Prologue

"Take care of her…"

Riku whispered those words to his friend beyond the door, his aqua colored eyes staring intently into Sora's bright blue orbs. Without waiting for an answer he tore his gaze away and threw his weight into the heavy white door, focusing all his will into closing the intricately carved doors of Kingdom Hearts. He heard a squeaky sounding voice behind him and he heard the exclamations from Sora's companions but he paid them no mind. The entire world seemed to fall away. Riku only saw the doors, only saw the light dimming and shrinking as the doors inched closed. With a resounding 'click' the doors shut and locked. He watched the cool white stone beneath his hands blur and fade away, leaving nothing but the shadowy walls that made up his prison; the walls of Kingdom Hearts.

Riku closed his eyes and turned around, not looking forward to meeting the hundreds and hundreds of sickly yellow eyes leering at him from the depths of the darkness. He leaned against the wall, sliding downwards as all the strength left his body. He slumped at the base of the wall, content to let the heartless take him. After all, he deserved it.

Riku couldn't help but shudder as they crowded around him, the cold sensation of their feelers against his skin causing Riku to shiver involuntarily. But then, one by one, they began to move away. Riku cracked his eye open, only to find himself staring into the eyes of the largest Shadow he had ever seen. Unlike the normal shadow's jerky movements, this one was moving forward gracefully, each movement flowing into the next. Riku felt the Shadow's arm trail across his chest, stopping right above his heart. A scream got caught in his throat as he felt slender 'fingers' melt into his chest. The waves of cold and agony that coursed through Riku's body were almost unbearable. He welcomed the empty blackness of unconsciousness with open arms.

-Border-

The shadow delved ever deeper, searching, searching for the bright beacon that was the boy's heart. It could feel it, the wonderful sensation of corrupted purity that lay deep within the boy. The Shadow twitched its antenna, its yellow eyes lighting up in pleasure as it grabbed onto the boy's heart. It saw the boy shudder in pain and desperately try to jerk away…but it didn't care. The heartless knew that the boy was unconscious; the boy had been ever since it began its delving.

The Shadow didn't pull the boy's heart out; instead it just stood there with its shadowy arm plunged deep within the boy's chest, just savoring the rhythmic beating of the heart.

Eventually the heartless' hunger became too great and it withdrew its arm, a bright pulsing light clutched in its fist. The light flickered and dimmed, being absorbed into the heartless. Deep within the shadow's being; the very emptiness that defined a heartless was being filled.

The boy convulsed, shudders wracking his thin frame. But the shadow didn't notice. Its attention was once again diverted as its shape blurred, growing taller and becoming more humanoid. The shadow's feelers contracted, flattening before splitting into many strands of pure black hair. Its shadowy form became more defined; pitch black clothing fell loosely on the former shadow.

The heartless, for itwasn't even a shadow now, looked at the boy whose form he had taken. His eyebrows knit together, an unfamiliar feeling assaulting the heartless. At least it was unfamiliar to one who couldn't feel. Anyone else would be able to recognize it. The heartless was confused. He had stolen hearts before, and every time the person had joined the heartless ranks… So what made this boy special? Also, why had he transformed into a darker version of the boy and not another type of Heartless?

A dull pain assaulted the heartless, shadowed hands rose to clutch at his chest. The heart…the boy's heart…it was struggling. It was refusing to return to the darkness.

Beneath his hands began to glow brightly and the light of the boy's heart attempted to burst out. "No" the heartless hissed, wrapping the dark tendrils of it's being about the captured light, "You are mine!"

