"Oh boy," says the author, as she finishes playing Kingdom Hearts 2.8. "I can't wait to play Kingdom Hearts 2.9."

"Wait, wasn't there a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction I was supposed to be writing? Better get on that!" she says, as she waits another year to get on that.

A friendly reminder that I'm still alive, and this story is still SoraxOC. Enjoy!


Chapter 2: Let's Go Down Fighting

"Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'"

Ann Landers


My lungs burned from the cold air forced down my throat with each sharp intake of breath. The rain that had started out as a drizzle now came down in sheets, pelting my skin and stinging my eyes. Just as I suspected, when I arrived at the docks all three of my friend's boats were gone. I was now rowing as fast as I possibly could towards the play island.

The waves tossed and churned, making my heart stop with every tilt of the boat. Having grown up on an island, I was taught from a young age the proper way to tread water and what to do when your boat tips over, but I never got caught in a storm of this severity before. It looked as if the heavens themselves were splitting apart—

Wait, what the hell was that?

My arms stopped rowing for a second in my sheer stunned state. A large rift was growing in the sky, electricity dancing across its multi-colored surface. With every second it was growing larger, causing the winds to roar and the waves to hit against my boat even harder than before.

Alright, new plan. Get Sora, Kairi, and Riku then haul ass off the island. We needed to take cover in the storm shelter back on the main land. I felt a twinge of guilt at not having warned my parents I was leaving beforehand, but it was too late for that now. They'd forgive me eventually, once the initial danger had passed and we were all safe.

I struggled even harder against the ever-growing current of the ocean, slowly but surely making my way to the shore of the play island. I pulled my boat onto the sand, tying it alongside of the other three long abandoned by the looks of it. The rain had already filled the bottoms of their boats, sloshing as they rocked side to side in the winds.

Immediately glancing around, there wasn't anybody in sight. My feet moved on their own accord as I shielded my eyes, peering through the fog and rains to at least try and locate a hint of movement. As I neared the Seaside Shack, I spotted something darting to my side. Turning with a relieved sigh, I expected to be greeted with the face of one of my friends.

Instead, my gaze drifted downwards, my eyes widening at the monstrous creature emerging from a blackened portioned of sand. I backtracked rapidly, blinking hard and rubbing at my face, trying to convince myself this was just some visual hallucination.

As the thick black goop took shape into the creature from my nightmares, I had to accept this thing was somehow real. It crouched low to the ground, eyeing me hungrily with its beady yellow eyes as its claws unfurled and twitched.

"No way. No, this cannot be happening. This is not happening." I pinched myself, hard, but nothing changed.

Then suddenly the creature lunged at me and I lurched back—not fast enough. Its claws dug into my leg, tearing my clothes and drawing blood. I yelled in pain and stumbled back, landing heavily on the sand. Running on pure instinct, I delivered a quick kick to the creature. It fell back from me, but was seemingly unaffected by my attack. I felt the cold numbness of shock and fear envelop my system as I watched even more of the monsters emerge from the shadow the first creature cast. They all faced towards me.

"Power sleeps within you."

I lurched forward, my palm pressed to my forehead in attempts to lessen the pain that had suddenly exploded within it. That voice…

"Give it form."

I was completely frozen. I tried to get my brain to work with me, to move away from these creatures, but right now it was entirely focused on getting me to hold my hand in front of me. I obeyed the impulse, my palm displayed as if I was telling the creatures to halt.

I watched in some sort of fascinated trace as a light desperately spluttered in my outstretched hand, like a lighter refusing to work no matter how many times you flicked the spark wheel. Almost as if something was trying to appear within my curled fingers…

"Akira!"

A familiar voice roused me from this task, and I looked towards the source to see Sora waving his arms about wildly. Brown strands of hair were plastered to his face and his soaked clothes clung to his frame, making him appear even smaller than usual. This didn't stop him from rushing towards me at full speed, punting one of the creatures that got too close, probably while I was distracted from the small light show.

This jolted me out of my paralysis and I scrambled to my feet. Without another word, he grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the Seaside Shack. I let him tug me, still struggling against going auto-pilot to avoid facing the panic building up within me. As soon as we were inside of the shack, Sora slammed the door shut and barred it with his body.

