Good to see so many people have picked up on this sequel! Here's the next chapter. Let's check up on an old friend, shall we?

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SORA

Things weren't going too well for me.

For one thing, I was falling behind on my rent. Business had been slow in the past couple of weeks, which had put a damper on the more upbeat mood I had had from recovering from my broken leg. And without business, I didn't get paid.

For another thing, I had a couple of friends who were mad at me. Though one of them, Roxas White, my old doorman, probably wouldn't consider us friends. About three months ago, he had undergone a traumatic experience, and I had tried to help him with it, explaining what had happened and hoping to find a way to settle him down after the experience. Unfortunately, he had not believed me, and had rebuffed every attempt I had made to help him, eventually forcing me to stop my efforts by threatening to tell the police I had been harassing him. I hadn't given up, though; whatever Roxas thought, he was still my friend, and I wasn't going to just leave him all alone.

Then, there was the matter of my best friend, Riku Taiko, who was still sore at me for not keeping him up to date with a series of events that had happened three months ago (around the same time Roxas had been traumatized—the events were, in fact, connected). Even though I hadn't told him so that I wouldn't distract him from his work, he still felt like I didn't trust him enough. So, I had those things on my plate.

Oh, and did I mention that I was face-to-face with a demon that was determined to tear my throat open?

Well, technically, it was a man possessed by a demon, but the eyes that were looking at me were not human. They were a malevolent shade of yellow, nicely complementing the murderous stare that I was receiving.

I should probably explain. I'm a private investigator who specializes in cases involving supernatural creatures. These beings were actually found all over, if you knew where to look. And I did. I had been trained in hunting them (I had even been given the nickname "The Darkness Hunter"), and knew how to recognize an instance of one, and how to deal with it. Well, most of the time. There were times when I had to improvise, or rely on chance to get me out of a particularly tough situation.

Take the current situation I was in, for instance. I had hoped to catch the demon by surprise and tie its host body up while I made the necessary preparations to get it out. I had never excised a demon before, so I wanted to make sure that I was able to complete all of the preparations without being interrupted. Unfortunately, things hadn't gone as planned, and now the demon, unbound, was glaring at me with a knife in its host's hand. I had no doubts as to what it planned to do.

I had been in better situations. But, then again, I had been in worse situations, too.

The demon spoke. "You should not have gotten involved, human," it said in a voice which was a combination of its host's voice and its own, raspy, guttural one. "Now you will die."

I took out my gun and pointed it at him. "You're not taking another step."

The demon laughed. "You will not hurt me, fool. You know that hurting me is hurting my host." It smiled cruelly. "And, besides, I can escape a dying body before I myself perish. You will only succeed in killing Braig Carter." Its eyes lit up. "And I, Xehanort, will go free! You cannot win!"

I grimaced. From what I had heard, Braig Carter wasn't the nicest of people, but he didn't deserve to die. Besides, the demon, Xehanort, was right—killing the host would not kill the possessing spirit (unlike, say a wendigo spirit, which became irrevocably tied to its host after possession). Xehanort was a demon straight from Hell (or wherever exactly demons came from), and destroying it would be among the hardest tasks I had undertaken.

How do I keep getting into these messes? I thought.

You're a supernatural investigator, idiot, answered another part of my mind. You do things like this for a living.

Well, yes, but…this case specifically had been particularly interesting…


A few days ago, I had been approached by a man named Demyx, who had voiced concerns about a colleague of his, Braig Carter. "He's been acting kinda weird lately," he told me.

"Weird how?" I asked.

"He seems…I dunno…more reserved and sullen than usual," said Demyx. "Like something big's been bugging him."

"And you want us to find out what it is?"

He nodded. "I like the guy, and I owe him for a couple of things. Not everyone likes him, but…that doesn't mean he deserves to be left alone."

"No," I agreed. "All right, we'll look into it."

"Thank you."


And so, I had begun an investigation of Braig Carter, accompanied, as always, by my partners Donald Duke and James "Goofy" Gorsch. While Donald could be short-tempered and Goofy could be silly, when we got down to business, they were excellent partners (not to mention excellent friends). We had trailed Carter for a couple days and observed his activities, and they were indeed strange. We had kept our eyes out for indications that this might be a supernatural case, and found plenty. The only problem was determining what kind of supernatural creature we were dealing with. There were dozens, but we could eliminate most of them based on the situation; for instance, as Carter had lacked red eyes and pale skin, he wasn't a vampire. (The lack of pale skin also eliminated options like a wendigo.) But there was definitely something up with him. Finally, after hearing his demonic voice (from a distance), seeing his yellow eyes, and observing him participating in activities that pointed to demonic magic, we had deduced that Carter had been possessed by a demon.

This revelation had shaken us up a bit. "We've never faced an actual demon before," said Donald.

