Author's Note: I think this is going to be a very short story compared to my other ones, but that's not a bad thing! I hope you all enjoy, please read and review. Please? Not begging!
Sora stood in front of Maleficent, swaying slightly as he held the keyblade. He blinked several times and swallowed, resisting the urge to spit. He wanted to… to purge himself of the hate inside him.
He hadn't expected it. He'd expected a feral edge of enjoyment in hurting his oh so pretty other self, but he hadn't expected his real reaction when he saw them playing on the beach. He hadn't expected the hatred that had boiled up like lava, a dark, sick, powerful emotion that had made him shake and sweat. At that moment he'd wanted to do more than hurt his double, he'd wanted to kill him. And he'd wanted to do the same to Riku, for being there and caring about a more perfect him. The only one his hatred had spared had been Kairi.
That hatred had led him to play with the other Sora. He should have just taken the keyblade and jumped into the darkness as Maleficent had shown him, but he hadn't. He'd toyed with the boy and then, out of nothing but malice, broken his jaw and shoved him off the cliff. Riku had caught him, so he was sure his other self was alive, but hurting. And that was good.
But the voice of his conscience would give him no peace, telling him sternly that what had happened to him wasn't their fault. And the depth of his hate had frightened him.
"That was very foolish." Maleficent finally said, her eyes glittering as she looked at him. He could only nod. He had let his hate rule him. "Sora saw you, although it's quite likely he won't realize what you are." Sora nodded again. He wondered what his double would make of what he saw. Would he think he was a copy, like the Riku Replica? He smiled nastily at the thought. If his other self thought that, he'd be entirely unprepared for the truth. Maleficent had explained the concept of shadow worlds to him. "Still. Remember, if you allow the darkness in your heart to grow too much, it will consume you." Sora swallowed at that, then nodded again. "Now… go to your room, rest, and practice with the keyblade. There will be other tasks soon."
"Yes, Maleficent." He finally spoke, and left. Maleficent watched him go thoughtfully. There was so much darkness in the boy… yet such a strange core of light.
He would have to be watched carefully.
Sora slowly ran his fingers over the Kingdom Key as sat at Namine's old desk, thinking.
The key felt good in his hands, as if it was meant to be there. Which was odd… he recognized the keyblade of course. It was the one Riku had used, during his brief stop in Nazarethim. It made him wish he knew more about what had happened to Riku and if he had finally found Kairi's heart. If only he knew what happened in his world maybe he would understand why the key felt so… right. And he really wanted to know, because it worried him.
Maleficent had been sure he would be able to steal the key from his other self because they were, essentially, the same person. Sora hadn't mentioned it to her, but after touching the key he wasn't so sure that was what had happened. He thought the key had chosen to come with him for some reason. And that was worrying, because what if the key chose to go back… probably at a very bad moment? He couldn't afford to trust it, but he needed to use it to do what Maleficent wanted. Sighing, he picked up the keyblade and began to practice. Swordwork was completely unfamiliar to him. A thief's weapon was a knife or a blackjack, something easy to hide. Although… the keyblade was very easy to hide, too. Sora smiled bleakly at the thought. It was a good weapon for a thief.
For a while, as he practiced, he thought of nothing else but the weapon and how to use it. But after so long in Nazarethim, where he had few friends and even fewer entertainments, Sora had developed a tendency towards introspection. And he couldn't put off thinking about it forever.
"I'm so jealous." He whispered to himself as he struck out with the blade at nothing, trying to adapt his knife fighting to a longer blade. "Why is he perfect and I look like this?"
Because he didn't have cancer. It's just a trick of the body… he got lucky and you didn't.
"It's not fair." Sora surprised himself with the bitterness in his tone. He'd thought he was past expecting things to be fair… but then, this was himself. The unfairness was much harder to swallow.
Life isn't fair… and what you're doing to him now is even more unfair. He didn't do anything to you.
Sora closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. That was very true. But… "I need the money. I need to get my face fixed. And if he hasn't done anything to me, he hasn't done anything for me. I owe him nothing." That was all true.
Then you need to try not to hate him. And not break his bones for fun. Sora flinched at that thought. His conscience could be pretty nasty sometimes.
"I'll try." He wasn't certain how well he would succeed. The emotions his other self stirred in him were just too powerful. But he would try. It was the least he could do.
Sora opened his eyes, and saw nothing but a blur. Struggling to focus, he finally made out a silver haired boy over him… "Riku?" He managed to say. His face felt stiff and sore, and had the tingling feeling he associated with many healing spells cast quickly.
"Thank goodness." Riku's strong arms were around him, helping him sit up, and Sora rested his head on the silver haired boys' chest. "That little bastard broke your jaw, and he could have broken more if I hadn't caught you. What did he look like? If you can talk." The healing spells would have put Sora's jaw back together, but it would still be painful for a while. Sora's eyes widened, and he disregarded the pain.
"Riku, it was me! He looked just like me except… his face. There was something wrong with his face! He wore a scarf over the lower half of his face." Riku blinked and looked at Kairi. She was kneeling beside him, holding Sora's hand. She frowned, thinking.
"Organization 13 is gone, but they were working on that replication project… maybe this is something else they made?" Riku nodded as Sora looked uncertain.
"That would explain a lot. And that means Maleficent must be behind this." She had the Organization's old castle. She could easily have found and released anything they had left behind. "Or… maybe he's just acting on his own." The Riku Replica had gotten his own ideas of what to do, so maybe Maleficent had just released this one and wasn't in control. "Either way, we should probably go to Castle Oblivion to find out what's going on."