"Akira, we," he broke off to wheeze, leaning the back of his head against the door, "we have to get out of here. Those things, I-I don't know how they got here but they're dangerous."

I simply stared at him. Everything about this felt so fake, I couldn't help but laugh slightly. These past few days had been strange, and I dealt with increasing levels of anxiety about our day of setting sail, but I couldn't imagine it would've led to this. Instead of acknowledging his warning, I mumbled, "Am I dreaming?"

He tilted his head, viewing me in a slightly worried manner. "No, you aren't. And trust me, I've already pinched myself. It didn't work."

My eyes darted down to the bruises on his arm, mirroring the ones starting to form on mine. The results of furiously trying to wake oneself from a nightmare.

Before we could say anything more, Sora's body jolted from something slamming into the door. We both immediately moved to push our body weight against it. "O-Okay, we have to go, but where are Riku and Kairi?"

"I don't know." Sora grimaced. "I went straight to the raft, but no one was there. On my way back I found you."

My heart fluttered in a nervous dance at this information. The island wasn't that big, and there weren't really that many places to hide. If Sora hadn't spotted them, they were either together and safe, or they were…

Another crash into the door resulted in the sound of cracking wood. Shadowed claws burst through the door causing both of us to instinctively reel back.

"To the Paopu tree," Sora commanded, grabbing my hand once again to lead me up the stairs.

"And then where?" I gasped, trying to steady myself against his pulling. "It's a dead end! If we jump into the sea with the waves like that we'll drown!"

"You'd rather stay with them?" Sora gestured backwards to the creatures who had now stormed the shack, prowling their way towards us. My hurried pace was enough of an answer.

Imagine our surprise when, upon bursting from the door and crossing the bridge, we found Riku already on the islet. He was standing eerily still, staring out at the raging ocean. It was enough to send both of us skidding to a halt.

We both simply stared in shock until the creaking of the wooden bridge behind us made me whirl around. The surprise of seeing Riku made me forget entirely about the hoard following after us. However, the shadows stopped before crossing to the sand of the islet, seeming to be unwillingly kept back by an unknown force.

When I turned back to Sora, he was almost to Riku's side. "Riku?" he called out to the unmoving figure, reaching a hand out. "You okay?"

Riku mumbled something, but the words were stolen by the roaring winds.

"Riku?" Sora tried again, finally placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I said the Door has opened, Sora!" Riku shouted forcefully, whipping around to face us. Sora snatched his hand back in surprise at his tone. Riku viewed us with wide, wild eyes. It was so different from his usual quiet smug look I couldn't help but feel disturbed.

"The…the Door?" I repeated my eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"Yes," Riku smiled, looking towards the Secret Place with a gleam of what looked like pride in his eyes. "I opened it. Now we can finally go to other worlds!"

"That doesn't make any sense at all, Riku," Sora said, trying once again to reach for his Riku's hand. "C'mon, we have to find Kairi and get out of here."

"We are getting out of here," Riku responded, letting out a bark of laughter while leaning away from Sora's touch. "And Kairi's coming with us."

"Riku, you're freaking us out," I said, stepping towards him cautiously.

Riku continued as if he didn't even hear me speak. "Y'know, once we step through, we might not be able to come back." He gestured nonchalantly up towards the sky, to the rift that had slowly grown to encompass the entire sky over the island. Sora and I had our eyes glued to the swirling hole in the sky as Riku continued on his tirade.

"We may never see our parents again. There'll be no turning back. It's something we all knew, but were unwilling to accept. Now's the time to face it head-on—we can't let fear stop us!"

My heart was beating wildly out of control at the revelation occurring from Riku's speech. This was it, we were leaving the Islands. Forever. Kairi's words from yesterday replayed over and over again in my head as I tried to digest this news.

"I'm scared that once we leave, we'll never be able to come back."

Now that we were finally faced with it, I realized I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to never see my parents again, I didn't want to leave the sounds of the ocean behind, I didn't want to be thrust into the throes of an adventure we were barely prepared for.