But the heart didn't stop; it began gnawing away at the bonds which held it captive. The heartless hissed in pain, clawed fingers tearing through the shadowy cloth and into his grey-tinged flesh. Submit! The darkness cried at the captured light but the words did nothing to soothe the resistance like they had so many others. Whispered temptations would not work, for this one being had heard them all, had obeyed, and had survived to return to itself. Just like it was attempting to do now. The boy's body jerked, reflecting the very struggle his heart was having with the darkness. His limbs flew everywhere, the force of his tremors pushing him away from the walls of Kingdom Hearts and into the center of the chamber. The tumult of shadows scurried away, making distressed noises as they pressed themselves against the walls away from the combating two. Just in time, for twin feathered black wings burst through the boy's shirt, a sign that the darkness was getting stronger within him. The longer the heartless held his heart, the more distinct they became. More than just a shadowy apparition, blood dripped down the glossy feathers. The boy's eyes shot open in terror, his mouth open in a silent scream. "Stop!" He begged, the sulfurous yellow of the heartless' eyes beginning to mix with his own green color, "Give it back!"

The heart broke free, streaking in a righteous fury toward Riku's chest. The heartless made a grab for it, but a bright light forced it back. It was not the light of the heart, but another, a more neutral yet powerful energy. It intensified as the boy's heart returned to him, melding into his chest and returning it to the place that it belonged. The light surrounding the boy pulsed, pushing the heartless away from the prone form of his prey. He shrieked in frustration, seeking a way to reclaim the feeling of wholeness he had embraced only seconds before. But the energy pushed him back, even as something began to happen. The light was blinding, swirling and twinning around the winged child in its center. We'll keep you safe…We'll set you free.

Then the light died, leaving nothing to hint at its former existence. The heartless screamed again, pounding his fists on the ground where his prey had lain just mere seconds before. The void within it was excruciatingly painful, because it had felt the sensation of having a heart again, and one of such taint and purity had never been seen before. It held on to the small part it had retained, taking comfort in the rhythmic pulsing. Right then and there it made a promise, he would regain the rest of that heart; he would be sure of that.

--

"Oh dear me…Are you okay young man? Can you hear me?"

"Ungh…" He murmured something unintelligible and cracked his eyes open. Hovering above him was a petite woman in a blue dress, tiny translucent wings fluttering with the effort of keeping the portly fairy aloft. "Wha…?"

"At least you're awake." She chirped in relief, floating lazily just above his chest, "You were beginning to worry me. I'm Merryweather, one of the three good Fairies."

Merryweather flitted out of the way as Riku sat up, leaning his aching back against what felt like a stone wall. He couldn't see very far in the darkness to get a clear look at his surroundings. The only light he could see was cast by the fairy in front of him, and it didn't do much to illuminate the area, "What happened?"

"I was hoping you could answer that. I found you just floating there in the in-between realm and you looked like you had been there for a long time. Normally humans can't travel to that realm…" She peered closer at him, "What do you last remember?"

"Darkness…and then pain…and…and…Heartless…"

She put a hand to her chin thoughtfully, floating idly somewhere over his shoulder, "Well…that might explain things. Kingdom Hearts was opened again a month back, and the Heartless escaped into the in-between realm, unable to return to real space because the worlds were no longer connected…You might've gotten caught up in the rush, some people with a higher awareness of the darkness can be pulled through that way."

"Kingdom Hearts was opened?" He asked softly, unable to believe what he was hearing. After all that trouble Sora had to go through, after resigning himself to his fate; it was all for nothing? Merryweather nodded solemnly, "No one knows why, but it was opened from the inside." She moved suddenly, moving to Riku side and grabbing a fistful of his sleeve, "Let's not worry about that for the moment, we need to get you fixed up. Those clothes are ruined."

The portly blue fairy snapped her fingers and light burst into existence, revealing the area to be a fairly large cave. The source of the light was a few torches along the wall, "I'm sorry it's not much, but I didn't have much to work with when I brought you here. This was the closest world I could get to with a passenger."

The cave was practically bare, the only thing proving other wise were the blue blankets scattered around him and a mirror against the opposite wall. The fairy flitted over to a clear area of the chamber and made a waving motion with her hand. Blue sparkles whirled around her as she grew in size until she looked just like a normal woman. Merryweather bustled to the wall and grabbed the mirror before hurrying back over, "See? They are all torn; you must've been attacked. Luckily your heart wasn't taken."

