Author's Notes

OMG!

That took forever to get out of me! At first it was a simple case of writer's block that escalated to a full on illness. Just when I got something done BAM! I got into a car accident and no longer have a functional vehicle. Goodbye fic-like goodness! Good morning rancid reality!

Hopefully I'll be a bit more regular after this. Please ignore the bad scene spacing, the site wouldn't let me fix it and for some strange reason it's not letting me use two punctuation marks.

BTW if I did own kingdom Hearts I wouldn't be in this mess. I'd be on a real life gummi ship creating totally nummy CGI films in the place of fanfiction.


Chapter 3

Sanctuary.

That was the feeling that filled Sora as he tumbled helplessly through the darkness, shielded from the brilliance of the world and enfolded by a cool wash of vivid purple and ebony oblivion. Tendrils of icy dusk twined around his strange new form, causing him to whimper from the hunger that each teasing brush evoked.

Stop!

Everything around him suddenly shivered in reaction to the rumbling laughter that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. He was almost immediately blinded by the sudden emergence of illumination into his line of sight, a sharp contrast to the twisting and warping of space from a few minutes ago.

When the spots cleared from his eyes he realized he was back at the keyhole and that the princesses were nowhere to be seen. Weakly stepping a few feet forward he gazed at the pulsating doorway and wondered where the voice he'd heard had come from.

I'M HERE SORA.

He whirled around quickly, tripping on his feet and falling to the ground. Shaking his head heartless Sora timidly looked toward the staircase that led toward the platform where a hooded figure stood there with a vortex acting as a backdrop behind…..him?

Who are you?

The figure raised a hand to the hood covering his face and pulled it back to reveal shimmering silver hair and an achingly familiar visage. Mouth curving in a depraved smirk his lashes fluttered almost coyly before opening completely to reveal one glimmering green eye and one pupil-less yellow, the same as any heartless.

"Your master."

-----

"Take that you freakishly deformed sonovabitchs! I'm gonna stick this spear so far up your-"

"Really Cid, is all that necessary?"

"Hell yea! These little fuckers fuckin fucked up my fucking machine!"

"OUR machine Mr. Highwind, if you recall I believe I was present during its conception."

"Fine our cre-fuckin-ation you damn loon."

"I BEG your pardon! I'll have you know you lumbering ruffian that-"

"Be quiet until we get to open ground."

Cid glared at the magician before raising his weapon, the Venus Gospel, and launching it at the throng of heartless blocking the alley entrance. Muttering under his breath Merlin calmly closed the entrance to the staircase before casting a whirlwind spell that cleared the rest of the way for them to maneuver into the alley, that, and allow for more drastic measures to be taken. Taking advantage of the short respite the three men rushed out to the alley and took position.

Merlin began casting in an unfamiliar language.

A deafening BOOM echoed down the cavern and the surrounding area. Flicking ash from the tip of his cigar Cid took hold of the shaft of his spear and dashed back not pausing as he jumped up and slammed the Venus Gospel into the crack made by Merlin's attack and ripping it out at an angle. The silence after the ensuing cave-in was broken by Leon's softly spoken statement.

"I hope you'll have an appropriate excuse when you tell the Godmother and Aerith about this."

He gestured to the rubble now beginning to block the water flow.

"Oh my."

"Fuck."

"Let's go."

Heading around towards the front of the hotel the trio noted the almost unnatural silence of the town in unvoiced concern. The sound of their scuffle should have drawn at least minimal attention from the others, if not the other guards than the girls. All was quiet and that was far more terrifying than anything else.

-----

Master?

Sora squeaked uncomprehendingly.

Riku? Is that you? Who-When-WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!

He demanded, his small, dark form shaking with unexpressed emotion. To him the form standing before him appeared to be Riku except there was no way that was possible! Feeling suddenly dizzy Sora struggled to stay on his feet as his vision shifted to that of a heartless and he took in the figure through eyes weighted down by weakness and hunger.

The portal swirling behind him writhed sinuously; occasionally lapping at Riku's cloaked form. The one bright yellow eye glittered with dark humor; the only real spot of color around him save for a seething blood red mass where his heart should be. Other details were blurred by the image of a man superimposed over him.

An eyebrow rose.

"You haven't figured it out yet have you Sora? Look around you, look at what you've become!" His arms rose in a dramatic gesture, one that indicated the room and everything in it, one that was out of character from the boy the keyblade master had grownup with.

