AN: Woohoo! Took a little while, but I got it done! Hope you guys enjoy it! ;)
Chapter 2: The Voice of the Key
Sora opened his eyes as he floated in a void of black nothingness, looking all around him in wonder. Then, he began to feel himself float down until his feet reached something sold that he could stand on. Once his feet made contact though, a large black, blue, and purple light swirled around Sora as the floor beneath him was revealed to be a large stain-glassed circle that was almost of equal size to a football field. The picture on the stain-glassed circle beneath him showed a bunch of Keyblades surrounding a heart that was half-way dark and half-way light. Sora looked at its complexity and then he stopped walking around in his tracks. He could feel… something. Like, he wasn't alone here in this stain-glassed dimension.
"Sora…" said a soft, familiar voice. Sora knew exactly who it was and looked all around him to find the source of which his name came. After searching all around him, there stood in the center of the circle with him, was Kairi, looking at him with that beautiful smile that Sora loved.
"Kairi! What are you doing here?" asked Sora. Kairi only smiled at him a little longer and pulled him in with a tight hug. Her voice became soft and sexy as she whispered into Sora's ear.
"Sora… stay with me." said Kairi. Sora was shocked to hear her make that request as he felt his body suddenly feel… colder. "I know that your friends are in trouble, and I know that you want to help them…" Kairi paused and stopped to look at Sora in his eyes deeply. "But for once… can't you make a selfish decision? Forget about them and stay with me, Sora." said Kairi in her sexy voice.
"K-Kairi… I… can't…" said Sora as he blushed and desperately tried to resist.
"Please… Sora? I know you want to stay with me instead." she said. She moved in closer to Sora's face as her eyes narrowed in a sexy way. "I can… give you so much more…" said Kairi. She moved in to kiss Sora as Sora was about to let it happen.
"Be careful…" said another voice. Time stopped as Sora heard the voice's command.
"What? Who's there?" asked Sora in his mind.
"You know not what you condemn. Remember who you are..." The voice sounded throughout the world in the dark abyss, breaking through Sora and everything else, though there wasn't much, and into Sora's mind and heart. Realizing what he was about to do, Sora pushed Kairi away and threw her to the ground.
"Sora! What are you doing?" asked Kairi as she was about to cry. She seemed terrified of what Sora had done. He would never treat her like that. Not ever. Sora summoned his Keyblade into his right hand and pointed it at Kairi.
"The Kairi I know… would never ask me to leave my friends! She's the most kind hearted person I could ever know! And for you to try and ruin my image of who she is, you'll pay!" said Sora. Just as he finished, Kairi stood up from the floor and began to have a dark aura surround her. Her skin started to peel back and her eyes turned to a bright yellow; she started to look even less and less human.
"Strike it down…" said the voice. Sora nodded and slashed the Keyblade through the monster as it disintegrated instantly.
"What was that?" asked Sora. The voice sounded inside him and around him again.
"The darkest part of your heart." said the voice.
"And…who are you?" asked Sora. There was a long pause before an answer came. The Keyblade shone brightly in Sora's hand as he watched it glow.
"I am -. You and I share a special connection. Like a chain." said the voice.
"Where am I?" asked Sora again.
"This is a place where Darkness is at its most dangerous. You have no heart here, and your judgment will be clouded." said the voice.
"What does that mean?" asked Sora.
"Have faith in who you are." said the voice as it disappeared from Sora's presence. Even though Sora didn't see it, he knew that it had left him and Sora looked to his Keyblade and nodded.
"How am I supposed to make decisions when I don't have a heart?" asked Sora. Silence. He was all alone. He knew that no one was going to help him, so he made a decision. "Fine, then. I don't need a heart! I know what's right and wrong on my own!" said Sora aloud. With the statement said, the stain-glassed window broke from underneath him and Sora began to fall deeper and faster into the dark void of nothing. Then, it started to slow as Sora saw another stain-glassed circle beneath him but this time with a different symbol. This had a symbol with a bunch of people Sora knew from his journeys and at the center was a black heart with a picture of Riku on the inside. As soon as Sora touched down, he looked around the circle beneath him, thinking about all of his friends that he missed. Then, from behind him, Riku appeared as he was when Ansem had taken over his heart, holding the dark Keyblade in his hands.
"Sora…" said Riku. Sora looked behind him and was shocked to see Riku as Ansem once again.
"Riku!" said Sora as he prepared his Keyblade to attack.