Riku looked down at his torn shirt; this wasn't right. He placed his hand against his chest, feeling the rhythmic pulsing of his heart against his palm. It couldn't be right. It had been taken, he knew it. He had felt the shadow rip it out of him, felt himself falling into The Darkness…but then…there was something else…

Suddenly he found himself aware of Merryweather talking again, "Could you repeat that…? Sorry, I was thinking."

The fairy gave him an odd look but complied, "I just asked what color you'd like your new clothes to be."

"I don't care…"

"Fine…" She pulled out a magic wand and flicked it at Riku's shirt, causing the torn remains to grow and mend. After a few moments she stowed her wand back wherever she kept it and held the mirror up to Riku, "Do you like it?"

He studied himself in the mirror, truthfully it wasn't too much of a departure from his former attire, the same color scheme was predominant. It mainly consisted of an open white sleeveless vest with yellow and black trim along the bottom. The inside of the vest was a nice rich golden color and the vest stopped just above his midriff, the rest of his tanned skin covered by a black sleeveless shirt. The magic had also affected his pants, elongating the now denim-like fabric to account for a slight growth spurt that must have occurred over during the missing time from his memory. He also made note of the addition of pockets to his former pocket less pants and the decorative belt that came with it. He nodded to the fairy in approval, flashing a tired smile, "Yes…thank you."

"Don't mention it." She waved her hand vaguely, banishing the mirror, "They are special clothes. I worked a few spells into them that might help you in the future. My sisters and I were working on the design for a good friend of ours; we haven't finished testing the spell so I'm not exactly sure what it will do. But should you be in trouble the spell will assist you, I'm sure of that. I've also added in the standard maintenance stuff."

"Why…why are you doing this?"

She quickly returned to her original size, fluttering in front of his face, "You are dark-sensitive. I can tell from the dark magic brimming inside of you. This dark magic will attract the heartless to you," She pulled out her wand and tapped him lightly on the nose, small blue and white sparkles bursting from the tip, " and if I didn't do anything to help you…well…I wouldn't really be considered a 'good' fairy, would I?"

Merryweather suddenly flitted directly in front of him, her pointed blue hat almost falling off her head with the motion, "Blasted thing…" she grumbled, pushing it back into its former position, "Anyway, I have to go see Master Yen Sid, he might be able to tell me what I should do with you. I'd bring you with me but I can't carry a passenger that far."

"It's fine. I'm not going anywhere." There was a sharp popping noise and the portly fairy vanished in a shower of sparkles. Riku sighed and slouched over, propping his head up with his hand, "I don't like this," he murmured, "It can't be starting all over again…could it?"

He words echoed in the confines of the cave, and the boy noticed absently that the torches had dimmed to nothing more than tiny flames outlining the perimeter of the chamber. He lifted up his free hand and held it in front of his face, his fingers opening and closing as if around a nonexistent sword hilt. "I wish I had Soul Eater…" after a few moments he let his hand fall limply to his side, his heart sinking as he thought back to the bat-winged blade he had become accustomed to, "At least then I wouldn't feel so helpless."

The tiny wisps of flame flickered, sending oddly shaped shadows across what little he could see of the wall. Riku sat up straight and peered into the darkness. He really hoped he had not just seen that, he really wished he was just hallucinating. He did not want to have to deal with this now. As if cued in to his revelation the torches flared, their former merry orange color darkening to a deep indigo that somehow managed to still shed light in the confined space. Riku was already on his feet when the light shifted, feeling the loss of his sword even greater now. A cold empty feeling wormed its way into his chest, clutching at his heart as he became extra aware of his surroundings. Riku didn't quite know what the feeling portrayed, but he did have a good idea.

In the past he'd always had an affinity to the heartless, it was one of the reasons he had allowed himself to be taken in by them so easily. Perhaps it was the 'dark-sensitive' stuff that Merryweather had been talking about but Riku only knew of it as his "sixth-sense" of sorts. He'd always had this "sixth-sense" when the heartless were concerned and it seemed even to have gotten even more acute after his last encounter with the beasts. If he had to hazard a guess at anything, he'd have to say there was a fairly powerful heartless nearby.