Sora wanted suddenly to smack him but refrained due to the impossibility of the situation and the realization that he didn't trust himself. His instincts were screaming at him and he wasn't sure which urge was stronger, the need to feed or the knee jerk reaction to cower before the same dark brilliance.

I-I don't know.

"Then I will show you."

The sudden intent in Riku's gaze made Sora want to take a step back but he ended up falling forward onto his knobby heartless knees from vertigo instead. In the time it took Heartless-Sora to gather his wits and look back up the other boy was in front of him.

"Sora." It was gentle, almost beckoning.

"Look at me Sora."

He did and the memories drifting through his mind became as insubstantial as the darkness surrounding them, fading before pulsing of the heart in front of him and the weakness of his human mind.

"Come here."

A soundless whine escaped him as he crouched obediently.

"Come here and feed."

He leapt.

------

They were surrounded.

There was no escape and the tale would end here as our "heroes" perish honorably in an attempt to preserve the future of their world, the only thing left behind for those to face the wrath of the ever growing darkness is the love and hope that something will survive and rekindle the light living deep within the heart of the very darkness they fought itself, only to find despair.

Amusing as the thought was it did not fit into Ansems' current plans.

He'd thought the keyblademaster's comrades to be somewhat capable seeing as how they managed to come so far against him. It seemed, however, that the phrase "sheer dumb luck" did not describe them so much as they embodied the words themselves.

"My tail is on fire!" Donald ran in furious circles, attempting to put out the little flame.

"Gawrsh D! I didn't mean to reflect it THAT way." Goofy made as if to help dropping his shield onto his big toe in the effort, the result being a decidedly distinct cry that echoed throughout the waterfall area.

Imbeciles.

The attack pattern of the heartless changed and became more forceful and while the two furiously battling knight and mage couldn't tell it was obvious to Ansem that they were being herded.

That is, to the edge of the platform on the lip of the largest waterfall.

-----

Scrambling desperately up Riku's body Sora gave a growl of victory before plunging those tiny claws into his chest and doing exactly as his master bid, tearing into what lay before him and devouring that lies beneath. The feel of his preys' heart was exquisite.

Heat streamed through him, making him shudder and jerk with each successive surge of thick, salty sweet red. Every sense sharpened to an almost painful point and the hunger merely intensified, followed by an embarrassingly familiar ache he'd recognize as a human, but failed to understandin this new shape.

Had he been thinking clearly Sora would have realized that he was draining his best friend, consuming the power of his heart and slowly killing himat the moment however,he couldn't currently bring himself to care. The more he fed the hungrier he became and soon his world was narrowed down to the ragged gasps from the body pinned beneath him and the light pounding through his veins.

All that the heartless saw he could see but Sora didn't have the power to focus on just one thing.

Hollow Bastion was burning.

He saw himself falling, Kairi in his arms and his friends flailing on either side.

Countless figures in coats similar to Riku's watched him even as he watched them.

In his minds eye worlds he's never seen were opening themselves to him,

And his own eyes stared back at him from a strangers face.A girl sat on a white throne behind him.

Soradidn't know how long they stayed like that, only that a moment later, when the hunger abated and strength returned to him he seemed to be himself for the moment. The feeling of having a human body again was shock enough to make him look and see for certain that yes he was a boy again, even if his vision was that of a monsters and the tendrils of shadow surrounding his dark skin and black clothes were the same as those surrounding his master.

Blinking down into the eyes of said master, which were glowing with unholy triumph, he tensed. In that instance of returned comprehension Sora realized what it was he had just done, but before he could react a light intense to the point of pain blinded him. He could feel himself being torn away from his prey but was unable to struggle and then darkness called to him once more.

This time he went gratefully.

The last thing he heard before embracing unconsciousness was not-Riku's enraged proclamation of-

YOU!

And a squeaky but firm sounding voice.

"Something tells me things weren't supposed to turn out this way. Good thing we got here on time."

"Ready to go?"


What do you think? I finished this around 3 o' clock in the morning with NO BETA! (cries)

Originally "As The Keyblade Turns" was supposed to be a large scale Soap Opera parody of Kingdom Hearts featuring every single cliche you could think of.

Obviously it didn't turn out that way so this was the result of my wandering pen with plot possibilities roaming my head at random. Hopefully the slow start hasn't put too many of you off and you'll review.

Okay I re-uploaded thischapter like I have almost every other chapter in this fic> because even though I had no beta there were a few over obvious typos that my inner critic couldn't overlook.

BTW I'm putting up an off-shot to this fic titled "Feast" and yes ... it's a one-shot Yaoi SxR