"No, but there's a first time for everything," said Goofy, always the optimist. "We can do it. We've defeated a perfect vampire, remember?"

"That was mainly because we had Cloud to help us." Donald named a friend of ours, a vampire hunter who had greatly assisted us on a previous occasion.

"Come on, Donald," I said. "Have some faith. We've got The Guide, too." I was referring to a document entitled "Supernatural Beings of the Natural World," which held a large wealth of information about supernatural creatures, from the well-known ones to the more obscure ones.

"The Guide can't tell us everything," said Donald.

"But it can get us started," I countered. "Let's just see what we have to do."


We studied what "Supernatural Beings of the Natural World" had to say about demons, and it wasn't heartening. True demons were very difficult to destroy, as they first had to be coaxed out of their hosts' bodies, and then contained in a special container lined with gold. Gold apparently had a similar effect on demons that silver had on vampires—it weakened them, and caused pain upon contact. Fortunately, for a demon to leave its host, it had to assume a physical form, and so, if one moved quickly enough, one could trap the demon in the container as soon as it left the body.

The trouble was getting it to leave. Unfortunately, religious methods did not work; invoking God or Jesus or any religious figure had about as much effect as invoking Bozo the Clown, a crucifix did not have any more power than any other stick of wood, and holy water—well, actually, holy water did occasionally have an effect, but it wasn't too easy to get, and relying on a method that only sometimes worked was too risky.

The best way, said The Guide, was to coerce the demon out of the body using gold. Inserting gold through body orifices could make the demon shrink away from those parts of the body, and towards an opening. For instance, inserting a gold bar rectally would drive the demon away from the lower body, and towards an exit point, say, the mouth.

Yeah, it wasn't pretty. But, then again, what I did rarely was.

The problem now was getting the gold. I did not have any, aside from a couple pieces of jewelry I had inherited from my mother which would not be very useful. My partners were in a similar situation, having little or no gold available. Then, there was the matter of how our pay, while decent, did not provide us with the necessary funds to buy the gold items that we needed.

But we had resources. For help, I had turned to my mentor and friend—Riku's father, Terra Taiko. Terra, along with his wife, Aqua, had taken me in after my parents and sister were killed by harpies (long story). Terra himself had then taught me about supernatural creatures, and had guided me through the events that had led me to my current situation. (Sure, it was a frequently life-threatening situation, but that didn't matter to me; I was one of the few people who could really help out other people who were victims of something supernatural.) We kept in touch, and I occasionally contacted him when I needed help with something. Now, I had thought, would be a good time; it wasn't an exceptionally urgent matter, and he could be a good source of valuable information, with his experience.

So, I had called Riku's parents, who lived in California. His mother answered with a cheerful greeting, having recognized my number via their caller ID. "Sora!" she said. "Good to hear from you!"

"Thanks, Aqua," I said. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks. Terra's busy as ever, of course, and I've been kept pretty busy, too. But we're both holding up well."

"Good to hear."

"I'm guessing you called for him?"

"Yeah. Is he in?"

"He is. Hold on for one second while I get him."

"Great. Thanks, Aqua."

I waited for a moment, and then the familiar voice of Terra Taiko came over the phone. "Sora!" His voice was accented, as he had emigrated from Japan as a teenager. "How nice to hear from you. How are you holding up?"

"Pretty well," I responded.

"But you've got a problem you need my help with?"

"Yeah, I'd like your advice on something." I described the current situation, how Donald, Goofy, and I believed Braig Carter had been possessed by a demon. "So, we just need a way to get it out," I said. "We checked The Guide, and it said to use gold to force it out of the body and trap it. The only problem is, we don't have any."

"So, what, you want to use some of mine?"

"Well…" That would be the ideal option… "Or if you know a good way we can do it without gold."

"Hm. That's a tough one. I've only tackled two such situations in my line of work." Terra, like me, was a private investigator who often dealt with supernatural creatures.

"Not very many demons in California?" I said jokingly.

"Heh, no. Or at least not in the area. Maybe there are other people in the area who are getting rid of them instead of me."

"Maybe. But you've only done it twice?"

"Yes, and both times, I've used some of my family's gold items. I'm not sure how you would do it without. Well, depending on the demon, you might be able to coerce it out of the body with taunts or something. But then you'd be stuck with a disembodied demon, and you wouldn't be able to trap it. There's always holy water, but there's no guarantee that it's actually holy, and you can't tell without testing it on something."

He was silent for a while, as both he and I ran over possibilities in our minds. I had felt myself move away from the idea of using his items after he had said that they belonged to his family; I could see why he wouldn't want to part with them. Finally, he said, "Let me think about this for a while and get back to you."

"Okay. I'll keep thinking, too."

"All right. Talk to you later."

"Right. Bye."


