Whoot! 27 hits! Yey! So I decided to update! YEY! Nothing important to say, so let's get on with the fic!

Chapter II. Halloween Town (Part I)

Silence filled the small room inside the Gummi Ship. Not one person had spoken since its passengers had boarded. Goofy and Kairi were stood on the right, looking out of the window, while Donald and Riku sat in the chairs. Riku looked to his left. Dezerack was stood, staring out of the window. Something caught the sixteen year old's attention, making his eyes widen at what he saw. It wasn't Dezerack that shocked him, it was his reflection. The reflection looked nothing like Dezerack at all. Instead, it was a boy aged fifteen with spiky brown hair and deep blue eyes. One word passed through Riku's mind. 'Sora...'

"Hey, there's another world coming up!" cried Donald, getting up out of his seat.

"What world is it?" asked Kairi.

"It looks like Halloween Town," replied Goofy, noticing that the world in front of them did look like Halloween Town.

"We should land, Kaz- I mean Sora might be there," Dezerack said, walking over so that he was stood next to the chair Riku sat in.

"Donald, land the ship," instructed Riku.

"Next stop: Halloween Town," replied the duck in a silly manor.

As the gang set foot in Halloween Town, the realized that their appearance had transformed to fit the world. Donald was covered in bandages and looked like a mummy while Goofy had bolts on his body. Kairi looked herself over and noticed that she wore a black crushed velvet mini dress with flared sleeves and lace-up front with a pair of black boots that reached below her knees and had straps going up. Riku wore a grey shirt that looked as though it had been ripped all across the bottom, black, tattered armbands, a black cape that reached his ankles, and black boots that just passed his ankles. He also had two small fangs emerging from his mouth. Dezerack still wore his black cloak but there was a mask covering half of his face and had two small fangs.

Donald was the first one to step forward and look around. "Everything seems quiet," he said.

"Where are we anyway?" asked the female.

"This looks like the graveyard. We should be careful, Heartless like to hang about here," replied Dezerack, grabbing a vile from inside his cloak that contained orange liquid and drinking it.

The gang of five began walking forward, and soon enough, Heartless appeared. There were three Wight Knights and one Toy Solider.

"I'll take the soldier, the rest of you get the Wight Knights," Riku commanded, summoning his Keyblade. The others nodded and began attacking the mummy Heartless. Dezerack didn't, however. He stood and watched Riku struggle with the Toy Soldier. He watched as the silver haired teen tried using Dark Aura but was knocked back by the soldier's toy gun. The Heartless was about to attack again while Riku was off guard but the bullet ricocheted off of a sword and hit the Toy Soldier back, causing its Hp to drop to zero.

"Are you alright?" asked Dezerack, offering a hand to Riku.

The silver haired male only frowned and stood up himself. "Yeah, thanks," he replied.

"Did I displease you, Riku?"

"I could've handled that Heartless by myself. You didn't have to but in."

Dezerack stared at Riku for a moment before replying. "I'm sorry. You may punish me."

"What!? Why would I punish you?"

"I displeased you."

Riku was about to say something else when they heard what sounded like a tombstone hitting the floor and smashing, which was exactly what happened.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit it! It was an accident!" cried Kairi.

"I didn't think Kairi was so clumsy," Dezerack said, smiling. He noticed that Riku was staring at him strangely and quickly said something else. "Sora...he never told me that Kairi was clumsy."

Riku stared at Dezerack before saying: "Come guys, we should try and find Jack. I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

"When you say Jack, do you mean Captain Jack, or Jack Skeleton?" question Kairi, following Riku.

They soon arrived in town square to see that a meeting was going on. The mayor was stood at the front saying things through his megaphone. Goofy accidentally bumped into one of the vampires at the back of the crowd.

"Hey, watch where you are going," the vampire said with an accent.

"Whoops. Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt the meeting," the dog apologized, noticing that every Halloween character was staring at him.

"Donald, Goofy! I am so glad you're here!" the mayor cried, running towards them.

"It's the mayor," announced Donald.