"The fairy is gone…" A deranged voice crackled and a shadow pulled away from the cave wall, "Nothing to save you now. Just be a good little boy and hand over the rest of your heart."

"Who are you?" Riku ground out, cursing the fact that he had lost his sword when Ansem had possessed him. He did have his magic, but he had never been very good with spells in the first place, not being able to handle anything more then Cure unless he had outside help.

"I don't have a name so I'll take yours." The shadow shifted, and Riku began to see more definite features. The heartless was completely human looking if one overlooked the grey tinge to his skin and the glowing sulfurous colored eyes. In fact, the heartless looked almost exactly like him, "Call me U'kir, although I guess it won't matter. I just want to take back what belongs to me. After that, you will be obsolete."

He tossed his head, pitch black strands dancing, "I've been looking for you, you know, been searching for a good few months."

"I'm flattered." Riku drawled, "But surely you have better things to do then to chase me down."

"No." The heartless' answer was immediate, no trace of hesitation or uncertainty, "Nothing else matters. I want to reclaim what you stole from me! I need it; give it to me!"

U'kir lunged, clawed fingers just barely missing Riku's shoulder as he moved out of the way. The heartless' face twisted beyond any semblance of sanity and Riku knew that whatever reason the heartless had left was gone. He spun around and shot out of the cave, the cool temperature of the night desert air a slap in the face compared to the relatively warm temperature inside. A reverberating howl echoed from the rock confines, echoing in empty desert. Riku didn't have to look behind him to know that the U'kir had followed him outside. But he turned around anyway, knowing he would have no chance of loosing the heartless in this endless desert.

"So you've stopped running…" U'kir's nails lengthened, becoming true claws, "All the easier for me!"

The Islander didn't even think about what he did next, responding purely to instinct as he moved his arm up to try and grab U'kir's strike. What he didn't expect was the flash of dark energy that raced through his hand, or that his fingers would close around a black metal hilt. He didn't know what kind of weapon he'd summoned, nor did he really care at the moment. All that mattered was preventing U'kir from getting what he wanted.

U'kir screamed as the metal bit into his arm, tendrils of shadow drifting away from the open wound. "You…I'll get you for this…"

"Just try. The Seeker of Darkness couldn't take my heart; I don't see why you think you could." He leaned the weapon against his shoulder in a way he was accustomed to doing with his Soul Eater.

"Oh, I already have it. A part of it." He held out his uninjured arm, a ball of darkness forming in his palm.

"That's impossible! Maleficent said that Heartless can't control the darkness!"

"Normally that is correct, but I'm not just any heartless. You should have noticed that by now. Isn't the fact that I'm talking to you prove that?" The shadows in the small orb parted, revealing a small struggling orb of light. It was secured tightly by chains made up of darkness, chains that seemed to be a part of the heartless' being. The chains began to tighten around the orb, digging deep into the surface of the captive light.

Riku's shoulders shuddered as a crushing pain shot through his chest. His free-hand dropped, moving to rest on the painful spot. His heart was beating out of control, and strangely enough the captured light in the heartless' palm began to do the same.

U'kir laughed wildly, recognizing the dawning look of realization, "So you finally understand. I know I can you take your heart, because I have already done so. Your heart is what made me, so it is as much mine as it is yours. I want it. I need it. I want to feel. I want to exist."

"Find your own," Riku grit out through clenched teeth. The burning pain in his chest subsiding as the heartless returned the captured heart to its niche inside his being, "I'm not going to give it up."

"I know. I am you after all." U'kir quickly stepped out of the way of another slash, "I was hoping this would be easy…I see that I was wrong. Enjoy your time with your heart, I will get it eventually."

A portal of shadow opened up behind him, the darkness surging around the open doorway. U'kir stumbled back, his yellow eyes locked unblinkingly on the boy whose reflection he was. Riku held his weapon ready, body tense just in case the heartless was trying to catch him off guard. But U'kir didn't make any move to attack again; he whirled around and dove into the black pool. The doorway closed up behind him, leaving Riku alone in the desert.