After some more unsuccessful brainstorming with Donald and Goofy, Terra called me back and said that he'd be willing to lend me his golden items that he had used to capture demons himself. I was surprised, but, I will admit, glad that he had made that decision; it was, I thought, the easiest solution that there was. After making me promise that I would treat them with the utmost care, he explained to me how I should use them: use the gold chains to bind the host and hurt the demon, insert the gold rods into the parts of the body where I wanted to repel the demon, and capture the demon inside the gold pot as soon as it left the body.

A few days later, I received the items, packed very securely in a couple boxes heavily marked "Fragile." After inspecting the items firsthand and deciding exactly how we would use them, the three of us set up a plan to drive the demon out of Carter, involving lying in wait for him in his apartment, then surprising him with the gold items, immobilizing him and allowing us to excise the demon with little resistance.

But, as I have seen, things rarely go according to plan. Goofy, the least violence-inclined of our trio, had volunteered to stand guard outside Carter's apartment and let us know when he was coming—Donald and I would be inside the apartment, lying in wait. Unfortunately, Xehanort must have had enhanced hearing, as it heard Goofy's report to us, attacked him with a knife, and entered the apartment through the fire escape, catching us by surprise. So, that was how I found myself face-to-face with an unbound, knife-wielding demon.

Donald, who wielded one of the gold chains and one of the gold rods, glanced at Xehanort nervously. "What now, Sora?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"What now?" the demon answered. "Give up. Your friend lies dying outside, and you will soon follow."

I gritted my teeth. I didn't know how badly Goofy was hurt, but I couldn't leave him outside, wounded as he was. "Donald," I said, "get outside. Get some help for Goofy."

"I can't leave you here!" protested Donald.

"We can't leave him, either," I countered. "I can take care of myself. I've done it before."

Indecision racked Donald's face for a moment. Then, he nodded. "All right," he said. "Just make sure to survive."

"I will."

Placing the chain and rod on a nearby table, Donald made his way to the exit, keeping an eye on the demon.

It let out a snarl. "You're not going anywhere." It leapt at Donald, but in that same moment, I made my move. Dropping my gun (it wouldn't be of any use to me against Xehanort), I grabbed my chain and hurled it at the body of Braig Carter. Taken by surprise, Xehanort recoiled, barely dodging the chain, but giving Donald the chance he needed to escape. He opened the door, dashed out, and slammed it shut.

I glared into the demon's yellow eyes. "It's just you and me now."

For a moment, its gaze was filled with fury. Then, Carter's mouth curled into a smile. "Fine," said the demon. "It will be easier to deal with just one of you. And once you're finished, I can hunt the others at my leisure."

My fist curled around my gold rod. "You won't touch my friends."

"Try and stop me."

I moved to the table and picked up Donald's chain, mine lying a few feet from Xehanort. "Can do," I said.

For a moment, we stared at each other. Then, simultaneously, we made our moves. Xehanort leapt forward, as did I. It had its knife aimed at my heart, and I had my gold equipment at the ready.

We met a split second later. I swerved out of the way of its blade, slamming the gold rod into its side. As the demon snarled in pain, I flicked the gold chain, sending it at Xehanort, hoping to curl it around it and immobilize it. It did wrap around him once, but the demon, in its anger, summoned a burst of strength and removed itself from the chain's embrace. Now livid beyond all imagination, it ran at me, practically foaming at the mouth. I had to remind myself to keep a cool head; if I retained my rational thought and the demon didn't, it would give me an advantage.

Unfortunately, Xehanort's fury gave it an advantage, too. It was too fast for me to dodge, and the knife in Carter's hand cut into my arm. Wincing, but determined to withstand the pain, I slammed my gold rod into Carter's solar plexus (though the pain in my arm forced me to drop it immediately afterwards). As the demon was still subject to the weaknesses of the human body, it had to take a moment to recover, and I took the opportunity. I flicked the chain again, sending it around Carter's waist a second time. This time, though, I grabbed the other end with my other hand, holding it firmly in place.

The demon felt the gold, and let out an unearthly scream. I grimaced, only having heard a scream that terrible once before, but kept a firm grip on the chain. Then, transferring one end of the chain to my right hand, so that it now held both, I reached down with my left arm (my wounded one) and picked up my fallen rod. Then, gathering my strength, I shoved it into Carter's mouth, cutting off the demon's scream.

The effect was immediate. Xehanort dropped the knife and bent over, emitting a sort of choking sound. Seizing the opportunity, I wrapped the chain around Carter's arms, resisting the demon's struggles. Then, leaving it for a second, I retrieved my gold chain and Donald's gold rod, which was thinner than mine. Returning to the demon, I managed to wrap the other gold chain around its neck, and stick the other gold rod up its nose.

I stood up, panting. Everything was in place, hopefully. The demon would be in enough pain from the gold that it would want to escape the body. And it would go for one of the openings that was as far away from the gold as possible—in this case, in the lower part of the body.

