A/N: OK, I've turned them all slightly crazy... Or have I? Ehehe, just wait and see!
Oh, and this chapter is just getting rid of Riku for now, so don't expect to see him again anytime soon.
Disclaimer: I don't own KH or the Heartless, or Hikari, but I do own - The Shadowlands (co-owned by Michael, my idea springboard for this fic), The Shadows (also co-owned by Michael), Elescia, and Saeko. Peryl and Oren belong to Michael. I also own Elescia's castle, which shall be named in later chapters.


"Well, what are you doing, Riku?"
Saeko had snuck up on him, that was for sure.
"I'm gonna get out of here, Saeko!" He spun around, grinning.
The girl frowned. "But... That's impossible."
Riku shook his head. "No, you're wrong! There is a way out, and-"
"No there's not!" She screamed, "Riku, there is NO WAY OUT!"
Saeko's golden eyes were filled with a strange anger, like...
Like fire.
The puzzle peices began to fall so easily into place.
The reason why everyone seemed familiar. Why they whispered about him.
Everyone in the Shadowlands used to be Heartless. That's what set him apart...
Riku must have gasped, because Saeko's appearance suddenly returned to normal. "Riku... I'm sorry..." She turned and ran away.
'So, she was lying...' He thought, and looked out to the darkness that covered the land. Somewhere out there, was where he could gain freedom.

***

"So, Riku knows?" Peryl looked up from polishing her sword to Saeko.
"Yeah... I just didn't know what to say to him."
"Well, you could at least show him where the portal is." The older woman stood up, smiling, "After all, he can't find his friends stuck here."
"Peryl?! Are you serious?!" Saeko's jaw dropped.
"He's still got light in his heart... Light doesn't belong here."

***

After what seemed like hours standing in the exact same spot, Saeko returned. "You really want to go back to your friends, don't you?" Her voice wavered.
"Saeko, I need to... I have to go back." Riku laughed, "I have to go back to the one place I wanted to get away from!"
"Oren says he'll show you where the portal is." She was glad he couldn't see how upset she was.
"Good. I'll be back home soon... Huh? Saeko?" Riku saw she was crying.
"B-bye Riku! I'll go get Oren!" And with that, he was alone there once again.
'Does she have a crush on me?' He wondered, 'I've never seen her act like this before...'

***

His guess had been right. Saeko was sure that she was in love with him, no matter what Peryl or Oren said about it only being a trivial thing she'd get over.
'He can't go... He can't go...' The only words that plauged her mind. 'But, if I don't see him leave...'

"Oren, we need to talk about Sae." Peryl hissed into her companion's ear.
"If it's about her obsession with Riku, I don't want to hear about it. She has to realise that the boy is leaving." Oren replied coldly as they walked.
"Fine, you -"
"Riku, about two miles from here, you'll see what resembles the ruins of a temple. Inside there, you'll find your way out." He cut Peryl's threat short with sudden instructions to Riku, who was shocked.
"You mean to tell me that I didn't have to be here for TWO whole years? I could have just left?"
"We had to wait until you had regained your memory." Peryl explained, "There was no use in you leaving if you didn't know where you were going, but now you can, so..."
"Find your light."

***

And so, Riku walked on and on, feeling like he had already taken the same path millions of times before, and just when he wanted to give up and collapse, he saw the not too far off ruins Oren had told him about.
He ran onwards, ignoring the aching in his legs and his eyelids drooping from tiredness, and continued to run...
Until he stopped. Had he closed his eyes? Everything was black now. Riku couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet, nor could he feel anything except the need to sleep.
As he gave in to the urge, he felt like he was falling, and falling-
Not to know when he would land.

It`s not necessary to go right to the end,
Just keep going.
It`s okay if the scenes
Go on one by one.
The light known as "you"
reflects my scenario...

~***~

Elescia strode through the brightly lit halls of the castle, her long white dress trailing behind her.
Sora was training again, so she would not be disturbed while the experiments took place.
The woman kept on walking until she reached the very last door of the structure, which opened immediately.
"Wodahs!" Elescia called, her voice edged with a darker tone than what she normally used, "Has the specimen arrived yet?"
A figure clad in robes of the darkest black stepped forward. "Yes, Light One. The experiment can begin whenever you wish."
"Good... It must start immediately. Time begins to run short." Her cryptic reply puzzled the lower being, but they did exactly as she wished.
Wodahs led Elescia to another chamber, and began to make unillegible sounds. The entire wall in front of them fell to the ground, revealing a huge white room.
In the middle of it, a boy roughly Sora's age sat, mumbling something.
"Child," Elescia began, "Do you know why you are here?"
Without giving him time to answer, she continued: "You are here to serve a purpose, your purpose. And that purpose is to be something far, far greater than you already are."
He looked up at her, his muddy brown eyes wide and wondrous.
"Child, give me your hand."
The boy obeyed without question, believing she must be an angel or some other holy spirit, too perfect to exist.
As their hands touched, Elescia's kind smile evaporated into a cold, ruthless one.
Thunder surged from her fingertips, down the boys arm, and he fell backwards, twitching violently.
A bright light covered him, as his heart rose from his chest, and dissapeared.
She laughed, almost maniacally, as what had once been a boy was now a small, white creature, with white antennae and, on it's chest, a blue logo that resembled a heart.
"The Neo-Heartless are born..." Elescia mused to herself, looking down at the pitiful thing that would be the first in a great army.


A/N: O.O Elescia, that evil b****! Wait... I knew that was gonna happen, but still, you don't turn people into Neo-Heartless!
If you want a good image of what the boy became in your head, imagine a Shadow heartless, except it's white, and has an inverted Heartless logo on it's chest.