Hello everyone! I said in December that I probably wouldn't manage another update until May or June because of my semester abroad in Spain, andI'm actually still in Spain right now, but I got the chapter finished.So here it is!

Just as a note, due to the fact that I am still in Europe, where KH2 won't be released until October (not that I have PS2 here anyway), I haven't gotten to play the game yet. I'm not sure when I will, but even after I do, this fic will (of course) continue to be completely AU. Currently, I'm not planning to relate it to KH2 at all. Also, considering I haven't played the game, please don't mention it in reviews, okay? Thanks!

Special thanks to Ginger Ninja and Akai Kitsune for their beta help! And that said, onto the chapter!


Reverse Side of Darkness
By: Koorino Megumi

Chapter 50: One Last Step

The scarred man gave a smile to the group, as if to acknowledge that yes, he was who they thought he was, though the expression was a bit forced. He drew no closer to them. But after a bit of hesitation, a word that was hardly more than a whisper finally slipped from his cracked lips, acknowledging his identity more than anything else would. "Iraki..."

"You're alive," Riku stated. It almost sounded like an accusation, and Kiru, after blinking in surprise, smiled for real in response.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

The teen shook his head with a wry grin. "I thought I saw you when I crossed, but...wow..." He stared at Kiru, the other boy shifting a bit uncomfortably at the scrutiny. He relaxed somewhat, however, when Riku just grinned as if there were nothing appalling about his appearance. "It really is you."

"But you...I thought..." Iraki's words were even softer than the blue-eyed teen's had been, barely audible beneath Riku's last comment. And as Kiru turned his gaze back to her, her lip began to quiver.

His smile slipped at that, his expression turning to one of tender regret. "Iri saved me," he explained, forcing a comforting smile back to his face with the words, "She found me when I got here, and her magic just barely kept me alive. I'm still not fully healed, but...yes. I'm still alive."

"You're still alive..." Iraki repeated softly, her tone awed, the words just as soft as before, "You're...still alive." Strength began to return to her voice as her eyes abruptly overflowed. "Kiru, I missed you!" And with that, she pulled her hand from Riku's grasp, clearing the space between herself and the other in a run and throwing her arms around one person she'd thought she would never be able to hug again.

"Shh," Kiru murmured, hugging her back tightly, "So are you. It's so good to see you again..."

Iri rolled her eyes at the spectacle. "And you were afraid."

But the two were completely oblivious to the world.

"Kiru..." Iraki breathed again, running a hand along his face, very gently grazing white linen and the angry red lines that now marred his skin. "It looks so painful..."

Kiru pulled back, head lowered, turning his face slightly away from her. "Don't worry," he said, the smile on his features still a forced one, "I'm very lucky that I'm here at all. So...I don't mind. There was no way to prevent it."

Iraki frowned, still looking at him, but Kiru kept his face tilted as if that could somehow hide what was visible all over his body. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"It's good to have you back," Riku spoke up, drawing Kiru's gaze to him. He smirked, then gave the other young man a look. "But you'd better not pull another move like that. Ever."

Kiru smiled faintly. "I'm not planning on it..."

"Just don't do it."

"What I think Riku is trying to say..." Sora broke in, stepping up next to his companion and putting a hand on his shoulder, "...is that he's happy to see you." He grinned as Riku gawked with a defensive expression, and the brown-haired boy extended his other hand. "I'm Sora! Well, I guess you knew that..." He scuffed a toe, his grin growing sheepish but staying just as wide. "But it's great to finally meet you!"

Kiru just looked surprised for a moment before he finally took Sora's proffered hand. "Really, it's great to meet you," he said, his awe obvious in his tone, "Sora! You really are okay again..."

"Yep!" Sora declared immediately, "Good as new! Well, almost." He adjusted the blindfold that was slipping over his eyes, then blinked. "But you heard about it already? From...Ansem, huh?"

"Ah...not exactly," Kiru admitted, glancing at Iraki and then Iri. "Actually...I saw it myself, while I was recovering."

"Another dream?" Riku asked.

Kiru nodded. "Yeah." Another real smile graced his features for a moment at the memory. "After that, I was hoping you'd all make it here!"

Iri, who had been watching the proceedings with as much patience as she could manage--for Kiru's sake, more than anything--even smiled to herself at those words. After all, wanting the others to come running to a battleground was a surprising reaction from the Keyblade Masters' perspective. But she knew how much Kiru had wanted to see them again, no matter how nervous he'd been about it.

And now he has, so we'd better get back to what's important.

