Guest Reviewer: This is a Riku/OC story. Also, I don't think it would be rated R for Violence. I based my rating off of an anime or a game that would be rated T.

I listen to a lot of Project Destati when I am writing. I love instrumental music, but there are some songs with lyrics that I really believe go along with the story. I will try to keep up on posting lyrics or songs to listen to while reading this. I just need to go back through my notes and figure it out.

Suffocating. I couldn't think of anything else. My chest hurt as I tried to breathe. Memories formed around me, the bad ones. An image of my mother's body flashed in my mind's eye. I was back there, back in the place that it had happened at. I stood watching my 5 year old self hover over my mother. Her body was still warm, but her eyes were lifeless. I shook her "Mommy, you have to get up, we have to get out of here."

I felt a twinge of pain in my shoulder and continued to watch the scene unfold in front of me. My stomach was sick, I tried so hard to forget this. The twing turned into a burn and blood started flowing freely from my shoulder. I put a hand over it, gritting my teeth against the pain. My eyes watered and I blinked.

My father was about to show up, I could see the horrified look on his face as he ran from the building he had been in. I choked back a sob, digging the palm of my hand into my wound, hoping to distract myself from the sadness, the loss I was feeling. My dad scooped my younger self up in his arms as I passed out. My world blackened again. I just wanted to scream.

"There there girl. Don't be frightened." A soothing voice came out of the darkness. I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, my chest rising and falling in panicked bursts. My shoulder ached where my father had stabbed me, but it wasn't bleeding. The memory must have conjured something inside my head when I saw him.

I shook my head and focused my my eyes, my vision coming back into focus. I was on a stone floor, surrounded by stone walls. It looked like it could be a room out of a castle. There was a woman standing above me, the horns protruding out of her head gave her away and I scrambled back against a wall.

"Where am I?" I tried to keep the tremor from my voice. "You- you took Riku." I said, realization dawning on me.

"You know child, you shouldn't be so afraid of the dark. For it's the light that casts shadows you see, It creates darkness."

"Ya well, I don't buy that." I said unsure of myself. Technically, this woman had a point, but her talk of power from before made me uneasy.

"I know it's inside of you. You've felt it before haven't you? That time before you talked with Riku."

"What? How do you know?"

"I have my ways." She almost purred. I shuddered. "You know, he had taken an interest in you."

"Right, we don't even know each other." I spat, the truth hurt and I felt a pang, spark was lit inside of me. The couple of times I met Riku, he came off like an arrogant, jealous, jerk, but he did take care of that bite I got, and he did try and teach me a thing or two about protecting myself. Part of me felt like he was just as lost as I was on this journey. His heart was kind, after you dug past all his defenses. But he went with this woman,the woman that had just captured me and taken me away from my friends. The one that conjured up such terrible memories. I had every right to be angry. "You're an evil witch".

She laughed, cold and ruthless . "You think that your insults can hurt me? Reach child, I can feel it building inside of you. Reach for the darkness and take hold of its power." She said.

"What do you want from me?." I spat again.

"You- You are nothing special. You can't even use your powers properly, but somehow you have become a hindrance to many of my plans. A distraction" she looked out the window and then back at me. "I can teach you to harness your darkness, make you more powerful than anyone you have ever known, even that man in your dreams" she trailed off.

My stomach sank at the mention of my father. I wouldn't have to worry about his nasty words, or him hurting me anymore. I could crush him and never look back…

Snap out of it! I rolled my hands into fists, nails digging into my skin. How could I think like that? Those thoughts were dangerous.

"Never." My voice was flat, defiant. Maleficent didn't bat an eye. She walked closer to me and took my chin in her hands, jerking my head up to meet her gaze.

"You will join me, or I will take care of you myself." the pressure increased on my face, but I glared back at her, holding my tongue for once in my life.

"If you had been able to control the power of darkness, you could have saved your mother. You are weak."

"Don't talk about her!" I had lost the small control that I had. So much for gaining any emotional control over the situation. I smacked her hands off my face. My jawline stung, and one of her long nails came away bloody.

"Maybe your family would be whole-"

"SHUT UP!" I was on my feet, I summoned my glaive and didn't even know it, darkness was surrounding it. and radiating off of me. I growled in frustration, heat rising in my chest. How could this witch possibly know anything about my family? From one little memory she stole from me? A memory that cut so deep inside of me that it threatened to tear my heart apart? She would pay for what she did. I raised my weapon.

"'That's perfect." Her voice was silk . I could feel the darkness building, a hungry, caged lion, just waiting for its moment to escape, to sink its teeth into the first victim it could come into contact with. "Do you feel it ripping at your chest? let the burden go, release it."

