Back to this again. There's no real reason but laziness for not posting this earlier. Unfortunately, since this section of the game gets incredibly confusing from a spacial standpoint, there probably won't be another update for a while. I don't have access to the game, my notes aren't good enough to handle fiddly details, and since this is a non-cutscene portion, there aren't videos I can download to make up for the lack of game.

Bizarre Room Wall

Sora readied himself for the fall, and so he was more surprised when he stepped through the break in the tree and found himself on the flat floor.

Then, of course, heartless appeared.

They broke up by type. Sora went for the red floaters first, hating the way it felt to be hit by their fireballs and the way the attacks seemed to come out of nowhere. Goofy and Donald, he saw out of the corner of his eye, went after the shadows and soldiers, while Kimi charged past him straight for the giant heartless.

The red heartless were…odd. Unlike the other heartless they seemed to have a sense of self-preservation, floating away from him as he ran to attack. It was disconcerting, like they didn't want to be attacked, and for a second he faltered. The closest red heartless immediately bloomed with flame, and Sora ran for it, trying to get to it before the fireball was complete. He almost made it, but didn't. Instead the blast hit him point-blank in the face. He staggered back in agony, only for the attack of another one to hit him in the side. He threw himself forward blind, curling and rolling, and heard a third blast hit the ground behind him.

Sora managed to open his eyes again in a blurry squint. He could see one of the red ones before him and he ran for it again and jumped, smashing the keyblade into it.

He was fighting monsters, he thought. Heartless and mindless and soulless. He couldn't hesitate.

There's no turning back.

The red heartless burst apart, and Sora moved to the next one without a thought.

He wasn't sure how long the battle lasted, but it wasn't too hard, not after the horrible ax-wielding cards. When it was finished, something - a yellow bucket, it looked like - popped out of the ground.

Out of the wall, he realized belatedly, looking about. The wall was the floor. Sora had a moment of vertigo as his vision tried to reorient.

"Hey Sora!" Kimi yelled, and he spun in time to see something thrown at him.

He started to catch it reflexively, and right as his hand closed around it he realized she had thrown another glittering shard, but it was too late.

It was like grabbing a coal from the center of a furnace. Pain exploded through his hand and arm, and he screamed, dropping it.

"What? What?" Kimi ran over.

"You okay, Sora?" asked Goofy.

She saw the shard at his feet, and reached down.

"D-" Sora bit back the warning, realizing she'd picked it up once already.

"Did you get pricked or something?" Kimi asked, straightening up with it in her hand. "Don't be such a baby."

"What is that?" Sora said, staring at the red fragment held loosely between her fingers.

"Blaze shard, of course."

"No, I mean, what is that?"

"The crystallized essence of fire," Kimi reeled off instantly. "Heartless drop them like they drop money. I guess they find them too?"

"No," Donald said, shaking his head as he peered at it. "I don't think so. I've never seen those before. Where would they find them?" He considered. "What did you say it was again?"

"They're the crystallized essence of...stuff. It varies by heartless. Like, soldiers drop spirit shards."

"That wasn't - spirit, that can't be right," Sora blurted out.

Donald and Goofy looked at him inquiringly, but Kimi was caught up in explaining. "No, that's what they're called, and I'm sure that's what it is, since soldiers only drop one type. So that's what it is. The essence of fighting."

Lucidity was emptiness. Spirit was fighting.

"See, look -" Kimi began to say, holding it out.

"I'm not touching that!" Sora yelled, jumping back.

She looked surprised. "What's wrong?"

"Those are bad," Sora said. "They're bad things."

"Are ya sure, Sora?" Goofy asked.

"They are not! Where did you get that idea?"

They were, he knew it. The crystal shards were malevolent, pretty but wrong, like the false light of the heartless. Sora fumbled for an explanation. "Donald...said he'd never seen them. They aren't something found here. They're something..."

The essence of...

Kimi's eyes sparkled. "Like the gummi blocks!" she squealed in delight. "Omigod I told you so!"

Donald's expression was livid, and even Goofy's was reproachful.

"How dare you insult the king!" Donald yelled at them both, jumping up and down in rage.

"But - I - that's not - " Sora stammered.

"Hmph!" Donald turned his back and stalked off. Goofy gave Sora a long look, then followed.

"I didn't mean..." He sighed, hanging his head.

But he'd barely begun to feel sorry for himself when Kimi yelled, "Hey Sora!" again.

"What?" he snapped, peevish.

She didn't seem to notice. "Come over here!" She'd climbed up the yellow bucket thing sitting - hanging - Sora wasn't sure. "Come on, there's a whole other side! The chimney's across the middle of the wall, remember? Let's explore!"

Right. He had to focus. He needed to find Alice before something happened to her. Especially with all these heartless around...

He kept seeing that man, the man he'd never met and never would now, stumbling and falling just in front of him, bare yards from the door, and being eaten by the darkness, heart and body alike. Not even by a heartless but by nothing, by the darkness in the night air. Right in front of him, and he hadn't been able to do a thing.

Not an hour ago, Alice had been standing close enough for him to reach out and touch (Riku had been) and now she was gone. He couldn't fail again.

He climbed up after Kimi, stepped forward, and the heartless came.