"Yes, thank you for the introduction but I have some bad news. Jack and Sally are missing!"

"What!?" Donald and Goofy cried, stepping back.

"That's right, and since you have helped us so many times before, we were wondering if you could help find them."

"Jack and Sally are friends of Sora's. We should find them," stated Dezerack.

"Ok, we'll do it. We'll find Jack and Sally as fast as we can," replied Riku.

"But where could they be?" asked Goofy.

"Well we've already been to the graveyard and they weren't there."

"We should try Curly Hill. If they are not there, then we shall go to Christmas Town. They may be there," Dezerack answered. The others nodded and they began making their way to Curly Hill. On the way there, Riku looked up at Dezerack.

"Hey, Dezerack," he said, receiving a look from said man. "How do you know Sora?"

Dezerack looked ahead. "He...he was good to me when no one else was. I thought that I was just someone that had no meaning; no purpose. But when I met Sora, he made me feel like someone. Sora gave me a purpose. That purpose was to live, and to never think you don't mean anything."

Riku chuckled. "He made me feel a little like that. I guess we have something in common."

"Hey, what's the big idea!" a voice suddenly barked. It was Donald, and he seemed angry at something. The two men looked forward to see that the hill was no longer curly, but pointed straight upwards. Sat on top of the hill was a familiar skeleton. But something was different about him. His eyes seemed to glow a vicious red.

"It's Jack!" Goofy cried, pointing towards the skeleton. Jack looked at them before jumping down from the hill.

"Why hello, Donald and Goofy. It seems that there are some new faces here. But there won't be for long," he said, menacingly.

"Is something the matter, Jack? You seem different," stated Goofy.

"Oh I feel fine. Just fine."

Jack began moving backwards, confusing the others. But they soon realized why when Heartless appeared. There were five Wight Knights, three Creeper Plants and eight Neoshadows.

"Jack, what are you doing?" cried Riku, as his Keyblade appeared in his hand.

"Doing what I should have done a long time ago," replied Jack, an evil smirk playing on his lips.

"And what's that?" asked Kairi.

"Accept the darkness."

"'Accept the darkness?!' That's just pathetic!" Dezerack suddenly yelled. "You've seen what darkness can do. Take the Heartless for example. Do you really want to end up like one of them?"

"And just who are you to talk! By the looks of it, you've accepted darkness at some point too, am I correct?"

Dezerack gritted his teeth and tightened the grip on his sword that he didn't even know he had summoned until this moment. Riku stared at him. He could see the anger in the man's eyes.

"Who cares if you accept the darkness at some point in your life," he said, switching into a fighting position. "As long as you are helping the light at the time being, then you are part of the light."

"Riku..."

"Heartless, attack!" commanded Jack. The Wight Knights were first. They began spinning around, attempting to scratch their opponent but failed miserably. Kairi was the first to attack. She swung her Keyblade twice and the Heartless was gone, a heart slowly flying up towards the sky. Donald was next to attack, he used one thundaga and the Wight Knight was gone. Another heart flew into the sky. Goofy threw his shield at another Heartless, causing yet another heart to fly upwards. In one swift movement from both Riku and Dezerack, the other Wight Knights were gone, and two more hearts flew away. Jack suddenly burst out laughing.

"What're you laughing!?" snapped Donald.

"Look at them. So shiny and precious. These hearts are going to make a great part of Kingdom Hearts!" the skeleton laughed like a madman.

"That's right, the hearts!" cried Riku, looking up to where the last two hearts were now fading away.

"We have no choice but to lower our weapons," stated Dezerack, lowering his sword.

"No! We can't give up! Jack's in danger and we don't even know where Sally is!" Kairi cried out. "We have to keep on trying."

Dezerack looked down at her. "Is that what Sora would do?" he asked. Kairi nodded. "Very well. We shall defeat these Heartless and find a way to bring you back to the light, Jack!"

"Let's get 'em!" cheered Donald.