"I'm not ready," I whispered, unable to stop the words from escaping my lips.

"It's too late," Riku sighed, closing his eyes. When they opened again, they were more Riku than the wild creature who had taken him over a few moments ago. As he extended a hand towards us, a dark portal suddenly burst to life under his feet. Sora and I jumped back with started yelps, our eyes widening as the tendrils from this pit wrapped around Riku's legs, dragging him downwards.

"You shouldn't be afraid of the darkness," Riku said, his fingers splaying as he reached further for us. Anyone passing by would've mistaken this gesture as a plea for help, but Riku's face was unnaturally calm. He knew what was happening, he accepted it.

That didn't mean Sora and I had. We exchanged glances that communicated the same idea. In a flash, we lashed out and both grabbed his hand, digging our feet into the sand as we desperately tried to pull him from the fray. He remained unmoving, and made no acknowledgement to our efforts to free him.

It wasn't until a burning sensation pricked at my legs that I realized the dark pit had been slowly extending outwards. Sora and I were now sinking lower into the darkness, and it felt like my legs had just been stuck in a bucket of dry ice. I hissed against the burning pain, struggling to pull my leg out of the pit. When I raised it, the tendrils stuck to me like tar, jerking me back down to the endless black.

My eyes darted towards Sora, who had received the same treatment. We were now submerged up to our stomachs, and the black had creeped up Riku's arm, tying all our hands together and spiraling towards our faces.

I rocked in a frenzy to escape, the impassive gaze of Riku finally disappearing under the black ink, drawing us down with him. At this point, both Sora and I had depleted our strength for escape. My breathing turned to gasps for air, struggling to stay above the surface. "Sora," I called out, doing my best to turn my head towards him.

"I'm here," was his labored response.

"Are we gonna die?"

"No," he said, having to cough and strengthen his voice before speaking again, as if affirming it to himself. "No, we're not."

"I had a dream like this," I spoke rapidly, like I was admitting this with a guilty conscience. "The monsters, the pools of darkness, everything was in it. So m-maybe we'll wake up after it's over."

He gave me a strained smile. "Sounds good, see you then?"

We slipped under before I could give him my response.

Pressure surrounded me on all sides, closing in on me. My head felt light as my body went limp, giving into the pull of the abyss.

Floating, lost in a sea of darkness. All my senses were fading away, and yet, there was something that kept me from being swallowed whole. An insistent tugging at my right hand, annoying me just enough to pull me back from the brink.

I raised it slowly, viewing my glowing palm with a burning curiosity. I could feel the pressure lessening around my arm, as if the shadows were pulling away from me, dismayed by this expression of light.

"Keep your light burning strong."

The Voice from my dream, I could hear it clearly now. All those thousands of voices whispering in unison filled me with a strange sense of peace. It was then I remembered the one piece of my dream I seemed to have forgotten. The sword. In the dream it was summoned into my right palm, the same one that had been bothering me all night. I wonder…

I extended my palm outwards once again. With the flick of my wrist, my fingers closed around a familiar weight. I raised the weapon I now grasped in my hands and used all my remaining strength to deliver a mighty slash downwards. The blade tore a hole through the fabric of the darkness, revealing a way out. I could hear an inhuman screech echoing in my ears as I stepped through the rift and back onto the islet.

The cold air shocked my senses, and I immediately drew in the salty air greedily, not even realizing I had been holding my breath. As I regained my strength, my gaze drifted to the weapon I now clutched. It wasn't like the sword from my dream at all, and yet it glowed with the same faint light. Wings formed a guard around the handle I held, and golden heart dangled from this guard like a keychain. The blade that stretched forward had a curled heart jutting out from its side, acting as the teeth of the weapon. The longer I stared at it, the louder the whispers in the back of my mind got, until the roaring of the storm overhead faded entirely, replaced by the soft spoken words.

"Heartblade…"

"Heartblade?" I repeated out loud, too absorbed in the majesty of the weapon to realize another portal had formed behind me. A figure flew from it and smacked into me, sending us both falling to the ground. I heard Sora groaning above me and pushed myself to my knees, forcing him to roll off me.