"How could you do that to Kairi! I thought you loved her!" yelled Riku. Sora's eyes widened as these words reached his ears.
"She… she wasn't acting like herself! I had to! I love Kairi, I do, but that wasn't her!"
"Yes it was, Sora! She could touch you and she wanted to hold on to you, but you struck her down!" yelled Riku.
"No!" yelled Sora in denial.
"Is this just the beginning? Are you going to start out with Kairi, and then go around taking out all your friends!" said Riku as he raised his Keyblade. Sora looked down at his feet and tried desperately to come up with a response.
"I… I…" was all Sora could gather up to say.
"Face it, Sora. You're no longer the person you used to be. You've changed into a monster, and I won't stand by you anymore! Not now, NOT EVER AGAIN!" yelled Riku as he ran towards Sora and came at him with a horizontal slash.
Sora blocked it with his own Keyblade and locked with Riku in a struggle for dominance.
"R-Riku…" said Sora as he fought against Riku.
"How can you expect me to trust you again! You and I were best friends, and you had to go and do something like that!" asked Riku furiously. Sora nodded and smiled at Riku, causing him to let up some.
"No matter what I do, Riku, you'll always be my best friend. Even if you don't stand by me, I'll always stand by you." said Sora. With that, Sora pushed Riku away, came at him quickly and hit Riku twice to make him disappear in a flash of black and purple energy.
"Stay loyal to your friends." said the voice. Sora looked up into the pitch black sky and nodded.
"Yeah. My friends are always important to me. I'll always protect them!" said Sora. Once again, the stain-glassed window underneath him broke, and Sora fell through the darkness once again. As he fell, he could see the new stain-glassed window circle with a different symbol. This one had a picture of Sora, Riku, and Kairi all surrounding a large heart in the center that was occupied by two lifeless, yellow eyes. Once he stood on the window, Sora watched as the floor beneath him became shrouded in a dark void, and allowed a long, black, purple, and red claw to reach up and pull out with it a gigantic monster. It's teeth were jagged and it had long red hair with steaks of silver in it. It had a large heart-shaped symbol on its chest and had large spikes growing out of its back. It had two long arms and two long legs and had dark purple, grey skin. All in all, it resembled both Riku and Kairi and was terribly ugly to look at.
"W-What the heck is that!" said Sora aloud as the beast before him let out a large and bellowing roar.
"This is the darkness of your heart. The doubt. The anger. The sadness. It all exists right in front of you." said the voice. Sora looked at it with horror and question.
"Is this, what I really am? This… monster!" thought Sora.
"Don't be afraid." said the voice. "Now… destroy it."
The monster slammed down a fist sideways at Sora as his Keyblade blocked it with ease. Sora was shocked still as the monster continued to fling and throw its arms at Sora. It was terribly ugly and it resembled nothing of what Sora saw in his friends. Could this really be what he is? Just this? Sora wanted to deny it with all his heart, but the memories of the past had invaded his mind as they played out, starting to make sense. Finally, the monster swung it's arm just right, and hit Sora to the near edge of the stain-glassed window floor. Sora stood up and watched as the monster began to gather in dark energy and form it into a sphere in front of its open mouth.
"If you cannot defeat the darkness inside you… then the darkness will claim you." said the voice. Sora watched as the monster continued to gather energy, and when it finished, the energy sphere exploded in a burst and flew towards Sora in a large beam of incredible power. Sora held up his Keyblade and blocked it as it slowly pushed him toward the edge of the circle. Sora watched the monster as it continued to fire at him, and then he realized something. The monster was crying. It was sad and even though it was horribly ugly to look at and it was trying to destroy him, Sora felt like he understood it. Gathering some strength of his own, Sora redirected the beam away from him and watched as the monster continued to roar.
"Help… me…" said the monster. Sora recognized the voices that came from the monster's throat as Riku's and Kairi's. It was asking for help. "Please…" Sora nodded in understanding and headed over to the monster in confidence. First, the monster hurled a large fist at Sora as he blocked it with his Keyblade and sliced off the limb. In a roar of pain, the monster attacked with its other arm as Sora sliced that one off too. When the monster was armless, it shot out beams of energy from its mouth. Sora dodged all over the stain-glassed floor, avoiding all of the monster's attacks. When one attack was about to hit Sora, Sora brought up his Keyblade and aimed it back at the monster. When it scorched the monster's eye, it howled in pain as Sora jumped high up and with his Keyblade, followed through with a powerful, downward swing starting on the monster's head and going all the way through its body. Upon the monster being sliced completely in half, Sora's Keyblade disappeared as two people floated high above Sora from where the monster's head was. It was Riku and Kairi, both of them smiling at Sora.
