Hi, thanks for the reviews guys. I never thought I would get this many, so it was a pleasant surprise. This will be one of the last chapters before the real plot starts, so I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts and never will.

Kingdom Hearts: Slave of Love

Ch. 10 Secret of the Keyblade

Leon walked through the stone road that led to Radiant's Garden gate, where he was stationed. This area consisted of a large dark stone road, with a small forest visible to the left and nothing but green pasture on the right. The large gate that divided Radiant Garden from Hollow Bastion was visible and stood out on the distance. Not many people walked down this road; only officers, family of the officers, and people who would leave town would use this road but due to Radiant's Garden high standard of living, people didn't have a reason to leave the town.

As Leon walked down this path he pondered on the situation at hand, his sister's feelings for the slave were clearly growing and the slave had darkness in him. He didn't know where this darkness came from because whenever he saw the slave in the past it was never present. But today Leon had sensed darkness and not just any little 'I'm gonna cut you darkness' but pure darkness that only came from truly sadistic people. The only person Leon knew that was familiar with strong dark forces was his superior, Cid Highwind, the man had seen about everything. Once he had been able to find a serial killer by closing his eyes and concentrating. Nobody knew how he had done this but all respected the man nonetheless.

Leon broke from his train of thought and looked up to find he had arrived at the gate. His shift was over now, he had been told to go to Kairi's school when he was about to leave. Leon noticed his friend Cloud standing on the gate's large wooden door with a hardened expression with a large, well HUGE, sword hanging from his back. He knew better than to interrupt an officer while on duty so he kept on walking towards a small stone building with several guards outside. Receiving nods from the officer's guarding the small wooden door on the building; Leon entered and found the man sitting behind his desk with his wide open and a look of concentration on his face.

"Good afternoon, Captain Cid," Leon said with a small vow before sitting on the chair in front of Cid's desk. "I came here because I have a small problem and are in need of advice. I would appreciate it if you would help me, sir," he waited for an answer for a few seconds until he heard a quiet snore coming from Cid's mouth. Leon sweatdropped and hit the desk with his fist, causing Cid a rude awakening.

"What the-" Cid exclaimed, coming out of dreamland. "Leon what are you doing here, ain't your shift over?" he asked while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with two fingers.

"My apologies for waking you up sir," Leon said with an emotionless voice.

"Cut the respect crap. I don't like that kind of talk, makes me feel important. What are you doing here?" Cid said, readjusting himself on his chair and putting an unlit cigarette on his mouth.

"I came here because there's a situation and I have some questions that only you can answer," he said with a stern expression.

"Shoot," Cid answered with his arms crossed.

"It's about this kid I met the other day. When I met him he had no trace of darkness on his heart," Leon started but was interrupted by Cid.

"No trace of darkness? That's really rare these days," he said as he lit his cigarette.

"Yes it is rare but that's not the point. He had not a trace of darkness but something weird happened today. He was unconscious when I saw him, but then his hand moved and just in that moment I sensed a terrible amount of darkness emitting from him," Leon said with a serious expression.

"That's really strange," Cid said as he rubbed his five-o'clock shadow. "No darkness could develop to that point so quickly; it would take years of horrible experiences to develop such darkness. If the kid had no darkness but now suddenly he does, then there's only one explanation."

"What is it?" Leon asked in concern.

"The kid developed an inner heartless," Cid said, while letting out some smoke.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Sora fell through a dark abyss, his eyes were closed and he had a calmed expression on his face. His eyes opened but he wasn't alarmed in fact he felt relaxed; somehow he knew that nothing would happen and he let himself enjoy the feeling of the wind against his head and the utter silence. He looked around and found himself surrounded by nothing but darkness; in the distance he saw a small light. He got closer and closer to the light until he was able to make out the shape of the light; it was a large glass stained floor. He couldn't make out the picture on it but as he neared the floor his body twisted and he landed safely on the floor. A little saddened that his relaxation was over, Sora began to walk around the floor. When he was in the center he was able to make out the picture; it was of himself standing on a shore looking at the distance. In the front of his face were pictures of the people important to him, Roxas, Demyx, Aqua, Terra, and Kairi. Standing back to back with Sora was a dark silhouette of him with bright yellow pupils. In front of the shadow's face were pictures two pictures one of Riku and the other of Seifer.

"What's this?" He asked himself.

"I like to call it, my hit list," said a voice behind Sora. He turned around and came face to face with a shadow version of himself. Sora took a few steps back and stared at his shadow. "What's up with that look? Aren't you happy to see me, after all I beat that guy Riku for you," the shadow said with a wicked grin.

"Who are you?" Sora asked with a raised voice.

"Who am I? Does it really matter?" the shadow asked with a dark chuckle.