"What just happened?" Sora mumbled, holding his head as if it ached. In his other hand, he held a very strange (and yet so familar?) key-shaped sword. Golden guards protected the hilt as a silver blade stretched forward. Four prongs pointed outwards at its tip, like the teeth of a key.

"Is that a Heartblade too?" I pointed towards his weapon which he viewed with a curious stare, as if he didn't even realize he was holding it.

"I…I don't know."

We didn't have long to contemplate them.

The creatures must've gotten wind of our scent, as they suddenly emerged from puddles of darkness all around us. Sora and I scrambled to our feet, facing them with our backs barely touching. Suddenly the Heartblade launched itself forward, making me almost lose my grip on it. I desperately held onto the hilt as it impaled one of the creatures, making it dissipate into dust.

Sora and I stared at the spot it disappeared from, our mouths slightly parted in shock. The other creatures hissed at their companion's disappearance, seeming to be withdrawing from us. A lone shadow suddenly flung itself from the restless crowd and Sora moved faster than I'd ever seen him move to slash through it in mid-air.

Sora looked back at me, and slowly our gaping morphed into wicked grins. Right now, it didn't matter what these weapons were. The important thing was that they could kill these monsters. It was payback time.

Sora and I leapt forward, our war cries ringing in the air as we brought our new weapons down onto the heads of the creatures. A thrill ran through my body each time the Heartblade tore through one of the monsters, but the satisfaction didn't last long. For every one that we killed, two more took its place.

We were pushed backwards towards the bridge as the islet became overflowing with the shadows, our footsteps in tandem and our blades held out defensively.

"What now?" I cried.

"We get Kairi and get back to the island," Sora answered.

"I meant a more immediate plan."

"Run," Sora answered. Without another word, we turned and fled towards the stairs of the Seaside Shack, flinging the door open and escaping back onto the shore. We didn't say anything about where Kairi may be hiding, and yet we both instinctually headed towards the Secret Place. As we neared it, our weapons both went crazy, tugging and pointing, directing us towards the small entrance.

When we finally dove inside the safety of the Secret Place, the shadows that had been following us halted. They weren't coming inside of the cave. Just as before, some sort of power seemed to be preventing them from stepping forward. I took a moment to stare at their twitching antenna and beady eyes before Sora called me back to reality.

It was eerily quiet, even as the storm howled outside. The wind echoed through the cavern, sounding faintly like a monster screaming in the distance. I became aware of myself trembling, but I knew it wasn't from the cold that permeated my bones. Sora could feel this too and paused to grab my hand before continuing forward.

As we finally emerged from the narrow passage Sora stopped walking without warning, making me run into his back. He tensed and I held my weapon tighter, preparing for a fight. However, Sora sighed in relief, and I glanced over his shoulder to see Kairi standing near The Door. Her hands were braced against the wood, almost as if she was keeping it shut.

"Kairi!" he shouted, stepping forward. "C'mon, we have to leave now! These things are attacking the island and Riku...listen we just have to go, okay?!"

Kairi didn't move at all and I felt unease rising in my stomach. As Sora moved to step towards her, I grasped his hand tighter and tugged him back.

"Sora…there's something wrong…" I whispered. He gave me a strange look and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the shuffling of shoes.

Kairi slowly turned around to face us, and when she did my heart dropped. Her face was pale and her eyes were devoid of any light. She held a hand out as if asking for help while the other still lightly brushed against the wood frame of The Door.

The faint sounds of hissing and scuffling reached my ears and I peered back the way we had come to see the shadows crawling through the tunnel, as if the invisible wall had finally fallen and allowed them entrance. We were being closed in. Sora and I both held our weapons at the ready, backing up towards Kairi.

"Akira..."

I glanced over my shoulder to look at Kairi in surprise. Her voice was raspy and weak, and I could barely hear what she was saying.

"...You gotta...help."

As she took another step forward, her hand finally dropped from The Door.