"Thank you… Sora." they both said uniformly and disappeared in two bright flashes of light. Finally, the stain-glassed window underneath Sora broke for a final time, allowing Sora to free fall in to the darkness with a smile on his face.
"I see now…" said Sora as he fell. "No matter the size or strength of my enemies, I will always be able to save my friends."
"Wield the strength to protect." said the voice. "Have faith in who you are. Stay loyal to your friends. Wield the strength to protect. These are the traits that make a master; one with a heart of tremendous strength and unwavering courage. You deserve the right… to wield the Keyblade." With those final words, Sora could feel himself fall asleep in the darkness… waiting to be awakened.
Riku opened his eyes and looked around him even though all he could see was Darkness. Great, not like he hadn't had enough of it already. Then, he looked beneath him as a large stain-glassed window circle appeared from below as it showed a bunch of Keyblades surrounding a heart that was half-way dark and half-way light. When he landed on the floor, a figure appeared before him seeming awfully familiar. King Mickey looked at Riku with disapproving eyes and shook his head.
"Riku… we don't need you." said Mickey.
"What? What do you mean? What are you doing here?" asked Riku. Mickey ignored him and turned his back to Riku.
"I mean… that you're not who we really need. Sora is the one that can save everybody, you're just coming along for the ride. Go home, Riku. Take care of Kairi for Sora, that would be a good use of your time." said Mickey. Riku didn't understand what was happening.
"Be careful…" said a voice. Riku looked around him as he tried to find the source of the voice. He heard it like it was in his head and all around him at the same time. It was like the voice had no origin that Riku could see.
"What?" said Riku aloud.
"Darkness has found its way in more than once. Don't let it regain its hold." said the voice. Riku looked at Mickey with the same disappointed look and smiled.
"I'm such a fool… to even begin to think that you would really abandon me; what kind of friend am I?" said Riku. The second he finished, Riku saw Mickey's eyes turn yellow and his skin turn completely black with small threads of red and silver.
"What is that!" asked Riku.
"The darkest part of your heart." said the voice. "Strike it down." said the voice. Upon command, Riku summoned his Keyblade and dashed forward to slice the Mickey imposter, in two. With the pieces separated, the monster slowly disintegrated into little dark spores.
"And who are you?" asked Riku as he looked up to the black sky.
"I am your heart. You need power, so I give it form." said the voice.
"Where am I?" asked Riku although he already knew the answer.
"This is a place where Darkness is at its most dangerous. You have no heart here, and your judgment will be clouded." said the voice.
"Well, it that doesn't sound especially fair…" said Riku.
"Have faith in who you are." said the voice. A second later, the stain-glassed window broke beneath Riku as he fell into the darkness. As he was falling, Riku could see the new circle below him. It was a picture of all the heartless gathering around two people in the center. The two people were Riku and Ansem. As Riku landed on this and studied the picture, Ansem appeared out of nowhere with his large darkness guardian floating behind him.
"Hello again Riku." said Ansem. Riku stared at him in horror.
"No… it can't be! Sora destroyed you!" yelled Riku as his Keyblade appeared in his hand while Ansem only smirked at it.
"It seems you've acquired a new Keyblade. Looks like it's much stronger than your previous one." said Ansem with his voice like a knife.
"Answer me!" yelled Riku. Ansem only smirked again and nodded.
"Very well… I've said it before, but you seem to still not understand," said Ansem. "No matter what you do, the darkness will always have a hold over you. You WILL NOT escape me."
"No it doesn't! And even if it does, I'll still fight it with all that I am!" said Riku confidently. Immediately, Riku leapt forward to attack Ansem, but his dark guardian behind him, knocked Riku out of the way. After recovering from the attack, Ansem appeared in front of him at a tremendous speed, using the guardian behind him to pound Riku into the ground. When Ansem backed off after attacking Riku, he slowly stood up from his resting place on the ground with his arm and head bleeding. Riku looked at him with hate in his eyes and pointed his Keyblade at Ansem.
"You will never destroy me! I WILL BE FREE OF YOU!" said Riku. He dashed toward him again, faster this time, and started exchanging rapid blows with his Keyblade at Ansem's guardian. After a few moments of attacking, Ansem backed away as Riku pointed his Keyblade at him. "Firaga." said Riku as a large beam of flaming energy shot from the tip of the Keyblade and incinerated Ansem. Once the fire died down and Riku let down his Keyblade, he realized that all his wounds had healed. He looked at the remains of Ansem before him and smirked.
