Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Everything else is fictional.

The Optional Goal

I woke up in a room- no -a madman's lair, at least, that's the best way to put it. There were hooks, saws, knives, red hot pokers. I feared what'd come if I didn't escape so I looked around and found a vent. I got it off, like it'd been planned…

Boom, boom, squeak, squeak; Sora moves around in the vent, but something catches his eyes, a figure in a room below. His heart stops, then starts to beat rapidly. Its Riku, only he's strapped to a medical bed. It'll be risky, but they're friends, he must save him, then high tail it out of this place where screams cry out, hysterical laughter trails on and whispers sound off all around, even within the traveler's crawlspace.

"Riku, can you hear me?" the key bearer whispers. The bed ridden looks up, chuckling and turns his head, a strange smile makes its way across his face. "Just give me a few minutes to get out of here."

"You won't save me," replies Riku. "They'll be back soon."

Bam, clink, clink; the vent cover goes down with a sturdy push from Sora's hands. He drops down, walks over and begins to unwrap, but as his hands moves towards one of the wrist straps, his pal snaps at him.

"Hey," the key bearer says, looking and seeing a strange dark glow about his pal, "What's wrong? Don't you want me to help?"

"Just save yourself! Get out! Go! Run! Run!" screams Riku. He begins to shake violently, his head begins to bleed. "Guards! A patient is in my room! There's a runner in my room!"

"Hey! Riku, what's wrong…" the rescuer hears feet coming down the hall. "Why?" he whispers and takes up back into the vent. He watches a figure cloaked in black enter. "Huh?"

"Where is he, Riku?" the unknown inquires in a deep voice, "where is your friend?"

"He's on the run! Soon, he'll be out! He'll be free! Free!"

The figure cloaked in black takes off the top wear, his head, it's fuzzy, puffy, and orange colored, bull horns stick out from the side of his head. "He won't go, you know he won't escape, you are all my prisoners."

"I won't get out! I tried, but I won't let you take him!"

"Oh, but you don't know the reality, the game, Riku," replies the unknown. It walks over and pulls out a small saw blade. He places it over the neck of the bed ridden, watching him squirm. "I'll set your free…Riku."

"No! No! Don't do it!"

Sora looks away. His friend's neck meets sharp metal and his head falls from the neck to the floor. "You monster…how could you…I'll get you back…" the watcher says but before he moves he watches something strange about this killing. The murderer takes out a small pin blade and stabs his victim. When the blood falls, his victim's bed absorbs the blood and brings the body back to life. "What?"

"Sora!" Riku's head calls out. "Run! Please! I know you're still here!"

"What?" the figure cloaked in black screams. He whips around, but he sees no one is around. "The little rat is on the run for real? Damn, I need to call out the guards. We must not let him escape."

"I've got to get out of here quickly," says Sora. He stops, something catches his eyes again, but this time, it's his own body. Orange hair is growing on his skin, it's puffy, fuzzy. "I…"

"Hello?" a voice calls from below. The vent crawler looks down seeing a woman's face in a casket of some kind. A blindfold covers her face, but Sora recognizes her. The red hair, it's his friend, Kairi. "I can hear a noise. Are you back? What are you going to do this time?"

"Kairi, it's me Sora," whispers the vent crawler. He pops off the cover and jumps down, a terrifying sight reaches him, the casket is locked and there's no sign of a key. "Who did this? Was it that figure with the orange fuzzy puffy hair and bull horns?"

The casket figure's breath becomes uneven, it's clouding up the cover. "Please, just go away, he'll be back soon."

"No, I'm going to save you."

"Get away from me!"

Sora walks over to a table with torture gear, there has to be something he could use to break the lock. "What's going on here," he whispers to himself, "why doesn't anyone want me to save them?"

Pat, Pat; feet echo from outside the door. The visitor takes off back into his crawlspace and watches the same cloaked figure with fuzzy puffy orange hair and bulls horns enters. It walks over to the table in the room, picks up a meat tenderizer and pair of tongs, then heads over to the casket. It takes out a key, unlocks the casket and opens it, steam comes flowing out. Sora now sees his friend's body is up to her neck in liquid nitrogen.

"How's the bath?" inquires the figure. It grabs Kairi's head with the tongues and pulls her out slowly onto the floor. "Now, this may, or may not hurt, not sure, breaking the frozen isn't my specialty," he adds and swings the meat tenderizer, a head screams until its alone. "Goodnight…"

"K-kairi…" Sora mutters. "I'm sorry…I'll help someone next time for you and Riku."

