DyingofFeels: Yeah, unfortunately we didn't get a lot of hanging out with the gang in this story, which is why I tried to fit in as much of it as I could here toward the end, with the PotC and Realm of Darkness scenes, particularly.

A/N: Alright, guys, things are about to get cray cray. Hang on for the ride.

Sora, Kaj, and I started off jogging together through the maze of halls. But we soon came to a split, and decided Sora should go right while I went left, with Kaj tagging along after me, of course. It took around five minutes for us to realize we had headed straight into a dead end. By the time we got back to where we had left Sora, he had disappeared through a series of colorful doors, with switches on the ground that operated them.

"Seriously?" I muttered as we navigated through the twists and turns, trying to decide which door to open next. "I think Xehanort has played too many video games. What's with this madness? Why can't he just put all of us in a field together and let us have at it?" The battles I had already been through today had thoroughly exhausted me, and wandering endlessly was not helping in the least.

"You got me. They didn't share any of their plans with me." Kaj stepped onto a pink switch, which opened the next door, but left us stuck behind a blue door with no switch.

Growling, I raked my hands through my hair. This stupid maze was frustrating me, and the feeling of helplessness it invoked kept throwing my thoughts back to Zeph, lying so very, hopelessly still in my arms. Tears stung unexpectedly at my eyes, and I shook my head furiously. Not now. I can't afford any tears right now. I squeezed my eyelids shut and shoved all of the emotions back down inside where they belonged, not paying any mind to the way the darkness swelled inside of my chest until it felt like it would burst.

"Um...Meli?"

"What?" I snapped. Opening my eyes, I saw darkness rising off of my skin like steam. "Oh, that? Um..." I shook the remainder away and tucked my hands behind my back, turning to shrug at him. "Don't worry about it. Happens sometimes."

"Yeah, okay." He didn't sound very convinced. "Well...you just seem like you're kinda upset, and–"

"No, I'm not." I forced a smile onto my face. It was true, I wasn't technically upset anymore right this second. The days of feeling happy after getting rid of my negative emotions were gone, though. Instead I just felt kind of numb. "I'm fine."

Kaj eyed me suspiciously. "If you say so. We just...we haven't had much of a chance to talk about...what happened yet, so if you need to..."

So much for all of my hard work vanquishing my feelings. As soon as he even alluded to Zephyr they were shooting back up out of me like a geyser. "I can't talk about it, Kaj, I don't have time! We don't always get the luxury of sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves and discussing our woes. I have friends out there that need my help, and I am not going to let any of them end up like Zeph! I have to worry about finding Ansem and making him pay for what he did, and worry about where..." I clenched my jaw shut, breathing heavily, unable to force the sickening name of Saix from my lips. "Where all the other people are who have tried their best to ruin my life.

"If you want to go somewhere else and have the time to think and talk and whatever you need to do, fine. Go. Nobody is gonna blame you; this isn't even really your fight. But I don't have that choice. I have to be strong, for once in my life, so stop trying to get me to break down."

Kaj looked flabbergasted as I stomped past him back in the direction we had come. "I'm not trying to get you to break down, I..." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I should've realized I was distracting you. I won't bring it up again."

Without answering, I opened a corridor and marched inside, trying not to choke on my tumultuous emotions as I crammed them back down again. Forget this stupid maze. I should've taken the short cut a long time ago. I heard Kaj scurry in after me, but threw my focus into opening a path to Sora's location.

I could hear Xemnas' deep voice droning on before I even exited the corridor. "What difference does one little light make? You have others. Just as we have more darknesses to replenish our ranks."

My eyes skimmed over the small crowd of people standing in the open space to land on a terrifying and infuriating sight – Xemnas, holding Kairi's arm at a painful angle behind her back. Darkness was beginning to seep out from under his feet. He was about to disappear into a dark corridor with my sister, and I would never see her alive again.

"No!" Throwing all the darkness I could muster into the ground, I flew forward at a speed that must have made me just a blur to everyone else. When I slammed into Kairi I heard her breath leave her lungs with a whoosh in my ear. We hit the ground in a tangle of arms and legs, and I could barely breathe, myself, but I was immediately back up on my knees, planting myself over her with my Keyblade at the ready. Xemnas had cut his corridor off and was glowering down at us.

"Touch her and you die!"

Sora rushed forward to attack, but this time Xemnas obviously decided to cut his losses and disappeared for good. Changing courses, Sora came sliding in on his knees next to Kairi and me, his expression a mixture of relief and lingering fear. "Kairi, are you okay?"

Dismissing my Keyblade, I gave her a hand as she sat up. Her face was pale and her breathing a little shaky, but she nodded. "Yeah. I think I'm okay." She turned to look me in the eyes, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Thank you, Meli."