"And they did," she interrupted, a bit pointedly, but not with the venom that she had been addressing Riku with before, "So let's get going, all right? Ansem's not going to get himself out of there, you know."

Rather than the assent she'd expected at her statement, however, Iraki gasped. "Ansem's trapped? Is he okay?"

Iri winced, sighing. She had forgotten for a moment that the others wouldn't really know what was going on, and they'd already made it clear that they didn't like following her directions without an explanation. She twitched. "Yeah, the Heartless went at the castle while he was still in his lab. The king's in there, too. We haven't seen either of 'em since." At the looks on the others' faces (and a frown from Kiru), she added, "But knowing them, they're probably still down there. Heh, Ansem's probably even running some new experiment while he waits for us to get our butts there so he can leave."

Kairi blinked, eyes widening in understanding. "So that was why..."

"Why what?" Iri frowned, eyeing the girl with displeasure. This meeting really could be going a lot more smoothly (and faster) than it was.

"You saw we came here with four others," Kairi explained, looking at Iri with a neutral face, trying to minimize conflict as usual. "When they went toward the castle and left us, they were going to save Ansem, right? But they wanted us to meet with you and...Kiru, first."

"But how'd they know?" Sora piped up before Iri could respond, the boy frowning faintly.

"The geezer must've told 'em," Iri replied. "You were all set up for things to go like this." She smirked slightly at the thought. As annoying as explanations were to give, it was a little fun to see their confusion.

"So wh-why are we still waiting?" Iraki broke in, her voice shaking slightly with her unusual attempt to be assertive. "We need to hurry after them!"

Iri blinked, surprised to hear a sentiment that mirrored her own--especially from that source. "Yeah, exactly." Her smirk shifted into a smile. Maybe she could get along with the newbies a little after all. "So c'mon, kiddies! Let's go smash some Heartless into the ground." And with that, she took off, grateful to hear the others follow without a protest--though there was a very audible scowl that originated somewhere in Riku's vicinity.

As they headed forward, Kiru fell into step next to Iraki, taking her hand in his a bit tentatively. She smiled at the touch, squeezing his fingers, but at a sound of displeasure from Iri, they turned to find that she had stopped and was looking back at them. Together, they hurried to catch up. She rolled her eyes.

"So what exactly are we planning to do?" Riku broke in, scowling at Iri again, "If we just barge back into those Heartless, do you really expect us to be able to get to wherever Ansem is? And find the others?"

Iri's eye twitched at that. "Well, I thought you all were Keyblade Masters, but if you're not, you'd better speak up pretty quick so the rest of us can leave you behind."

Riku reddened in anger. "Just because we're Keyblade Masters doesn't mean charging into a castle full of Heartless can't still get us killed!"

"Yeah, well maybe you should start concentrating on-"

"But Kiru's still recovering..."

Iri and Riku both turned to Iraki in surprise at her quiet interjection.

"What was that?" Iri demanded.

"Kiru's still recovering from his injuries," Iraki repeated, squeezing Kiru's hand as she looked at the two of them timidly. She heard Kiru clear his throat to speak, however, and glanced at him, frowning. "And don't deny it! You're even limping a little."

Kiru paused with his mouth open in surprise, then frowned as well. "But it's a war, Iraki," he protested, his tone a bit pleading, "I can't just stand off to the side and watch you all fight..."

"Stop that right now!" Iraki immediately cried, "What do you think any of the rest of us have to do when we get hurt? It's not like giving up. You can come back when you're better, but...when you're not, you shouldn't fight! Something...something really bad could happen again if you did." Kiru stared at her for a moment after that outburst, and Iraki averted her gaze. "I was really upset, Kiru," she added softly, all the fire gone from her voice, "I know you wouldn't want me to fall apart over it, but...it was hard not to. Please, please try to take care of yourself from now on. If you do, it'll make us all happy."

"Iraki..."

"Please," she repeated, looking up at him now, though her head was still lowered and her gaze timid.

Kiru hesitated for a second, but then he reached forward, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Iraki," he stated firmly, "I didn't mean to hurt anyone. And...definitely not you. I did it because I didn't think I had any choice at the time, but..." He trailed off at the look she gave him, regret visible in his eyes. "I won't ever do anything like that lightly. I promise."

She sighed, turning away. "Please just don't do it at all..."

"I think you're both forgetting something important," Iri broke in, her eye twitching from the sight of their exchange, "No matter what condition Kiru's in, it'd be idiotic to just leave him here alone. Or didja already forget that this whole world's a battleground right now?"