It immediately swung open with a massive bang, making us flinch back as a thick hot wind poured from gaping hole in the cave wall. At the center of the inky blackness was a large pulsating light. With each beat another wave of energy flew at us, making our hair and clothes whip wildly around. One of these gusts caused Kairi to slip, her body falling forward as she made no moves to steady herself. Sora was there to catch her, but her body simply phased through him and disappeared.

We stood there in shock, gazing at his hands where her body should have been, before another gust sent him sliding back. I braced myself against him, stopping him from being knocked down completely. The hissing of the creatures suddenly echoed louder than ever, and I watched with some sense of foreboding as they completely ignored us and entered the doorway, heading towards the large light.

Everything afterwards seemed like it happened in slow motion. The shadows swarmed the light, covering every surface until no more of it could be seen under the twitching bodies. As soon as this happened, an explosion rocked the cave, creating massive cracks in the ground. The power of the explosion sent Sora crashing into me, causing my concentration to break and the Heartblade to disappear. It was like we were caught in a tornado, violent winds sent us painfully tumbling back through the Secret Place's tunnel.

I grunted as I landed on my back hard, the breath forced out of my body. Every part of me was aching, and I fought against the urge to pass out. Eventually the pain faded, and as I opened my eyes and rolled to my knees I almost wished I had lost consciousness.

The same monster that had swallowed my shadow in the dream now towered before me. It stood at least twenty feet tall, the tendrils around its head waving languidly as it gave me an emotionless stare. Behind me I heard Sora cry out in surprise, but as I looked back at him I could see it was from a different reason.

The piece of beach we were currently on was floating in midair. The play island, our home for years, was gone. I couldn't even see the main land in the distance. The rift in the sky was like a black hole; it was slowly sucking in the pieces of land that broke apart from the explosion. There was no escape.

The wind was whipping around us so ferociously I was afraid to stand up, thinking it would just carry me off. When I finally managed to stand, the monster took notice and swung a massive hand to crush me. I felt something hit my side, sending me sprawling back, and heard the boom as the monster's hand collided with the ground, causing that part of the island to break off and zoom towards the black hole.

Sora had tackled me out of the way and was now standing above me with a determined look on his face. One hand was extended towards me while the other held the mysterious weapon from earlier. "I'm not going down easy," he muttered.

"Let's go down fighting then," I responded, placing my hand in his. His serious expression softened slightly at my ready agreement. He pulled me up, readying his weapon and running towards the nightmare without another word.

I looked down at my empty hand and concentrated on the image of the blade that came to my aid before. As I pleaded to whatever power had granted me the Heartblade, I felt a weight appear in my hand. I curled my hand around the solidified weapon and ran to Sora's aid.

As I reached the monster, I swung the end of the Heartblade into its leg, which didn't seem to faze it at all. I had to dig my feet into the sand and struggle to pull the Heartblade back out. When it finally came free, it did so with a sickening sucking sound, and the wound in the monster's skin instantly sealed itself. I stared at the Heartblade in disbelief, wondering what good it was for, until a swift kick to the stomach sent me flying. Another tumble against the sand, another moment of fighting against black spots in my vision.

I groaned in pain, using the Heartblade as a crutch to slowly stand back up. "Go for its face!" Sora called out to me, swiping his blade at the giant hand reaching for him. How? I wanted to scream at him, but I was stopped as he jumped onto the monster's hand.

He ran up its arm and delivered a fierce blow to its beady yellow eye. The monster gave an inhumane scream and reached up to hold its face. "Yeah, how's that?" Sora yelled, giving it another hit. "I didn't spend all that time sparring with Riku for nothing!"

"Sora, look out!" I called out a warning but it came too late, the monster swatted Sora from its face. I ran and dove to break his fall, grunting as he came crashing down on top of me.

He gave me an apologetic look but couldn't say anything; we had to scramble out of the way of another hand smash. It seemed the island was becoming smaller and smaller with each hit from it. I swallowed my fear, trying to be brave like Sora. It was either dying by this monster's hand or dying by falling to our deaths...but then again either way was not a good outcome.

As the hand readied to give another crushing blow, I quickly stepped in front of Sora and stuck the Heartblade straight up. The monster brought its hand down and impaled itself on my weapon, which caused it to jerk back in pain. Unfortunately, my sweaty hands lost their grip on the blade, and it went with the monster as it toppled backward, sending a shock wave that knocked both Sora and I off our feet.