"Yeah." My heart was still pounding wildly in my chest. I couldn't believe how close of a call that had been. Leaning forward, I wrapped my arms tightly around her and buried my chin in her shoulder. "I'm just glad I got here in time."

"Me, too," Sora breathed. The sounds of clashing blades had started up behind me, and he glanced over his shoulder. "I've gotta go help the other guys. You two should just...wait until you're ready, okay?"

Kaj had approached us, as well, though he kept his distance through the conversation. "I'll help, if I can," he offered.

As they jogged off, I studied Kairi's face. "How do you feel? Need a potion or anything? I know I hit you pretty hard there..."

She smiled. "It was worth it. I feel alright now, anyway."

I wasn't sure that I did. Coming so close to losing yet another friend in such a short amount of time was doing a number on my already strained heart, besides the fact that using so much darkness had drained most of the little energy I had. Trying to distract myself, I craned my head around to see what was happening behind me, but before I got more than a glimpse of black coats Kairi grabbed my face and forcefully turned it back to her.

"Don't look back there." The look in her eyes was something akin to fear, but she tried to force the rest of her face to relax. "Just, um...not yet...wait here with me for another minute or two."

I furrowed my brow. "Sure, but...what is it? What's back there?" A thought crossed my mind, and I started breathing a little harder. "Who is back there?"

"Roxas," she answered quickly. "He's back."

"What?" It was so unexpected that it successfully derailed my thoughts from their previous path. Roxas is back? Really? I tried to turn again, but her grip was firm and she was unrelenting. "Kai, he's my friend. I want to see–"

"And a girl. Xion. Do you know her?"

Xion? I puckered my lips in thought. It seems so familiar... Then a dozen memories hit me all at once – a scared girl who looked just like me, unconscious in Riku's arm on the beach, pleading to have one last ice cream with her friends, sitting at Naminé's table with determination to do what was right. I dug the heel of my hand into my forehead. "Xion! I...I can't believe..." The replica program that Grim mentioned. She was a replica, they must have brought her back the same way.

Kairi had loosened her hold, and before she could stop me I spun around to face the battle. Axel seemed to be sitting this one out, over on the sidelines with one arm gripped tightly to his side. But Sora was fighting hard alongside two figures in black coats, one with familiar blond spikes and the other with an also familiar shock of black hair, both that made my breath catch in my throat.

Unfortunately, they didn't hold my attention for long. A flash of blue caught my eye, and I stiffened, holding my breath. Saix. He looked like the madman he was, eyes glowing yellow and a blue aura surrounding him as he kept all three of my friends on the run. My heartbeat roared in my ears. Vaguely I was aware of the darkness that began pouring off of me, but my eyes never left his face and my mind never stopped chanting his name over and over again.

"Meli, wait..." Kairi called somewhere in the distance.

He has to be stopped. He has to pay.

I didn't even realize I was moving until my Keyblade slammed full force into his claymore. It would have been an exact remake of our clash in the room of thrones, except that this time he was prepared, already in full battle mode, and fought back with equal ferocity. I had literal tunnel vision, the edges of my sight turning black so that all I could focus on was him – his attacks, his maneuvers, his face that I hated with every fiber of my being. From time to time someone else that I didn't care to identify would appear within my vision to try to break into our fight. But we just swept away every time, out of their reach, caught up in a dance to the death that blocked out everyone and everything else.

He lunged, I parried. He swerved, I sped after him. He leapt up high into the air, I followed, and our battle continued just as fiercely up there as it had on the ground. Some of his swings found their mark, but I barely felt them. They only served to make the darkness pound more furiously through me, spurring me onward. I wasn't even making my own decisions anymore. My movements came without thought, driven by something stronger than myself.

We landed on solid ground again, and he hesitated, stumbling a bit. Somewhere in my subconscious it registered with me that his glow had faded and his eyes were back to normal, but he looked no less threatening to me. Raising my Keyblade, I went in for the final blow.

The clang of metal reverberated through the courtyard.

"That's enough! Back off!"

My Keyblade had been stopped midair by a chakram, and Axel was blocking my path to Saix. I growled, bearing down on him with a dark strength that made him grunt with effort. "Get out of my way." The voice that grated out of my throat was hardly even my own. "He needs to die."

As if on cue, a column of darkness erupted from behind Axel. Narrowing his eyes, he pushed up against me. "He's already going to, see? So just lay off. You did your job."

The darkness screamed unhappily in my ears. I didn't want to just let him die, I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to knock that smug expression off of his face and rejoice that I would never have to see it again.

"It's okay, Mel. It's over now." A hand touched my shoulder, and without bothering to identify the owner of the voice, I whirled around, slamming my Keyblade into them and knocking them to the side.

Someone cried out, but the sound echoed around me and was lost to the wind. Saix. He needs to die. Saix needs to die.My eyes landed on Kairi, and she looked frightened. It didn't occur to me that I was the one scaring her.