The five dashed towards the remaining Heartless, using everything they had to destroy the Heartless. More hearts flew into the air and disappeared. They knew the consequences, but they had to. It was the only way to bring Jack back to his usual spooky, Christmas obsessed self. Just as Dezerack was about to deliver the final blow on the last Heartless, a Toy Soldier, he lowered his sword and made a run for it.

"Dezerack! Where are you going?" Riku called after him. The man didn't stop. He continued running until he was out of sight. Riku growled and finished the Heartless off himself.

"Awww, my pretty little Heartless...destroyed by people like you," whined Jack, stepping forward. "Looks like I'll have to deal with you myself!"

Pumpkins began flying through the air, trying to hit the team of now only four. Goofy tried putting his shield above his head to protect himself, but the pumpkins hit him in the side. Donald tried zapping them wit thunder, but they just split into small pieces and still managed to hit him. Riku and Kairi began hitting the pumpkins with their Keyblades, knocking them back. Riku even managed to hit Jack with the pumpkins a couple of times. When the pumpkins were all gone, Riku turned to Jack.

"Jack, that—huh?" Riku looked around, but he couldn't find Jack at all.

"Riku! Look out!" cried Kairi. Riku quickly turned around but was knocked back by Jack. He was about to get up when he felt a skinny foot on his back. Another foot began kicking his hand that had the Keyblade in.

"Let go, you stupid brat!" Jack snapped, managing to get Way to Dawn out of Riku's hand.

"No!" But it was too late. Jack had already managed to take the Keyblade form Riku. Jack began inspecting it.

"This will do fine," he said.

"Fine for what?" questioned Riku.

"Why for my master, of course: Sora!"

Jack held the Keyblade above his head and swung it down on Riku's head, causing the silver haired teen to lose consciousness.

"No! Riku!" cried Kairi. She tried running over to him but was stopped by some more Heartless.

'Ugh...why does my head hurt so badly?' Riku asked himself inwardly. He tried to open his eyes and sit up, but found himself unable to do so. He tried calling out, but who would he call out to?

"Sora..." he managed to mumble. It was pretty strange since he knew that Sora wasn't there. He suddenly felt his strength come back to him, and he was able to open his eyes and sit up. Riku looked around and noticed that he defiantly wasn't in Halloween Town any more. Wherever he looked, everything was a yellowy color and everything looked cloudy.

"Riku..." a voice suddenly said. Riku looked to his right where the voice had come from and gasped.

"Sora!" he cried, hugging the boy in front of him: Sora. He didn't wear his usual black outfit. Instead he wore a black hoodie with a hood that looked like a Shadow's head, beige colored shorts and wore nothing on his feet.

"There isn't much time left," Sora said, pulling away from Riku.

"What do you mean? Sora, what's going on? Where are we?"

Sora dug into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a small chest. "I thought you could use this," he said, smiling. Riku took the chest and opened it.

"An Elixir? Sora, where did you get this?"

Sora didn't reply. He just closed his eyes and shook his head. He stood up and put his hood over his head, covering his eyes. Riku also stood up, about to ask Sora where everyone else was, but Sora placed a finger over his own lips and disappeared.

"SORA!!"

Riku shot up. He was sweating fiercely, and his breathing was heavy. He quickly looked around. The realization came to him that he was back in Halloween Town.

"Was that...a dream?" he asked himself, bringing a hand up to his forehead. He then noticed a small treasure chest in his hand. He opened to find the Elixir that Sora had given him. "It wasn't a dream!" he cried, getting to his feet. "Oh, that's right." Riku looked around again, but no one else was in sight. "Where are they?"

The silver haired male began walking away from Curly Hill, which had now turned curly again. He looked around when he reached the Graveyard. There didn't appear to be anyone there. He walked forward a little more until he came to a tree with a picture of a Christmas tree on it. What Riku found strange was that one of the decorations looked like a door handle. When he reached out and pulled, the picture of the tree opened as if it were a door. He looked inside, only to find it hollow. Just as he was about to walk away, he felt himself being pulled inside.

"Whoa!!"

Meanwhile, in Christmas Town, Jack Skeleton had tied Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Santa Clause to the merry-go-round. Many Heartless surrounded them, waiting for Jack to command them.