The islander lowered his weapon, his green eyes unfocused as he went over the entire incident in his head, "So…I have a deranged heartless after me…great." He shook his head, silver hair flying with the motion, "U'kir, huh…I guess I really did lose my heart back there…What does that make me then?" He tilted his head to the sky, his free hand resting on his chest in an attempt to reassure himself that his heartbeat was still there. Suddenly he became aware of a strange weight in his other hand and he remembered the weapon he had acquired. He glanced down at it and held it out in front of him in disbelief. He recognized it easily; it looked eerily similar to his old sword, the heartless blade known as Soul Eater. It was the same bat-winged blade, the same yellow eye watching from the hilt, but something was very, very, off about it. It just didn't feel the same. Soul Eater had been cold and passive, requiring the wielder to supply the energy for the blade. It wasn't so with this blade, it thrummed with power. He could feel it pulse in his hand, the sensation traveling up his arm and lodging itself quite firmly in his heart. Soft voices began to invade his thoughts, saying one word over and over again.

'…keyblade…'

"H-how?" Riku's hand trembled, letting go of the hilt. The blade didn't fall to the ground like he expected, instead it dissolved into black light and shot at his hand, reforming as soon as it hit his grip. It just felt right in his hand, calling back memories of the last time he had held such a weapon. But Sora's Kingdom Key could not even hope to compare to how it—'Twilit Dusk' the voices whispered—felt. He held the blade at arm's length, "Aren't you supposed to be with Sora?"

He spoke his thoughts aloud, not really directing them at the blade itself. He wasn't really expecting an answer. So of course he was shocked beyond measure when his question was answered.

The voices grew rapidly in volume and number, pounding through the inside of his skull and bringing forth a cacophony of noise that forced him to grit his teeth to cut off a sharp cry of pain. The keyblade fell from his hand, rolling into the desert sands as he used his hands to cradle his head, and the irritating pain that the voices were inflicting upon him. He couldn't even understand them; not so many all at once. All he knew was that they were telling him to do something. His mind couldn't decipher it, but his body could. He reached one trembling hand toward the black and red object glinting in the sands, the other still clamped firmly over his throbbing temple. The voices roared—in triumph? Or Despair? He didn't know—the moment his fingers touched the hilt, wrapping around the still cold metal and pulling it up into the air, stabbing the end of the blade into the ground and leaning heavily on it. The voices gradually quieted again, leaving Riku with a splitting headache that he knew would not lessen for a while.

Riku's grip on the hilt of the weapon did not loosen, fearing that if he did the voices would surge, sending the command echoing through his head again. As with the first time he had ever held such a weapon, the keyblade was calling for him, begging him to take it, to wield it. He could not deny something that touched his soul, especially when it was something he had always wanted. His fingers curled even tighter around the Twilit Dusk's shaft, in between the batwings that arched protectively around the handle portion of the key. The voices murmured in satisfaction, and the keyblade splintered into millions of particles of dark energy, surging up his arm and returning to a niche in his soul he had never noticed before. He stared down at his empty hand, reveling in the rightness he felt. But so many questions had been created, and many left unanswered, "Why me?"

We were always waiting for you.

"But the things I did…"

…are of no consequence to us.

"I tried to destroy the worlds…"

...you helped save them in the end.

"I lost the dark keyblade to Sora…"

…it was not meant for you. The Kingdom Key, no matter what form they were in, would always return to their master.

Riku sighed, "You sure are a talkative thing aren't you?"

He sighedrubbing his head as he felt a headache coming on, "This is too confusing…" He murmured to himself, looking to the sky as it began to lighten with sunrise, "First U'kir and now this…What will the new day bring?"

Riku shook his head and turned around to head back into the cave. He paused, unable to find the entrance among the shadowed stones and boulders; "Great…" he said sarcastically, kicking a stone in his frustration, "Just great…I guess I'm on my own now…"