Authors Note: Finally I can get back to the events in the Realm of Darkness. I know there's been a big break, but I realised what happened next there had to happen after everything that has now happened in the Realm of Light. Now, that's not much of a spoiler, but it is one. Anyway, this will probably be a shorter than usual chapter. But I hope you enjoy anyway. :)

Chapter 37: The True Use of Darkness

Becca leapt into the air, and shot towards the nearest Knight of Total Darkness.

She glided through the dark and damp air of the Realm of Darkness, holding her key blade tight.

When she came close to a knight, she fell through a portal she herself had opened, only to reappear seconds later behind her target.

With quick strokes, the knight was launched across the clearing that had become the field of battle.

The knight hit a rather large thorn, which stunned it further.

Becca wasn't aiming to kill, she was aiming to damage and stun. That was the way she wanted to fight with the powers she had only recently obtained, and apparently, it was working. By focusing her strength on stunning, she had plenty of energy to move and continue striking the next knight. It was a strategy that some how worked.

Both Riku and Verrat noticed her success as they stuck close behind her.

"Riku!" Verrat shouted, as a knight appeared beside Riku.

Riku spun around, bringing Way to the Dawn against the knights head. Verrat then leapt above the stunned knight, and finished it off, with a quick summon and throw of a spear.

Landing next to Riku, he threw up a shield, as his ex comrades threw balls of Total Darkness at them both.

"Is she okay?" Riku asked, noticing that only Verrat had a clear line of sight of Becca.

Verrat let go of the shield, and threw Riku into the air, giving him both that line of sight, and room to go into a dark aura, and make sure she was alright.

"Thanks." Riku shouted, as he noticed the opportunity.

He disappeared into a portal, coming out dressed in his new dark mode. Again, unaware he ever left it. It turned on and off at will here. It wasn't' affecting him any more, in terms of the nightmares. However, he still felt, like he was fading away.

Whatever was happening to him, he continued with the fight. Appearing out of the portal only to shoot off covered in darkness. Following Becca's lead, he aimed to stun not kill. He saved all his energy and his darkness for the final blow.

Whilst Riku continued with his dark aura, Verrat focused on defending himself. No one really liked him at that point. He had just betrayed them after all.

Becca leapt down to help him, firing a whole manner of magic, which under her new circumstances had ended up as their darker counter parts. Which obviously had a much stronger kick to it, which Becca enjoyed.

As Riku came to the end of his Dark Aura, he summoned all his strength to him. With a massive slam, all the knights he had managed to stun disappeared in a puff of smoke, while the ones he had not, were sent flying.

"Impressive." Becca complimented, before firing a Dark Firaga off into the groups of disorientated knights.

Riku noticed her use of darkness, and began to worry.

"She has this power... and the risk that comes with it, because of me." Riku said to himself, under his breath.

"She'll be fine". Verrat said, as he ran past Riku throwing multiple spears.

"How do you know? And how did you hear me?" Riku asked, as he threw his key blade into the groups, following with multiple Dark Firagas.

Verrat jumped backwards.

"She was pretty bright before." Verrat began,before launching yet another spear into the darkness. "That's keeping her at a balance. But I think overall, her link with Kingdom Hearts is stopping that balance from being broken. Even after death, that weapon is helping everyone out more than you know."

"I wish I could thank him." Riku said.

Verrat just nodded and charged himself into the crowds, as they were slowly closing in on Riku and himself.

Riku followed suit, and after summoning his key blade back to him, jumped into the air, bringing down yet another slam.

Obviously, it was no where near as powerful as his Dark Aura finisher, but it did confuse the knights are they were trying to gather some sort of order again.

Becca was darting around so much now, neither Riku or Verrat could lock onto her for longer than a second.

She took her chances, and quickly crippled any knight that came close. She truly was using darkness the way it was meant to. To create pain. For darkness created fear, and a fear of a long and painful death, was something darkness always aimed to create. To truly use darkness, you had to become the greatest fear of your enemy. With Becca's lightning strikes, she was doing just that. Painful crippling strikes, that flooded the field of battle.

For some strange reason, the darkness really did suit Becca. She wielded it calmly and efficiently. Her mind remained clear of anger and rage.

However, this fight was far from over. The amount of knights soon seemed to double, as more began to come from beyond the clearing. The true amount of them, had been hidden, and Becca, Riku and Verrat had been judging the amount of energy they could use on each enemy by the amount of knights they could see.

The three of them, were no exhausted. With the same amount if not more knights now on the field.

They were soon forced to fight close together. But this was the first downfall of the knights.