Boom, boom, squeak, squeak; the metal vent echoes loudly as Sora moves through it. He stops, a familiar snoring catches his ears. He looks down, there, hanging suspended are his pals Goofy and Donald. The vent crawler pops off the cover from above and lands swiftly on his feet, looking around, no one is in sight. He examines his pals' predicament, they're strung up by chains and a pair of cuffs. He looks around the room and spots a pair of keys hanging on a small metal pointer stick suspended above a pit of hot coal.

"Hold on guys," he whispers close to their ears. "I'll be right back."

"Sora…" the duck mutters. "Why do…"

The snorer wakes himself up, his face smiles, but then goes ghost white. "S-Sora…what are you doing here?"

The rescuer runs over to the metal pointer-stick, takes the keys only to drop them onto the floor. They're pipping hot, steam can be seen rising up from them. "I came to get you out of here," he replies and walks over to his friends. He frees them, watches the duo collapse onto the floor and chuckles quietly, someone could be listening. "Now, do you guys know how you got here?"

"N-not really…" replies Donald. "We just woke up like this and these guys, they came in, did horrible, disturbing, tortures. They left to let us rest, told us our true torturer would show up soon."

"He didn't show, did he?"

The duck looks at the snoozer, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Sora, we have no idea what's going on, but they mentioned a name that'd come."

"Who? Was it someone from the Organization? Or somebody else?"

"Well, Sora, they uh, whispered a familiar name," Goofy replies. "It was…It was yours."

The rescuer growls and stomps his feet. "That makes me so mad! I would never hurt my friends! Never!"

"We know, but, have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"What are you talking about?"

Sora looks around for a mirror and spots one in the corner of the room. His hair has turned puffy, fuzzy orange, but when he drops his mouth, really big fear shoot throughout him- he's got bull horns. "What…what's going on?"

"You're turning into one of us, a Purity," a voice whispers. All three members turn to see a man with dark gray eyes and the same head look as Sora. "I know you've watched the murder of your friends from Destiny Island, but that's just because we're trying to cleanse you for the sky up above."

"I-I don't understand."

"You're turning into a monster, one that wants to kill all attachments and go to sleep."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're dead Sora, and the last bit, we've saved for you," replies the guy. He points to the metal pointer-stick suspended over the hot coals. "You should be able to hold it now. Take it, stab them to death, make them disappear from life."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll be a monster on the run from your own friends."

The rescuer looks at his pals. "They would never hurt me, never!"

"Y-yes, we would never hurt our friend!" screams the duck. He looks at the snoozer and nods, then looks at Sora. "We're all great friends…"

"Tackle him Donald!" screams Goofy.

"What?" screams the rescuer, but before he can react the duck tackles him. "What are you guys doing? We're friends right? I would never hurt you guys!"

"I'm sorry but we're not ready to die, you monster!"

"Oh dear," says the unknown person. "Can a good hearted figure that's dead defeat his own recollections? Can he kill and set himself free from a place of torment?"

"You hurt them! You messed up their minds! You-You-You heartless!"

"Heartless? Are those the dark beings that travel around the walls of your head? Strange creatures they are, but so are those guys you met called Organization XIII. They disappeared in a flash when we started to purge you of your past."

Goofy drops the pointer stick on account of it being too hot for him. "Ouch! Don't let him go, Donald, I'll be over in a second."

"You've got two options, Sora. One: let them kill you, or Two: kill them."

Sora watches as the snorer picks up his weapon, charges forward and stabs his monster, amigo, in the gut with full force. The pinned cries out in pain, throws off the duck, grabs Goofy by the neck, punches him in the face, and finishes by pulling the metal pointer stick out of him. He uses the weapon to stand, but he feels it, blood is pouring out of him. He hears Donald charging and swings around, stabbing his buddy in the neck, an instant kill. He hears Goofy come round from behind and stabs him up the head. The battle is over.

The killer drops to his knees and begins to cry. "They're dead. All my friends are dead."

"But do you feel free?" inquires the man. "Do you feel like you've lost a thousand pounds and can float through the air? That you're a feather in a flock of a thousand airborne birds?"

"I…I…I feel like I need a real goodnight sleep."

"Then follow me. The staircase to the stars is but a bit ways from here."

"Tell me…how did I die and end up in this place?"

"Follow me and we'll talk, Sora."

"Sora!" Donald screams as the hero lies in the flower beds of Mickey's Castle. "Wake up!"

"Is he- is he dead?" inquires Goofy.

King Mickey feels the young man's pulse. "I'm not getting anything."

The duck looks at his friend. "Why didn't you check the Gummi Ship's engines before we left Twilight Town?"

"I did, they were fully functioning. I guess I should've doubled checked so we wouldn't have crashed and ended up losing Sora."

"Quiet you two, I need to think," replies the royalty. A wind passes by but all Mickey can do is cry, the key blade vanishes from sight. "How will we bring back the light to this place?"

"It seems like its…"

"Faded out and is gone forever," says Donald.