Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor do I own Evanescence's 'Whisper'

Authors notes: Just something I wrote one day. Not much more to it.

"No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within."

Kingdom Hearts - Whisper

It had happened quickly, too quickly for Sora to have surmised that it was the Heartless attacking him. The enemys appeared and dissappeared fervently, their bodies almost resembling a mixture of sniper nobodies and neoshadows. It shocked him to see Dusk working with the strange Heartless. Dusk and Heartless were enemys! He had even seen them fighting each other, on more than one occation.
Sora had been fighting them for much longer than was healthy for him, swinging his keyblade this way and that, detemined to rid himself of the creatures around him, both of which where after the same thing. His heart.

He was surrounded... Surrounded by a mix of silver and black... He stood still, gripping his keyblade, only lowering his guard when four Dusks shot at him from behind, holding his arms and legs, immobilizing him. One Dusk knocked the keyblade out of his hand before tightening it's grip on his arm. Sora continued to struggle, fearing the worst would happen to him. Knowing the worst would happen to him. He was alone, he was losing, he was running out of energy, and nobody knew where he was. He was, of course, on Radiant Garden, but in a new location he had decided to explore. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, to scout out the new place. He hoped now, that someone would find him. Anyone.

Sora watched, helpless, as a Neoshadow walked forward, a sort of satisfaction in the way it walked. It raised it's claws, then tore them downward, creating a long tear in Sora's shirt and jacket, as well as revealing his chest. Sora cried out in pain. The Neoshadow, if it had indeed been aiming to remove Soras jacket, was doing so haphazardly, and causing cuts to appear on the young boys already scarred chest. Sora gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as the Neoshadow continued hacking at his chest. He knew it would end soon. The Heartless would dig its claws into his chest, then steal his heart. It would finally be the end for the 'unbeatable' master of the keyblade.

But it didn't come. Sora opened his eyes, staring at the unmoving Neoshadow. Why had it stopped? Not that he was complaining, but it had simply... Stopped, and that was very unlike a Heartless. He looked into its eyes, and saw what could have easily been a look of contemplation, or the look someone gained once they 'zoned out'. Was it receiving new orders? He flinched as the heartless blinked, then looked back up at Sora. It seemed to grin, dragging its claw up from where Soras heart was up to the boys neck. Sora shivered visibley. What this Heartless seemed to have in mind... It was worse then having your heart stolen.
The Neoshadow's claw had left a long, shallow cut that showed its journey from heart to neck. It wasn't bleeding, but it hurt enough for the Keyblader to grimace.

The Neoshadow removed its claw from Soras neck, and looked back toward it's bretheren, and seemingly friends. Sora could only wonder at their goal, or if they were talking. He was whisked back out of his thoughts, however, when the Neoshadow rapidly gripped Soras neck with both of it's claws, ridding the boy of his ability to breathe. Sora struggled harder than he ever had before, and doing exactly what he shouldn't have. He began to panic.

Sora gasped for air, spots beginning to dot his vision. The Dusks gripped harder on Soras limbs, further preventing his movement. They did not slacken, even as the boys movement slowed.

Shadows were beginning to consume his vision, and he could feel something inside himself leaving him. The keyblade? His... light? He slowly stopped struggling, his energy, along with the something else, seeping away from him with every passing moment. Feeling went next. He couldn't feel anything. But... There was pressure on his neck... What was it? He ignored it, unwillingly paying no mind to his surroundings. He could feel a calm, water-like sensation surrounding him, and could tell something was trying to pull him away from something... Like something spiritual pulling on a living beings mind. He had felt that before... Where, though? It was pulling him... Up. It wanted him.

He opened his eyes slightly as everything began to turn black. Was he becomeing blind? In the blackness, a man with silver hair and a black cloak appeared. He was laughing at him. The Neoshadows and Dusks where there as well. The pressure on his neck had stopped slightly, and he could feel something that did not come from him preventing his 'something else' from leaving.

"How ironic. You defeat hundreds of these pitiful creatures, and it only takes getting you alone with both the Dusks and Heartless to defeat you. I wonder if anyone will come to rescue you, Sora..." The man, along with whatever was left of his vision, dissapeared, as Sora shut his eyes. As he fell into a pit of blackness, he was vaguely aware of something releasing him.