"That's a good point," Sora piped up, hands casually behind his head as if there weren't any arguing going on around him. "But I still don't think running into a bunch of Heartless is really a good idea. I've tried it before, and it's not much fun."

"Oh yeah? Then what do you-"

Sora ignored her, plowing on right on top of her words until she finally scowled and fell quiet. "All right!" he declared, "Usually I like doing things as they come, but we're a pretty big group, so maybe if we all think about things first it'll go better?" He gave his signature goofy grin, even as Iri eyed him skeptically, and continued as if he didn't notice. "Plus, I don't really wanna get separated in the middle of all those Heartless. So! I vote we all talk about where Ansem is and how we're getting there, and then we talk about how we're going to fight all the Heartless. Donald and Goofy and I always did some fighting and some magic and some healing and stuff, so maybe we can do something like that?" He scratched his head. "Any ideas?"

Iri's mouth dropped open, Riku shook his head with a grin, and Kairi couldn't help laughing. The serious atmosphere had dissipated in a mere minute--and all at the hand of the brown-haired Keyblade Master.

"Sora, you never change!"

Sora frowned at the girl, looking a little offended. "What do you mean I never change?"

Kairi giggled. "Don't worry about it, silly. But," she added before any more arguments had a chance to begin, "That does sound like a good idea. Where is Ansem? You said he's in his lab, right?" She looked specifically at Iri, hoping for a straight answer and not more complaints.

Iri eyed her, but Sora's outbursts seemed to have disturbed her temper. "Yeah. At least, he should be, assuming the Heartless didn't make him move."

Kairi nodded, her expression growing a little a solemn.

"So where's that?" Sora asked.

Iri hesitated, giving Sora a look that was a bit unreadable. "Beneath the castle."

The Keyblade Master nodded, contorting his face in consideration. It looked like he wasn't used to this much thought, and Kairi had to stifle another giggle. Sora didn't seem to notice. "So...how about we all stay close? We should...hey, let's pair up! And if we get split up, we'll just all meet at the castle gates and go in together, okay?"

Iri cocked an eyebrow at him, seemingly surprised that he was coming up with a strategy that she couldn't argue against. "Pair up?" she repeated. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Sora jumped into the space before she could.

"Yeah! So let's see...Kiru shouldn't use magic and Kairi can't. And Iri, you seem really good at it! So...Riku, Kiru, and Kairi can focus on slashing the Heartless, and Iri, Iraki, and me 'll each stick with one of them and focus on magic. Well, I'll smack the Heartless around, too, but I can use cure when we need it! Um...if we need it." He gave a goofy, sheepish smile, a hand behind his head, before growing serious (or relatively so) again. "So then...Kiru with Iraki, Kairi with me, and...I guess that puts Riku with Iri." He paused, giving a bit of a lopsided grin to the two, even as Iri visibly bristled and Riku gave a look of disgust. But the boy continued on unperturbed. "That should balance strengths and weaknesses okay. So let's go!"

"Now wait a minute!" Iri protested, "How does that balance strengths and weaknesses? You don't even know anything about my abilities! You can't just-"

"Well, yeah..." Sora interrupted, still looking sheepish, but apparently unwilling to listen to her protests, "But I thought you were in a hurry, so-"

"She should go with Kiru."

Everyone turned to Iraki in surprise at her very flat interruption.

"Iraki?"

"Iraki, why are you-" Kiru started to protest.

But Iraki shook her head, and he fell silent. "He's still hurt," she explained, her voice soft, anguished. Though Sora might have improved the mood for most of the group, Iraki obviously was still in the same mindset as before. "And I...I can't protect him. But if Iri's strong, then..."

"Much better idea!" Iri declared, ignoring Iraki's obvious hurt as she seized on her suggestion. She immediately started forward. "Come on, Kiru! Let's get moving."

"But-"

Iri stopped his words by taking his arm, though the gesture was more gentle than it seemed it would be, considering her current demeanor. "You're getting to that castle safely," she stated, her voice taking on seriousness and determination that hadn't been there before, "So let's move and get there!"

"Well, I guess that's a pretty good idea after all," Sora conceded, his cheerfulness not abating in the least, though he gave a glance at Riku that seemed to say "next time."

"Then don't be a slow poke," was the only response Riku gave to the teasing, taking Iraki's hand and starting forward as well.

"Yeah, yeah." Sora grinned at Kairi, offering a hand to her, and she couldn't help smiling as she took it, though there was worry in her gaze.