I felt a low growl escape me . Something savage. It was getting harder and harder to remember myself, what I was here for, what happened in my past, and forgetting seemed like bliss

"Maleficent?" Light pierced through the darkness, sending it receding back into the depths of my heart. I let out a small gasp, realizing how close I was to letting go. I tightened my grip on my glaive. I will not let her have me. I had people I needed to protect. An image of Riku's retreating form took shape before my eyes. No, today was not the day I was going to give in.

"Quiet!" She said sharply, but she was too late. I was coming back to myself. Maleficent raised her arms above her head and brought her staff hurtling towards the ground. The impact sent waves of green fire snaking across the floor, right towards me. Moving was futile. Before I could step away the fire was wrapped around my wrists, pulling me to the ground. I bit my tongue, trying not to scream. "I will not have this moment ruined for me!" her eyes blazed.

The pain radiated up my arms, I gritted my teeth against the pain, heat spreading through me. My eyes began to blur, my head in a fog until it suddenly stopped. I took a breath out and screamed. It felt as though someone was driving a knife through my chest. Tears streaked my cheeks and I collapsed to the floor, the pain receding, I closed my eyes, listening to the thud of my heart. The fire disappeared.

Someone was banging on the door. "Maleficent, what is going on!?" It was Riku. I opened my mouth to yell for him but was met with a sharp pain to my gut.

"Don't you dare think about it. I won't hesitate to kill that boy if I have too." Maleficent said as she leaned over me. " He is nothing but a pawn to me." I was silent. Horrified. I needed out. I had to find a way out. A dark portal opened behind me and I fell in. Maleficent's screams of rage echoed in my ears.

I let out a soft groan as the world came into focus around me. I felt warm hands brush hair away from my face, and found myself staring into deep blue eyes. " She's awake! She's awake!" Sora said, looking over me. I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what was going on and where I was. I couldn't remember what had happened. Was I ok? I sat up and found that my head was pounding, I felt exhausted, and the fever that accompanied my darkness was in full force as I sat shivering on the ground.

Sora was getting ready to take his shirt off to throw over me when I stopped him. "I'm ok, it will pass. How did I end up in the same room where we started?"

"I don't know how you did," Sora said.

"Well garsh, we were following that cat around and it led us back here." Goofy stated

"Ya, and you were laying on the floor when we got here."Donald added

"Oh" was all I could say, I was having a hard time remembering all that had happened to me.

"You'll have a better view from higher up." The Cheshire cat appeared again on the table.

"You guys are still listening to him?" I said.

"He's the only help we've got ." Donald said

"If you could call it help." I sat up and took a deep breath, willing my world not to spin.

"He did lead us to you." Goofy chimed in.

"You should rest." Sora, put an arm around me and helped me to my feet.

"The shadows will be here soon. Are you prepared for the worst?" The cat disappeared.

"See? No help whatsoever." I said. But it wasn't long after the words left my mouth that a giant Heartless with long paper like limbs appeared and I was left cursing.

"You had to say something didn't you?" The duck said. I pushed off Sora and summoned my glaive. My stomach flipped and my world swayed.

"Akari, you need to sit this one out." Sora urged this time, looking at me with worried eyes. Ignoring him, I jumped up on the chair and then the table, ready to face the new threat.

"I can't just sit back and watch you guys put yourself in danger." I had learned long ago that the trauma from the accident had made me fiercely protective of the ones that I cherished.

"Just be careful." Donald joined me shortly followed by the other two.

We had learned from before that the head seemed to be a weak point for heartless " I told you being small sucked." I sighed, realizing how short I was, and how the potion to get bigger was nowhere in sight.

"Why don't we go for his legs and trip him? That way he will fall over and we can attack easier." Sora suggested.

"You are brilliant," I said, summoning my glaive. Luckily, it seemed that I was doing much better in this fight than in the fight with the guard armor, and it made me optimistic that I was getting better and wielding my glaive and defending myself.

I focused all that I had on taking down the heartless, trying to forget that the world was still spinning. The pounding in my head was getting worse, and I was blinded by a strong light, and I fell to one knee, grabbing my head. Sora smacked the giant heartless to the floor.

"Akari?" His voice was an echo. My vision was blurry. Stay on your feet. A voice said inside my head. I rose, and the trick master got back up. What. A. Pain. I thought, and I was again, cursing myself because I wasn't prepared for what happened next. "It has torches!?" I was both stunned and amazed. Sora ran up and hit the Trickmaster, only to be sent flying backwards, luckily landing next to me instead of on top of me. I reached down and took his hand, helping him back to his feet.

Donald and Goofy ran at the Heartless and quickly did some damage, which seemed to make it angry. It started stomping around the room, I pushed Sora out of the way, before almost getting squashed myself. The Heartless was going to the fire, it was going to relight its torches.

"Oh no!" Goofy yelled. I panicked, but an idea was forming.

"Sora, follow me." I picked him up off the floor. He nodded. The trust this boy had was unfathomable.. "Donald, Goofy, I need you two close to the Trickmaster."I looked around the room and found a rope. "Take that." I nodded towards it, they ran to get it. I ran to the table. "Stay right here." I ordered Sora, and jumped up on the chair, then up on the table. I stared straight ahead.