"Where are we?" Sora asked with his fists clenched.

"We're inside your heart. You like what I've done with the place, the first time I came here this place was too bright for my tastes so I had to dim the light," he said with a sadistic laugh.

"Why am I here?" Sora spat angrily, apparently not happy about having a dark version of himself living inside of his heart.

"You're just unconscious at the moment. But you better get used to this place since when I take over you'll be spending all your time here," he said with an evil grin.

"Why are you in here?" Sora asked in an angry tone.

"I was born from your memories. Any memory where you experienced pain, suffering, hatred and weakness slowly made me. Since your weak self didn't have any darkness it was easy for me to enter because your heart didn't know how to deal with darkness. I came from the Keyblade that you were given," at this point Sora gasped and took a few steps back.

"How did that happen?" He asked in astonishment.

"You idiot! Did you think that you could just gain power without consequences? Every power has its price, you should remember that," he said with a wicked smile and a maniacal laugh.

"Sora wake up, please," came a sweet voice that echoed in the distance.

"Looks like this session's over. You're about to wake up, you should treasure this last moments of dominance since they won't last long," with that the shadow broke into a maniacal laugh and Sora began to disappear.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

In the market of Hollow Bastion, filled with ruffians, merchants, thieves and innocent people, walked Demyx and Aqua. Demyx had an easy going smile on his face as he walked but Aqua had an irritated on her face. These two had been order to stock up on supplies that would be necessary during the rescue mission. Aqua had argued that Demyx was a complete and utter idiot that got on her nerves, but the others insisted on Demyx going with her since the others had important things to do. Roxas was out looking for any short cut on the sewers; Terra had gone to visit his contacts to see if anything was going on in Radiant Garden, and Hayner had gone off to god knows where. It wasn't that Aqua hated Demyx; it was just that he thought of him as irritating, childish, loud, annoying, idiotic, whiny, and weak. When they had first met it wasn't under the best circumstances, Demyx had walked in on her while she was changing her clothes on Terra's house. That had earned Demyx a sore cheek and many broken limbs for the next few weeks.

Aqua sighed, knowing that she had no other choice, and looked at the paper that held the materials that were needed. Rope, tape, and binoculars where the only things that were needed; she smiled lightly, happy at the thought of not spending much time with Demyx. As the two continued to walk through the market Demyx suddenly squealed and ran to a stand. With a sigh Aqua followed Demyx and her right eye twitched at what she was seeing. Demyx was staring dreamily at a blue electric guitar with the word 'sexy' written in glitter.

"Can I have it Aqua?" he asked in a child like voice. Aqua fumed and kicked Demyx on the shin, causing him to cry in pain and rub his injury. "What was that for?" he asked with small tears on his eyes.

"We were called to buy the needed stuff and we don't have time for sightseeing," she said in an angry voice as she walked away. With a small pout Demyx followed the angry Aqua.

"Seriously why are you always angry at me?" he asked her as she paid a man for a roll of large gray tape. Ignoring Demyx, Aqua continued to look for the supplies. "Come on, it can't hurt to answer," he said in a whiny voice.

"How much for this rope?" Aqua asked a merchant.

"It's two-hundred munny," the merchant said. With a nod Aqua paid the man and continued walking through the market with Demyx behind her still asking questions.

Soon after Aqua found a merchant selling a pair of old but functional binoculars at the cost of eight-hundred munny. She only had seven-hundred and fifty munny left and knew that no merchant on this town would give a discount.

"See anything you like?" said a merchant with a raspy voice. He wore a green hat and an old dirty dark green suit.

"This binoculars, would you accept seven-fifty for them?" she asked with slight hope.

"You're asking me to do something really hard," the man said. "Very well I'll sell it to you for that price, but under one condition."

"What is it?" Aqua asked thinking the worse.

"My business isn't going well you see, and I was hoping you and that young lad behind you could help attract customers," he said with a smile.

"We'll do it!" cut in Demyx with a smile.

"Good," the man said with a grin. "Now put this on," he threw two old costumes at the pair, who couldn't help but look completely disgusted. One was an old probably itchy chicken suit and the other was a very warm looking bear costume. Demyx smiled nervously at Aqua before receiving a punch on his face.

Hayner and Roxas walked through the market and couldn't help but notice a big crowd around one of the market stands. The merchant had a happy smile on his face as people bought his goods, this was really rare on Hollow Bastion and the two teens couldn't help but wonder how a merchant could sell this much when people had so little.

"Here, here, buy your awesome goods here," said a bored voice coming from a bear.

"If you buy your goods here, you'll be happy take it from me," said an angry looking blunnette from a chicken costume. She turned around and came face to face with Roxas and Hayner; they stared at each other for a couple of seconds and an odd wind passed through them.

