun; recuperating from his recent loss against Riku (that made it 2-0). He glanced down and found that what he thought was just a myriad of colours, was really the painting of a woman wearing a blue and yellow dress. She had short, black curls, and really pale skin. Animals surrounded her and she held an apple to her mouth as if she was about to take a bite. He squinted as a shaft of light beamed down on him.

The door is shut.

Sora glanced around nervously at the sound of the voice that seemingly came from nowhere. He wanted to say something, to yell out 'who are you?!', but for some reason the simple words stuck in his throat. He remained silent and stared wonderingly up into space.

You have the power within you.

Sora frowned and rubbed his chest self-conciously. He blushed profusely as his stomach growled, embarrassed at his mundane needs interrupting this rare experience. How many times do you get spoken to by a disembodied voice? The sound also made any thoughts of this place being a dream seem doubtful, so he felt he'd much rather pass on the subject.

If you give it form...

Sora jumped as a large mirror slid out from the floor. He eyed it, his eyes shining with excitement. His feet made small thuds against the floor as he padded over to his reflection, wondering at the wavering that seemed to come from inside. The wavering stilled and he saw his reflection; grinning back at him in his signature goofy way.

It will give you power.

The wavering came again and his reflection was replaced by a boy with lighter brown-blonde hair. He had the same eyes and was wearing the same clothes, but he seemed...colder somehow. His face was pulled into a tight, knowing smirk. There was something like a triumphant glint that flashed in his eye, but that quickly passed. Sora reached out to this new reflection (for it was still in the mirror), and instead of reaching out to him like a normal reflection, the boy reached to the place where his heart would be. The smirk slid from his face and he became...blank. His face was spared any emotion. It was then Sora decided that this couldn't just be a trick of the light; he couldn't be seeing himself. He was never so emotionless. The expression on the boy's face...it reminded him of nothing. And it frightened him. He turned away and ran to the edge of the platform, where to his surprise, stairs appeared.

Without glancing behind him, he started sprinting up the colourful stairwell, that twisted up to the second platform. This one had the image of a beautiful, blonde woman dressed in a sparkling, silver ballgown. It seemed to sparkle in the light that shone from so high above. Sora heard a strange scuttling noise and twisted around to see it. Crawling towards him, sinking into the ground, was a tiny black creature with bulbous yellow eyes. The eyes stared at him hungrily, as if it had just spotted an icecream truck. Sora backed away nervously, holding out his hand in defense. He squinted his eyes shut, and hardly any time had passed when he felt an odd weight appear in his grip. He cracked an eye open to see a large key gripped tightly in his hand. It was gold and had a silver chain dangling from the handle. Sora had no idea what this was, but it looked like it was sharp and bulky. Perfect for attacking a certain unidentifiable creature.

With a short battle cry, he ran at the creature, swinging the key wildly. He managed to hit it once, but it quickly retaliated with a slash to his abdomen. Sora fell with a cry of pain, and glanced up at the creature. His eyes widened when he saw it was joined by two others. Grunting, he hopped to his feet and backed away to gain ground and a few precious moments to think. What would he do if he were in a fight against Wakka, or Tidus, or Selphie. Well, usually he ran around and wore them out until they were too tired to fight. Having the stamina of a camel was pretty useful. A second look at these creatures told him that they were probably sturdier than any of the people he'd fought and won against. So that left...Riku. Yes. These creatures reminded him of how Riku fought. They were sturdy and quick to counter-attack. And damn, were there attacks ever powerful. He could still feel the sting on his stomach. He glanced down to inspect the wound, it had ripped through his clothing, but had only left three red marks. So relieved that the attack hadn't broken the skin, he barely had enough time to dodge an attack from one of the creatures, which had snuck up on him.

Oh, right. There were three of them now. Hell. How was he supposed to do this? He flipped back, and narrowed his eyes, concentrating. He felt a surge of power flow through his arm, and he glanced at the blade, surprised. It seemed to resonate, and with a small smile, he gripped it harder and lunged forward. Jabbing it forward, he stabbed the first creature through, then circled to attack the next one horizontally. It stumbled backward and lunged forward, as the first one had done, but this time Sora was ready. He sidestepped and the creature went scrambling past. As it past, he swept his blade down and it melted into darkness. Following the same tactics as the first two, Sora quickly killed the last. Swinging the blade onto his shoulder, Sora grinned.

"These things sure are dumb."

Behind you!

Sora no longer questioned the voice, just spun around, his eyes voice. Another creature had appeared and was nearly upon him. With another quick slash of his blade, Sora soon vanquished this one as well. Panting heavily, Sora fell to the floor, and took a few moments to rest. Glancing up, Sora noticed another set of stairs leading upward. Climbing to his feet, he walked up the stairs.

This held what he thought to be the prettiest portrait. It portrayed a young woman in a yellow ballgown, with long chestnut hair held up in a half-french bun. She was smiling softly, and staring off dreamily, as if thinking of her love. Sora smiled and walked closer to the beam of light, so that he could inspect her face more closely.

The closer you get to the light, the bigger your shadow becomes.

Sora's mellow feeling disappeared, and a sense of foreboding flowed over him. He peeked over his shoulder and saw that his shadow and grown to be four times the size of himself. It metamorphasized into a creature with long, black, dreadlock-like lightning bolts hanging from its head. It's arms were huge, reaching to the floor like a gorilla's. His legs were short, making it hunch over like an old man. But this monstrosity probably did not have the genteel of an elder.

Sora's suspicions were correct as the thing lashed out with its arm, embedding it deep into the lady's face. A pool of shadows surrounded its hand and a bunch of the tiny creatures emerged, scrabbling towards him. Sora gripped his blade and launched himself forward, despite his fatigue. He'd never realised how out of shape (combat-wise) he was until now. It's like those beings just drained the energy from him. He slashed at the smaller ones right and left, making his way to the giant hand. He arrived and managed to get in a few decent hits before the monster withdrew his hand and stood up straight, lifting his arms up. From the heart-shaped hole in its chest, balls of dark energy emerged and started floating towards Sora at an alarming rate. Sora ran, dodging them, and bouncing them back with his blade when he could. Finally, the onslaught stopped, and the creature resumed its hunching, one hand in the floor. Sora raced over and started attacking again, pausing only when one of the tiny creatures the darkness spawned got too close.

Finally, with a loud wail, the creature fell and Sora let out an exhausted victory cry. He let the weapon drop to the floor, and with a magical chime, it disappeared before it hit. Sora was too out of it to even notice. He let out a sharp cry as something new happened. The floor he stood upon had turned into a lake of dark shadows. He shouted out his fear as he began to sink into the dark ooze.

It is not time...yet.

The voice did nothing to soothe Sora as he continued to fight against the liquid darkness, fear clutching at his heart. It twisted and tore it into a frantic beat.

Do not be afraid of the darkness.

Sora's eyes squeezed out a few tears as the darkness approached his face.

But do not forget...

Sora's arms reached up over his head, out of the murkyness.

...the time approaches.