"Not just yet." Kairi said firmly. "Sora needs time to heal." It would take at least a day for the healing spells to fully fix Sora's jaw. It had almost been shattered; the boy had hit him so hard. Sora nodded in heartfelt agreement. He didn't feel like moving at all… Riku's arms around him were so comforting. Riku sighed, and leaned down to gently kiss Sora on the forehead.
"Alright. I'll carry him home." Sora blushed and squirmed as Riku stood, picking him up.
"I don't need to be carried!" But Riku only smiled at him.
"But I want to carry you." Sora subsided, but gave the silver haired boy a glare. That only made Riku smile more. He and Sora had been intimate for perhaps a year, and he liked to sometimes coddle the younger boy… and it always irritated Sora. It was very cute, although Riku took care not to overdo it. The one time he had, Sora had finally ambushed him in the bathroom and shown an unexpectedly dominant side of him. Riku shivered slightly in pleasure at the memory.
Actually, maybe he should overdo it. That had been fun. Distracted by the pleasant thoughts, Riku stopped thinking about the thief. They could deal with that tomorrow.
Sora stood in front of Maleficent, waiting for her instructions. She eyed him a moment, then pulled out a magical cube. Inside it was a particularly beautiful flower. The petals were a luminous white and the throat was blood red.
"This is what I want you to do. Sora and Riku will be leaving the Destiny Islands… and perhaps that appalling girl too. Plant this flower on Riku before they go. The cube is magical, it will vanish as soon as it touches him. Make sure this is done before they go." Sora frowned faintly, but nodded and took the flower.
"Yes, Maleficent." He vanished into the darkness, and Maleficent smiled.
It was so nice to have competent help that asked no questions.
hr
Sora skulked in a tree overhead as Riku and Sora talked. His heart ached as he heard the gentle teasing… it reminded him so much of when he and Riku had been on speaking terms. That six month silence between them before the darkness had devoured the Destiny Islands had been… painful. Very painful. At least in Nazarethim, he hadn't avoid looking at the silver haired boy all the time.
Sora pulled out the flower and stared at it. Maleficent didn't know that he hadn't asked questions because he already knew the answers. He wasn't a drug purveyor or addict, but he'd done enough business with Harry over the years for sleeping tonics and painkillers that he could recognize most of his stock. And Harry always kept these in stock. They were highly popular with some of his most elite clientele.
Glory Blooms, as they were called, had to be handled very carefully. Special, non-permeable gloves were required and a special cleaning solution for the knife you used to section the bloom. Harry mostly sold them whole to his clients and let them do that themselves, since the flowers began to whither quickly when they were sectioned. But sometimes a whole group of wizards bought one and had it sectioned ahead of time so they could each just pick up their piece.
Glory Blooms were a drug for wizards. On contact with flesh, the bloom vanished, releasing its toxins into the bloodstream of the person in contact with it. The result was an euphoric high, but that was only a side effect. The reason wizards used it was the tremendous, although temporary boost in magical power it gave. The Glory Blooms were pure magic. Maleficent had probably had this one in storage for her own use, and decided to use it in a new fashion.
Sora's hand shook as he held out the cube. He only had to drop it. Riku was directly below him. It would land right on his head and hair didn't matter for a Glory Bloom. But Harry did so love to talk, so Sora knew what would happen then. Overdoses of Glory Bloom were the stuff of nightmares, so he always cautioned his clients very carefully on correct handling… but a few were careless, and Harry had lost some clients that way. He had cheerfully related how the wild magic would reduce the body to nothing but a puddle… but not quickly or painlessly. Not at all.
For the very first time, Sora was contemplating killing someone in cold blood. He had killed before, but mostly bully boys and drunks who had gotten too friendly despite the face. They had been directly trying to harm him. This was entirely different.
Who could love a face like that?
Sora's eyes hardened and the hatred welled up. It would serve Riku right. And his double could suffer as he had suffered…
No Sora STOP it's not right and it's NOT THEIR FAULT! The voice inside him screamed at him in a voice that was oddly like Kairi's, and Sora blinked, shocked back to sanity. The hatred vanished as if it had never been, leaving a sick, trembling void behind. Had he really almost done that? With an oath, he threw the cube away. The two boys on the beach looked up at the sound and immediately spotted him overhead. His other self began to say something, but he didn't stay to listen, vanishing into the darkness.
"You didn't carry out your mission." Maleficent stared at him, her face expressionless and her tone cold as ice. Sora stared back, unafraid.
"No." He sounded hoarse as he spoke. "I know what Glory Bloom is. I know what it does. I couldn't. That's vile." Maleficent finally showed some expression… disgust. Then she sighed.
"Well, fortunately, there is a backup plan. Although you will no longer be a willing participant." Sora tensed and tried to open a corridor to darkness… and found that he was blocked. He swallowed, then stood proud and straight. If she was going to kill him, he would meet his fate with dignity. "You've broken our agreement, and it's null and void. So now…" She gestured, and dozens of Heartless appeared. Sora summoned the Kingdom Key to meet them.
They attacked with lightning speed, and he was quickly hard pressed. He'd never used a sword before and his practice just wasn't enough. But more than that, they just kept coming. He smashed them to the ground, one after another, but there were more. Finally, he was simply overwhelmed… but they didn't kill him, just held him, and he squirmed as Maleficent began casting a spell. It burned on his skin like acid, and for a moment he felt a strange… something. Ghostly sensations on his skin. Then Maleficent started another spell, and he swallowed as a single Heartless… changed. It changed into a black, lightless version of himself.
"You know what to do." She said to that Heartless, and it nodded. "Take him away." The other Heartless dragged him off, and Sora wondered what was going on.
He had the distinct feeling that he didn't want to know, but was going to find out anyway.