"Let us go!" the plump man said, sounding angry.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that," replied the skeleton. "You see, when it comes to capturing people like you, I must wait for my master's command."

"And just who is that?" snapped Donald, also struggling with the ropes.

"Have you not been paying attention, you roast dinner? My master shall soon be the master of everyone! And that is Sora!" Jack began laughing like a maniac.

"I don't think so!" a voice suddenly rebelled.

Jack turned around to see Riku. "You!? Don't even waste your energy. You don't even have your Keybla—"

As if on cue, Way to Dawn appeared in Riku's grasp. "What was that you were about to say?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking. In less than a second, Riku was right in front of Jack and hit him with his Keyblade, causing Jack to stagger back.

"Why you little!" Jack was about to command the Heartless to attack when he was hit by Riku's Dark Aura. He fell to the ground, clutching where he had been hit. "Master, help me," he begged, outstretching a hand to a shadowy figure the stood atop of one of the poles. A Keyblade suddenly stuck down in front of Jack.

"Look! Isn't that Sora's Keyblade?" Goofy questioned after being untied by Riku as well as the others.

"That's the Kingdom Key, alright," replied Riku with little hope in his eyes. The Keyblade in front of Jack suddenly lit up as did Jack, making him scream in pain. When the light disappeared, Jack fell unconscious.

"Jack!" a female voice cried. Sally came running up to Jack and kneeled by his side. Dezerack soon appeared as well.

"That's where you went. To get her, right?" asked Riku.

Dezerack nodded. "The evil in Jack has already been taking out, but small fragment are still attached to his heart. Without Sally, those fragments will grow until he is lost in darkness forever."

"Jack, please wake up," Sally begged, shaking his shoulder lightly. The skeleton soon let out a small groan. He looked up at Sally.

"Oh Sally, it feels like I've done something terrible. But I can't remember what it was," he said, sitting up.

"You gave into the darkness, Jack," replied Kairi.

Jack looked up at her. "Why hello. I don't think I've met you before. Are you a friend of Sora?"

"Yep. My name's Kairi." She pointed to Riku and Dezerack. "This is Riku, and this is Dezerack. I think you already know Donald and Goofy."

"Hiya Jack," Goofy said, smiling goofily of course.

The Keyblade that was in the ground suddenly disappeared, as did the shadowy figure.

"It looks as though Sora has fled," stated Dezerack.

"I wonder when we'll get to see him again," Kairi said.

The was a moment of silence shared between the group. After that moment was up, Jack spoke up.

"Are you five going to stay for a while? Or do you need to go and save another world?" he asked.

"We're probably going to have to go," replied Kairi.

"There a bunch of Heartless out there somewhere that could be destroying one of the worlds right now. So we need to go and get rid of 'em," said Goofy.

"And Sora's out there somewhere. We need to find him before he gives in to the darkness forever," added Riku.

"I completely understand." Jack nodded his head as he spoke. He walked closer to Riku and placed both hands on his shoulders. "Not long ago, Sora was here saying that he was looking for a friend of his. Now it looks like you're doing the same."

"Yeah. It's strange when you think about it, isn't it?"

Jack smiled, taking his hand off of Riku. "Good luck finding him. And when you do, please try and let me know, ok?"

Riku also smiled. "You'll be the first ones to know."

"Come. We must leave if we are to find Sora," stated Dezerack. The others nodded and began heading towards where they had landed the Gummi Ship. Dezerack didn't follow them.

"They don't know, do they?" Sally asked the cream haired sixteen year old. He turned to her with a confused look. "They don't know about you, don't they not?"

Dezerack stared at the ground in front of him. "As long as he holds the Kingdom Key, then I can do nothing. Only when he lets go of it is when I can act."

"Hey, Dezerack! Are you coming!" Donald called down from the top of Yuletide Hill.

"I bid you farewell Jack, Sally." Dezerack bowed before running to catch up with his friends so that they could all board the Gummi Ship.

Ooh. What was Sally talking about? And was that really Sora in Riku's dream? If you wanna find out, then keep reading.