My blood ran cold as I realized the island was now damaged beyond repair. I watched as the black hole sucked in the giant monster, along with most of the ground on which we were standing. I only had a few moments to realize my blade was still stuck in the monster's hand, but my attention was redirected to Sora's shout. The ground he was on was crumbling away, and I made a mad grab for his hand, pulling him away just as it broke from under him.

The suction from the hole in the sky was a lot stronger now, and I felt my body lifting from the ground. "It's sucking us in!" I raised my voice to the wind and pulled Sora closer to me, and we clung to each other as our hands searched for a perch on the ground. Eventually we both managed to grab onto a tree root sticking out from the sands (the paopu tree?) and held on for dear life as the wind raged and the rest of our world fell apart.

"At least," Sora yelled out, "we really did go down fighting!" I stared at him in disbelief as he gave me a small smile. I had to let out a laugh at this, blinking away the water that blurred my vision.

"Yeah...yeah we did."

A cracking sound made both of our heads whip towards the root we were using as our life line. Our bodies were now entirely lifted off the ground, and it looked like the tree couldn't hold both of our weights for much longer.

"Meet me in whatever afterlife there is Sora!" I shouted, giving him a hard stare to let him know I was serious. "Promise me!"

He stared back at me, his smile fading slightly before he nodded. "I promise."

As luck would have it, as soon as he made the promise our lifeline broke. We were sent hurtling into the air, and I couldn't stop a scream from escaping my mouth as we were enveloped by darkness.

KH

"Hmm?" Goofy paused midstride to look up at the sky, his leg hanging in the air. Donald let out an annoyed sigh as he stared at the dog, waiting for him to say something.

After a few seconds, Donald's patience wore out, and he let out a growl. "What is it Goofy?"

Instead of answering, Goofy merely pointed upwards. Donald tilted his head, searching the sky for what had his teammate so dumbfounded. He didn't have to search long. One of the stars in the sky was shining bright, brighter than it should normally be. "A star is goin' out!" Goofy said.

It flickered, once, twice, then it was gone. The night sky returned to normal, minus one star.

Donald let out a worried sigh; another star disappearing meant another world lost to the darkness. "C'mon, let's hurry," he commanded.

Goofy nodded, and together they set off further into town, once again searching amongst the lost souls who found themselves in Traverse Town. It was never a place to stay for long, as this world only appeared to those who needed refuge. Since the epidemic of worlds disappearing started, Traverse Town suddenly became bustling with activity. Despite this, however, the two keys mentioned in the King's letter were never among them.

"Where are those keys…" Donald grumbled to himself. Once again, a search of the newest refugees brought nothing.

"Hey you know, maybe we ought to find Leon," Goofy suggested. Donald said nothing; he simply huffed at the idea of asking someone else for help in doing his job.

Goofy suddenly became aware that they were minus one and looked around for the King's dog, Pluto. The yellow dog was deep in concentration, sniffing at the ground. Goofy felt the gears turning in his head, and he mentioned this to Donald.

"Uh, Donald…Ya know, I betcha that—" Pluto knows where these keys are, is what he was going to say. Instead, Donald interrupted with a witty "Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?"

This caused Goofy pause. He placed a hand on his chin and scratched it pensively, completely forgetting about Pluto. "What do I know?" he asked himself. After thinking about his general knowledge for a few more seconds, he gave a halfhearted call for Pluto to catch up before setting off with Donald once more.

Pluto, however, was too busy following the trail. He smelled something familiar, something that smelled like his missing master. Upon arriving at the end of the trail, he gave a confused bark. The boy laying sprawled on the ground was not his master. He was too young and too…not mouse-like.

Despite this, Pluto gave the boy a friendly lick on the face to rouse him. When that didn't work, he licked him again. Then a third time. Finally, the dog barked right in the boy's ear. The boy groaned and slowly opened his eyes, reaching up to cover his ringing ear.

The dog happily wagged his tail as he waited for the boy to come to fully.