Chapter 7
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(Past)
Sora looked over his shoulder at the dusky beach behind him. It was late… as much as he didn't want to it was time to head home for the night. Riku and Kairi had already left nearly an hour ago, but Sora couldn't bring himself to leave the small island. He yawned and stretched, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was following him.
He would usually brush off something like that as paranoia and move on, but he had made some major mistakes recently and wound up in some strange situations. On Monday, he fell into a cavern of sand when no one was around. He knew he was lucky that he had managed to escape on his own. It was the start of summer vacation and Sora was beginning to question whether this would be a good year or if things were about to fall apart.
What he did know was that he felt like he was getting further and further away from his friends. Riku, Kairi, and he had always been inseparable, but now he only wanted to be away from them. He had felt relieved when they had decided to leave the island earlier… Something was wrong, and Sora could tell it.
He came to a halt when he saw something strange on the ground ahead. He looked down at the swirling puddle of black and purple, mesmerized by the shades. He had seen these colors before; last week, while school was still in session, he had heard some run-of-the-mill bullies talking crap about Riku and Kairi. He had been unreasonably angry. As he clenched his fists, he had seen these colors in an aura around his hand before he had approached his classmates to snap their heads off… figuratively, of course. But instead of needing to, there was fear in their eyes when they looked at him… That was why he noticed that the aura was surrounding him entirely, and that was when he managed to calm down and make it disappear.
Sora still had no idea what this strange, mesmerizing pool was. All he knew was that he wanted to step into it, that he wanted to feel the energy surround him again like it had the previous week. He had felt so powerful then… Maybe if he stepped into this he would feel that strength once more.
He froze in mid step when he heard his name called from behind. Turning, he saw a man in the distance, one that he vaguely remembered… the weirdo in the swamp when he was a kid? The man simply shook his head before fading out in a burst of light. "What the heck?" Sora asked himself before turning back where he had been looking. The puddle was gone. Sora couldn't help but feel extremely frustrated at the thought that he might have been able to continue had the man not appeared. "Dang it, why did he stop me?" he groaned. "And what was that thing anyway?" He shook his head and continued to the dock where he quickly got into his boat and headed back home.
….
It wasn't even a week later when Sora encountered the energy again, and this time nothing stopped his curiosity from taking over. He was once again alone, this time on the roof of his house in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. He stepped into the pool of energy by chance but quickly felt like he was being overwhelmed with power. A voice faded in and out of his mind. 'The darkness is powerful,' it whispered. 'You can use it to your advantage.'
Images began to flash through his vision. The island being overtaken by a severe storm, one that turned out to be caused not by weather but by a swirling mass of color similar to this 'darkness.' He stood alone on the bridge, staring out into the distance as he waited to Riku and Kairi to come. He felt at peace when he looked at the sky while the world was torn apart… the strange shadowy creatures that had once surrounded him had faded away. He knew that if he gave into this darkness, he would finally be able to get off of that tiny island, that world too small to hold his wandering spirit. He saw that he was going to be okay… and so he let it happen.
When Sora came back into reality, the feeling of power remained. When he looked around, the pool of darkness was gone, and no lingering visual effects remained. He looked around the roof. Was that really going to happen? He had no way to know for sure, but as he stared at the moon in the distance, he knew one thing; if it did, he would let the darkness lead the way. He would use the power that he was given to escape the island… to survive.
Sure, the very thought of using 'darkness' sounded eerie at best and idiotic at worst. But what other choice would he had if put in that situation? He wanted to live, he knew that much. If using the darkness was the only way that he could survive, he wouldn't hesitate. How could he?
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(Present)
He had tried to shrug it off and go back to sleep, but as the hours passed, he couldn't get the images to leave his mind. He didn't sleep for days. How could he sleep when he knew that his world was about to end? So sure, he might not have been thinking clearly when he let the darkness cover him as he was pulled away from his world… sure, he should have warned Riku and Kairi… But really, what other choice had he had?
He had to survive, so he made his choice, and even now, he tried to let it go. Now he needed to find his friends… because they were okay, right? Surely they were!
Then why did he feel so helpless and alone?
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