"Be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

Kairi shook her head at the boy who never changed, and off they went to their next battle.


"You idiot, that was a spell!"

"There's too many to just cut through them."

It hadn't taken long for the group of Keyblade Masters to get separated in the literal army of Heartless that they had plunged into, but the pairs--or, at least this one--had managed to stay together. But that wasn't to say the battle was going well for them.

Iri's eyes blazed at the silver-haired youth. "That's what I'm for, you nut! Don't you realize a backfire could fry us both?" She set off another high-level spell, more to show that she could than to clear their path, seeing as Kiru's low-level fire spell, combined with his attacks, was already doing that.

Kiru gave her hand a squeeze, getting her to turn back toward him. His gaze was determined. "I can do this, Iri. You don't have to worry so much about protecting me!"

Iri scowled, turning away. "So you say." She yanked on his arm to speed him up, and Kiru stumbled, wincing in pain. His right leg still didn't allow him to walk without limping--but Iri had known that when she did it. "Argh, you shouldn't be here!" she growled.

Kiru regained his balance just as a Heartless got a claw on his arm. He shook it off, taking it out with his sword as soon as he had maneuvered himself into the correct position to do so. "None of us should," he replied, his voice almost too soft for her to hear over the sound of their enemies.

Iri let out a shout of frustration, slamming her own sword into the nearest Heartless with all her might, ignoring the fact that it left her momentarily open to attacks from the others. "Just move. Let's just get there and get that crazy geezer scientist free already!"

Kiru couldn't help thinking that freeing Ansem was only their first objective, but he nodded, and the two continued their fight, both sparing occasional looks behind to check for signs of the others, fighting their own battles somewhere back there.


Kairi couldn't stifle her cry as a Heartless got a hold of her leg, causing her to stumble.

"Kairi!" Sora held tightly to her hand, pulling her back to her feet beside him as if she and the Heartless combined hardly weighed anything at all. A well-placed fire spell took care of the creature, but she noticed that Sora's eyes lingered on her leg when it was gone, probably evaluating her wound.

"Thank you," she said quickly, "I'm fine."

Sora nodded, turning back ahead of them to the Heartless that were closing in even after that second's worth of distraction. A lightning spell improved the situation, but then to Kairi's surprise, Sora allowed his Keyblade to disappear.

"Sora?"

The boy was too busy reaching into the backpack he'd been given to respond, pulling out a bottle of blue liquid and drinking it down in one gulp before nailing a nearby Heartless in the face with the now-empty bottle. He flashed the girl a grin as his Keyblade returned to his hand.

She smiled back softly, but her eyes narrowed as claws raked across her arm. "Take that!" She struck out as ferociously as she could against her attacker, slashing at it with her sword until it was gone. She turned forward again to find Sora watching her, laughing.

"That's how you do it!" he declared proudly, and Kairi felt her cheeks reddening slightly. But then he turned away, taking out multiple enemies far faster than she had dealt with one, showing a skill that she had never imagined he would come to possess.

The two weren't letting go of each other's hands as they fought, and Kairi knew that the restraint was only limiting him. Sora was fast, but he was agile more than anything, landing kicks and slashes and spells in a flurry of movement without hardly jerking her at all. She couldn't help thinking a bit wistfully that he had changed after all.

"Watch this!" Sora suddenly declared, "Ars Arcanum!"

Kairi's eyes widened as his Keyblade was engulfed in red light, and he struck out before him, destroying the Heartless around them at an amazing rate of speed. The light around the blade brightened as he gave one final swing, turning to her as he finished with his goofy grin on his face. "Pretty cool, huh?"

But then again, she thought with a smile, maybe he hadn't really changed after all. "Amazing!"

It wasn't until the situation came up again that Kairi would realize he had only used the move because the Heartless had been about to overwhelm them.


"Watch out!"

Iraki was startled when Riku's blade suddenly came down in front of her, cutting at the shadow that had just been emerging from the ground beneath her feet, preparing to lunge at her for an unanticipated attack.

The girl blushed faintly at her inattentiveness. "Thanks," she mumbled, narrowing her eyes and trying to concentrate on the battle, tightening her fingers around the hilt of the White Keyblade and giving a swing at a Heartless in front of her, if only to show that she really could fight.

"We're a team," Riku replied, and she couldn't help glancing at him at the tone of his voice as he said the last word.

A team? That sounds more like something Sora would say than you. Is it just to make me feel better?

"Iraki!" He abruptly grabbed her hand, giving her a jerk that just barely moved her body away from the claws of another shadow.