---

He panted as he ran down the little-traveled path. How could his friend have been so stupid? Why would he go off alone? The silver-haired boy scoffed at his own questions. Why wouldn't Sora? It was just like him. A new place appears on an oft-traveled world, so he goes to see what may or may not inhabit it. Nothing could've stopped Sora anyway. It was his job as the keyblade master.
His female friend, Kairi, had been training with the silver haired boy, Riku, when a jolt of pain had shot through her heart. She had told him that Sora was in trouble. Deep trouble, maybe even deathly.

"Come on, Sora, hang on, don't give up. It's not like you." Riku muttered to himself, as if it would help his brown-haired companion. He stopped as shadowy auras flashed in the distance. He could feel in his own heart that something bad was happening.

"No... Come on, just hang on a bit longer... Do it for Kairi..." He bolted down the path, not stopping for anything, not even for the countless heartless barrelling down the path after him.

Ahead of him, a worn-down, grey, brickwork castle came into veiw, and a certain brown-haired boy was visible, held by Dusks and being tortured by what appeared to be a Neoshadow. But the keyblader wasn't moving, and his eyes, he could tell even from a distance, where glazed over in a familiar fasion.

"No... Sora!" Riku yelled, summoning his own keyblade and ridding the room of nearly all the heartless in one swift 'Dark Aura' attack. The Neoshadow turned, jumping up and dissappearing in a flash of black light. The Dusks released their captive, who fell, doll-like, to the stonework floor, following what their Neoshadow leader had done.

Riku ran to his friend, falling onto his knees and pulling his brown-haired friends head onto his lap. Soras shirt and jacket were almost nonexistant, and cuts, most bleeding, decorated the visible and well built chest.

"Come on Sora! Don't give up! What happened to the friend that never gave up on me, even after I fell into the deepest part of darkness there was?!" But his unmoving friend remained as such, barely breathing and not showing any signs that he was going to recover anytime soon.
Soras silver-haired companion choked. No... It couldn't be... He could never lose... How would he lose anyway? He had beaten even Sephiroth, twice for that matter, and lived to tell the tale. Of course, he had heard that the older man had been holding back. Even so, Sora had fought Sephiroth and lived.

He was broken out of his thoughts as the brown-haired boy using Rikus lap as a pillow stirred, his hand twitching and a very light groan escaping him. Riku inhaled with hope. Was Sora alive? He continued to watch, but any happiness that he'ed had at the moment dissappeared, because an area around his young friends hear glowed the faintest black, and his eyes began to slowly close. Riku paled, and a tear rolled down his cheek, created from fear of losing one of the only people who never gave up on him, or anything, even when it all seemed hopeless.

"No... Sora, come on... What happened to light existing even in the darkest place? We can't lose you... Please Sora..." The aformentioned tear fell off of the silver-haired boy's chin, falling onto Soras chest. A tiny burst of white light made itself visible, and the darkness growing around Soras hearts faded. The brunettes eyes fluttered open, and a pair of shockingly blue eyes looked up at his silver-haired friend.

"W-whats... going on... Ri-riku?" Sora stammered quietly, smiling as the older boy above him opened his eyes, a grin splitting his face. But dispite the fact that Riku was grinning, a slap made its way to the younger males face, a look of mixed surprise and pain appearing on said face.

"What... was that for?" He said quietly. Riku just chuckled, and pulled his friend into a deep hug.

Riku stood up, holding his friend bridal-style, and began to walk down the worn path. Sora looked up at friends face and spoke, a lightly serious yet funny question making itself audible.

"Why where you... Crying back there?" Riku chuckled, and both remained silent for a few minutes before the silver-haired male spoke to his friend, but did not look at him.

"Just promise me something Sora..."

"Hmm?" Sora looked away from the roofs lining the distance and up at Riku.

"Promise me that... That you'll never let your light fade away. " Sora smiled tiredly, and nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay, Ri.. Riku..." Soras eyes closed, and Riku looked down at his friend. Soft breaths where coming out of the keybladers mouth, and his bare and scarred chest was rising rythmicly up and down. He was fast asleep. He looked toward the distance and sped his pace up a little, determined to get back to Radiant Garden's main town before the sun fell. Looking back down, Riku smiled, and quietly voiced another request to his sleeping companion.

"Promise me and Kairi that you won't die before us. Promise us that you'll live a long happy life, Sora. Promise."

Khkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkhkh

Authors Notes: Yeah, kind of a cheesy ending, but I feel sorta good about this story. Guess I just needed to write something like this to get some problems off my chest.

-Yenattirb