"How…" asked Ansem. "How can you continue to resist me!"
"Because I have Sora, and Kairi, and lots of other friends too. So long as I have them with me in my heart, there is no way that you can defeat me. Your darkness… will NEVER control me." said Riku. With one final strike of his Keyblade, Riku jabbed the tip of it into Ansem's heart, destroying him completely and shattering the floor beneath him too.
"Stay loyal to your friends." said the voice again. Riku nodded and smiled at the thought and began to fall as he saw the next picture of the stain-glassed window. It was a picture of Sora, Riku, and King Mickey all surrounding a large heart with two lifeless, yellow eyes. Once he landed, a dark circle appeared in the center of the floor and expanded as a large monster began to climb out from beneath it. It was a horribly ugly looking creature. It had three heads, each of which looked like Sora, Riku and King Mickey. They all roared in a terrible harmony as the monster began to show off its features. It had pure white skin leading up until the waist line of the creature and turned pitch black the next. On the end of the creature where it's spikey tail wagged back and forth were loads of curly and zigg-zaggy spikes. It also had large wings to add to its ferocity.
"What is this!" yelled Riku.
"This is the darkness of your heart. The doubt. The anger. The sadness. It all exists right in front of you." said the voice. Riku looked at it with some fear, but mostly wonder. The wonder, because after all that he had been through, after all the he and Sora had done together, he still had darkness in his heart; all this time.
"So… it's still here; the darkness that keeps calling me back." said Riku as the monster roared again.
"Don't doubt yourself. Do not be afraid." said the voice. "Now… destroy it!" Riku nodded and summoned his Keyblade into his hand and gripped it tight. The monster moved first with smashing its large claws down at the floor. Riku dodged through an opening in its fingers as the claw came down, with Riku following up to where one of its heads were. He sliced his Keyblade forward in a horizontal motion, striking at the beast's eye. It screeched in pain as Riku landed on the creature's back and began to stab his Keyblade downward into its flesh on its back. The monster shivered as Riku did this and began to take flight. When it was just about to fly fast and make Riku fall into the darkness, Riku flipped backwards and landed back on the stain-glassed floor. The monster went flying all around the large cylinder firing black and white spikes from its back as it flew. Riku, dodged some of the spike and deflected most of them right back at the monster as he aimed mostly for its wings. When they all missed, Riku found an opportunity to fire three Firaga spells at the monster; sending balls of flames at the abomination's heads. After two missed and one stuck the head, the monster flew down closer to where Riku was, but did not land. The heads turned toward each other as they began to form a large attack in the middle of the three of them. Riku saw what they were doing and threw his Keyblade at the heads. The Strike Raid attack flew all the way around while hitting the monster's heads and then landed back in Riku's hands. When the creature was about ready to fire, Riku moved his Keyblade in front of him to get ready to block. When the monster had finished, a large black red blue and purple beam of energy shot from its mouths and headed straight for Riku. He was doing his best to try and block the attack with his Keyblade, but the attack was pushing him back. He looked at the monster and saw that it looked like it was in pain.
"Destroy us…" said the monster. "You must destroy us." Riku nodded and with a little bit of strength left in him, he redirected the beam entirely as Riku gathered energy himself. With enough power in his Keyblade, Riku jumped fast and hard toward the monster, making teleportation attacks all around it's body and slicing it up into pieces. When he landed back on the stain-glassed floor, he smiled at the ghostly figures of Mickey, Sora, and himself. Sora and Mickey spoke, while the Riku with them remained silent. "Thank you…" the two of them said and disappeared in a flash of light. The Riku before him however, came down to Riku and smiled at him. "Looks like you were able to save yourself too…" said the other Riku. Riku nodded and smiled at his other as the other Riku disappeared.
"I guess… that I can always concur the darkness… so that I can save myself, and protect my friends." said Riku as he looked up to the dark, empty sky.
"Wield the strength to protect." said the voice. "Have faith in who you are. Stay loyal to your friends. Wield the strength to protect. These are the traits that make a master; one with a heart of tremendous strength and unwavering courage. You deserve the right… to wield the Keyblade." said the voice. Then, the stain-glassed window below him broke into thousands of pieces that scattered instantly until they could no longer be seen. Riku could feel sleep overtake him as he floated peacefully in to the darkness… waiting to be awakened.