Iraki felt her face heating up again as she struggled to concentrate. "Sorry!" She hated fighting. She always had, and she probably always would. She couldn't possibly ever get any good at it. "I...sorry..." More slashing, knocking a few shadows back but doing little else. Iraki couldn't help but wonder if, had Kairi seen this situation coming, she would have kept the White Keyblade and left Iraki with the sword. It certainly would have made fighting easier if she had a blade that could really cut.

But Iraki tried to chase that selfish thought away. She'd received far more training in how to fight than Kairi ever had, so it was better that the other girl had the more effective weapon. Not to mention, it wasn't like Riku was exactly giving the enemies any opportunity to hurt her...

The other Keyblade Master was incredible to behold as he fought, his movements smooth and quick, like a dancer's, or perhaps more like a swimmer, driving strong arms through a sea of black and riding the waves even as they tried to impede him. Despite all her distraction and lack of ability, she had hardly gotten a scratch. Riku had let her hand go almost immediately after the group had split up, but somehow, with his ability to move among the dark creatures and appear before her any time she seemed the slightest bit like she needed it, she felt even closer to him than she had before.

It made her wonder how he could dance like that when darkness was pressing in on him from all sides. It was almost like he felt at home like this. But no, she told herself, that was wrong. Riku had escaped from the darkness, at last, and no matter how much it went after him and tried to win him back, he would never return to it. The dance that she was seeing now was not a dance with the darkness as a partner. It was a dance of destruction.

Iraki herself continued to struggle in her own clumsy, inept way to make some sort of difference in the battle, but all her efforts were of little avail. She hated feeling like she was some treasure Riku was guarding and not a fighter herself, but she couldn't deny that she was hindered by all the training she hadn't had--and that all the training she had been through did little to cover up her lack of natural talent.

In fact, she was so absorbed in watching the black creatures around her and taking any swing at them that she could find an opening for that she didn't even notice where she and Riku had gotten to until he, who had not touched her in all this time, suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. His voice was barely audible over the Heartless that still clawed at them. "We're here."

Her eyes widened, and she turned in front of her in surprise to find that they were already just short of the castle entryway. Gathered before them were four other familiar figures, showing varying amounts of wear and tear but still fighting valiantly with the Heartless just within the castle. The sight of the continuing battle tempered her relief.

Iraki certainly would have felt better about the situation if she had noticed that the Heartless outside the threshold were not going in and that the Heartless inside were not half as many as those crowding the front walkway. But as things stood, her eyes went right to one particular member of the other four, scanning him up and down for injuries. It was only when she realized that Iri had taken as good care of him as Riku had of her that her heart sighed in relief--but also sadness.

Sora's cheerful voice cut through her thoughts, pulling her back to reality. "Come on!" he exclaimed, his expression exhilarated and excited in a way that Iraki could not understand.

"Tch." Riku rolled his eyes, looking amused. "Just because we all got this far doesn't mean you should let it go to your head."

Sora grinned in response. Then he jumped and gave a full-force kick, using both legs, to a Defender that had its back to him while attacking Kairi. It fell forward, and he finished it off with the Keyblade in one smooth move. Riku snorted, but the brown-haired boy was unperturbed. "It's not like we can rest here!"

"He's right," Iri agreed, fending off a Heartless of her own, "The faster we get to that lab, the better." She glanced at Sora as she spoke, and it was only then that Iraki noticed the boy was out of breath.

"Yeah, yeah. So come on!" he repeated, wiping sweat out of his eyes as casually as if he were sparring among friends, "You've gotta lead, you know!"

"I'm already on it! Thundaga!"

Sora whistled as the spell effectively cleared a path through most of the castle's front room. Iri scowled, heading forward without another word.

This could perhaps have been construed as a mistake, as Sora decided to fill in her silence. "Off to Ansem's lab we go!" he half-sang with no key to speak of.

"Sora!" Kairi burst out in giggles.

"Have you not noticed that we're fighting here?" Iri cried, spinning around to give the boy a glare.

"Then you shouldn't be looking backwards?" Sora offered, grinning brightly.

Iri scowled, and Kiru laughed. Even Riku let out a bit of a chuckle.

A faint smile flitted across Iraki's lips, making the pain in her heart dim just a bit. If everyone could smile and laugh at a time like this, it meant things weren't bad, right? It meant that they could make it.

But there was no more time for such thoughts. The laughter was quickly replaced by serious expressions as the six Keyblade Masters made their way into the castle, toward the lab hidden far below.