"You see? I warned you about him!" I screeched, walking toward her while waving one hand wildly back at Axel. "I told you that he would turn on us! He's defending that monster!"

"Meli..." Her voice was shaking, as were her hands that held her Keyblade defensively. "I know you're angry, and scared. But you've gotta stop now, before you hurt somebody else, or yourself."

Her words only infuriated me more. "I'm not going to stop. I'm going to get rid of this traitor, then the monster, and then I'm going to go find the man who murdered my friend and kill him, too."

Without waiting for a response, I turned and ran at Axel. He readied his chakrams, but halfway there a shimmering barrier arched up over both him and Saix. I skidded to a halt before hitting it. The darkness inside of me bellowed at having been stopped once again, and I spun back around to find the culprit. Kairi, still trembling, was holding her Keyblade straight out in front of her, the glow of magic still fading away from around it.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you hurt him."

My heart was drumming so loudly it should have burst its way out of my chest. "You...you're protecting him? You...betrayed me. For him!" The pressure in my head swelled even more.

"No, Meli," she protested, eyes wide and teary. "You're just not seeing things clearly right now. The darkness...it's gotten a hold of you. You've got to shake it off!"

"The darkness...is the only thing that makes me worth anything. It's what gives me power and the strength and will to live." I stalked toward her, not even knowing what I would do when I reached her. "I am the darkness, and the darkness is me!"

Fire shot across my path, close enough to feel like it could singe my eyebrows. Stopping short, I let my surprise settle for a second before slowly turning my head to the left. Both Roxas and Xion stood with Keyblades at the ready, staring me down.

"Come on, Meli," Roxas said softly. "I don't know what's happened with you since we last saw each other, but...I know you don't want to attack your friends."

"Yeah." Kaj stepped up into my field of vision, too. "It's been a while since we've been real friends, but that's not the girl I know."

Outnumbered. You're outnumbered by people who just don't get it at all.The darkness whispered that it would lend me its strength again and I could easily take them all down, but something stopped me. Instead, I teleported away, out of the circle that seemed to be closing in on me, ready to pounce.

"Fine. You win for now. I've got more important things to do than arguing with you idiots – like finding and killing Ansem." I pointed to where Axel was holding Saix in his arms, my stomach crawling at the sight. "But believe me, if he somehow stops that thing from dying, I will be back for them both."

Not having any idea where to go to look for Ansem, I opened a corridor back to the beginning of the labyrinth and took a different route than before. My whole body ached with a desperate need to fight, to use this surge of darkness against anything and everything. The power throbbed behind my eyelids and in my jaw, sending stabs of tension down my arms and legs. It needed to be set free.

I quickly grew tired of the march through the maze and teleported myself up onto the nearest wall, hoping for a good view of the various hallways and rooms, but could only see into a couple. I did, however, spot a rock platform in the distance, separate from the labyrinth and high enough up that it should have offered a nice vantage point. Warping over to it, I trotted to the edge and peered down into the maze.

"Meli?"

Gritting my teeth, I turned to face Riku, who had somehow made it to the center of the platform. "Have you come to try to stop me now, too?"

"Well, if you mean stop you from doing something you'll regret later, then...yeah." His Keyblade was nowhere to be seen, his posture not defensive like the others. I saw his gaze travel over my body, likely assessing all the places that I was bleeding from, though I still didn't feel them. "I get the feeling that you're no longer in control in this situation."

I scoffed. "I'm perfectly in control. Or at least I would be, if people would stop getting in my way. I know exactly what I want to do, and I plan on doing it."

"And what's that? Killing, hurting people?" He shook his head, stepping a little closer. "That's not the real you."

Darkness flared up from my hands with my anger. "Quit telling me who I am!"

"I remember what it feels like. It's...horrible, and wonderful at the same time." He came closer still, his fingers in his pockets. "It makes you feel so powerful, like you can do absolutely anything. And at the same time, it hurts...the need to destroy. It eats you alive inside."

"Stop it! Stop pretending you know how I feel!" It was swelling up inside of me again, ready to erupt. "You don't know anything!"

As I screamed, huge walls of darkness shot out from my body, narrowly missing Riku on either side. He flinched, but stood his ground, and as soon as the air was clear he clenched his fists by his sides and shouted, "Now, Mickey!"

The next thing I knew was sleep overtaking my eyes and my body crumpling to the ground.

A/N: So...yeah. Meli under the control of darkness is not a pretty picture.

And, um...I diverged from canon. I know, I know! It's my first time really doing so. I had my reasons, besides just, you know, really not liking the ending of the game. Hope no one minds too much! I can't explain myself fully yet, but if anyone is interested I can do so in the final notes.

I'd love to hear your guesses of what's going to happen next!