"What is your plan?" Sora asked.

"I'm going to jump on him and blind him, seeing as every time he lights his torches he stomps around the room like a mad man." I said, finding that I sounded way more confident than I felt

"But-" Sora said but was cut off. The Trickmaster was almost done lighting his torches. I took a deep breath and jumped, suppressing the urge to scream. I could feel the tension radiating off of Sora as I actually jumped on the Heartless' shoulders, and put my hands over his eyes. WIthout a second thought, I gouged out both his eyes. I could feel the heat from the torches as it tumbled backwards and fell right over the rope Donald and Goofy were holding.

As it fell to the ground, I jumped off, a sharp pain immediately radiated up my legs and into my shoulders as I landed and rolled to the floor. Sure, falling and rolling always looked cool, but it was never as painless as people made it look. I tried my best to ignore the pain and staggered over to the fallen Heartless. By the time I got there, Its giant heart rose into the sky and disappeared. My friends shouted in joy, but it was cut short by the door knob.

"Must you be so loud?" It said yawning. I felt a presence in the door and Sora must have as well, and then we saw it, a keyhole in the mouth of a keyhole. Sora raised his Keyblade and a beam of light shot from it, creating a clicking sound. The door snored on

"Did you hear that?" Goofy said.

"I think we locked the door to the world." Donald added. A gummi fell from the door. "We don't have a gummi like that." He said. The Cheshire cat appeared again

"Great, not you again." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms

"Splendid. You're quite the hero. If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness." He said

"No…" Sora's face fell. The cat disappeared

"What useless information, it was kind of obvious she was taken by the heartless." I said, leaning my back against a wall and crossing my arms, trying not to shiver.

"Well, maybe she will be in another world. We should keep looking." Goofy said

"Yeah, I guess. Besides, we have to look for Kiari too" Sora said. My patience was growing thin, and somehow I knew that we wouldn't find Alice in another world, especially if the heartless truly had taken her. Sora and his friends walked away, their moods solemn. Not wanting to crush the hopes of my friends further, I pushed off the wall and started in the direction of the green portal that would take us back to the ship. I placed a hand on the wall to steady myself as I went. Out of the corner of my eye I caught him watching me. Riku. He looked genuinely upset. I didn't like seeing those aqua eyes in so much agony..

His eyebrows rose, and he made a move towards me as my knees fell out from under me and I was left staring at the ceiling. "OW." I groaned

"Akari!" Sora said, running in my direction. His two friends followed close behind. He draped my arm over his shoulder and put a hand around my waist. We began walking back. I glanced behind us, but Riku was gone.

"I'm sorry." guilt, guilt in the very depths of my being.

"What? Why?" Sora said as we stepped through the portal.

"I just wanted to help, and protect my friends, now look at me." I gave him a fake laugh "Leon said my darkness could destroy me."

"Really? But, when did you use your dark powers?" He asked. Legit question, way to stick your foot in your mouth yet again Akari. Sighing, I pressed my head against his shoulder. "Wow you are burning up."

"Just a side effect. It's nothing." We walked a little longer in silence.

"Are these weird designs on your arms side effects too?"

This had me stumped, I looked at my free hand, only to discover a thick line of pink had wrapped itself around my wrists. They appeared to be thorny vines. " I couldn't tell you." We walked on in silence.

"Hey, you did really good back there." Sora said as we made our way into the gummi ship

"Ya, you actually didn't trip at all." Donald had to put his two cents it. I rolled my eyes

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I said. Goofy laughed

"We've got a lot more where that came from." He h'yucked

"Yeah, this ship runs on laughter remember?" Sora helped me onto a bed

"Yeah Sora, we get all the laughter we need just by looking at you." Donald grinned. I couldn't help but giggle. These were my friends, and they were worth fighting for.

"When you are better, you have some explaining to do." Sora said, pulling a blanket over me. I felt a cool cloth on my head and Sora was hovering over me.

"I protect people, remember? It's my job-"

"Get some rest. I'll watch over you." His eyes, they were so kind and full of light, they reminded me of my brothers.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could not shake the feeling that someone was watching me. Dark purple eyes, looming out from the darkness.

Maleficent paced back and forth in her castle. She was so close to turning her. If he had not interrupted them she would have that weapon on her side. That power. The girl was too attached to the light, she was too caught up in protecting her friends. She would blindly follow those that she cared most about, and her self control was unbelievable. If she could just lose control again. Maleficent had already broken the seal that was placed on Akari's heart, pushing her over the edge would be easier now. Maleficent stopped pacing, a grin making its way across her face. She could think of one person that was firmly in her grasp. If she could get him to persuade her to come to the castle... Maleficent laughed. pure, evil, mirthless.