Hayner broke into a loud laugh as he stared at the completely embarrassed Aqua and even Roxas couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Both laughed for so long that tears fell from their eyes and their sides were in terrible pain. Finally they stopped and stared at Aqua as if asking her to explain.

"We had to do this to get the binoculars," Aqua said with an embarrassed blush.

"We?" Roxas and Hayner asked. As if on cue the bear took off his head to reveal a smiling Demyx. Both teens chuckled slightly and Roxas shook his head.

"You guys are idiots," Roxas said with an amused smirk. Aqua and Demyx gave Roxas an odd look, wondering what he was talking about. "Seems you two forgot that Hayner has a lot of army equipment."

Without another word the Aqua and Demyx took off the costumes and walked to the merchant.

"We're leaving," Aqua said while giving the merchant the costumes back.

"No it's okay you can keep them, free of charge," he answered with a wink.

With a roll of her eyes, Aqua walked back to the group with her costume folded on her arms. Demyx shared a few words with the now busy merchant before rejoining the group.

"You're seriously keeping those things?" Hayner asked with a smirk.

"They might be useful for the rescue," Aqua responded with an irritated look.

"Good idea they might be useful, now let's call it a day," Roxas said before walking away from the group of teens.

"He's still feeling down?" Demyx asked no one in particular.

"Yeah but he'll get over it when we get Sora back. I'll see you guys," Aqua said before leaving for her home.

"They are always the first to leave. Don't you think those two are a little too emotionless?" Demyx asked Hayner but to his misfortune he had taken off a little after Aqua. "Why am I always left with the last word?" he asked himself as he walked away from the market.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"How does one get rid of an inner heartless?" Leon asked in curiosity. He was talking to Cid about the issue at hand and couldn't help but fear for his sister's safety.

"You can't get rid of 'im," Cid answered while taking in more of his cigarette. "Inner heartless take over their host's body at a slow pace but the pace can quicken if the host experiences negative feelings."

"Then he's as good as dead?" Leon asked in slight disappointment, while shifting uncomfortably on his seat.

"No," he answered as he stood up and walked to the window behind his desk. He looked in the distance with a thoughtful look and felt a light headache. "They can't be destroyed or taken away but they can be suppressed."

"R-really? Is that even possible?" Leon asked in shock.

"Yes it is possible. In fact I helped an old colleague of mine suppress his," Cid said with a light yawn. "Bring the kid to the training grounds as soon as possible, I might be able to help 'im out. But this process depends highly on the person so I can't guarantee anything."

"Thank you Cid," Leon said with a small smile. "I'll bring him over by tomorrow, I'll be leaving now."

Cid turned and saw Leon walk out of the door, with a sigh he walked over to his desk and opened a drawer. He took out a gray bottle of liquor and drank a large portion in a single gulp. "I have a feeling that I'm going to be pissed off by the end of tomorrow," he said as he sat on his desk, took out some documents and began his daily routine of paperwork.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Riku laid on a hospital bed with many bandages on his torso and shoulder. He had woken up some time ago and was thinking about how the fight had turned out, he could not believe that he had been beaten, no, nearly killed by a slave. His father hadn't come to the hospital but Riku wasn't surprised in the slightest, he knew that his father didn't care about him. Riku knew that it was now impossible to get his father's approval; he had tried for almost all of his life but couldn't achieve even a thank you. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, all because of that damned slave, he thought bitterly. Riku couldn't help but let a few tears of frustration fall from his eyes, he felt completely useless and dishonored. He would have preferred to die in the fight but even that had been taken away from him, he wanted nothing more than to kill Sora.

Riku was so preoccupied on his thoughts that he didn't notice a bald man with a dark hood enter the room. The man stood in the shadows with his bright yellow eyes standing out.

"You wish for revenge?" the man asked in a raspy dark voice that startled Riku. Riku could feel an immense dark aura coming from the man and couldn't help but shrink on his bed. "I could give you power beyond your wildest imaginations. Are you interested?"

Riku stared at the man with a sense of fear. He didn't know who this man was or how he knew about him but he could tell that he wasn't lying when he spoke of power. Maybe this man could help him finish Sora off for good.

"I'm interested," Riku said in determination.

"Good," the man said with a slight chuckle. "This will hurt a bit," with that the man raised his old hand to Riku's forehead. A dark purple aura soon surrounded his hand and began to envelop Riku. Riku felt his body being overwhelmed by the power and his limbs started to ache from the strain, he yelled in pain and felt the dark aura overflowing on his chest. Soon after he lost consciousness with one thought running through his head.

'What have I done?'

Ch. 10 End

Hoped you liked this chapter and please review. I'll update as soon as I can and thanks for the reviews guys, they really lighten my mood.