Disclaimer: You KNOW, for Goodness' sake.

Author's Rambles: Yeah, well, sue me. My mind declared it was on hiatus about three weeks ago... and I only just convinced it to come back and wor-does anybody actually read this thing?

By the way... This story is dedicated to Smoe for being a wonderful reviewer and inspiring me to continue poking my neuro matter for this stuff.

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Chapter Seven: Hope?!

Sora stared at his blackened blade, his mouth opening and closing, no words coming out. Oathkeeper... what happened to it? Was all he could think, over and over again.

"Jeez Sora... That's not right. What'd you do to it, forget to clean it?" Riku joked half-heartedly. The store owner only muttered under his breath and made a funny sign on his chest, one Riku and Sora recognised as a sign against evil.

Sora glared at Riku. "That's not funny, you know! It feels sick!" He didn't know how to describe the feeling that he got from the link he had to this blade. As he held it, it seemed to burn and freeze his hand at the same time, and felt as if it was covered in a coat of oily, greasy stuff. Just holding the weapon made him want to retch. He quickly banished the blade, tears streaming down his face. "Riku, what do I do now? I-I think that was the darkness... But why?"

Riku crossed his arms, thinking hard. The store owner looked from one teen to the other, then suddenly held a hand up as if getting an idea. "I know! I can release a new series of figurines! Darkened Keymaster, I'll call it!" he crowed proudly, clearly envisioning himself making millions from his new idea.

Riku groaned, grabbed Sora by the collar and hauled him out the shop. "Come on, let's go find a better place to talk about this."


The white-haired teenager reclined on top of the tall building, looking out over the view. It was nearly moonrise that selfsame night, and Riku had managed to climb up the tallest building in the fortress town called 'Haven', and was looking out over the expansive plains beyond the city walls. Behind him, if he looked carefully, he could have seen the Islands that were a perversion of his homeland, but looking at them made him want to cry. And Riku never cries. Ever. Period. So he simply chose not to look at the Islands, instead looking out over their new home. It was clear that Sora couldn't stay within Haven's walls, so they would have to go outside.

"I bring food!" came Sora's happy voice from behind him. Riku turned, his gaze drifting to the two steaming hot wraps in Sora's hands.

"How did you get up here carrying those things, hmm?"

Sora glanced down at the two wraps, then back over his shoulder at the wall he had just ascended. His face turned back to Riku, a blank look splashed across it. "I... jumped, I think," he laughed, handing a wrap to Riku. "So, what do we do now?"

Riku took a bite of the wrap, pleasantly surprised by the lamb inside, It was lightly spiced, hints of turmeric and sage. He hadn't tasted anything quite like it since he had left the Islands. "Well... I don't think we can stay here," he said slowly. "See, the Heartless follow the keyblade's scent, or something like that. The darkness is attracted to them. Something to do with their nature."

"So, staying here would put the people in danger?" Sora finished, just wanting confirmation.

"If we haven't already, yeah. On top of that is the fact that if you transform, you make no distinction between human and Heartless, so you'll be a danger as well," Riku explained, taking another bite of his wrap. "So we have to leave as soon as possible."

Sora didn't reply, he just stared glumly at his wrap. When no words were forthcoming, Riku turned to his friend. "C'mon, cheer up! Don't worry about it, we'll fix that together!"

"I s'pose..." Sora replied quietly.


They stood at the front gate once more, looking out over the barren landscape in front of them. Haven was indeed a 'haven', as outside its walls was nothing but desert. And heartless. Sora shrugged. "C'mon, Riku. Never a better time to start than now." He jerked his backpack into a better position and began to march steadily out into the landscape.

Riku started. He's in a hurry. Can't say I blame the kid. He quickly slung his backpack onto his back and hurried after the brunet.

For how long they walked, neither could tell. Soon Haven was a lingering dot on the horizon, the unchanging landscape of low hills and spots of scrub surrounding them completely. Riku had nothing but the sun (when it came out from behind the grey-green clouds) and a map to guide him. Thankfully, the sun rose in the north for some peculiar reason, so he had no trouble guiding himself and Sora.

Eventually he grew tired of Sora's stoic silence. "Hey bud, c'mon, liven up! Out here, it doesn't matter any more!"

Sora's face spun around, staring at the silver-haired teen. "Wh-what do you mean, it doesn't matter?"

Riku grinned. "Because there's nobody out here for the darkness to hurt! Here we can be anybody, do anything, and nobody can possibly get injured! So don't worry about that!" It sounded lame, even to him.

Sora shook his head. "Riku... I still don't wanna transform, ever again. Not if I can help it." He turned and stared fixedly ahead. "I... I don't want to be the darkness any more. It-It scares me."

Riku smiled. "I know, it scares me too. Shocking, huh?" he said, trying to elicit a laugh from his friend. "But... still... I don't think there's a way out of here. I mean, there's no other gate into the realm of darkness, right? Didn't you seal them all?"

Sora was quiet for a moment longer. Suddenly an idea came to him, and a grin lit up his sombre face. For a moment, he was back to his old, cheerful face. "Hey Riku, Light and darkness can't exist without each other, right?" Riku nodded. "Well then," he continued; "They must meet somewhere."

Riku cocked his head to one side. "Wha? Where'd that come from?"

Sora shrugged, a feat in and of itself if you're wearing a heavy backpack. Finally, things were starting to look up! "Think about it! Darkness, shadow, is formed on the border of light! And light is controlled by shadow!"

Riku shook his head. "I still don't get it."

Sora sighed and stopped walking. He knelt down and held his hand a few inches above the surface of the earth. With his other hand, he pointed at his hand's shadow. This is the Darkness," he explained. Riku nodded. "And this," he said, pointing to outside the shadow; "Is the realm of Light. So they meet here!" he exclaimed, pointing at the border of the shadow.

Riku nodded, a lightbulb clicking on in his brain. "Ah, so you're saying that there's a world that's in both the realm of Light AND the realm of Dark?"

Sora grinned. "Bingo. And I know which world it is."

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Author's Rambles: Mary, Mother of God. I cannot believe this crap. Look at that... points at story that was the largest crock of bull I have ever laid eyes on. Ah well.

Guys, please R&R. I wanna know that this story is loved... give me the strength to bother writing this story?