Riku turned to Becca and Verrat who were now almost back to back.

"We've got to work together if we're going to get through this!" Riku shouted.

"What do you suggest?!" Verrat asked, just as loud.

"Anything!" Becca shouted as the knights started running at them.

"Riku!" Verrat shouted.

Riku turned to look at him, after throwing up a shield.

"Hold onto your heart!" He shouted.

"What?" Riku asked worriedly, but did what he was told either way.

Verrat jumped into Riku, becoming almost transparent as he did. Riku fell to the ground in an immense pain.

"Riku!" Becca shouted worriedly, before noticing that Riku's form was changing.

Riku's dark mode had once again changed. So that now, he was covered in armour, and he had almost doubled in size.

He looked like a smaller version of Eclipse.

But just like Xehanort's guardian, Verrat appeared behind Riku. Warped and monstrous, but still fighting for the right side.

Becca was amazed by what she was seeing.

Riku wielded two Way to the Dawn's, which had also grown in size to accommodate Riku's own growth.

With this new power, Riku annihilated any knight that dared to come close. Most retreated back as they saw the raw power Riku was able to put out, and how Verrat could now throw them across the clearing without a care in the world, becoming nothing but a ghost when he was attacked, and then became very real when he was doing the attacking.

Realising that she was standing still for too long, Becca ran back into the darkness. Pulling off many combos, on many different knights, before she landed still to take a breath.

Riku along with the help of Verrat were cutting through the knights with an incredible strength. He shot across the clearing. Bringing both of his key blades into any knights that dared stand in his way. In seconds he was able to unleash massive combos, and a few seconds later, the knight would fall.

However, the speed Riku began putting the knights down, started increasing greatly. They were growing stronger, the longer he fought.

He began to doubt Verrat, but as he felt him rip apart different knights, those doubts were soon thrown away. He wanted to watch him, just in case anyway.

Becca was now far too exhausted to continue. She stood on the edge of a root, blocking different attacks that were thrown at her. She watched as Riku began to slow down as well. Between the three of them, they had clearly done a lot of damage, but in all honesty, the amount of knights that they had killed, was not even close to the amount that remained.

Becca blocked another bolt of darkness that was sent her way.

"I think we should leave!" She shouted.

Riku looked up to her, noticing the hopelessness of the situation.

He jumped up to where she was, so that they were standing side by side.

He then flashed out of his new form. Verrat then stood beside him.

"Now what?" Verrat asked.

"We can't keep fighting." Riku pointed out.

"Why not?" Becca asked.

They both turned to her.

"Why don't we make use of this place?" She asked.

"How exactly?" Riku asked.

Becca leapt off the thorn and into the abyss below it.

"Becca!" Riku shouted.

Suddenly Becca's voice seemed to echo. "This world is so natural." She said. "No one has dared try to use it, because they're scared of the dark."

Suddenly she shot out of the abyss, standing on top of a rather large vine.

"We're not scared of the dark." She continued. "So let's make use of it."

Then, with a mighty crash, the clearing shook violently, as thorn and vines shot up from the abyss below the clearing. Becca was clearly controlling them.

She was right. No one ever dared to try and control a place like this, as they were scared of not being able to leave. However, right now, Becca, Riku and Verrat could not leave anyway. So they had nothing to lose.

The knights began to retreat through portals as the ones that hadn't noticed the change were thrown about by the vines, and impaled by the thorns.

"How can she do that?" Riku asked.

Verrat looked at him like it was obvious.

"He granted her more power than most... He wanted to protect her..." Verrat answered.

Riku nodded. "Makes sense." He said. "But we can't do it, right?"

Verrat shook his head.

"Realm control is something only Kingdom Hearts can do. Becca was granted that ability..."

Riku nodded once again.

Then Becca threw up a ball of darkness around them, and herself.

"What's happening!" Riku shouted.

"We're going home." Becca answered happily.

xXx

A much smaller group of knights than had left appeared back in the Realm of Total Darkness.

"A success I hope?" One of the generals asked the group.

They all agreed.

"The amount of darkness the three of them gave off was enough to triple the strength of us knights". One of the group answered.

"Good." The general said. "Now get ready, you're getting ready to move out again!"

The entire group nodded.

"Where is master Eclipse?" One of the group asked.

"He has headed out already". The general answered. "The first true battle of this war is coming."

Authors Note: I'm slightly annoyed by how much shorter this actually is in the end. But... I can't drag it out... But I hope you enjoyed anyway. :) And as I have nothing to say, I'll see you next time. :D