I made a face as I got the gold pot. This wasn't going to be pretty.


It wasn't. But, without going into the details, let's just say that I managed to catch Xehanort as it made its escape and trap it in the pot. Then, I attended to Braig Carter, removing the gold items from his body and placing him on the couch. He was unconscious, and, to be honest, I wasn't sure what I would say when he woke up. Of course, he might not even wake up for several hours—possession took a toll on the body.

Fortunately, at that moment, Donald returned. "Sora!" he said, coming through the door.

I looked up at him, breathing heavily. "I got it," I said. "Demon's in the pot."

He let out a sigh of relief. But then, a look of skepticism crossed his face. "Wait…how do I know the demon hasn't possessed you now?"

"Because my kingdom remains stalwart."

"Does that work for possession, too?"

"Well, there's also the fact that you're a sissy who reads vampire romance novels."

He made a face. "You're a dick, Sora."

I gave a half-grin. "Sorry. Just kidding about the sissy part. But did I convince you?"

"I guess so." He noticed my arm. "Looks like it managed to get you. You okay?"

"I'll be fine," I said. "The wound's not too deep. How's Goofy?"

"He's doing all right. Xehanort didn't hurt him too badly, but I still got an ambulance. He's on the way to the hospital now."

I nodded. "Good to hear."

He indicated my arm. "We should get that treated."

So, "borrowing" some supplies from Carter's bathroom, we treated my wound and wrapped up my arm. It still hurt, but I knew I would get over it. "What about Carter?" I asked. "He's gonna wake up and not know what's happened."

Donald looked at the prone figure on the couch. "Will he even wake up soon?"

"I dunno. But he might."

"Well, what was our explanation going to be?"

I thought back to the conversation we had had before tackling this case, about what our cover story would be to explain the strange occurrences, without revealing the actual details. "We said that he had had a secret relationship, and that she broke up with him, so he was acting really sullen. Then, he hit his head and forgot everything."

"Oh, yeah. Stretching it a little, isn't it?"

"Hey, there are a lot of things that people will believe, if it's rational."

"I suppose."

We waited for a few minutes to see if Carter would wake up. When he didn't, Donald sighed and said, "Why don't you head back, Sora? Kairi's probably worried."

I put a hand to my face. "Oh, damn, I completely forgot to call her. But are you sure you'll be okay?"

He shrugged. "Well, talking's not usually my thing, but you need the break."

I looked at him. "This is a little uncharacteristic of you. Are you sure you haven't been possessed by the demon?"

He scowled. "Just get going, smartass."


I took him up on his offer, and left Carter's apartment, taking the gold items with me (being especially careful with the pot). Before I did, though, I made a quick call…

The taxi driver that I hailed gave me an odd look when I came into his cab with a handful of gold items, but I assured him that they were mine, and he seemed to be satisfied. He took me back to my apartment building, and I felt a pang of guilt as I saw the new doorman, a quiet guy named Neku Sakuraba. Not that I didn't like the guy, but he wasn't Roxas, who was probably going through some really tough times now, and I couldn't help him.

I put those in the back of my mind. I was tired, and I had a feeling I was about to be cheered up…

I took the elevator up to eighth floor and stumbled to my apartment, barely having the energy to stand, let alone walk along a hallway carrying an assortment of gold items. But, I made it, and pounded on the door.

It opened. And in the doorway stood the light of my life, who brightened any situation I might face—my girlfriend, Kairi.

Kairi's story is a long one. She was actually a vampire until about three months ago, when the vampire that had turned her into a vampire made her not a vampire anymore…look, it's really hard to explain. But, suffice to say, we had had a lot of experiences together, and had come to realize our connection. So now, we were living together, and had never been happier.

"How are you?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

I grinned. "I am now."

She hit me lightly on the arm, but smiled. "You're so cheesy."

"You don't seem to mind it."

She motioned me in. "Come on in."

I did so, and placed the gold items on the counter in the kitchen. "Be careful with those," I said.

Kairi eyed the jar warily. "So, you did it? Is there a demon in there?"

I nodded. "It'll eventually disintegrate, but we'll have to be careful not to give him any chance at escaping."

"Gotcha." She noticed my arm. "You're hurt."

"Not too badly."

"What happened?"

I related the story of our fight, not going into all the details (especially how I ended up getting Xehanort out of Braig's body), but giving her the general gist of what had happened. "You must be pretty tired, then," she commented.

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Well, let's get you to bed, hm?"

I had no objections. At the moment, there was nothing I wanted more than to fall asleep in Kairi's arms.

I smiled. Sure, life may have some difficulties, but there was always a bright spot. There was always a light that never went out.

And mine was Kairi.

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So, we see how Sora's doing. But his world is about to get turned upside down...